Happy Halloween!

Croupy and cranky here. Weather has been bouncing around so sinuses are going crazy. Coughed so much last night, despite meds, that I got little sleep but did get a sore throat. Going back to bed in a bit. Tomorrow it is Novemeber! So much to do before holiday season and so little energy! Be safe!

Happy Halloween! Last Halloween freebie waits below

Hope you have a fun filled Halloween - lots of treats and no tricks. Be safe. There are some mean people out there. Today I've got 4 more clusters for you that include word art. The wooden sign you see in preview comes with 3 word choices. And there is a surprise paper included in this zip too. Hope you have enjoyed this year's Halloween Treat from SherScraps4CU & Wonderland Scraps.

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/NR4JbuSOba/ws_HalloweenTreat_Clustersextr.html?

It's Friday! Another Halloween freebie

Some clusters for you today:

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/EsC38mr3ba/ws_HalloweenClusters.html?

By special request - 2 more free Halloween Journal Pages

Nearly forgot to post these:

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/lbuIAlKEce/ws_HalloweenJournalPages34.html?

Catching up and more free papers

Here it is Thursday. Where did the week go? Tuesday was interesting. Our grandson, Tyler turned 17 and, having received his driver's license, was given my husband's Chrysler. We bought the car from a friend's father when Tyler was just a toddler. Tyler went to the bank with my husband to finish the paperwork and when they got home, my husband told me, "One day that car will be Tyler's." Can't wait to get a photo of Tyler driving it. Had meant to put something on blog and facebook Tuesday but we lost power after about 9pm when I would have gone online. There were outages in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach that I know of, Could have been in other local areas too. Dominion Power claimed it was due to "contamination" by saltwater. Something about recent high humidity and rains etc and air coming off the ocean and bay. Odd, I've lived her most of my life and never knew this to happen. Power was out for us until 2:30am Wednesday then went out again about 5:45am for another 4-5 hours! "Papa" delivered the car to Tyler's parents Tuesday afternoon along with a card with a little gas money. I finally got to speak with him yesterday afternoon and look forward to taking him out to dinner on Friday night. Here is the boy who has given us such joy:

I made some nearly solid papers as an add-on to the Halloween kit because I decided there were too many prints. You should be able to use them for autumn kits too.

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/WkbawPR9ba/ws_nearlySolids.html? Other news? Not much. Saw the pulmonologist yesterday and did a walk test. Pulse-ox stayed good but I got out of breath sooner than usual. So, since that is happening more often lately, I was given a new inhaler that only has to be taken once a day and is a powder, making it easier to use than the pressurized sprays. I'm to give it a month and see if it improves my breathing.

I'm done with Halloween for this year! More Halloween already scheduled for Friday and Saturday. After that there will be an autumn themed kit (working on it now) and I've got 2 Touch Of Color packs waiting. Ttrying to get ahead with design since there is so much to be done with getting the house ready for the holidays, preparing holiday goodies like fruitcake, cookies, fudge etc.

Halloween border freebie

Today's freebie is a set of 3 borders.

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/8WEFIn7aba/ws_HalloweenTreat_borders.html?

Mid week and another Halloween freebie

How about some more of those miscellaneous pieces? Maybe you can use them in making some clusters?

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/Hg2DC3AFba/ws_HalloweenTreat_Misc_2.html?

More Halloween freebies!

This time I have a miscellaneous zip for you - things I was going to put into the kit but didn't.

Bet you can find something to do with them. Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/hfn6m5r7ba/ws_HalloweenTreatMisc_1.html?

Talk about timing!

