:PHOTOS: My little Indian...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!

I hope that you all have a fun-filled day ahead of you.

After much deliberation, Kaitlin and I jointly decided on an Indian girl costume this year. Of course, we had to go out in full costume for a photo shoot.

The wig is a little big for her, but her blond hair just wouldn't quite do! :-)

The first photo is certainly my fave. The light was a little warmer and she doesn't look like such a pale little Indian as she does in some of the others! :-)

She's already gotten to where her costume for a community Halloween party at the college on Thursday night, at school on Friday, a downtown trick-or-treat parade and Walmart trick-or-treat yesterday and of course, we'll be going out around the neighborhood tonight. Hopefully the weather holds up and it doesn't get too cold.

I would say she's gotten good use out of her costume this year.

READER RESPONSE:
How have/will you be celebrating Halloween this year? What are your kids dressing up as??

:GIVEAWAY WINNER: Bic Mark-its

Holy moly! You guys just blew my previous highest contest comment total out of the water.

I think you must all REALLY want some Bic loveliness for yourself!

This giveaway post received 440 comments!! I was going to tally all the votes up to see which color family came out on top, but I'm not sure I could do it without getting a headache. :-)

However...I was reading your comments as they came in and I can say with a fair amount of certainty that it's between Earthy Expressions and Fashion. There were certainly also some lovers of Paradise Pastels, but they were a little fewer and farther between.

Anyway, I do have three prize pack winners to announce, so here are the numbers chosen by Random.org:

And the commenters that just happened to fall on those lucky numbers are:

Congrats Jess, Gail and Marcia!! Please watch your inbox for further instructions on how to claim your prize!

I wish I had more of them to give away for sure...I know that many of you mentioned that they are hard to find locally, but Amazon.com does have both sets at a decent price, so you should definitely check them out there.

BIC Mark-It Color Collection Ultra Fine Permanent Marker, Assorted, 36 Markers
BIC Mark-It Color Collection Permanent Marker, Fine Point, Assorted Colors, 36 Markers

They also qualify for FREE Super Saver Shipping if your order totals at least $25. Can't beat that!

Don't miss out on more great giveaways coming soon! If you haven't already, sign up for updates to the AMOM blog by email subscription or your favorite blog reader through the links in the left sidebar.

:LAYOUT: Spill Your Guts, Mr. Pumpkin!

Have you all already carved your pumpkins?

We usually wait until the night before Halloween for optimal 'freshness'. :-)

I don't create a layout about it every year, but had some fun shots last year, so decided it was time to revisit the topic.

This title came to me in an inspired moment and I knew I wanted to highlight the word ‘guts’, but I had already used this particular ‘s’ on another layout, so I decided to improvise and use the ‘z’ instead.

The title along with the two other chipboard pumpkins create a visual triangle.

(Click to see larger.)

Journaling:
You know it won’t be long once the power tools come out!

Supplies:
Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants, Making Memories
Chipboard: My Mind’s Eye
Ric Rac: Rusty Pickle
Letter Stickers: Making Memories
Epoxy Letters: Chip Chatter
Staple: office supply
Ink: Colorbox
Circle Punch: Marvy
Decorative Edge Punch: Fiskars

:JOURNALING HELPER: Halloween

You all seemed to like my Fall journaling helper, so I think I'll keep the love going! :-)

Here's one ready to use on your Halloween layouts...

Enjoy!

UPDATE: For some reason, the 'preview' on youpublish views the dotted section as more of a solid line...I can't seem to determine why. However, the pdf WILL save and print as show below. Just so you know...

(Click the image to download!)

:FIVE FAVES: Halloween embellies...

Here's the companion to my :FIVE FAVES: post last week featuring some frighteningly amazing patterned papers on the market just in time for Halloween.

Booville Layered Felt Stickers by Little Yellow Bicycle
These felt stickers are a wonderful way to add a little depth and texture to your Halloween layouts...just one of the great items part of the Booville collection.

Blackbird Decorative Brads by My Minds Eye, LLC 
Another great Halloween-themed collection from My Mind's Eye, Blackbird brings a little more color and quirk to your layout than their companion Haunted collection.

