Author: Raptor Mama

Here’s week 23!  It super plain and honestly, I’m ok with that.  I just need to get some of the backlog done!  I might go back later and jazz it up before printing, but for now the pictures and stories are down.  I’m calling that a win.

Y’all, I don’t generally leave the house on Black Friday, but I made a fatal mistake this year.  I opened the Jo-ann circular.  I was drawn in by the insane sale on flannel.  Like for serious, it was 75% off.

I *may* have bought 25 yards.

What can I say, I needed to replenish the wipes stock.

I have the first half in the wash now and as soon as I steal borrow my mom’s cutting mat I’ll get cracking on some new ones.  Oh, and figure out how to rethread the serger.

So if you see something you love, let me know and I’ll save it for you.  🙂

 

 

 

 

Man, I have really fallen down on the blogging lately.  Sorry!  I’ve just been reading a ton lately and not crafting very much.  I’m hoping that once we hit December I’ll be more in the crafting mood.  🙂  I am woefully behind on Project Life, but I have been keeping up with the planning sheets so hopefully I can get some inspiration (and some time) and catch up a bit.  I’ve edited/ printed about half of the pics I need for October Daily and I have about 1/3 of it done.  I should probably try to crank it out before December gets here and I start on December Daily.  lol.

Today though, I’m having a pajama day with Raptor.  We’ve danced around the house singing the Fox song at the top of our lungs, done a few art projects, and now we’re playing with playdoh.  Sometimes we just need a chill day where we don’t do anything.  Not very often, but every once in a while.  🙂

And since I have to have some kind of a picture, here’s the (slightly overboard) fruit tray that I made for Raptor’s preschool Thanksgiving party.  You could also use marshmallows for the clouds, but I rather like how the banana turned out.  🙂

I went a bit nuts with the washi tape on this layout, and I love it!

Basically, I laid down a ton of strips of washi tape, with a bit of patterned paper, rickrack, and stamps thrown in.

Then I cut apart a wood veneer card and added a few flair badges to finish it off.  <3

 

 

RaptorDad is currently working on NaNoWriMo (this is an annual thing where he writes a 50K word novel in 30 days), so my friend and I took our kiddos to the Cameron Park Zoo this weekend.  It’s about an hour and a half from us, but so worth it!  I’m actually considering getting a membership.

Don’t get be wrong, I still love the Houston Zoo, but this zoo is just more manageable with little kids.  The big thing for me is that it’s in Waco, so only an hour and a half from us as opposed to the three and a half hour trek to get to the Houston Zoo.

It’s also just a lot smaller.  Now this might sound like a downside, but it’s actually the perfect size in my opinion for preschoolers and early elementary.  We spent about 4 hours there and we saw everything.

We brought one single stroller, but more as a vehicle to cart around all of our crap than to put the kids in.  Raptor wanted to ride at the very end of the day, but more for the novelty of being in her stroller than anything else I think.  (It’s been put away for about 2 years.)

I also love how they have a few strategically placed play areas.  Brilliant!  Also, tons of shade!  I’m not saying I’d come in the summer (we don’t go outside unless it’s to get in a pool from roughly June-August) but it’s delightful in the Fall/ Spring/ Summer.

 

 

 

Give Raptor some split peas and candy corn and she’s a happy dinosaur.  🙂

She’s since asked me to make it trickier so I told her she had to move the candy corn with a spoon.  No hands.  🙂

 

Last year I did the Facebook thing where you list one thing that your thankful for every day.  I liked that it made me think about what I’m grateful for and I wanted to try something similar with Raptor.  I found some foam leaves at Michael’s that were perfect.  Every day Raptor comes up with one thing that she’s grateful for and I write it on the leaf for her.  Then I staple it to a ribbon that I have strung across her play house.  Initially, I had intended for it to be a banner across the archway separating out living and dining rooms (in this spot) but I need to buy a longer ribbon.  lol.

The dark glittery leaves are harder to write on, but since she’s not reading yet I don’t think it  matters so much.  The bigger point I was trying to make was for her to think of something every day.  🙂

So far, every single day she’s been thankful for a person in her life.  <3

Let’s see how I did with my September/ October Goals…

1. Finish Scrapping January 2013 (6/6)
2. Finish Scrapping February 2013 (10/10)
3. Finish Scrapping March 2013 (5/23)
4. October Daily (7/31)
5. Make Raptor’s Costume
6. BOO Letters
7. Halloween wreath
8. Decorate for Halloween
9. Week 19 Project Life
10. Week 20 Project Life
11. Week 21 Project Life
12. Week 22 Project Life
13. Week 23 Project Life
14. Week 24 Project Life
15. Week 25 Project Life
16. Week 26 Project Life
17. Week 27 Project Life
18. Week 28 Project Life
19. Week 29 Project Life
20. Edit July/ August/ September Photos
21. Order prints
22. Find cardstock to finish School Album (4/6)
23. Finish School Album
24. Create Art Space for Raptor
25. Clean/ Organize Studio

Wow.  If anything I got more behind.  I’m going to roll some of these over, delete some, and add some new ones.  We’re hosting Christmas this year for my ILs so I’m putting some Christmas stuff on there even it’s still November.  Here’s hoping I’m a bit more productive this month!

 

 

Still trucking along.

I kept it pretty simple this week as I’m making a real push to get closer to caught up.

 

Week 21!  This is the second layout that I’ve finished in the past few days.  Here’s hoping I can keep the momentum going!  I enjoy this project a lot more when I’m more caught up.

I manipulated the template a bit on the second page because I wanted the focus on the large pic of Raptor.  Easy peasy.  I really do like how easy it is to do things digitally.  I love paper too much to go digital for anything else though.  🙂

Raptor wanted to be a purple sparkly witch for Halloween this year which basically meant that she wanted to be a princess and we had to find a compromise.  😉  I made her costume this year (sans pattern because I actually have no idea how to sew on anything except for a scrapbook layout) and I think it turned out pretty awesome.  Just remember that a cape can hide a multitude of sewing sins.  🙂

We went out to (another) pumpkin patch this morning to take some pictures.

RaptorDad thought that our little witch needed a rocket powered broom.  I couldn’t agree more.  This one includes a glowing crystal ball headlight.  🙂

This one’s a bit out of focus, but I was dying because it looked like she was actually flying!  Totally unintentional, but totally awesome.  Also, I’ll never be able to replicate it.