Faux Mexican Sugar Skulls...

One of the traditions of the Mexican Holiday, the Day of the Dead, is to make brightly decorated skulls made from sugar, and to eat them as a symbolic jest to death. An "I laugh at death" sort of thing... I ordered a mold for making skulls out of sugar, but I also thought that I might be able to make some FAUX sugar skulls out of some of the very same styrofoam skulls that I bought at the dollar tree for my Halloween swap.

Remember these?

I also found a larger styrofoam skull at Walmart.


I'm hoping to turn them into something like THESE...

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Excuse me... Where did you find your TROLL costume?

That's what I SHOULD have asked her...

Thanks, Melissa! I needed that laugh.




Some days, I just wish I could have my life back.
Maybe I'll get it all off my chest HERE.

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ATC's in the Hizouse...

I got just about everything on my list yesterday DONE, and a few things EXTRA!! Thank goodness. I had a lot to do!! lol


The kids and I have been working on ATC's for a swap. Josh and Macs got theirs done last night, and I got mine done for the upcoming GutterGirlz prompt!! Ian's still sitting on his idea... he should be done with it in the next day or so... Here's your gutter girl PEEK!


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Life is hectic

how's THAT for a title? and I don't have a photo... it's one of those weeks!! Things started out out of order, and they seem to be staying that way!! I have a TON of catching up to do today...

• josh to school
• thyroid meds to pick up
• harvest party things to pick up
  
• oil changes if I can get one...
• volunteer time at school
• deadlines to meet creatively
• halloween costumes to finish
• ATC's to make with the kids
• friends to meet
• packages to mail

Just LOTS and LOTS of STUFF that needs to get done TODAY because tomorrow, I have a field trip to go on for most of the day, and then I clean on Thursday and Friday... and then trick or treating will be upon us... it's just gonna be a WEEK man!! Have a great one!! I'll see you on the other side!


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Day of the Dead

When I was little, I was always fascinated with the Mexican holiday, Day of the Dead. We, however, didn't celebrate it, even though we are Spanish. (but we WEREN'T Mexican, said Great Gramma.) Turns out, we might actually BE Mexican. I'm not sure WHY Tutu so vehemently denied being Mexican. It could be, because we really AREN'T. It could be, because a long long time ago, when my gramma was little, and her mother before her was little, it was not a fun thing to be in New Mexico. There was a lot of predjudice against Mexicans there. There was segragation. It could be, that by even if only in words, by separating themselves from being Mexican, my family found dignity in their culture. It could ALSO be, that we really ARE Spanish, as in from SPAIN. It could be, that the census takers, saw a spanish speaking family, with heavy Spanish accents, and being IN New Mexico, and so near Mexico, just WROTE Mexican on their papers. Kind of in the way that many imigrants who came to Ellis Island found themselves with new last names, because the census takers couldn't be bothered to learn what their real ones were. What ever the reason, we didn't DO things that were MEXICAN when Tutu was alive. Because WE were Spanish. Only the census records say we might actually be Mexican. We'll never know for sure, and probably the only people who might understand my great grandmas need to make any sort of distinction, are those who are of a Latino decent, and do not wish for their heritage to be mashed into the one size fits all label that many Latinos find themselves mashed into. The diversity of culture in the Latino community is great.
Day of the Dead, or Dia De Los Muertos, is a holiday that celebrates the LIFE of those who have passed away. I plan to do this in honor of my grandma, who lived life WELL. I'm also taking part in Dia De Bloglandia, a small group of bloggers who will be celebrating Day of the Dead on their blogs as well. Rodrigvitz Style, is the host of this party of sorts, and has some REALLY excellent TUTORIALS for any Gringos who may want to take part! You totally don't have to be ANY form of Latino to celebrate this holiday.

© Rachel Whetzel Please do not use content or images without written permissions.

Picasa 3 and other stuff

If you haven never used Picasa, or if you haven't upgraded your current version to version three, you need to. AND if you've never used Picnik.com, you should. I'm not being paid to say this. It's just that I've come to love BOTH the photo editing programs a LOT. Picasa is free. It's used on your computer. Picnik is also free, with premier options available for 25.00 a year. A GREAT deal, if you consider that there are a TON of features that mimic those of photoshop, which can set you back HUNDREDS of dollars. When you mix the TWO programs together? PURE BLISS.
Here's an example of that. While visiting with Sara the other day, and after lunch, we took photos. BUT we only took two shots, and I didn't stop to look at the shots when we took them. Once we got home, I noticed that even though we were in the shade, for better photos, there were a few spots of sunlight on Sara and my faces that were pretty distracting. So I decided to try and fix that. Here's the "original" version. I've cropped at this point, and add a little fill light, but that's it, and you can see that the shadowing on our faces is a little distracting.

I used the RETOUCH feature on Picasa to take some of the harshness from the shadows on my chin and upper lip, and also on Sara's cheeck near her eye, and a little on her chin.

THEN I took the photo to picnik.com, and used the shine be gone and blemish fix to even out the tones even more. Once I did that, I went into the Effects, and used Ortonish, and Vignette to add more to the photo. I saved it back to my computer, and then used Picasa some more! lol
I took the shadow down just a bit, and used the tint feature to adjust the color. I think it came out pretty good!!

