CHILD of the pure unclouded brow And dreaming eyes of wonder! Though time be fleet, and I and thou Are half a life asunder, Thy loving smile will surely hail The love-gift of a fairy-tale.   I have not seen thy sunny face, Nor heard thy silver laughter; No thought of me shall find a place In thy young life's hereafter — Enough that now thou wilt not fail To listen to my fairy-tale.   A tale begun in other days, When summer suns were glowing — A simple chime, that served to time The rhythm of our rowing — Whose echoes live in memory yet, Though envious years would say 'forget'   Come, hearken then, ere voice of dread, With bitter tidings laden, Shall summon to unwelcome bed A melancholy maiden! We are but older children, dear, Who fret to find our bedtime near.   Without, the frost, the blinding snow, The storm-wind's moody madness — Within, the firelight's ruddy glow And childhood's nest of gladness. The magic words shall hold thee fast: Thou shalt not heed the raving blast.   And though the shadow of a sigh May tremble through the story, For 'happy summer days' gone by, And vanish'd summer glory — It shall not touch with breath of bale The pleasance of our fairy-tale.   Lewis Carroll Aren't the illustrations fabulous?  I love all things

 So I got the chance to play with the Graphic 45 Hallowe'en in Wonderland paper a little more.  It is so much fun!  And as I said before, it screams to be dimensionalized!  There are just not enough hours in the day!  Isn't DJ a cutie?  I mentioned that I wanted to do some cards, so here are a couple of those as well.  Here's the first… and here's another.  I love the Manly Boys graphics! I will definitely be doing more with this paper.  It is too fun to put away for very long!  &#

I’ve never actually gone to confession, not being Catholic and not having done anything serious enough to go to my Bishop about…in recent years, at least…but I’ve seen it enough on television to know that this is what I feel like I am doing right now.  I feel the need to do penance! It has been surprisingly busy since that last post.  I’ve had visitors and I’ve been trying to get certain things done before I blog again, but I can only see this dragging on for many more days unless I get back into the habit again.  I’ve had some specific projects to do and now they are completed, I can get on with the fun stuff. A few weeks ago…not sure exactly how long – I loose track of time these days and I’m sure that my daughter will read this and tell me exactly how long ago it was.  Anyway, a while ago, Megan sent me a message regarding this cool new paper line from Graphic 45…Hallowe’en in Wonderland, which I promptly looked up on their website and oh my goodness!  It is so to die for cute!  I promptly passed the message onto Deb, who ordered it for an upcoming kit.  I, of course, couldn’t wait until her order came in, so I called Cool Scrapbook Stuff to see if Gena had ordered it – of course she

 (Tom)and almost gone are the days of watching my not-so-little-anymore boys walk into the school in their Halloween costumes.  I have been giving a little of the ongoing saga of the creation of the Halo 3 body armor and weapons on my Facebook page.  What initially seemed like a fun little activity, something for the boys to do instead of playing the game on-line so often, turned into a full-blown, time-consuming, energy-draining, sleep-depriving, cardstock-gobbling and hand-wrecking process.  I suppose its because I never saw the original pieces that Tom and his friend Matt worked on:  how long it took, how many steps were involved and how many pieces they were actually going to be making…they just looked wonderful.  They got started on this during the summer when they were looking for something to do, but then school started, and of course most recently, the play.  I would see them cutting and taping the pieces together, but I had NO idea…NONE!  I couldn't help but get caught up in the excitement and enthusiasm for it.  (Mike)  Halloween always comes around more quickly than I anticipate and I believe it caught the boys off guard as well.  There have been days when other projects got in the way, like church responsibilities or commitments to the drama department (mostly cookies!).  Nevertheless, I am happy to report that after a very long day Thursday that, included painting

 Primitively speaking, of course!  Meet one of my friends, Ms. Pumpkinhead.  Dangling from her fine, fuzzy witch hat is the inspiration to my Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy Spider.  I have mentioned before my old friends that I bring out at the holidays, and this is one of them.  Her grin reminds me its time to smile. Here are some more of my old friends…  This is Pretty Miss Witchie Poo  Above is Raggedy Witchie and Pumpkin Angel  A pumpkin turned into a witch! And a favorite early art piece by Mike! Have you noticed that the candy industry is constantly coming up with new and delicious treat?  I remember when Hershey's started adding flavors, not just nuts, to their Kisses.  That was fun!  We especially loved the peppermint ones at Christmas.  When I was at Walmart picking up some costume elements for Mike's creature character for the school play "Frankenstein", I was looking for the traditional candy corn for my pumpkin candy jar when I came across a  yummy newbie…Caramel Apple Candy Corn!  Made by Brach's/Milk-Maid, this little treat weighs in at 140 calories for about 22 pieces.  As tasty as they are, I could easily stop at 8 pieces, so that means that I can enjoy their yumminess for about 50 calories!  What a deal!