5 Freaky Friday Finds

It's Friday again! Time for another round of 5 Freaky Friday Finds! I love Halloween so much. I hope you find my roundup and are inspired to start scheming on your own Halloween crafts and festivities!


This photo from Mouseteff is simple and inspiring. Love the bokeh!


I wonder if I could squeeze myself into this Horror Movie Corset by The Luna Girls'?


Another vintage movie find was these cookies from Rolling Pin Productions! Amazing!


This is a really clever idea for pumpkins! (Via Nabuzz)


I've always loved the work of Catherine Holman. This cute cupcake canvas is no exception!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Adobe Kuler - Fun Design and Color Palette Tool!

Tonight I wanted to share with you a color palette site I love...Kuler by Adobe!

It's a super helpful site for color enthusiasts and designers. There are thousands of palettes to choose from and be inspired by in all the colors of the rainbow. I know I struggle a bit with coming up with my own color palettes, and this site makes it easy as pie to mix and match colors! I found it helpful in helping pick colors for a recent design project I've been working on!


They have color breakdowns of each of the colors...the values and breakdowns for the different color formats. So cool. It's easy to mix and match or modify each color as well to make it work for if you are needing a slightly different hue or shade.


You can even upload your own photo and select a color palette from it! Cool, huh?


Other features like the rule tool help you modify your color palette easily for your needs. For example, I selected a base color above and it chose monochromatic shades that complimented it. You can also select an analogous, triad, complimentary, compound, and shade rule. It's fun just to play around with them to get different combinations.

And you can save and upload your own color palettes and name them to your liking. Cute names I saw included Cinnamon Toast, Golden Catnaps, and Grandma's Canned Tomatoes!

Anyway, I found it to be a valuable design tool. I hope you do too!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Scary & On Sale

Last night I went to Joann, mainly to check out the new Halloween stuff on sale. I was surprised to find out that Martha Stewart has a Halloween line there. I was super excited! I wanted to share with you some of the cool, spooky craft and décor items they had that I was excited by. I think you will be too! Such cute and spooky stuff!


There were patterned paper packs in cute orange/yellow/green characters as well as vampire/haunted pack in blacks, red, and gothic papers.


These are just some of the stickers. I love the candy ones the best!


These glitter letters are spooky and fun! Love the little spiders!


I love these treat favor gloves! Such a cute update from the plain plastic gloves you fill with popcorn.


Of course, I heart vintage characters. I have a soft spot for the black cat. Like I said, there's a funny/cute version and a more gothic set.


There were paper punches too that wer spider webs and blood drips. Too cute.


And look at this glittery fun!


And love the red foil on these. I don't really buy labels like this, but I think they are really cool.


Look at these cute banners and décor. Love it!


And speaking of blood drops, I think the blood drop is my favorite stencil from this set.


Here's a little look at more items in the aisle...

Just a heads up, I know this line is available at the Etc. stores, but I'm not so sure if it is at the smaller stores. You may want to call your local store just in case!


Here's the loot I brought home! Crafty projects to come!!

I hope you enjoy these spooky finds. I'll be bringing more Scary & On Sale finds I find at various stores at some of my fave places.

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

i heart Faces entry: Beach Fun Photo Challenge

Here's my entry for this week's i Heart Faces photo challenge. This is my niece Taylor last month while on the beach at Malibu. I love the joy in her face. She found two smooth stone rocks to take home. She's the sweetest. Whoa, that was a really not very well constructed paragraph!



Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Let the Sun Shine

Wanted to fill you in on a few things (and also share a few of my recent photos).

– I got my new iPhone. After a small speedbump with the SIM card, it is working like a charm. I'm loving the front facing camera and the new Instabooth iPhone app I downloaded from the App Store.



– Spent Friday night to Pismo's (a fairly new restaurant in Fresno near Riverpark). The food there is sooooo good. I totally am going to take my friend Tasha there in a couple weeks when she comes to visit. It's so yummy and the food is always so pretty. Love it!



And on a much random note, a variety of the things I did this weekend: Went to Alana's baby shower (shopped at Spencer's - ha! for the gift), went to Modesto to see my boys (William and Frankie), went to an estate sale (felt sad looking through stuff that once meant something to someone), got a DQ Peanut Buster Parfait, went to the car wash, washed 3 old episodes of Breaking Bad, watched the movie, The Professional.

OVerall, it was a great weekend. And now, I'm tired and going to bed :)

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

5 Freaky Friday Finds

Every Friday until Halloween on Fridays, I'll be sharing you 5 Freaky Friday Finds that I love and think you will to! These range from things you can buy to inspiration that might get the ideas flowing (or the blood curdling). Anyway, I hope you have fun with me while I share these fabulous Halloween features!


Spooky Vintage Typewriter from Poetic Home.


Lisa Marie's amazing lined stripe dress via Chud.com. This is what a sexy Halloween costume SHOULD look like!


This is a Halloween craft I want to make! Right up my alley with the stripes and vintage-look! (Via the Allsorts blog)


This cool skull made from pots, pans and other kitchen stuff (via Modern Living).


Great vintage-inspired Halloween tshirts from SpookShows.com.

