Frilly and Funkie Challenge #20; Haunted Halloween..... "BOO!"

      October! While Summer are my fave months by far, October would come next. No, not "fall" itself, but just the month of October since it gives me reason to shout out my fave team: Los Angeles Dodgers! Don't get me wrong her; I was brainwashed very early on as a bonafide, lifelong Chicago Cubs fan- along with all my older siblings- by our Dad. He coached, taught us how to keep paper score, and watched all his Sons' ballgames long into their 30s when they had their own kids. Girls were not allowed to play back then, so I was out. But that didn't leave me out of HIS teaching and coaching! By the time he had Grandkids- all of them played baseball or softball, but with 23 of them- it was a bit hard for him to get to all their games. Especially since most of them played at least one sport and were in at least one other school-sponsored activity, so it was up to us kids as Parents of our own kids...just like he did. He spent many a game at Wrigley Field long before lights became the norm. He died in April of 2016 and I always say that the Cubs won the WS that year because our Dad died and went up and had 'words' with GOD about that. lol! And while my older Brothers gave me heckling about the DodgerLove, I blame it on my Dad: Rick Sutcliffe was an early crush for me who was back on the Cubs then in the 1970s before he became a Dodger. I finally have the time again to actually SEE a ballgame on TV or stream it...after years of coaching, teaching, and basically running around like a chicken with my head cut off during the raising of our 2 boys and getting them off into the world.

          Oh, yeah...my Birthday falls in October, too. So I guess you could say I am a genuine PUMPKIN!! So October is a fave month and while some would comment that "real CHRISTians don't celebrate Halloween", our belief is that while there IS evil in this world...Halloween is a perfectly FUN time of year and we have always done the neighborhood thing: Mom at the door with at least 12 bags of candy bars (I had to save them up for a couple of months to have enough) while Dad took about 7 or 8 kids from here to Trick or Treat with our boys. Our last name officially changes for this time from Larimore to SCARImore ! We did all that so it would be SAFE for the kids as well as FUN for ALL ages. The past 9 years, we have been heavily involved in our church's Trunk or Treat event. We started with less than 100 attending but last year's count was over 800 people!! The ChiefHubby does all the food (chilli, hambeans, hotdogs) cooking while all the ladies supply the sides and desserts. We have blowup funhouses, games, hige hayrides, punkin-chunkin, apple-bobbing, prizes, tons of toys and candy, and every bit of it is FREE. I do all the photography (we did away with the Old Time Booth because of too many in line and only 3 hours to do it all), and posting it all on the FB site so ppl can grab all they want to send out to Grandparents or for their own scrapbooking. We usually take a month to get ready for it all...and a month to RECUPERATE!! But it's worth every minute and Halloween seems to have been seen as only a kid's thing, but we make it for FAMILIES, and keep it SAFE so all can play! And the costumes that show up: there are some VERY talented kids out there who have great imaginations! Won't surprise me a bit to find them crafting up a storm as adults!!!

      
        So, let's GET ON with this! This is my third time as Guest Designer and it seems like I pop up with ideas so easily. Actually, tho; I keep my eye on what Tim Holtz puts out each season as he develops new items or tools for us to use. Some I like, and some I don't. But it seems that Tim always has a design or a color that sparks with me! This year: those little IdeaOlogy Mini Pumpkins!! And always: Tim's Pumpkin Dies and Stamps are AWESOME! I am still keeping my eye open for the "Pumpkin Parts" die to add to my collection of his Alterations Bigz Dies, but I will find it! Meanwhile, I invested in his Pumpkinhead Stamps and got my hands on those Mini Pumkins along with some Broomsticks and THOSE ADORABLE DOLLS !!! (Thanks to some TH Addicts who took the time to show a few of them so we could all see the possibilities!)
                                     Of course, I had to order from
                                                          The Funkie Junkie Boutique
                                    since Linda almost always has the newest TH stuff in stock.
              Your package always has a few little "extras" in there and on this particular project,
            I used the TH Crinkle Ribbon that was part of those extras- it matched PERFECTLY!!
                              And then, I won the drawing for the $25 Gift Certificate on
                                                The Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog
                                     which meant I went back to order again from TFJB!!!
                                         Hey, if it can happen to ME; YOU can win, too!
                                               But you can't win if you don't join in !!
 

                                                     Here's what I came up with....

Ready to play on that AWESOME TH Stamping Platform!

The main background paper was one of 2 NON-Tim things:

the light set was found at Menards and the paper is Graphic 45.

My area of creativity is usually CHAOS.

But, it's MY chaos and I embrace it!!

The IdeaOlogy Mini Pumpkins come ready to use, but I sanded them down a bit (lower 3) as they are flattened out on the bottom for easier stacking.

I dabbed a bit of Walnut Stain Distress Paint onto the stems.

The front side of the Tag is all 'normal mode' with the Husband under the Wife's feet while she is trying to just keep up with the daily Pumpkin mess that is never ending.

Little messes always get bigger!

Please note the "BOO!" 

(made by lightly smearing Picket Fence Distress Paint onto Mirrored Paper 

and then using a Qtip to write letters onto as it dries)

leaking through from the other side of the mirror...

*POOF!*

Everything's ALTERED!

The broom turned into a tree,,,

the big Pumpkin morphed with those little ones and they came ALIVE!!

The mirror on the other side had hidden "The MAN in the MOON"

But no matter- though the Wife can be crabby about it: she's still cleaning up,

and the Husband is still up there playing around and making messes.

                             Are you ready to be SCARED?!

MwhaHahahahaha!!

                 September was a tough month for our family- especially on my side- with the loss of our Oldest Brother , our Dad's namesake. Here's a HUGE THANK YOU! to everyone who left comments of condolence, and especially for all who prayed for comfort during the time we needed it most. My Niece is still having to deal with some tough decisions as well as getting married in November. It's hard for all of his siblings because we are the Grandparents we once were able to lean on our Dad to be. Time marches on and keeps pulling us all with it.

And it's about to get BUSIER:

Wittle Peanut, Cole, announced to us that he's going to be a BIG BROTHER

with a Baby Brother or Sister due in March 2019 !

            And another THANKS! for all the sweet comments on my blog, photo work, and esp the creative work I do with paper! It's totally wild how people actually LIKE my projects! While it humbles me, it also spurs me on to creating more! If you get the chance to surf online once in a while-  check out the amazing things being added onto "Tim Holtz Addicts" on Facebook. The projects are just AWESOME!!

                           As always: THANKS for checking in on my blog!!

                      BE SAFE and HAPPY BLOGGING!