Everyday is Halloween

Hello scrap happy people.

Today is the day before Valentines Day.
I never pay attention to this holiday because it's stressful. Wanna eat somewhere nice? Did ya book reservations? Wanna buy flower? Pay a premium.
Buy this. Buy that. Nothing which I would buy anyway.
I am not a chocolate lover.

My family just buys tacos from the local street vendor and watches a movie at home. The kid is always invited. She gets the heart shaped box because she is queen of our world.

One holiday I love and have started to spend big on is HALLOWEEN.

The movies. The colors!
The monsters.
The LIGHTS! The decor!
I love it all.

Some pages:

So this is American Crafts BOOtiful from 2016. That's how long I've held onto this paper. Sorry for the distracting hot spots I'm still very low tech with my cell phone and my window light.

For 2019 I wanted to do Witch's Night Out with the kid and my nice.
I never found an outfit that fit what I imagined in my head. I found a BALLGOWN on
Poshmark for 15 bucks. It is GORGEOUS!! Layers and glitter galore! Naturally Lola hates it and
she hated me for making her wear it in public. She's 10 now. No more dress up.
Let's take a moment to grieve.

This is Crate Paper's Hey Pumpkin. I just got 1 sheet of chipboard stickers and some of the papers.
The design for this collection was so simple and modern I had to have it even if it was no longer the it thing to use.

So dang CUTE! Orange, Yellow, Green  Teal, Purple, Silver and Black- Halloween is totally my kind of color palette.

In New York we would dress the kiddo up and buy her some candy. She was teeny and didn't want to be outside in the cold.

2012- Keep warm is the first rule.
She still cried when we took her out.

Utah is a whole different thing holiday-wise. The more suburban family oriented landscape means we have plenty of costume required events to attend so October is actually our busiest time of year as I try to fit everything I want to photograph every week.

Some photos:

2015 was supposed to be a sure fire winner- Sea Monster, Holographic, warm. NOPE.
She hated that the head kept flopping forward. Can you believe she wore this costume AGAIN this year?
I'd bought it 2 sizes too large. It didn't flop this time. Whew.

2017- wait- I DID get her a girly short sleeved costume. Little Red Riding Hood.
Made her wear her coat for the actual Trick or Treating and she got SO MAD.

2019- BuckBeak the Hippogriff. EXCELLENT CHOICE. 
Spent 3 weeks freaking out how we would recreate a HORSE with an Eagle face.
Found a Crow mask, painted it grey and gold. Found a wolf costume and
had her wear that with claws I made out of  craft foam. Kid next to her is best friend Harry-
the kid is kinda weird but he treats he well.

Dave made the wings out of card board ans paper plates. The wings actually FLAP- he used washers
on the joints so she could open the wings wide. This of course was not appreciated in school.
Her 6 foot wingspan played murder in the classroom.

 Then you have WitchFest which started as this small marketing event to get more shoppers to visit  Gardner Village in West Jordan. I cannot stress enough how amazing this event is. GO. More than once if you can. Especially on Witch Parade nights Friday and Saturday.
4pm in the afternoon has some of the most spectacular light I have ever seen anywhere.

The costume that started the WitchFest madness.
This 6 dollar thrift store costume fit so spectacularly I feel like I have to one up myself every year.
She really liked this because it was light, the hat was not too big
and she just tucked the dress into her jeans when it was done- the fabric is that thin..

2019 Kid and Niece. I buy the witch hats anywhere I find them. I prefer lots of layers, glitter, color and lace.
I come fully prepared with costume changes and money for snacks.
 The girls frown but I just keep taking photos until one of them does something smiley. 
If visiting in October Garner Village WitchFest is a MUST.

Kuwahara Pumkpin Patch is my absolute favorite.
Did YOU know there were smoke machines that ALSO made bubbles?
You you get smoke filled bubbles??? SO FREAKING AWESOME!!!!
Just don't let them pop in your eye- that is NOT a good thing.

This is Salt Lake City in late September. You should visit. You won't regret it.

It'd almost spring mi gente. Celebrate.

All The Things, Not Really

It's been 5 whole years since I last looked around this space.

Everything has changed- the paper crafts industry, how we communicate via Social Media, Politics (don't get me started). 

Most of my favorite scrappers have stopped fussy cutting and gluing paper.

I couldn't sit down long enough to do it myself. 

Who cares? I would ask.

But I still love paper and I still love taking photos. 

My family moved to Utah 9 years ago.

We struggled for a while trying to get our footing on a vastly different cultural landscape.

We bought a new computer so I could get back into the swing of things but I relied on someone who made many promises about his tech skills- he promptly deleted all the photos on my old Mac hard drive. 

Flickr became a paid space and I lost most of my digital archive.

On and on.

Thank goodness I got into scrapbooking and had many photos printed.

This is why the hobby is valuable. 

No need to make it stressful. 

I don't have an amount of pages I need to get done or an amount of photos I need to get into an album. I just take it one project at a time.

Some pages from like 3 to 4 years ago:

The kid is now in 4th grade. 😁

This we REALLY LOVE now: Camping and National Parks
You're gonna get a see a lot written about both.

Utah is seriously beautiful. Brooklyn is exciting, current and beautiful but the quiet of the desert and the sight of fresh snow on the Wasatch Mountains has totally done me in.

And I picked up another long term expensive & totally engrossing hobby:

Gardening

This was last Summer's final harvest after a full season of frustration.
Between bugs, too cold, too hot, too much water then no water for three months I was glad to get this.
Gardening is not for the Pessimistic.

The kid:

Then

Now

So that's the update. I'l be checking in more often now. 

Maybe I'll even pick up some new web design skills so I can update this page. 

Watch this space!

Great Salt Lake Park Marina is currently growing salt crystal formations usually only seen in Mars or Antarctica.
So go see them.

Michelle.