I was just finishing up some previews of a couple Halloween art journal pages I've made when I received a comment from a newcomer, Handmaiden Dotty, about the Mermaid Musings journal kit I published previously. I wanted to make an art journal page for myself to write in on Halloween. Browsing in Wilma 4 ever the other day, I came across an interesting template from Rayes design. It is, in fact, this month's challenge template in the forum. I decided to adapt it to journal page size, which is 8.5" x 11" for me. Then I decided to try it with my Halloween Treat kit. Here is what I came up with

I don't have any little ones and my grandchildren are older and not likely to trick_or_treat this year, so I filled in the photo areas with elements from the kit. I like the scatter on the template but it doesn't leave much room to journal. http://www.4shared.com/zip/wHwsAk1oba/ws_HalloweenJournalPg_1.html? I also saw that the many patterned patterned papers in the kit aren't so conducive for journal work. Therefore, I've made 6 lightly grungy papers that are mostly solids that I will load for you later. I do want a page to journal what we do on Halloween this year. Not that much will happen. We don't get trick-or-treaters here so don't know what I'll do with the photo slots. But maybe my husband & I will do something fun or I'll just want to jot some thought down. Anyway, here is the 2nd page I made for that purpose

There is space to write on the orange square and you could write on the moon too. Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/0h-DSdyJba/ws_HalloweenJournalPg_2.html?

Monday again!

I was having some fibro issues this past week so didn't accomplish much and must try to make up for it this week. Fortunately, I have a bunch of freebies all ready. Here's another Halloween one

2 more frames! Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/_Xh31lHLba/ws_slightlyspookyframes.html?

Playing around

Halloween seems to be a particular favorite with graphic designers. Every year there are dozens of new kits in the stores and an abundance of freebies. I belong to a Yahoo group, Digital Scrapbook Freebies, and have seen lots of posts about new Halloween freebies, plus I'm posting mine there. I can't say I have one particular favorite from this year but I've collected a few and sometimes get the notion to do a little something with one. I've posted the tag I made with one of Za Za's kits which, I am pleased to say, she liked. While waiting on my father's Sunday visit, I played with a freebie called Chills & Thrills from Miggs. Here is my result:

I enjoy playing with other designer's work and started digi scrapping by joining CT teams which gave me an opportunity to experience the work of a wide range of designers, something I couldn't have otherwise done on a limited budget. Not only does CT work give one a chance to work with designs you might not otherwise have access to, it's a learning experience in terms of going on to make one's own designs. It teaches you about effective color combinations, appropriate sizing of items (although there are times you will deliberately choose to ignore current wisdom on this and create something larger than life scale for effect), what items customers look for in kits, what works and what doesn't. I highly recommend it to anyone who thinks they would like to become a designer.

At this time I'd like to thank everyone for the lovely comments I've received about my Halloween freebies. Oh, yes, you will get the above cat border in one of the upcoming zips. Hugs!

Your Sunday freebie

Today something for your Halloween scrapping that is a little different

2 borders I call ribbon play because both involve a ribbon(s) and are sort of playful. Hope you like them. Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/jzrvqUymba/ws_RibbonPLay.html?

Some frames might be good _ freebie

While there are some frames in the Halloween Treat element pack, you can always use a bigger selection, right? The Vine Frames today will be useful for Halloween but also any fall layout. There are 2 in the zip, the plain vine frame, and one decorated with gourds. Hope you like.

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/4MB9SlwJba/ws_VineFrames.html? Have a great weekend!

It's Friday! more of Halloween Treat

If you have been keeping up you should have a set of 12 full size papers for the Halloween Treat kit. Here are the elements ( I didn't count):

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/XSNxBZmFba/ws_HalloweenTreat_elements.html? And a small Cu gift:

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/NCyNvRKDba/ss4cu_LittleHalloweenCuties.html?

Running late with Thursday freebie!

Sorry, almost into Friday but here is Thursday's zip of Halloween Treat papers:

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/5TgvBgapba/ws_HalloweenTreat_papers_3.html? I'll set up Friday zip of elements right now. Just playing around, I made this ATC using Poser from Dragonsbreath and word art from Antisocial Distortions.

Nite!

Another day, another Halloween Treat freebie

Wednesday - mid week and I don't feel like I've accomplished a thing! Doctor visit yesterday and re-check on contacts tomorrow. Saturday my Red Hat friends and I are supposed to be going to see an Elvis impersonator who's a friend of two of them. Laundry is piled up, haven''t planned dinner and have some bills to pay. But we did make a decision yesterday in regards to hubby's pension benefits. Anyway, how about zip 2 of the Halloween Treat papers?

