Halloween- Part 2 & the Sushi costume

cute costumes everywhere!

A whole family of buzzy little bees... who were a bit busy to stay still for these photos. :) Today consisted of neighbors coming and going from the house, and preparations for tomorrows big night. fun. fun.

and I'm so totally in love with having a little dog to dress up, and she really likes her costume too. more fun.

The long awaited photos of the Sushi Costume!!! A California roll in the front & a Spicy Tuna roll in the back. Poor little Shavonne today, she wasn't feeling terribly well, so we took some quick photos and I sent her home to rest. Hopefully she'll be ready for tomorrow, Alaina has their whole trick-or-treating route already mapped out!!

I made the costume with 2 pieces of poster board, and 2 circles cut from thicker cardboard. I glued the 2 poster boards together, and sewed the circles just inside of the poster boards. The crab piece is a white towel with red felt sewn along the edge. Actually, all of the pieces are made from felt. (Love felt- easy to work with & inexpensive!!) The rice is packing peanuts, and the little sesame seeds are felt stuffed with batting.

The headband is probably my favorite part of the costume!! I decided to use 2 colors of pink tulle for the ginger. For the wasabi, I sewed a small circle of raw lime-green silk and filled it with batting. By leaving the edges out, it made this cute little puff of wasabi. I suppose I could have used the sushi grass from a tray of sushi.... but I just cut and sewed the grass from felt instead. I emptied a packet of soy sauce, and then everything got sewn onto fabric, and later glued to a head band. It sounds complex, but I think I only spend an hour or two making it. :)

and to think.. this is how her costume started!!

a couple more photos from around the home. I'm still rearranging things and finding new stuff!

I have a super-duper big day tomorrow, off to bed for some beauty rest and then up early to carve pumpkins!! good-night!

Halloween- Part 1

We're almost ready!! I have most of the house decorated as well as the outside. There are only a few things left... like a final costume fitting, Alaina & Chase and the little dog are going to be honey bees this year. I also have to take photos of our neighbor's costume tomorrow. Her sushi costume could not be any cuter!! There are still ghosts to hang from the trees and pumpkins to carve... almost finished!!

Here's a few photos from around the house... I'll be back tomorrow with those sushi photos every one's been waiting for. :) Happy almost Halloween!

Hopefully you're not like me and waited until the last possible second to finish preparing for Halloween! I'm going to be a very busy bee this weekend! :)

a perfect match

I have something exciting to share today! I'm teaming up with Jessica from Scrumdillydilly!!



Together we'll be having a little blog-hop party for an entire week. Come join us for a week of Autumn inspired posts and projects!

the first project

of October... actually it's from last month, but I just photographed it today! A very cute friend of mine sent me a large package of vintage handkerchief's this summer. (I'm not sure why I love something so much, that has most likely been used to wipe someone's nose.... but I do! I've been collecting them for years!!) Unfortunately, they have sat in the same place for the past few months, while I tried to think of some way to use them.



After my surgery, I really wanted to make something, but didn't have alot of energy. So, I thought maybe using one the handkerchiefs to create a messy-journal with a layered sewn cover would be something simple and yet still creative enough for me.
- and that's exactly how I made this journal!!

I started by layering different fabrics together and sewing them along the front cover. The actual cover for this book is a handkerchief folded in half. I gathered a bunch of papers, ledger, graph, atlas pages, music sheets, comic book pages, and score sheets and sewed them into place.





This whole book took me about 30 min. to put together. (and that's only because I wasn't walking around the house very fast to find all of the paper that I wanted to use.) The next time you're at a thrift or antique store, look for a pretty handkerchief to create a messy little art-journal!!

I'm ready,

to come back. I think I'm ready to be inspired again, ready to create and ready to dream.

*Thank you all so much for the well wishes!*

My surgery went well and the recovery is going well. My margins were clear, which is exactly what we wanted! I do need to go in for follow up treatments starting this month, but like I told Peter, it doesn't matter. I'm perfectly ready to do whatever I need to, in order to be healthy again. I'm just ready to be a normal healthy mommy again!

It's been 4 weeks today. I've had alot of breakdowns, which as I've been told, is most likely due to my 'sleeping ovaries'. The overall fatigue and hormonal fluxes kind of wear me out, but again it's normal given how big of a surgery this was. I've tried so many things to lift my spirits! I've listened to the Hawaiian music I loved so much while I lived over there. I had Peter rearrange some of the furniture for me. I tried making a few things...... and... nothing.