I'll be back in another week with 5 more Freaky Friday Finds!

Inspired by Share Some Candy

Tonight I came upon the blog Share Some Candy and let's just say there was a lot of visual eye candy to be found. It is the home of a lot of my favorite things... art, design, photography, typography, packaging and more. *Swoon*

A couple of their cool features?

– The Workplace Series...so seriously cool to see cool artists in their element in their studio and actually working. A lot of these places aren't glossed over and cleaned up like you see in a lot of magazines, just because the cameras are there. Oh and there is a lot of color and visual fun to be had in their spaces as well.

– Their 41 Creative Alphabets feature is seriously amazing and will help reveal to you a lot of new fresh takes at looking at the world.

I could go on and on, but I suggest you hop over there RIGHT.NOW. and see how very far out it is for yourself. You will be glad you visited.

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Out with the old, in with the new, but in the meantime...

So my iPhone died on Friday night. I went to recharge it and when I returned, it was just stuck on the apple screen. Major BOO! I tried to recharge, restart, everything. Then I took it in on Saturday to the AT&T store, and the guy said it was dead and that I could fix it, but I could also upgrade to the new iPhone 4. I've wanted the new iPhone since it came out, but I guess it is good I waited since they went ahead and let me upgrade now. I'm super excited about the multi-layer functions, the better camera, and the video access. YAY! It will be great to have that all on my phone The thing is that they didn't have any available and I have to wait about 2 weeks to get it. So, in the meantime, this is what I'm using...



It's my very first phone from like 7 years ago. No bells and whistles at all. I could find the cord and the charger for it, but not my second phone. Yikes. I was talking on it several times tonight, and even though it was charged, it turned off while I was talking. I don't know why. I'm going to have to search more for that other cord, but I think I may have given it away to Goodwill. Whoops.

So, I'll be disconnected for a couple of weeks. Just being disconnected from my smart phone has made me kinda realize how I'm constantly connected to it. I realize that's part of the reason I get stressed out about talking on the phone as of late. I'm immersed in the phone (checking e-mails and sites) and online so much, that I don't want to have anything to do with it when I get home. That's so not good.

WEll, anyway, hope you guys are having a great week!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

To catch a Pixie

Pixie shines when she's in the spotlight! Here's about the closest you'll ever get a glimpse of Pixie. She's one true scaredy cat. I still love her though.

Hope you enjoy my little on the fly video.

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

i heart faces entry: Got to Wear Shades

I love the fun challenges over at iheartfaces.com. This week's challenge is all about wearing shades, so I thought I would share this photo of me from a couple years back wearing my then new pair of shades. I love how photography transforms you to be someone else! I don't really see so much of myself in this photo, and that's what I think is so fun about it!



Do you have a photo of yourself wearing shades you want to share? Add it to your blog and join in on the challenge!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Red Pepper Chicken and Olive Spread

This weekend, I was lured in by the marketing of the sample girl at Trader Joe's. They were giving out yummy samples of this dip made with 3 simple ingredients: a jar of Red Pepper Spread, and a can of Sliced Black Olives, and Premium Chunk White Chicken. They were served with Trader Joe's Social Crackers (just the butter club crackers like the Keebler kind).



Yeah, it's good stuff. I'm such a sucker for things that take less than 5 minutes to make. Love, love dip type stuff, I just rarely make it cause I don't do a lot of entertaining (would have to have a clean house for that!) I'm sure if you wanted to make this, you could use similar brands or add it your own mix ins for a different flavor. :)

I promise you this is good stuff! I plan on taking it in tomorrow to work to share with a couple of friends for lunch!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Colorful Collage Cluster Bottles

Here's a fun and colorful project to finish out summer with! I love bright colors and I love to collage. I thought I'd mix the two along with my love for embellishments to create this easy DIY project. It's a great way to make something super pretty on the cheap! Here's how you do it!


Gather your supplies. I used various magazines, different sized and cleaned glass jars, Collage Pauge® Instant Decopauge, lid or plate, scissors,brush, and various embellishments including buttons and Tulip® Glam-It-Up!™ Iron-On Crystals™. I also used Aleene's® Original Tacky Glue, but I forgot to show it in the photo.


Cut out various images from magazines. Choose a color scheme like that is in the same color family for the monochromatic look.


The magazine clippings shouldn't be too large, more around .5" to 1" in width and height.


Dip brush in Collage Pauge® Instant Decopauge and add a layer of medium to both front and back of clipping and adhere to jar.


Overlap strips of paper until entire jar is covered.


Adorn bottle as desired with embellishments. Let dry.


I hope you enjoyed this project!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Today I'm inspired by...

This building a part of a community art initiative in Rio de Janeiro...via Favela Painting blog.


This poster from Telegramme Studio. I love the off registration. And of course the colors.


Art Selden's Vintage Children's Illustrations. I wish I had this talent! Via Tales of Whoa's Flickr stream.


This dramatic door photo from my friend Chris. I love the depth of field and the amazing textures!


This pixel wrapping paper by Lagom Design makes my heart pitter patter! Oh the crafting possibilities!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa