Shabby Pumpkins

Last weekend I was asked to do a make 'n take for Island Scrapbooking's 10 Anniversary Sale. Congrats Michele for making it to 10 years!

I wanted to keep the project relatively simple as the make 'n takes are for crafters of all levels and participants come in at different times, so you need something easy to follow to keep the flow going.  While trying to figure out what I wanted to make, I found this video on YouTube by MsLiberty25.  Check out the link here... Shabby Pumpkin Tutorial.  There are several pumpkins she makes on the video, but I decided to go with the strip pumpkins for the make 'n take.

Here's what I came up with...  Decided to cut them up at the 6" size, but the purple one is a little larger, so I could show them that you can make them bigger or smaller.

Added some roses I made using my SU flower punch and following this tutorial by Creative Zoe.  I actually started making these roses before deciding to put them on my pumpkin.  They are very addicting to make, so I suggest you mass produce them so you have a bunch to play with when you need them.

I think this green one is my favorite..

Decided to use some of my old white large flowers by Petaloo for this one.

And this is the Prima paper that was used in the actual make 'n take.

And the cool thing is that they are functional too!  You can slide open the strips and stick some candy in there.  I love how they came out!  Now that's my kind of pumpkin!  Happy Halloween everyone!

Don't forget to check out the Sister Stamps blog.. we are previewing the releases for November!  

10-10-13 Day 5: Children's Discovery Center, Bellagio & the Cal

My oh my, almost at the end of our trip!  One of the things I had to do before we left Vegas was to mail my two boxes of stuff to me so my suitcase wouldn't be so full.  This is something I regularly do when I go to the mainland. I stick two large flat rate boxes in my suitcase in the event I buy too much (which is the norm) and can't fit it all in my suitcase.  Now I wish I bought me a duffle bag from LeSportsac!

After our post office drop, Paul left us to go meet up with some local Taiko players.  Since it was Akemi's last day, we gave her a choice of going back to Excalibur or Circus Circus or go to the Children's Discovery Center.  She chose the Discovery Center.. Good Girl!

Paul thought it would be too young for Akemi, but we decided to try anyway. I thought it might be different from the Hawaii one and I was right!  Had way more things for older kids at this one.  

One of the first stops was the water section.  Akemi had just as much fun as the toddlers in this section!

 She liked a lot of the activities they had there including the food section and science sections.

Here's one of her favorite features of the discovery center...

It was a wind tunnel!  Pretty awesome.

Look who we found at the Discovery Center!  It's Daba!

After trying this challenge, Akemi said she doesn't think she's going to be a Civil Engineer...

Very cool... giant lite brite!

Say what?!

I think I need one of these for my house...

So even if your kids are older, they will still have fun at the Vegas Discovery Center.  If you are on your way to the outlet mall you will see it on your left if heading from downtown.  I think this would be great to drop off the kids and an adult while the other adult goes shopping! :)  I'm gonna tell my brother to do that next time they go.  My nieces will love it!


After we got back to the hotel, we ran into Grandma Kat...  GUESS WHAT?

SOMEONE FINALLY WON!  Yay!  At least we weren't all losers!

We decided to head out one last time before dropping off the car.  We decided to check out the fountains at night.  I'll never get tired of it!

That is one attraction I'll never get tired of seeing.  I can't believe my sister hasn't seen it yet!  After a couple of "performances" we headed across the street to check out Sugar Factory.  I was a high end candy shop.  Good candies, but kinda expensive.  $65 for a set of three blinged out lollipops!  Had to pop my eyes back into their sockets.

After that we were pretty tired, so we headed back to Main Street to return our car.  Kyle later took Paul and Akemi back to Sonic for dinner while mom and I ate at the Cal.  Mom and Akemi went to bed and Paul and I stayed up until it was time to meet for our flight.  So tired but had so much fun!  I'm still recovering from my Vegas hangover!

10-09-13 Day 4: Outlet Mall

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Vegas was to hit the outlet mall my mom kept telling me about.  Since no one wanted to go shopping with us, we split from the group and headed out on our own.

Before we left, we wanted to try the slot tournament at Main Street.  When we picked up our car, we saw a huge crowd at the slot tournament, so we thought it might be fun to enter... so we paid our $10 and entered.  As it neared 11:00, we wondered if anyone else was going to enter?