So last Saturday afternoon, while I sat on the couch resting, for the second or third time that day, the phone rang. I picked it up and I heard a familiar little voice on the other end.
"Hi Tara." our little next door neighbor
"Hi sweetie, what are you doing?"
"You know when you said I should be sushi for Halloween? Well, I'm wondering if you can help me make my costume?"
"Sure, give me an hour and come on over."

I got up, grabbed a piece of paper, and just like that, the ideas started flowing and I was excited to be making something again! I think that's one of the great things about kids. Nap times and hormone issues don't matter to them. Who knew that a sushi costume would be my saving grace!!



I can't wait to show everyone the finished costumed!! I've made all of the sesame seeds, the front part of the costume (imitation crab meat, cucumbers, avocado and rice) the seaweed is all glued and sewn into place, and I made a little headband with sushi grass, ginger and wasabi. I want to do one more 'fitting' before I finish the costume and then I'll be taking lots of photos!

just waiting...

That has certainly been the theme this summer! I'm waiting to go to the hospital this morning, just another 45 minutes and we'll be on our way. I just wanted to drop in and say that I wasn't able to catch up on emails. :( I was so proud of myself for finishing all of my actual deadlines last week, and but inbox is quite another story.

So, if you're waiting for an email from me, I hopefully will be getting back to you with the next 2 weeks. (I have some considerable amount of time to rest and not do to much after today. :))

Here goes nothing, wish me luck! The first set of path reports will be back before I wake up from the anesthesia, and I have my fingers crossed!

ps. If you haven't made an apt. for your annual gyne exam, and are over-due... what are you waiting for? *gentle hint followed by a small push to your phone* :)

Monday Road Trip

Tomorrow is my big day. I've been a bit anxious about this surgery and trying to prepare emotionally has been my biggest obstacle. So to try and ease my stress level slightly, Peter and I decided to take advantage of having people here to babysit for us, (the grandparents) and head North to Sedona. I'm sure most of you know my love for Sedona!! :)

This was also the perfect opportunity to take my favorite vintage camera along with us. (This is one of my most asked questions, these photos are not photoshopped. They are true TTV photos. I use my digital Nikon to shoot through the view finder of the Anscoflex.) I'll admit I do look rather silly taking these photos, and I only had 3 people come up to me to ask what I was doing yesterday, but the end results are well worth it!

















We had breakfast at Tlaquepaque, and because it was a holiday yesterday the center was empty, perfect for taking lots of photos! Peter and I spent some time at our favorite fishing hole, and then went hiking through an area called Slide Rock. Sedona is also reffered to as "red rock country," and the rocks really are a beautiful shade a terra cotta. All in all, a very nice and relaxing day spent with my sweety sweetheart and exactly the escape I needed! Hope you enjoyed the photos from our little day-trip yesterday!

it's a wrap

I, Tara Anderson, am officially caught up with all current deadlines! Huge sigh of relief!! This is the best feeling, knowing that everything that needed to happen is finished, and I have a week now to prepare. I have to disappear for awhile in order to really accomplish anything as I'm easily distracted by..... ohhh what's that!

See what I mean? :)

This weekend, I shot almost 600 photos, wrapped up some of the biggest projects I've ever done and started a to-do list for this week. Here's a peek into what my weekend was all about. I do wish I could share more, but not until Christmas.



So celebrating a mini-Christmas of sorts was alot of fun this past week, but I have to get my head out of the clouds!! We're still going strong in the midst of summer and if we're lucky enough we may have a wishful Autumn in just a couple of months. I say wishful, because here in the desert there is no Autumn season, so you have to get creative and make believe that it's Fall outside! I will say though, that Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes are definitely helping add to that wishful Fall-ish feeling. :)

That leads me to my question of the night. What is your favorite part of the Fall season? Is it a certain color combination? Or, maybe a pumpkin and nutmeg spice candle? Oak trees turning colors? Is there something new you've discovered about the season that you're head over heels about? I would love to know!!!

Elles Studio ~ winner!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random integers:

47 Timestamp: 2010-08-21

Polly McMillan Raymond said...
Ohhhh super cute and colorful, just my style for scrappin' and crafting! I saw the photo in my contacts at Flickr and I'm happy I'ved discovered your beautiful blog - I will start following. :)

18.8.10

Yay Polly!! send your contact info to me, rosas07@msn.com, and a little happy package will be on it's way soon!

What are you doing this weekend? Any picnic plans? Day road-trips? Or are you like me, and have plans to clean your home all day? :) I have a loooong list of emails I need to return.... somedays it feels like I will never catch up with emails. A little at a time, that's my motto.



Oh and because it's Saturday, I thought I'd share this little project I did for my
Etsy shop. I made some little scrap kits, inspired by my Saturday Colo Combo posts. I'll add them to the shop this evening. :) How I love paint sample colors!! I only made 6 kits, 2 for each color combination. :)




Tomorrow, I am locking myself in my room and finishing deadlines. No computer, no phone calls, and hopefully no distractions or interruptions. Just scrapbooking and creating!

That's about it for me, happy Saturday and have a lovely weekend!

Elles Studio - Giveaway

It's my day over at the Elles Studio Blog! yay!




Elle is one of the most generous and the sweetest person I've ever worked for, and she always sends me so many products to work with. So, I thought I would pass along some of her fabulous journaling cards to one of you!



((If you've been with me for awhile, you'll know that I have to open every package I receive, just to see what I have to work with. I'm like a kid at Christmas time, so there's no original packaging.... but I'll wrap them up super cute for you! :)) There are over 50 journaling cards/tags and a rubber stamp kit!



Just leave a comment and I'll pick a name on Friday!

a happy little dog named Maggie

How many of you believe in fate? Or destiny or whatever else you want to call it?

I do, I like to believe that everything happens for a reason. Now granted, sometimes it's not easy to think there's a bigger purpose for everything, especially when you're the one going through it, but I tend to keep hope, that everything will work out the way it was meant to be.... in the end.

Two Sunday's ago, we had a family shopping marathon for back-to-school stuff for Alaina. In between Kohls and Target, there is a Petsmart, and the consistent begging, coming from back seat, led us to their doors. I'm not sure about every Petsmart, but ours holds a pet adoption every weekend. The kids and Peter pushed through the dogs and puppies at the front entrance and headed to the cat area, while I was much too distracted with the adoption commotion to continue past the front of the store. One little dog had caught my attention, she was a mini, long-hair, red Daschund and a little girl dog no less. I spent 20 minutes talking with her foster Mom and the head of the rescue organization. Her name was Maggie, and she seemed like a great little dog. We walked away from Petsmart and onto Target, but Maggie stayed in the back of my mind.

(The irony of this, is that in highschool, I had a mini, long-hair, red Daschund named Mandy. My mom has her now in her old age. Here she is. ) I told Peter this little dog was meant to be mine. I was reminded of how, just the day before, I had announced to the world that there would not even be a thought of a 2nd dog...... after I had just experienced a horrendous week of pet sitting my neighbors dog. (Long story, but the alarm company was call, the police were called, Chase got bit twice, the doggy had tummy issues on my carpets, and we got locked of my neighbors house, so I had to keep the sick doggy at my house. It was a terribly long week!)

After a disappointing meeting (with the same news and plans for surgery) with my new gyne-oncologist at the beginning of the week, I spent the next 3 days a completely crying, emotional, sensitive mess. My birthday was a tad uneventful, and Peter called from work to tell me, since he didn't do anything for my birthday, how about calling the rescue center to see if Maggie was still available....

and she was. This is why I believe in fate. Had I not needed an extra package of little girl socks from Kohls, and a 5 year old begging us to go look at kitties before we headed into Target, I would never have seen Maggie. It was love at first sight.

Maggie came to join our family this past Saturday.

Maggie Anderson
arrived on Saturday Aug. 14th, 2010
age: 5yrs. old
weight: 17 pounds
hair: red with black low-lights
eyes: brown

I have to say, for this summer being a complete and total bust, I was due for some good luck and I finally got it!! Maggie has had no problems fitting right in, letting the kids carry her, exploring the back yard, sniffing stuff with Dutchess, and sleeping in bed with me. She's a very confident, patient and well trained little dog. Nothing seems to phase her. She's calm and quiet, cuddly and I can't believe how lucky we are to have her.

We adopted Maggie through Lost Our Home It's a non-profit rescue group of real-estate agents who rescue pets left behind due to home foreclosures or other financial hardships. In Maggie's case, her owner passed away, and a friend had taken her, but when they lost their home to foreclosure this summer, she was sent to Lost Our Home. I think this rescue group is just amazing and I am so grateful to have been able to give Maggie a home.

My new happy little dog, welcome to the family.

the Garland winner!!

congrats to :

Random Integer Generator
# 22
Timestamp: 2010-08-14

Dana Gustafson said...
My perfect birthday is filled with laughter, great friends and me not having to plan one iota of it! ;) Thanks for the opportunity to win one of your adorable garlands!

11.8.10

Dana, send me your address (rosas07@msn.com) and I'll be sending a little package of lovely paper garlands to you. :))

Thank you to everyone who entered! I loved reading the comments about our perfect birthday celebrations! ~ I'll be doing a very special giveaway this week, so be sure to check back for that one!! It's going to be a spectacular!