Halloween, 2peas, and my spooks

I was honored and excited when I received an email from Jamie at 2peas asking if I wanted to participate in an upcoming event: 

Recently 2peas had a Back to School event, but I was actually glad I was asked to create a Halloween layout.  I don't often take the time to make them, and I've been needing to.  It seems once November hits I am extremely busy with the holidays and other things, and holiday-type layouts get put on the backburner.

With my layout, I decided to focus on my puppy Spot, and the Butterfly Fairy Princess, and go with Halloween, 2009:

You might not be able to tell by the photo, but Payton put a great big purple spot on her "Spot" nametag, because she wanted people to know her name.  That sweet girl.  P.S.  Don't you love Old Navy costumes?  It gets cold at night here in Central Oregon, and it's so nice to have a costume they can wear all day and not have to cover up with a big coat.  I am so sad my girls are outgrowing them.

I don't do Halloween layouts so I didn't have any Halloween product in my stash.  Lucky for me, I know where I can find a great mix of products, and dashed to Studio Calico for the Harvest Moon add-on, a recent addition to the Back 40 kit.  (and there's still a few left!!!!  GO!)

I loved how non-themed this kit was, yet still included a couple of emebellishments to help tell my holiday story, namely the JBS chipboard buttons and the MM alphas. 

For my polaroid photos, I stamped on the patterned paper, trimmed it, and then applied my photos on top. 

A tip:
I used the same black Stazon ink that I used to stamp the image on the edges of my photos to help them blend in with the stamps and stand out more.

Something else I learned, and a valuable stamping tidbit to know?  Rubbing alcohol, but more importantly, the Magic Eraser....   takes Stazon ink off stamping blocks!  This may be old news to you, but learning this today has changed my life.  Who knows, maybe I'll stamp more now that I'll be able to see precisely what I'm doing!  :)  Seriously.  I was about to toss out a block and buy a new one.  I wish I could show you a before, but in the after, my block is completely clean.  In the before, it was almost completely covered in various black, fushia, and brown inks.  That magic eraser really is magic!  :)

Anyway, be sure to check out the SpookCRAFTular event page here.  Several projects have already been shared but we are only halfway through the month.  There is still a lot of Halloween inspiration to come, including home decor ideas. 

Before I go...  I wanted to share a Halloween 2010 preview:

(taken with my Blackberry)

You'll notice that someone has finally moved on from the butterfly fairy princess phase which has dominated our Halloweens the past 3-4 years.  Hot pink Batgirl it is. 

I usually order them something from somewhere, but this year both girls got what they wanted a couple weeks ago at the local Supercenter.  Hooray for cheap.  I do need to find Payton some good cowgirl boots though.  That might get spendy unless a friend has some size 10's we can borrow....   Oh my.  The cheesiness is almost too adorable to handle.  Payton stood posed like that for a good 30 seconds.  It was totally planned by her.  Morgan? She slays me with her cheesy cuteness. 

Have a great day!  Davinie