Hocus Pocus Press Ons by Pink Paislee
Again with the Hocus Pocus collection, I know, but I just can't help but love these creepy rub ons!

Boo Happy Halloween Flair by American Crafts
Bold and colorful, American Crafts has a winner with its Boo collection. I always love their coordinating badges as they take me back to the years I collected the pin versions and covered my purse, jackets and schoolbag with them!

Toil & Trouble Artisan Plaques by Making Memories
Making Memories' Toil & Trouble is a HUGE collection, but these little metal plaques are my favorite!

READER RESPONSE:
What's your FAVORITE Halloween collection this year and why?

:REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Bic Mark-its [CONTEST CLOSED]

Ladies...I have to admit...I really lucked out this time.

I was asked by a very nice lady at Bic to review their new Mark-it collections and she sent me a set of both the fine and ultra fine markers.

As you can see from the picture below, the sets come in a convenient tri-fold case. I am sure that I will just store them in this to keep them neat and organized.

Each set comes with the same 36 colors in three different color 'families' - Paradise Pastels, Earthly Expressions, and Fashion.

Personally, I see myself using the Earthy Expressions and Fashion colors more often then the Paradise Pastels, but that's simply a matter of my own color preferences. Still, I'm sure there will be topics to be scrapped that will have me reaching for the pastels as well such as Easter, new babies, etc.

Really, there is the perfect color for any theme...take a look for yourself:

Here's the twelve Earthy Expressions Colors:

Here's the twelve Fashion colors:

And here's the twelve Paradise Pastels colors:

After some testing, I did discover that these markers WILL bleed through on standard notebook or printer paper, but since my main use for these markers would be in scrapbooking, I was more concerned with their performance on cardstock.

On the heavyweight cardstock that I generally use (Bazzill), I had great results - no bleed through for standard journaling.

Personally, I do see myself using the ultra fine set MUCH more than the fine as I would primarily use mine for journaling and like a sharper tip.

However, I know that there are a lot of scrapbookers and cardmakers among you that enjoy using stamps and hand-coloring your designs. For you, you might want both sets - the ultra fine for detail work and the fine for filling in larger areas of color. On that topic, I found this great tutorial for getting Copic like results with Bic Mark-its for those of you that love the look, but not the price of Copics.

A note of caution: these markers are not opaque. Therefore, if you use them on colored cardstock, you will have some color distortion. So, if you want to see what the marker color will look like on your finished product using colored cardstock, you may want to test it on a scrap of the same color or in an area that will later be covered.

A couple things that are nice about the Bic Mark-its that I haven't mentioned yet is that they have a comfortable rubber grip and the color name is listed on the side of the marker. It makes identifying your favorite colors a little easier.

Overall, very lovely markers with a great variety of colors.

GIVEAWAY:
I mentioned that I was lucky, but three of you will be also as I have THREE prize packs to giveaway! Each prize pack will include a 36-count fine point and a 36-count ultra fine set with a total value $41.98!

All you have to do is answer the following question by 5 p.m. (CST) on Thursday, October 28th, 2010 and you'll be entered for your chance to win!

Which color family - Paradise Pastels, Earthy Expressions, or Fashion - do you think you would use the most and why?

Random.org will choose the winners and I'll announce them on Friday, the 29th.


GOOD LUCK!

:SALES: Free shipping at Two Peas...

As many of you know, Two Peas is pretty generous with their free shipping promotions; however, there is usually a $50 minimum.

Through tomorrow (10/24/10 at 11:59 CST), they have dropped that minimum order to only $25.00.

So, if you don't like to make such large purchases or only have a few things you've been covetting, now might be just the time to order.

(Of course, the code will still work if you order significantly more than $25 also...I know how hard it is to resist!)

(Click the image to take advantage of this great offer!!)

:PHOTOS: Love T-shirt

More pics to share...

This is a favorite t-shirt right now...she calls it her tatoo shirt. :-)

:FIVE FAVES: A few frighteningly amazing Halloween patterned papers...

Halloween will be here before we know it and you can certainly tell that this a well-loved, and much-scraped, holiday.