Only me, mom, and two other guys entered.  The grouchy lady called us back to the booth and told us we "qualify" for the finals.  What the hell does that mean?  Hello!  No explanation whatsoever.  We didn't even know if we would make it back in time for the finals.  So we went back to the booth and told her we couldn't make it back, so she gave us a refund.  What a bust!  Don't think I'll ever do that again unless I'm trapped at the casino all day.

So mom and I headed to the Outlet to do some damage.  We had a lot of fun! I picked up some bags for myself (thanks Mom!) and started some of my Christmas shopping. Got some good deals!  Will definitely go back the next time I visit.

After we got back and met up with Paul & Akemi, they wanted to go to the Outlet with me.  One of the things on Akemi's to do list was to get her ears pierced.  She talked about it before our trip, but when we first got to Vegas, we couldn't find a regular place to get them pierced.  Only tattoo places offered piercings, so we decided to wait.  I saw a Claire's at the outlet mall, so I told Akemi about it and she wanted to go.

I let her pick out her earings- she picked her birthstone.  Then just like that, they were pierced!

She said it hurt a little, but after awhile she was fine.  So proud of her!

The only other picture I have to share for that day is this caramel apple. The night before, Kyle and I wanted a caramel apple at Circus Circus, but the store closed before we could get one.  When I saw this one at the outlet mall, I had to get it!  It was HUGE and expensive, but I think it was worth it.  I picked the one covered in oreos.  Love that it came with the perfect carrier!

 

So I didn't get to go with Paul and the gang during the day, but they tell me they went to Five guys burgers.  They all highly recommended it, so I guess if you are in Vegas or see one, you should try it.  Everyone seemed to like it a lot!

After getting Akemi's ears pierced, Paul, Akemi and Kyle went to the jousting tournament at the Excalibur.  It came with dinner, so they ate while they watched.  They all seemed to like it a lot.  No napkins or silverware, I passed.

After a long day of shopping/sight seeing, Paul & I hit the blackjack table.  Although we didn't make any $$ we sure had fun!  Come back for one more day of Vegas fun!

10-08-13 Day 3: Wicked Spoon, Aria, M&M World, Caesars, Bellagio, Tony Roma's and Circus Circus

One of the places we really wanted to try was the Wicked Spoon buffet at the Cosmopolitan hotel.  The brunch buffet was a lot cheaper, so we decided to skip breakfast and headed to the Cosmo for some Wicked food.

Akemi wanted to take a picture by this pilar.  Didn't I tell you everything was blinged out!?

 We finally found the buffet upstairs.  I liked the sign..

Then the feast began... I think my eyes were bigger than my stomach.  I couldn't fit everything on my plate!  OMG.. see that brown thing in the little pot on the bottom of my plate?  That was this really awesome mushroom spaghetti.  If you see it, you should try it.  The wings in the fry basket was pretty awesome too.

One of the things that Kyle wanted to try was the bone marrow.  After awhile, I saw it on the buffet, so Paul and Kyle went to go grab some. I'm sorry, but it didn't look that appetizing to me.

And now for a taste... verdict? Kyle:  "no taste".  What?  No thank you.

Does everyone look full?  We took this towards the end.

Akemi and all her grandmas!

Happy Yakudoshi!

Daddy & Akemi...

 Futting around in the hallway...

I think we found Gru's shrink ray!

Back at the Chandelier Bar.. so pretty! You gotta see it in person.

On our way to M&M world (which looks close but is not), we hit the Aria.  There's a mall, but I forget the name.. Crystal something.  Very high end shops, but they had some cool displays in the middle.

Check out the torando!

Once we found the casino, Grandma Kat went to go play some roulette, while Akemi and I "saved money"

We finally made it to M&M world!

Back at Cosmo, we found this shoe. A funnier story is that upstairs we saw an adult sitting in a shoe and got stuck!  Bwahahahaha!  She said she didn't need help, but I'm pretty sure she was stuck and was too shame to ask for help. I wonder how long she stayed there?

After Cosmo, we headed to Caesar's Forum Shops to go see the statues. It must be off season cause none of them were working!  As Akemi would say.. "Argh!"

To make up for it, we walked over to the Bellagio fountains for a better look. Paul & Kyle went on their own for a bit, so we met up with them at the fountains.

After the show, we walked through the Bellagio.  Found the seasonal section was full of Fall themed stuff.  Although, not sure what this guy is.

