{Not So} Tough Tuesday's #5

Hello beautiful bloggers!  I don't know about you, but I am loving this crisp, cool air here in the Atlanta, GA area.  Fall is definitely in the air!

Which means, Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away!  I hope you had a fabulous Halloween yesterday.  We had tons of trick-or-treater's, and I loved seeing all of their cute costumes!

We've got a lot going on in our home right now...busy, busy.  But, I still have time to party, and I hope you do, too!  I hope you'll link up something lovely and fall-ish - Halloween costumes from last night, Thanksgiving goodies, or anything like that.

Here's what I've created lately - check it out:

30 Days of Thanks

Thankful Tree

Hey, by the way, we're on Facebook!  I like you, so why don't you pop over and "Like" me?  :)

Now, how 'bout a little linky party?  You know the rules, but just in case we have any newbies, here they are again:

• Invite other bloggers to link up PLEASE!!!  :)
• Link to your post, not your home page (No linky parties, giveaways, or shops please!)
• Link back to my blog - either display my cute little One Tough Mother button or a text link

<a border="0" href="http://onetoughmom.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/onetoughmother/LinkyPartyBlogButton.jpg"/></a>

• Stick to the theme - this week: Halloween, Fall, or Thanksgiving!!!
• Leave love behind - visit and comment on as many other links as possible - at least 2-3
• Party closes at midnight Wednesday - so link up!

Happy Halloween!!!

It's officially Halloween, and all the kiddos are anxious to get their loot tonight.

I was reminiscing over Halloween's past and wanted to share pictures of Marley in her many costumes over the years.  I'm only missing 2002 and 2003, before I had a digital camera.

Enough chit-chat - on with the pictures!

2004 - 2 years old - Cutest cow EVER!

2005 - 3 years old - My sweet little fairy :)

2006 - 4 years old - Ruh-Roh!  It's Scooby-Doo!

2007 - 5 years old - Cute little kitty!

2008 - 6 years old - UGA (University of GA mascot) - She's a little bulldog!

2009 - 7 years old - Rockstar!!

2010 - 8 years old - Princess Leia :)

(This cracks me up - our neighbors were hot dogs, and all night long I kept calling them "Hallo-weenie's!)

There you have it!  A recap of most of Marley's costumes.  This year, she is going trick-or-treating as Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family.  I'll be sure to share pictures of that one, too!

I want to see all of your cute trick-or-treaters, too!  So, for our little linky party tomorrow, that's what I want you to share.  Come back Tuesday for {Not So} Tough Tuesday's and link up your post showing off your cute little Halloween kids!

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Linking up to Funky Polkadot Giraffe

The Simple Things

Sometimes, accidents are beautiful...as is the case with this image of my daughter, Marley:

Mark was carving a pumpkin and I laid my camera on the table.  She laid her head down to stare into the lens, giggling because she could see herself.  So I turned the camera on and snapped this picture.

Love :)

Linking up to Simple As That

{Life} As We Know It...

Ok, confession time:  I've been a bad linky party host.  I'm sorry.  Life gets crazy sometimes and I can't do everything I want to do.  Please forgive me...

First of all, thank you so much to all of you who linked up.  I realize I haven't visited your links, and again, I'm sorry.  I will, I promise.  Just bear with me.  I wasn't even able to invite new people to our little weekly shin-dig like I normally do...

Anyway, I just want to keep you posted on what's going on around here, cuz it's a lot :)

The hubs and I partied this past weekend for his 20 year high school reunion:

I got my hair "did":

I launched one of my Thanksgiving projects (check it out here):

And...I took the first steps to starting a new business - SUPER excited about that but can't go into detail yet.  :)  Sorry for the tease!  I'll share more when I can!

The new biz is eating up a lot of my time right now - business license, insurance, marketing plans, pricing plans, etc.  But, it's a good thing...a very good thing.  I promise I'll share when I'm able.

In the mean time, I want to share my second Thanksgiving project with you.  I hope you like it - our family will be starting this little project next Tuesday, November 1st.

So, here's how to make your own Thankful Tree.