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/CG7fXtSKba/ws_HalloweenTreat_papers_2.html? and another small treat:

You probably remember seeing this sort of cardboard cutout decorating classrooms and home doors years ago? Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/VDflJMnrba/ss4cu_VintageHalloweenCutouts.html?

Playing around with another Halloween kit from Za Za

In my Halloween folder is another kit from Za Za aka Scrap and Tubes called A Halloween Day. I can't say whether this is one from 2015 or an earlier kit but it caught my eye when I wanted to play. Here is what I came up with:

Halloween Treat update re freebies

Just spent some time packing up all the little pieces of your Halloween Treat. There will be a few more CU zips from Sher Scraps 4 Cu line and lots of PU zips from Wonderland Scraps. This is the color swatch I went with:

I think I'll go ahead and start giving you some of the main kit today, starting with zip 1 of papers. Here are some previews to give you an idea of what's coming in the main kit.

That's the overall and it's kind of hard to see the papers so here are separate paper and element previews.

And the link to Paper zip 1 http://www.4shared.com/zip/X8emu2Dnba/ws_HalloweenTreat_papers_1.html? That leaves us 11 more days until end of the month and I've got 13 zips after this so here is another:

Link:http://www.4shared.com/zip/O_lwouWRce/ss4cu_HalloweenDecosCatTag.html? Enjoy!

A gift for Za Za

Za Za over at http://scrapandtubes.blogspot.com/ is so generous, giving away many of her creations for free. She just posted a free, personal use Halloween tagger kit called Bewitched. I had fun playing with it and made a tag for her in return for her charming gift. Hope she likes it.

A little taste of your Halloween Treat freebies

In between cooking, I'm uploading a little taste of what is to come. Halloween Tags & Smalls _ 5 tags made with papers from Wonderland Scraps Halloween Treat (2015) and some small vintage images. Images are also included so that you may use as you wish. CU4CU provided you do not simply repackage and sell as a competing package. Add to kits and other projects.

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/PHvcnaTRba/ss4cu_HalloweenTagsSmalls.html?

Oops! Think I forgot to post this freebie?

In recovering from my trip to Atlantic City, I think I forgot to post the elements to A Touch Of Color_Purple?

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/Wd-SQ_cJce/ws_TouchOfPurple_elements.html? I know, I could go back and check but lots on my mind at the moment, so will just post.

June "rang the bell" last week, ending her radiation treatments. She's got some radiation burns to recover from and is extremely tired but things look hopeful. We are in something of a dither here as we get everything set for my husband to retire at the end of December. There are choices to be made regarding his pension, papers to file, social security to be dealt with and so on. It's all kind of frightening as we look toward what 2016 will bring. Halloween is approaching fast but it's no big deal here. I'll put out my witch flag and either climb into the attic to find the wooden witch sign I made years ago or just go with a glitter tinsel pumpkin I don't have to track down. We live on a busy street and don't get trick-or-treaters anymore. People take their children to events at local schools, churches and malls now. I had thought I wouldn't make another Halloween scrap kit because I've made so many over the years when I worked for stores. However, I know some of you are very much into the holiday so I decided to play around with some resources I'd collected and maybe make a few things like borders or clusters. Being anxious about all the stuff going on here, I ended up doing a lot of playing with the files I pulled so you will be getting a Halloween Treat kit and a bunch of little themed freebies. Made a bunch of previews last night but still need to pack things up and load to 4shared. Off to start cooking dinner now but expect to be back on tonight and add at least one little Halloween freebie for you. Before I sign off, a note to friend Stacey. I am so sorry to hear of your loss and further bad news about your relative. It's a trying time for you and doesn't help that you are ill too. Sending prayers and healing hugs your way. Hope you feel better soon!

Never again!