There are so many amazing Halloween-themed products hitting the selves, I decided to divide my usual holiday Five Faves post into two.

This one focuses on papers...the next will focus on embellishments.

Spooky Die Cut 12X12 Whoo-Ligans Paper by Bo Bunny Press
Count on Bo Bunny to put a fun spin on an old theme. Spiders might have been long associated with Halloween, but there is something especially creepy (and cute at the same time) about these little one-eyed guys! The rest of the Whoo-Ligans collection is just as awesome!

Graveyard 12X12 Happy Halloween Paper by Echo Park Paper Co.
Text on black and flying bats...what a great pair. I'd have a very hard time deciding which side to use! Check out the rest of the Happy Halloween collection from Echo Park here.

Playing Cards 12X12 Toil & Trouble Collection Paper by Making Memories
Faux playing cards seem to be a growing trend in scrapbooking products and Making Memories has a winner in this patterned paper from the Toil & Trouble collection. You could use it as a fun base, use on strip as a border, or cut them all apart and use just a few as embellishments.

Raven Flocked Kraft 12X12 Haunted Paper by My Minds Eye, LLC
There's nothing 'cute' about the Haunted collection from My Mind's Eye! If you like some more traditional spookiness, then this kraft and black line is for you!

Good Fortune 12X12 Hocus Pocus Paper by Pink Paislee
Does this bring back some Ouija board memories for you?? If you need a refresher, this Halloween might be a great time to break out the board and scrap what is has to say using the Hocus Pocus line from Pink Paislee.

:LAYOUT: Would you rather?

I loved the playfulness of my daughter’s expressions in these photos and wanted to compliment that the fun facts journaling and the staggered placement of the photos, journaling and title words.

Her answers to the ‘would you rather’ questions are bolded and in a different type to help them stand out.

Quizzes are such fun ways to reveal unique aspects of your loved ones personalities!

(Click for a larger view.)

Journaling:
be able to fly or be invisible?
go backward in time or forward in time?
dance in front of 10,000 people or sing in front of them?
eat all meals at home or all meals at restaurants
be able to talk to animals or have any animal you wanted as a pet?
be an only child or have ten siblings?
be president of the US or the queen of England?
be able to see the future or be able to read people’s minds?
live in a tree house or live on a boat?
go without television or junk food for the rest of your life?
have a beautiful house and ugly car or an ugly house and beautiful car?
have a missing finger or have an extra toe?
have one wish granted today or three wishes granted in 10 years?
always lose or never play?
be a deep sea diver or an astronaut?
be hairy all over or completely bald?
find true love or 10 million dollars?
go to an amusement park or to a family reunion?
have x-ray vision or bionic hearing?
meet an alien visitor or travel to outer space?

Supplies:
Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers, Basic Grey
Chipboard: American Crafts
Brads: Making Memories
Ink: Colorbox
Foam Adhesive: EK Success
Photo Corner Punch: EK Success
Scallop Trimmer: Fiskars
Fonts: American Type, Calibri

:WORD ART: Halloween Title Word Art Freebie

Do you ever have a great layout, but then get stuck on the title?

Of course, there are an endless number of inspiring places to look for layout titles...magazines, idea books, online galleries and more.

However, you may not need to look any further than the names of the collections from your favorite manufacturers!

For example, how about the Hocus Pocus line from Pink Paislee?

Not only could the collection name make a great title, but some of the individual paper names are just ripe for the picking when it comes to titles for your layouts! 

Here's the perfect example - one of the paper names in the Hocus Pocus line is Witching Hour.

I'm betting a few of you might be having a pretty, creepy or kooky witch on your hands this Halloween.

If so, here's a word art title freebie just for you!

Enjoy!

CLICK THE IMAGE TO DOWNLOAD

:PHOTOS: Bieber Fever

Okay...yes, I admit it.

I am the mother of a Bieber-obsessed young daughter.

What's a mother to do?

(Take pictures, of course!!)

I am envisioning a layout entitled "Bieber Fever" in my very near future.

READER RESPONSE:
What characters/singers/actors/etc. are you children obsessed with right now??