At anyrate, if you haven't tried either program, you really should!! Picnik can be used without creating an account, and you don't load anything onto your computer there. You just use it on line, and save your photos back to your computer if you want to.
I had a great day with Sara by the way, and then went on to have more fun with Donna and my Mom while we went to about 5 scrap and craft spots in the area!! I bought a TON of fiskars goodies, (to add the the ones I already HAD) so I'm READY to use that demonstrator ability now!! Thanks, Sara, for the training!!
While were shopping at Joanne's Donna got THE crooked cart! Check it OUT!! I mean, that thing has been like that FOR A LONG TIME!! lol

In other news- there were some interesting BUGS on the front window today... I don't know what kind they are. Anyone?


If you haven't gotten the chance, check out the new tutorials I'm offering!! Right now, it's blogging. Starting from the beginning, and with screen shots to help you understand what you're looking for! They are all in my sidebar, in the drop down list!! Be sure too, to check out the Geek THIS links!! A list of the places I've learned some of what I know. They explain things well, so no need to re teach a good lesson there!
I'm off to clean houses in a bit. Have a GREAT day!!

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Mi Madre

FINALLY getting caught up with a few things today... like editing the photos I took of my mom last time I was over to see her...
Now that I'm going to see her TOMORROW!! lol
Going to meet one of the Oregon TallyScrappers, and play at some scrapbooking stores that I haven't been to down in Southern Oregon. It's going to be a good day!





© Rachel Whetzel Please do not use content or images without written permissions.

Please Don't Vote.

Really. If I hear one more time, about how someone isn't going to vote for McCain because he looks weird, or he blinks too much, or that they want to vote for Obama because he's for CHANGE, I think I'm going to scream. I don't CARE who you vote for, if you know what issues matter to you, and you make your decision based on whether or not the candidate you have chosen to vote for matches your views on those matters. A person's physical appearance, their confidence or ability to schmooze IS NOT a good reason to choose to vote them. If this is what you base your voting power on, I'd really rather you just didn't vote at all.
Here's a little something to add confusion to your decision...
20/20's John Stossel hosted a Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics, and it is maybe the closest thing to sanity I heard in a long time... Take a look... it's pretty interesting stuff, no matter WHO you plan to vote for. I still don't know for sure who I'm voting for... but I promise I won't decide based on which canidate is cuter, or promises the most change.
Part ONE
Part TWO
Part THREE
Part FOUR
Part FIVE

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Butterflies

At the end of summer, we discovered some tiny caterpillars in the Dill Weed in the garden. We took them into the house, and put them in our "butterfly pavillion", which is REALLY an Ikea Laundry hamper... (it was bigger than the ones you can buy through educational bug sites, and MUCH cheaper)
So we brought about 8 of them in, to see what they would do, and what they would become. They started to get bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER... and soon, they went from the smaller of the two you see in this photo:

to WAY bigger...

and just about a week or two ago... they did this:


Two of them will HOPEFULLY become butterflies. According to what I found HERE, they will be Black Swallowtail Butterflies. I've never seen one in real life!! I'm so excited!! The sites says they like plants from the parsely family, (they were in the Dill, which I planted near the parsley, and unknowingly made a "heaven" for them) This is what they will be when they emerge in the spring:

(photo courtesy of the site linked above)


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Desecrating Vintage Goodies...

Also known as repurposing...
If you think that EVERYTHING old should NEVER be used for anything OTHER than what it was made to be used for, you should just leave now.
Like, yesterday.
Really.
I don't think we can be friends anymore...
hee hee
Seriously, though. If the thought of trashing something old makes you sick to your stomach, you really probably shouldn't read much further.
IF on the other hand, the thrill of creating something that's cool and new out of something old makes your heart skip beats, then I have something for you.
First of all... you need to know (or remember) that in the scrap booking world right now, crochet flowers are pretty hot. They are also not cheap.
I was thrifting with my mom the other day, and saw this.

Something in my head said...
"rachel, those flowers would look AWESOME on a scrap page... or even a card!"
Of course, I wrestled with the fact that it's a VINTAGE DOILY... and well, it's probably a collectible all on it's own. BUT it's not a collectible that I PERSONALLY collect.
It's also not one my mom collects. It's also not one I think I ever WILL collect.
I DO, however, really REALLY like them, and the way they look.
So we bought the goodie. For $1.50, if you must know.
and we began to **gasp!**
CUT.

and pretty soon... we had this:

HOLY COW. I can't WAIT to play with this one!! CAN'T WAIT. Did I mention we got 14 of those babies off of the one doily? Yep. 7 each.
So once you get over the shocking idea of cutting up a potentially valuable item, and actually USING the thing for something... I think you'll agree that it's a pretty cool idea!! lol I think they will look SO cute with little brads, or a vintage earring in the center of them...

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Feed issues...

Not sure WHY this is a problem, BUT if you are subscribing to my feed through blog lines, there are three choices for you. the first one isn't good. The second one IS. Here's the feed address: http://www.minetothine.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
You'll want to make that change in bloglines and unsubscribe to the one you are subscribed to there. I THINK that everyone else is good to go. If you subscribed through Feedburner, you should be golden, and you probably didn't even notice that there was any problem. (because there wasn't for you)

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