This weekend I was reminded of a trip we took to Busch Gardens when my son was in elementary school. Jeremy wanted to ride the log flume. We tried telling him he really wasn't ready for it yet but he persisted. So we went over and made him watch and listen for awhile. He still insisted on going. My husband took the front seat so he'd be the one to get most drenched. I sat behind him and made Jeremy sit between my legs so I could hold onto him. All was well as we made the first couple gentle dips but then when we came to the first big drop, he screamed, "Don't you ever let me do this again!" Nothing to do but tell him to yell and scream with him. What does this have to do with my weekend just past? My Red Hat chapter decided it would be fun to take a bus trip to Atlantic City. For $65 we got a seat on the bus and when we arrived received a $30 game credit and a $20 meal credit. Sounds pretty good, huh? But bear in mind that all of us were over 50, actually all over 60 but for our Pink Hatter. Six of the chapter went plus one husband. We left Norfolk at 7am, stopped for 20 minutes on Eastern Shore for a McDonald breakfast and a couple hours later had a 10 minute stop at a WaWa for bathroom break and to grab a sandwich or snack if we liked. A lot of people slept, or tried to sleep on the way to and from. Got into Atlantic City at 2pm. We grouped, split up and regrouped throughout our visit but by about 10 pm we were all worn out and ready to go home. But the bus didn't come back until 12 am and didn't leave until 1 am. It was seriously miserable on way home - most of us in pain from one or another of our health problems and all exhausted, even the few who had managed to get some sleep on the way up. When Mary's husband dropped me off at home, I spent maybe 30 minutes talking to hubby then crashed. Sunday was totally lost and I didn't do much on Monday, just a little laundry. We won't be doing that again! I'd be back in bed again now (it is just after midnight), only I didn't want to cook so we had pizza delivered and I've got indigestion!

And now for the freebie:

this morning the papers; elements on Wednesday. Hope you like! Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/MRuNsLb9ba/ws_TouchOfPurple_papers.html?

What a Day! and Touch Of Color freebie

What a day: didn't sleep well last night so it was a struggle to get up but I had an 11:00 am appointment to fit my new contact lens (hard gas-permeable). I barely made it to the office on time and then had trouble opening my car door. Unlock, push, still closed. After playing with lock several times, I was able to get out of the car. When I checked in, I was told my appointment was for 1:40 pm! Apparently I was remembering the original appointment time for Friday when I had to cancel. Too much time to sit there, not enough to go all the way home. So I drove up to Pembroke and went into the K-Mart there but they didn't have items I was looking for. I did have a book with me, so headed down the street to Wendy's and got an early lunch. Back to eye doc and again trouble with car door. Playing with the lock worked so I figured I'd just have to get my BIL to check it for me at earliest convenience. Picked up contacts and they fit pretty good. Not uncomfortable for first day of wear in over a year. So, I'll just stop at Walmart on the way home, I thought. I wanted to pick up a full zip sweatshirt jacket - nothing fancy - so WalMart seemed a good choice. I get out of the car, hit the door lock and shut the door. No, door just bounced, refused to close. Played with the electronic key fob lock switch, played with the manual switch - no go. Not about to leave the car open. Messed around with the part of lock I could see in the door edge using fingers to try to get it to move, using old key, no go. And doesn't it figure? I'd left my cell phone home because I'd been charging it and was in too much of a hurry when leaving to grab it. What to do? I got back in and tried to put seatbelt through door handle and then fasten it but it wouldn't go that far. Finally, knowing there was a Pep Boys just a couple businesses over & same side of road, I looped the seatbelt through door handle multiple times, pulled it tight and slowly drove over to Pep Boys. Not easy but got there safely. After better than an hour and $50 debited to my credit card, I was able to get in, close door and drive home. They'd had to take the door panel off to unjam the latch, loosened and lubed it. Skipped picking up presriptions because I'd called and left word for husband and didn't want him to be on way to me. Instead, I find him on phone, arguing with Health Equity. Seems the Health Equity account he'd been talked into through his company, has monthly fees once account is below certain level. No one had told us about this. Also, they wanted to charge him a $25 maintence fee just to close it out! Righteous indignation and persistence won out in the end with them agreeing to send him a check for remaining balance and waive fees. Just wait until he tells the other employees about this at Union meeting. Now I'm going to post your Touch Of Color_Red elements and call this day quits. Take out food tonight and TV.

http://www.4shared.com/zip/37xiLAgsce/ws_ATouchOfRed_elements.html?