:GIVEAWAY WINNER: Ella's Essential Guide to Scrapbooking Boys

I'm on my way to a shopping day with the girls, so I'm going to keep this one short and sweet.

As you know, I have one free download of Ella's newest eBook - Ella's Essential Guide to Scrapbooking Boys - to give away and Random.org has picked a winner!


This time, the lucky number is....

Congrats, Kate Anne! Watch your email inbox for further details on how to claim your prize!!

Don't be too sad if you didn't win this time.

Head on over to Ella and pick up your own copy of Ella's Essential Guide to Scrapbooking Boys for only $5.99!

Don't miss out on more great giveaways coming soon! If you haven't already, sign up for updates to the AMOM blog by email subscription or your favorite blog reader through the links in the left sidebar.

:FIFTEEN ON THE FIFTEENTH: Two Peas favorites from the last 30 days...

Fifteen more favorites to share...my wishlist gets perpetually longer!!

Olivia Collection Pack by Bo Bunny Press 
I love the color combination of teal, red and pink. Adding brown and a pale orange to it is unexpected, yet stunning! The Olivia Collection by Bo Bunny  is fun and fresh!

Enchanted Dear Lizzy Charming Mementos Embellishments by American Crafts

The Enchanted collection by Dear Lizzy was inspired by traditional Alice in Wonderland mythology which has recently found a resurgence of popularity. Who doesn't love teacups and butterflies?

Enchanted Dear Lizzy Decorative Mixtape by American Crafts
Here's another favorite from the Enchanted line. This isn't the 'mixtape' of your past...no sappy collection of long songs here. But you'll fall in love with these beautiful colors and patterns just the same.

Brown Pen & Ink On Kraft 12X12 Paper by Hambly Studios
What can I say? I'm always a sucker of text backgrounds!

DigiKit - Beautiful Butterflies by Laina LambThere are 4 die cut butterfly shapes with 3 different options for each - 12 in all! They can be scaled to use on pages, cards or any papercrating projects. All files in GSD (Silhouette), AI, JPG, SVG (Cricut with MTC/SCAL), DXF and PNG. Perfect for any die cut machine or use on digital/hybrid pages!

Maple Leaf Mini Clear Stamp by Inkadinkado
I love this maple leaf design with the elegant swirls.

Seashells 12X12 Seaside Collection Paper by October Afternoon
Banners aren't going away! I love this half-circle design from October Afternoon's Seaside collection. The shape, colors and patterns all remind me of grandmother's aprons.

DigiKit - Picture Perfect Vol. 2 - The Tucson Masks by Jo Hanna
Would you like to give your photos a little more flair? Look no further! Use these masks to dress them up!

Borders Artisan Elements by Pink Paislee
While these are beautiful as they are, they are designed to be colored and distressed as you wish - use ink, spray, paint, markers, etc.

Members Only 12X12 Old School Paper by Pink Paislee
Another great Pink Paislee collection - Old School - perfect for your school layouts.

Kelly Green In Stich Blossoms by Sassafras
Green and stitches...beautiful!

Vintage Dress Pattern Notions by Studio Calico
Rosettes are all the rage...and if they look handmade, they're even hotter!

Sugar Maple 2 Oz. Glimmer Mist Spray by Tattered Angels
I can think of so many uses for this rich, beautiful color in the coming months...fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving. It's a wonderful shade of orange.

Butterfly Border Punch by American Girl Crafts
Okay...I have to be honest. I didn't bounce with excitement when the 100+ new American Girl products hit the shelves. They're not exactly the type of scrap product. However, with my growing fondness for everything butterfly, this punch did stand among the crowd.

DigiKit - October Past: Little Old Barn Alpha by Hazel Olive Designs
LOVE these wood-looking digital letters!

READER RESPONSE:
What's your must-have find from the list above? Or, is there another new item not listed you've seen that you can't wait to get your hands on? If so, share a link!

(Note: The links above lead to further information on the listed products either at TwoPeasInABucket.com or Scrapbook.com. Remember, the Two Peas FREE SHIPPING code for October is SCRY31.)