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My Very First Scrapbook

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 23, 2008 in Scrapbooks

When I did an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer for my Scrapbooking Ministry about a year ago, I mentioned that I created my very first scrapbook based on the movie “Grease” when I was 10 years old.

Well…guess what my mother brought over this weekend?  That very same scrapbook! 

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In 1978, Topps marketed “Grease”  trading cards to girls – probably to compete with boys’ baseball and football cards.  I collected them all and put them into this little scrapbook…

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In the scrapbook, I also included magazine photos of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, ads for the movie…I even saved a wrapper and a piece of the bubblegum that was inside with the cards (30 year old piece of gum, anyone?)…

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I was obsessed with this movie!  I memorized every line and knew every song by heart.  Of course, being only 10 years old, a lot of the jokes went right over my head…but even then, I just loved Sandy as a ‘bad girl’! 

 
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A Milestone at Work

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 18, 2008 in Family Stuff

We’ve finally reached a milestone at work – the specification that we’ve been working on the for the last 9 months (kind of like our own little baby) has been posted on the Internet for review and comments from industry.  For those who keep asking me exactly what it is that I do at work (especially my son Andrew) – this is what I have been doing…

Here’s a link to the posting on the FAA Contract Opportunities website.

If you’re looking for some ‘light’ reading (sarcasm intended) or need some help falling asleep at night, feel free to read through the attachment at the bottom – all 300-or-so pages of it.

Or if you’re a software developer looking for a government contract, maybe it will be a bit more interesting to you…

 
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Day at the Beach

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 14, 2008 in Family Stuff, Today's Photo

We spent a gorgeous day at the beach in Ocean City today! 

While we were there, I thought to grab my camera and take a snapshot of the kids to use in our Christmas photo.  Here’s one of my favorites:

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Unfortunately, the kids weren’t wearing clothing that works well in for a Christmas picture…

So I’m going to try to take the image and play with it in Photoshop until I get something I like. 

Here’s the same image cropped in a simple black and white:

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Or here’s a neat ‘glow’ effect that gives it a dreamy quality and takes the focus off what they’re wearing:

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Or here’s an effect called ‘poster edges’ – kind of a interesting result:

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Or a chalk and charcoal image?

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A watercolor image?

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Or how about something really funky like a rubber stamp image?

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Hmm…what do you think?

 
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Matt’s Halloween Costume (continued)

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 14, 2008 in Family Stuff, Today's Photo

The alien costume is coming along…I had Matt try it on for size this afternoon:

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A few minor modifications, and it should be done soon…

 
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Constructing Halloween Costumes

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 12, 2008 in Crafts, Family Stuff

When I asked Matt and Emily what they wanted to be for Halloween this year, they of course answered that they wanted me to make them costumes (no simple costumes from Target or Party City for my kids this year!).  I do enjoy making their costumes…it’s just that this is my first year back to work and I don’t have nearly as much time as in previous years.  But I thought I’d start early and give it a shot.

One of my favorite sites for Halloween costume ideas is Family Fun – they have tons of ideas and most are fairly simple and inexpensive to create.

After much discussion and debate, Emily decided to try the Pick of the Litter costume:

 

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We started with a white hooded sweatshirt and then added some ‘spots’ made from cut pieces of faux fur (if you try this, let me warn you that cutting faux fur is VERY messy – the fur was certainly flying as we cut it).  We attached the fur with double-sided carpet tape.  We also cut out ears and a tail (stuffed leg of an old pair of tights) and pinned them on.  The directions from Family Fun have you making your own dog collar – I just bought a real dog collar that I’ll use on Daisy or Geddy when Halloween is over.

So Emily will wear that doggie outfit while carrying this box over her shoulders:

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I took a cardboard box and used pipe cleaners to attach some stuffed dogs to the edges (a-la those irritating twist ties in toy packaging that drives all parents nuts on Christmas morning – these dogs certainly aren’t going anywhere).  I also added some strips of newspaper to make it look even more like a box full of newborn puppies.  There are some pieces of rope that will go over her shoulders – the box started to get a little heavy, so I had to watch how many puppies I used (there is also one in the back to help to counterbalance the weight of the three in the front). 

I still want to make her a little doggie tag to hang from the collar, but for the most part, her costume is done.

Matt’s costume on the other hand…

He chose the Alien Encounter costume from Family Fun.  I’ve wanted to try this costume before, so even though it’s a bit complicated, I figured this year I’d give it a try. 

So far, I’ve only had time to create the paper mache alien head using a balloon, newspaper and a strong cardboard tube (I used one from a wrapping paper roll).  The glue is created with flour and water and then you are supposed to add 3-4 layers of newspaper on top of the balloon.  What they don’t tell you is that each layer takes about 24 hours to dry!  So here’s our costume so far (after working on it since Friday):

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Does it look like an alien head?  Maybe after I paint it?  I’ll let you know how it goes…

 
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Andrew’s First Homecoming Dance

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 12, 2008 in Family Stuff, Today's Photo

Yesterday Andrew attended his first high school homecoming dance – here he is with his lovely date:

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They had a nice time – and I think they were surprised as to what a big deal it was and how much was involved.  It wasn’t just your average Friday night middle school dance by any means.

And I still can’t believe I’m old enough to have a teenage son going to HOMECOMING!!!!  Sigh…

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