Here are the bookmarks I made for the Digichick challenge

To Kill A Mockingbird was a banned book at one time and Designs by Helly's free mini kit, May Morning was perfect, I think, for this. Next I used some freebies from KimericKreations to create this one:

Also made 2 corner bookmarks but when I printed them out discovered I had the text backwards on one so must do it again.

New week and another freebie

It has been gloomy and raining for days now due to meeting of a Nor'Easter and Hurricane Joachim. Poor South Carolina! They have major problems due to these storms. We have been lucky. Lots of flooding in low lying areas (& most of Norfolk qualifies) due to above normal tides (as much as 6 ft above normal) have got everything over saturated. I haven't had to go out since Thursday and the water wasn't bad then so I've been lucky save for the migraine I had on Friday. My house is dry and undamaged and I'm very thankful. Following a migraine I'm not worth much in terms of doing anything. Did manage to catch the laundry up yesterday evening but that is about it. Hubby was in the mood to cook this weekend and asked for suggestion on Friday. I thought beef stew sounded comforting, so he went out early yesterday morning, got a couple things he needed and filled the crockpot almost to overflowing. Stew for dinner last night and again today. Yummy and no cooking for me. The only other thing I did was work on some bookmarks for Banned Books Week. Turns out DigiChick is doing a hybrid challenge this month that is for bookmarks, so I've created a couple using their designer's work. Planned to post those tonight but upon printing out one page, I discovered I had somehow reversed the text so need to do those again. Your freebie for today is A Touch Of Color_ Red. Papers.

As you can see, I'm not fond of basic red but prefer darker variations so that's what you get this time. Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/L7mg031Lce/ws_ATouchOfRed_paper.html?

Hurricane News & small Freebie

I hear that weather forecasters now think Hurricane Joachim will miss my area. Good news. Meanwhile, we are soaked! It's been raining for days and there is minor flooding all around. The barometric pressure has been driving those of us with sinus problems, migraines, arthritis and other ailments crazy. So glad neurologists finally acknowledged that barometeric pressure does effect health! For me, it's been sinus problems over last couple days and this morning I woke with a migraine. So much for going to get my contact lens fitted. Fortunately, they were real understanding about me needing to reschedule. Headache finally gone so thought I'd check in and offer a little something I've been playing with off and on over last few days. I've had these public domain images in my Halloween resource folder for ages. The one of the two costuned kids was from an old, torn out page of a magazine, or maybe someone's scrapbook. Both images were in bad shape. The drummer had part of his leg missing and both images had worn, torn spots. I worked on each separately, filling in blank spots, smoothing, etc. These are kind of cute and I didn't want to lose either so decided to combine the two like a grouping. I think it's useable. The witch was a different thing. McLeod Coffee used to issue paper dolls premiums. I had one of their dolls but not the one meant for the witch outfit which originally was badly printed in a sickly green and yellow. I played with cleaning up the costume and re-coloring it and "borrowed" the head from the paper doll. It's not the best but maybe someone can use it?

Didn't include any TOU since these were public domain to begin with and you are just getting my version. http://www.4shared.com/zip/ulrjISzXce/ws_vintage_halloween-_figures.html?

Did you know it's Banned Books Week? As a voracious reader and a writer, I can't go away without mentioning it. Check out this list of 13 important novels from offtheshelf.com http://offtheshelf.com/2015/10/13-important-stories-to-celebrate-banned-books-week/ How many of these have you read? Which ones haven't you read but want to read? I was surprised to learn I've only read 8 of these. So I need and want to read, The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (I know a lot about this one, but never got around to reading it), The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream by H.G. Bissinger (football - yuck - tough read for me), and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. ***This ws written on Friday and I thought I'd published then oops!

Freebie - rest of Touch Of Brown

Here's the rest of Touch Of Brown

Link: http://www.4shared.com/zip/GdkajKlRce/ws_ATouchOfBrown_elements.html?