The Adventures of Garrett Squared: October 2013

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Halloween With My Silhouette...

First, let me tell you that I am not being compensated in any way for this!!!! It's one of the happy things that I just really like so I have to share! Really! But, if Silhouette wanted to make me a very happy person, I wouldn't say NO if they offered! ;)

I told you a few weeks ago that I got a Silhouette Cameo vinyl cutter. Well, I had no idea how much fun I was going to be having with this baby!

I received a card for $10 worth of templates from the Silhouette store so I went there right away to check out what kinds of templates they had and stumbled across these:

Can you tell what they are? They are templates to cut out designs for your fingernails! Can't you believe it????

Now, we all know how much I like to decorate my nails. Yep, there's a template for that! :)

I have tried several things for adding interest to my nails from stickers to drawing with a pen to trying to use the stencils (which never have worked for me!!!!!)

Knowing that Halloween was coming up, I used some of my credits to download a couple of the nail templates.

I found out that I could cut contact paper with the cutter when I cut out the design to customize my Silhouette:

So, I bought some clear contact paper at Wal-Mart and some black nail polish. The contact paper would allow me to place it where I wanted it since I could see through it and had just the right amount of tack to stick well but not pull off the polish underneath.

All I had to do was choose a ~~victim~~ nail and peel off the cut out sticker.

Then, I placed the sticker on my nail...

Then glopped the black polish on over the top...

Then peeled the sticker off...

And Voila!

A newly painted spider web! How fun is this????

(just ignore the bit of black polish I glopped onto the side of my finger--it'll come off!)

So, here are my nails all spiffed up for Halloween thanks to my Silhouette!

There are a BUNCH of different designs available and I plan to use most of them! Oh yeah...You BET I DO!!!!

Okay, so this is definitely a happy hump day item!

Are you ready for Halloween?

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Halloween is Here! A Little Treat...

I found this idea on The Queen's Card Castle via Pinterest and just HAD to give it a try! :)

There are a bunch of kids living in the RV Campground here and Trick or Treating is definitely on the calendar. Yay!

The kids are allowed to Trick or Treat at campers that have the porch light lit. Our porch light just blew out as well as the security lights so I spent a day changing the 3 bulbs--but that's another story. ;)

The office says that there are about 25 kids in the park so I decided to give this a go and it turned out so cute!

I started by getting a huge bag of smarties--those are the fingers--and a package of non powdered gloves from the pharmacy. Grabbed some rolls of ribbon in Halloween type colors, some spider rings and a BUNCH of candy--the little mini stuff. That works best when filling the palm of the glove.

Oh! And check out these cool eyeball gum balls! Are they too cute or WHAT??? I found those at Dollar General!

As I began to make them, I found that TWO smarties in the thumb looked more thumb like--don't you think? See in this picture? The one smartie in the thumb just seems a little thin.

Start with the smarties in the fingers, put a ring on it, stuff the palm with all of the mini candies and cute eyeball gum and tie it all up with a bow! How fun is this????

Bring on the Trick or Treaters!

PS--Uh yeah, I'm dressing up again this year. I just can't let a good fun opportunity go by! :)

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Happy Hump Day #10...My New Toy...

Today I get to introduce you to my new toy...

First, let me say that I am in no way being compensated for this post by anyone! I didn't receive any merchandise or anything, but if Silhouette wanted to send me some cool SWAG, I would be fine with that! ;-)

After months of saving my "blow money" (see Financial Peace University if that term is unknown) and money from doing surveys, I had the money to buy this little beauty!

This is what it looks like straight out of the box...

I was thinking of how it could cut vinyl and had a little something in mind--particularly an 88 for the back window of my truck along with possibly a 15 and a 5? Hmmm...

After I received the package which included the Cameo, some sketch pens and the Rhinestone starter kit that I found here.

In anticipation of the Silhouette Cameo Arriving, I ordered some vinyl that had really good reviews found here:

I then began to watch several tutorials that I found online and I could not believe all that this puppy could do! Wow! Stencils, cutting fabric, vinyl, cardstock and those cool tags? Just cut them on the Silhouette!

I also found out that I can cut out contact paper. So, I headed out to find some in the local area and at Home Depot found some that looks like black leather. Fun!

The first thing to be decorated was my actual Silhouette! Here it is!

Just having a bit of fun! :-)

Then, I printed out the phrase that Gman and I chose for the camper door. I had found a few, but this is the one that we chose together...

Notice that there is a charge card right under Having. I am using that as a burnisher. It is by far the best way to use a credit card! :-)

So, here is the ~~victim~~ door to our camper before...

And after...

How fun is that???? Wait until you see what else I have been doing with it! So fun!

Thanks for dropping by!

The Mockingjay

It is with great sadness that I say goodbye to the characters of this Trilogy.

This 3rd and last book in The Hunger Games Trilogy was not remotely what I thought it would be. While the first two books were books about horrific competition and massive loss it was also about the indomitable will to live and thrive of the human spirit.

I thought that this book would be much as the other two. Our heros are tested and then survive to live happily ever after.

But, this book is much deeper and probably much more realistic than that. The thin skinned President Snowden in his extreme anger makes it clear that Katniss, her family and even her village are not going to be allowed to live in the peace that we anticipated after the first two books. To the end that President Snowden wants to see Katniss and everyone who follows her and her courage destroyed, we are drawn deeply into a story of battle both internal and external, love and loss and the dramatic results of a long lived, hard fought war while unsure of who is friend and who is foe.

The end of this book was a loss in many respects. The loss of a group of people to whom I was drawn and the loss of a way of life for those characters. While the war was won, the battles took their toll on all of the characters that we have come to know and love and their lives are forever changed by the end of this book and trilogy.

Catching Fire

This 2nd book in The Hunger Games Trilogy was even better than number one!

I read it in about a day and a half.

I simply could NOT put it down!

The main thrust of this book is the Quell games. Every 25 years the districts must take part in not one but two games to celebrate the domination of the Capitol.

If I go further than that with explanation, I will probably ruin #1 for you, so let's just say that the Mockingjay has a part in this and that the families of Peeta and Katniss as well as Gale are well represented.

The ending leaves us hungry for more at the edge of an abiss...

Now, on to book 3.

PS--Don't start this series without purchasing all three books because you will surely kick yourself if you can't go right to the next book!

The Hunger Games

Book 1 of the Trilogy:
GREAT READ! This was recommended to me by my hair stylist while I was in Missouri. I purchased it for my Kindle, but subsequently passed it up for other reads. My mistake! What an engaging book! Following Katniss and Peeta as well as the other characters in a richly written narrative of the Hunger Games which are a fight to the death each year of children chosen from each of the 12 poor downtrodden districts of the country of Penam for the enjoyment of the spoiled, protected class of people in the "Capital". Gripping and twisting right to the end! I liked it so much that the second I finished I felt like I couldn't let go of the characters and zipped right on to the second volume of the trilogy! RECOMMEND HIGHLY!

Pumpkin Roll

Pumpkin Roll by Josi S. Kilpack~~This book was recommended by another blogger who made it sound so good that I I just had to check t out. I purchased my copy for Kindle and really enjoyed it! The author writes a very fine mystery without using vulgarity or objectionable content which is refreshing. This book was a fun one for the autumn season when our thoughts turn to pumpkins, spices and a nip in the air.

The neighbor is rumored to be a witch and with several other colorful characters of dubious nature, we have a fun Halloween culinary novel.

The nice twist at the end of the story gives an interesting wrap-up to make this book a good light read.

In addition, the recipes sounded so good that I had to copy some of them down and try them--including the Pumpkin Roll of the book title. A good read and good recipes! What's better than that?