happy halloween!

hope you have a fun and safe halloween! :)  

i {heart} october...let me count the ways...

1. simple art projects with the kids

 2. visit to the homeschool community garden (yes! tomatoes still growing in california in mid-october!)

3. leaf rubbings!

4. autumn in san jose = spring in san jose

5. celebrating birthdays with spooky cupcakes!

6. field trip to monterey bay aquarium (shh! sleeping sea lion on the rocks there!)

7. soaking up what's left of the sun (enjoying a cherry soda float! yum!)

happy fall, everyone! hope you are enjoying this cozy, spooky, fun season.

random fall pages

here are a few pages from my little daily september journal/scrapbook.  there were a few days/memories that i didn't have photos for, but i still wanted to include in the journal. so i made a cute, scrappy title with some random alphabet stickers and wrote in all the details i could remember about the photo-less days/events.

close-up of a page.  i used some cardstock cut-outs from crate paper's random line (love it!!)

no journal of mine is complete without some hand lettering and doodling.

a little close-up of my somewhat neglected xtra large moleskine cahier...i got a little wrapped up in my 4x6 size mini book/daily album that i kind of forgot about my other journal. ;)

more page close-ups...

the above page is still in the works...needs some coloring-in of the writing, but i like how it's coming together.

and you've gotta try taking super close-up photos of your journals/artwork and then printing them as labels on sticker paper or as photos and then re-using them in your artwork/journals.  so much fun.  each page is full of new artwork just waiting to be exposed! :)

getting ready for halloween!

1. halloween banner swap with my art group: check!

the challenge was to use "non traditional" color combinations.  so, in other words: no black/orange.

so i tried different combinations: black/white/purple/red/green

i think they turned out pretty good! (or bad, i mean, it is halloween afterall!)

2. visit to a pumpkin patch: check!

the girls were lucky to be invited to a birthday party that just so happened to have been held at the cutest of cute pumpkin patches.  there was a giant pumpkin to climb inside (hence, orange-tinted photos!)

and lots of opportunities for cute photo-ops (none, of course, that came out of the cute hay-bale maze, train ride or petting zoo!  but that's ok.  we had fun and that's what matters most!)

3. time for some october journaling: check!!  not in traditional fall colors, but that's ok by me.  what are you doing to prepare for fall/autumn/halloween?

just your average fall day...

well, october has totally caught me by surprise!  and fall has suddenly arrived.  we were still having park playdates in the hot sun the last week of september and now...brrr!!  rain and clouds and socks and sitting by the heater and snuggling up with a blanket and each other to keep warm.  i live for summer. love it.  but i do appreciate the cold, cloudy, rainy, cozy season of fall.  

a journaling-pages-in-progress shot.  it is so meditative to sit and chat with friends while randomly taping things down in my journal. 

i guess we'll be saying goodbye to journaling in the sun on a blanket in the grass.  but we'll still keep being creative. even if by candle light! i am just finishing up my september daily journal/scrap/photo/book.  i'll post photos soon.  now i'm off to start one for october!  it is my new artistic interest.  you know, no matter how boring or routine you think your life is, once you start to keep a daily journal with a few photos and memories, suddenly your life seems so FULL and AMAZING.  i know that's how i feel right now.  i think that's what keeps me blogging, too.  just to capture these seemingly insignificant moments only to turn them into something more.  something so beautiful.

and yes, this is a photo of snails painting.  (fyi: no snails were harmed in the making of this painting! we used food coloring and gentle loving care)  this was part of my daughter's current science investigation.  oh, just your average day in the homeschool classroom!

so that's what i've been up to lately.  loving, living and dreaming.  i hope you are well.