Valerie Salmon's Blog

A Halloween Page

Are you ready for Halloween?  We are almost ready.  I still have to sew an apron for Lauren's costume, a Kandy Korn witch.  Ian will be Harry Potter (again!).

The layout below is in Better Homes & Gardens Scrapbooks etc.'s October '2009 issue.

My kids from Halloween 2008:

Fall is here...

This has to be my fave season!  I missed out on this while living in CA.

Now, it's one of the things I love about living in the midwest!

The leaves are starting to change colors... and it's almost time for us to go to the pumpkin patch.  The kids have so much fun.

Then, there's Halloween.  We'll be picking out the kids' costumes pretty soon, too.

Lauren wants to be a candy corn witch and Ian is still undecided on which superhero he'll be.  lol!  

Speaking of halloween, my Spooky Halloween Mini Book Download is available to showcase photos of your spooky traditions and cute little goblins.  Check it out!

Wanted to take this chance to greet my baby a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY. He's 7 today!!!

Off to have lunch with him at school.  :D

Have a great day, all!!

Happy Mother's Day

I hope all my fellow moms have a fantastic day doing exactly what you want and deserve.  :D  A special "Happy Mother's Day" greeting to my very beautiful mom, and my closest friends.

Because it's our day, I just wanted to quickly share 2 "mommy" layouts:

As seen in Scrapbooks etc. May/June '09 issue -

This was my cover "try" for the May/June '09 issue.  

It's not the cover, but I really, really love it -

My cherished handmade gifts from my two most special, my most favorite kids in the world - 

 

Have an awesome day!

Trick or Treat!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who took a gazillion photos of their costumed cuties on Halloween night.

Surprisingly, even my little guy cooperated.  LOL.

Here is Heat Blast (from Ben 10) and the Vampiress.  They both picked out their own costumes and we've had them for 2 months!

{ Now if only I prepared my projects this far in advance.  ;-P }

I think I am all candied out.  Been eating them all weekend long.

I hope you all had a good Trick-or-Treatin' time!

Remember, I've got my Halloween mini book available as downloadable instructions, if you are thinking of a cute little book to house your new Halloween pics.  

Some quick notes

GS102 Update:  Week 2 is almost over.  We've released our 4th sketch!  Here's a peek of it:

Our members are rockin' the gallery!  We already have over 500 projects shared in the gallery!  It is just oozing with inspiration.

All new registrants are welcome.  This is a self-paced class, so there are no deadlines or homework.

Go to the Got Sketch 102 Info Page to get the details on how to join.

---------------------------------------------------

Fiskars has another Project-a-Day feature for the entire month of September -- and it's all about stamping!

The project today is a door hanger I created using some of Li'l Davis' new race car stamps.  Cute!

Check out the instructions!

If you are up for some sewing projects, check out this article featuring the Fiskars 12-in-1 sewing tool.  Quite a handy-dandy gadget to have.

Part of this article is a cute little denim tote I appliqued.  Yes, I did sew!  LOL.  

Many of you may not know this, but I am a seamstress and have been sewing since my pre-teen years.  Sewing was my main hobby until scrapbooking entered my life.  Now, it has taken a back seat because there just isn't enough hours in a day for me to do everything!  :)   There was a time when I used to sew formal gowns & even made all of my bridesmaids dresses back in 1995!  Then, once I became a homeowner, all projects became custom drapes & household items.  I hope to someday get back to having more time to sew.

---------------------------------------------------

Finally, I gotta share one of Ian's recent pics.

He started flag football a few weeks ago & I've been getting some great sporty shots of the little guy.

The kid has too much fun out there!

USA Today!

Big week for Ian.  First week of school as a kindergartener AND today, his national ad for USA Gymnastics was in USA Today newspaper.  There is an 8-page supplement and the little guy has one of the full pages!  

This proud mom had to swipe about 9 copies of the paper earlier.

Had to snap this quick photo of Ian when he got home.  Cute!!

On a different note, hang tight... I'm working on GS-102 registration info.  The page should be up sometime this weekend.  

First Day of School

We are off to a great start.  The kids are already in school and surely, settling in nicely.

Me?  Well, I hope to get through the day using the least amount of Kleenex possible.

My little guy is now a Kindergartener!  

I'm actually doing better than I expected.  That has a lot to do with the fact that Ian is enthusiastic about starting school.  

I can't wait to hear how their day went.

In the meantime, I'm going to get a lot done today.

Have a great day, all!

---------------------------------------------------

PS:  Have you all seen the new Joann's mailer?  I got mine yesterday, and as a friend has alerted me, look at page 2 and 3.   :D            I have some projects pictured in there.

I do need to get to J's sometime soon because this same friend (you know who you are ;) has seen some of those "How-to" freebie tear-off sheets at the aisles of more of my projects.  Very neat!

It sure is great to have buddies to keep an eye out for ya because I would probably miss them otherwise.  Thanks, Peg!!

Proud Mommy Moment

I am so thrilled that it is Olympics time again!  I love watching all the amazing sports and athletes compete.  Gymnastics is by far my favorite sport of the whole event -- and speaking of gymnastics...

USA Gymnastics is launching a national campaign ad, timed purposely for the Olympics.

Recognize the handsome little guy?

Featured on this ad is none other than our Ian Salmon.  I say, "our" because many of you may have seen my little boy grow up in scrapbook pages that I've shared.  :D  He's got a lot of scrapbooking "aunties" & "grammies" out there.  ;-)

I am beaming with pride that he got this spot out of the many children who auditioned.  Such the little charmer, this kid.   He had a blast playing & hanging on trees during the photo shoot.  The mommy-pride meter went off the charts after seeing the image of the actual poster.  Gotta get my hands on one of those!

Here are the posters.  They selected one little girl for the other ad, too.  The kids mimicked the "steel rings" and "balance beams" while playing.  Very cool!

"On August 15, 3.6 million people will see an ad insert in the USA Today that communicates the essence of gymnastics and makes it easy for parents to find a USA Gymnastics member club in their area."

"The timing is not by accident."  Gymnastics is the most watched event during the Olympic Games, and we want to capitalize on the momentum that comes every four years where our top athletes compete on the world's biggest sports stage."

- Wall Street Journal article

- USA Gymnastics article

Finally!

We are in the 70's this week. I love warm weather. I hope it is here to stay.
I actually wore flip-flops today for the first time this year - yeah!
Had lunch out with my little guy & took him to the park for some one-on-one time. I can hardly believe he will be in Kindergarten in the Fall. (Okay, pass me the Kleenex box when the school year starts.)

Tonight is AI night and my favorite TV night.

Oh, new discovery -- maybe it's old news but, Yahoo Instant Messenger now has voice! (Well, at least for Macs). I was actually chatting with friends in the Philippines! So cool! Try it.

Work-wise, I am keeping very busy. I have to keep them under-wraps for now. :( I know, there is nothing like creating something, being excited about it, and not being able to share. Well, hopefully, soon enough.

Hope you are all enjoying your day.

After watching AI:
I think the 2 Davids did the best. David A can do no wrong in my book though. :)
I'm totally breaking out my dusty Phantom of the Opera CD now. LOL. I'll be listening to that as I create today. (I enjoy listening to Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman.)