Happy Halloween...wherever you are!

Our PT Cruiser car club participates in a "Pumpkin Bash" at the historical XXX Drive-In in Issaquah where we dress up our cars as well as ourselves.

Here's my car and my "chubby" hubby and I. ;-) We had fun making our 'monster mouth.'


There were about 20 cars participating. The one on the right (under the tarp) was turned into a haunted house...very clever. It won for 'best decorated' car, of course!

Meet "Joe, the plumber!" He got 1st prize for 'funniest costume!' He's going to wear it to work Friday and come in with a plunger saying, "Somebody send for a plumber?" What a nut!

Start your 'Year in Review' album now!

Start saving your favorite photos and join me in putting together a nifty little 'Year in Review' album project!

Don't wait until next January to start thinking about doing a year in review (YIR) album - use those photos you've been taking all year and join me in putting together my new 'Semi-PreMade Album: A Year in Review' project right now!

Not ready yet? Don't worry - with these new template sets you can begin anytime!

The 'Semi-Premade Album' YIR project is made up of 6 two-month packages created to help you capture the highlights of your year and create a fabulous 5x7 album ready for printing with your favorite photo vendor. Each set has four layered templates (.psd files) making a 2-page spread for each of two months and includes fun elements, photo frames, and textured paper shapes...all for only $2.50 per set!

But wait! Subscribe to the entire project and get a special bonus front and back cover set! And that's not all...post your finished pages in the special 'Year in Review' PDW gallery and get a special surprise treat!

Set 1 = January & February: on sale Oct 29-31!
Set 2 = March & April: available Dec. 1
Set 3 = May & June: available Jan. 1
Set 4 = July & August: available Feb. 1
Set 5 = September & October: available Mar. 1
Set 6 = November & December: available Apr. 1
Bonus = Front & Back Cover pages: on sale Oct 29-31!

The 'Semi-PreMade Album' template sets will be issued monthly and there are two ways to purchase them. (on sale Oct 29-31!)

1. Purchase the entire project at once for only $12.00 and get a monthly download link. Subscribers will get the bonus front & back cover template set free with their first download.
   Click here to subscribe to the full set.
2. Purchase each individual template set as it becomes available each month for only $2.50.
   Click here to purchase set 1 - January & February.
   Then, purchase the bonus front & back cover template set separately at any time for only $1.50.
   Click here to purchase the bonus front & back cover template set.

As you complete your pages, post them in the YIR Gallery and post a link in the YIR forum for a special treat!

Don't want to do a 'Year in Review' album?

Use these templates to create any kind of album you want - school years, clubs, scouts, baby's firsts, wedding, heritage - the sky is the limit!

And, best of all, this album is totally customizable and reusable year after year!
A truly 'green' project!

Remember, all my designs are S4O friendly!

It's Samhain...Trick or Treat!...and a sweet freebie for you!

The Celtic year begins at Samhain [pronounced sow-in]. It is divided into two seasons: the light and the dark, celebrating the light at Beltane on 1 May and the dark at Samhain on 1 November. Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, since it marked the beginning of a new dark-light cycle. It is a time of death and birth, a time of change, where we leave our old life behind and pass out of the darkness into our new life. The Celts observed time as proceeding from darkness to light because they understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground.

The night of Samhain [in Irish, Oíche Shamhna and in Scots Gaelic, Oidhche Shamhna] is one of the principal festivals of the Celtic calendar, falling on 31 October - Halloween. It represents the final harvest. According to Celtic lore, Samhain is a time when the boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead become thinner, at times even fading away completely, allowing spirits and other supernatural entities to pass between the worlds to socialize with humans. It is the time of the year when ancestors and other departed souls are especially honored. It is still the custom, in some areas, to set a place for the dead at the Samhain feast and to tell tales of the ancestors on that night. (Perhaps this is where 'ghost' stories came from.)

Bonfires played a large part in the festivities celebrated down through the last several centuries, and up through the present day in some rural areas. With the bonfire ablaze, the villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly re-lit their hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families of the village together. Often two bonfires would be built side by side, and the people would walk between the fires as a ritual of purification. Sometimes the cattle and other livestock would be driven between the fires, as well.

When Christianization came to the Celtic people, the religious spin doctors of the day turned this ancient celebration of the changing of the seasons into a scary bedtime story of witches and goblins. This misguided belief still survives in various branches of Christianity today. The Celtic Samhain festival was converted to All Hallows' Day on 1 November by All Souls' Day on 2 November. Over time, the night of 31 October and the remnants of the festival dedicated to the dead came to be called All Hallow's Eve which was eventually shortened to Hallowe'en (Hallow's Evening) and today it's Halloween.

Some of the customs and traditions of Halloween that we celebrate today were brought here by Irish and Scottish immigrants. One Irish custom is to bake a ring into a Barnbrack Cake. Each member of the family gets a slice and great interest is taken in the outcome as there is a piece of rag, a coin, and a ring in each cake. If you get the rag then your financial future is doubtful. If you get the coin then you can look forward to a prosperous year. Getting the ring is a sure sign of impending romance or continued happiness. Another custom popular one at parties is dunking for apples and coins: a portent for success and wealth. Even wearing costumes and masquerading as the souls of the dead came from our ancestors from the Celtic countries.

All the designers at PDW have set out some tasty treats for you and they're scattered all over the store. Here's just a few previews of the treats you can find to fill up your goodie bags! Click on the picture below to get started!

Here's a wee lighthearted freebie for your Hallow'een treating...click here. And tell all your friends to come knock on my door to get their free treat, too!

Come play with us - Join the PDW Creative Team!

We're looking for scrappers of all styles and experience levels. Never been on a creative team (CT) before? Just started scrapbooking? That's OKAY with us! We want YOU to come join us! PDW has some big things coming, and as a Creative Wonder, you'll be the first to know!

Click here to visit the forum and check out the details!

Oh, Baby!

I'm gonna be a Gran, again! We are all really excited and 8-yr old Isabel can't wait to be a big sister!

The wee one is due to arrive in early May, so how about a Baby Pool to pass the time! Guess the following:

- boy or girl
- date*
- time of day (hour, minute, am or pm)
- weight
- height

(* it'll probably be a c-section but you never know!)

The winner gets a fun prize - but only Gran knows what it is! ;-) There will also be a special bonus prize given to a randomly chosen player when we find out if the bairn is a lad or lassy! Add your guess in a comment and remember to include your e-mail address so I can let you know if you're a winner!

Entries so far:
Mommy: Boy, May 10, 8:30 AM, 8lbs 6ozs, 21"
Tammy Moore: May 3, 9:13 AM, 7lbs 6ozs, 20"
Athena: May 16, 4:02 AM, 7lbs 12ozs, 21½"
Larry R: Boy, May 13, 10:46 AM, 7lbs 2ozs, 17"
Randy H: Girl, May 2, 8:15 AM, 6lbs 1oz, 18"
Sharon McB: Boy, May 5, 8lbs 11ozs
Gran: Boy, May 8, 11:35 AM, 7lbs 2 ozs, 17.25"