Although we gorged ourselves at the Wicked Spoon, we managed to have dinner with my dad.  Here's Akemi with him and his wife.

They made a Build A Bear Chef doll for Akemi.  

After dinner, we headed to Circus Circus.  I don't know who had more fun, Akemi or mom!  Mom beat us on all the group games!

After a long day, we finally crashed out at the hotel.

10-7-13 Vegas Day 2: Main Street, Cosmopolitan, and the Strip

You're back?  I guess you like reading about our adventures!  This was Akemi's first trip to Vegas, so she didn't know quite what to expect.  She heard about some places, but really didn't know where she wanted to go.

Since Paul's favorite buffet (or so he thought) was the Main Street breakfast buffet, we headed there for breakfast on our first morning.  We had to go to pick up our car anyway at Main Street, so it worked out perfectly.  Sadly, the buffet is not quite as we remembered.  I guess things change in 10 years.  Here's Akemi getting goofy at breakfast.

Akemi entertained herself at breakfast.  She didn't think she could suck up the jello through her straw.

After we ate, we picked up the car from Main Street.  Paul ended up going with his family that morning for some family visiting while I took Akemi and Mom to go explore a bit.  Paul's friend Kyle decided to join us as we headed to Trader Joe's in search of cookie butter.

We weren't successful. In fact, there was a big sign saying they run out fast and you have to go to the front to ask for the cookie butter.  I guess all the crazy Hawaii people buy them out all the time.  More on cookie butter later.  We did our other Trader Joe's shopping and picked up my favorite Yogurt Stars!  Yum!

After Trader Joe's everyone humored me and went to Michael's.  Uncle Kyle took Akemi to the pet store next door.  When they met me later, he told me that Akemi wanted to buy a hamster.  Yikes!  

By then, we decided to head back to the hotel since we had some chocolate goodies and didn't want them to melt.  By the time we got back to the hotel, Paul was back with his family.  Mom and Akemi decided to rest at the hotel, so I headed out with Paul, his mom, his grandma, and Kyle to the Cosmopolitan hotel.  Kyle had done some research before his trip and had planned his food attack.  One of the items on his must eat list was Secret Pizza... So we headed to the Cosmopolitan to check it out. 

I must say, the Cosmopolitan was one of the nicer hotels that I've seen  Lots of bling everywhere. The decor was very upscale.  One of my favorite sites was the Chandelier Bar.  So Shabby!!!

We couldn't find the Secret Pizza on the directory... duh... that's why it's a secret no?  So Kyle asked someone who worked at the hotel where to go. They told us to go upstairs, find the pool table, and go down the hallway and you will find Secret Pizza.  Somehow we found it!  They had several types of pizza ready. Once you order, they heat it up for you so it's nice and warm.  For about $5, you can get a huge pizza- see sample below.

It was pretty bad ass. We ordered one sausage and one mushroom and shared.  I think we both preferred the mushroom.  They also had a white pizza, but we didn't try that.

After we ate our pizzas, my MIL ordered a cannoli.  Look how yummy that looks?  Never had one of those before.

Guess Paul didn't want to waste any of it!

After we left Secret Pizza, we waited a bit on the couches in the lobby when I saw this.. Do you recognize this?

Come on Friends fans.. It's Joey & Chandler's foozball table!  Bwahahahaha!

After we had our fill, we headed back to downtown to meet up with my mom and Akemi.  Paul's family came to the Cal to have dinner with us that night.  It was nice to see Aunty Pat, Roberta, and Topper again.  After dinner, Akemi was getting antsy so we took her to the strip so she could see all the sites.

We drove past the Bellagio fountains, which she thought we so cool.  We didn't really stop anywhere along the way, but did pull into the Las Vegas sign at the end of the strip.  We were going to take a picture but it was too dark.  We hoped we could go back during the day to try to take another one.

Uncle Kyle didn't eat dinner with us, so he wanted to check out Sonic.  He was in search of their Frito Pie, but it must've been a seasonal thing cause we didn't see it on the menu.. But we did see this....

 OMG- chili cheese tater tots with extra onions.  I wasn't even hungry, but couldn't stop eating them!  Unfortunately their ice cream machine was down that night, so we didn't get to try their shakes.  Next time.

That was a lot of eating yah!?  Stay tuned for some wicked food!