First, gather your paint supplies and canvas:

I mixed my colors and made this lovely orange for my background:

Paint the background of your canvas any color you like:

Paint a tree :)  I sprinkled some glitter on it, too.

I found these cute little leaves and edited them in Picnik, adding text that says "I'm Thankful For _____"

Now all you have to do is cut them out, write your little blessings on them, and use glue dots or double-sided tape to stick them to your tree!

Oh, if you want to use the leaves I made, go here to download it.

Enjoy!

Linking up to these fabulous blogs:
Somewhat Simple, Yesterday on Tuesday, Fireflies and Jellybeans
House of Hepworths, Beyond the Picket Fence, What Allie's Making
Life Made Lovely, Today's Creative Blog, Reasons to Skip the Housework
Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Junkie

{Not So} Tough Tuesday's #4

Hello fabulous crafty ladies!  It's time to link up to your HALLOWEEN, FALL, OR THANKSGIVING creations this week!

I really enjoyed checking out everything you linked up last week.  Thanks so much!

My personal top 3 were:

'Stache of Candy Tote by Pitter and Glink

Felted Acorns by The Mommy Diaries

Halloween Wreath by Mighty Crafty

Please stick to the rules (especially the one about inviting other crafty bloggers - that would be swell)  :)

Here are the rules for this week:

• Invite other bloggers to link up PLEASE!!!  :)
• Link to your post, not your home page (No linky parties, giveaways, or shops please!)
• Link back to my blog - either display my cute little One Tough Mother button or a text link

<a border="0" href="http://onetoughmom.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/onetoughmother/LinkyPartyBlogButton.jpg"/></a>

• Stick to the theme - this week: Halloween, Fall, or Thanksgiving!!!
• Leave love behind - visit and comment on as many other links as possible - at least 2-3
• Party closes at midnight Wednesday - so link up!

I am thankful for you because....

Remember late last week when I asked you to compile a list of about 30 people for whom you are thankful?  Well, did you do it?  Good!  (If not, get on it, girlfriend!)

So, first, let me just say that I did not steal this idea.  I came up with this idea several weeks ago, and I've been saving it for today.  BUT - I got my newest edition of Better Homes & Gardens magazine this weekend, and they have something eerily similar....  {Is BHG spying on my blog calendar, perhaps???}  :)

Since their pictures are prettier than mine, I thought I'd share theirs.

Ok, here's what I want you to do:

1. If you haven't already done so, make a list of 30 people for whom you are thankful, and a brief little note to yourself as to why you are thankful for them.
2. Get out your stationary, make your own cards, or got to bhg.com/freshthanks to download theirs - you'll need 30 of them, duh.
3. I recommend using your calendar for this part.  Schedule your thanks.  Assign one person on your list for each day in November.  Obviously, mail isn't picked up on Sundays, so you can either send 2 on Saturdays or 2 on Mondays.  Whatever you want.
4. Get to writing!  Make it heartfelt, honest, and sweet.  It doesn't have to be long-winded or fancy, but I highly recommend sending hand-written notes.

Here are some cute Thankful cards for inspiration:

I found these on the Making Memories blog from a couple years ago, thought they were cute:

These are on Pebbles in my Pocket:

Ok, wow...Scrapcetera

And finally, from Inspired Blueprints:

I hope these ideas get your creative juices flowing.  And I sincerely hope you'll take this challenge to thank those in your life who may really need to hear it.  You might even be surprised to receive a thank-you card in return!  :)

And don't forget, I'm hosting a linky party tomorrow!  You can link up anything crafty that centers on Halloween, Fall, or Thanksgiving.  Hope to see you then!

Linking up to these fab blogs:
Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Today's Creative Blog, Sugar and Dots

The Simple Things

Last night, my hubby enjoyed good laughs with some of his friends during their 20 year high school reunion.  One of our friends brought their Senior yearbook...of course everyone enjoyed reminiscing about good ol' Class of 1991!

Linking up to Simple As That

A quick little note about being Thankful...

I am thankful...

- to all of YOU who take the time to stop by and read this blog

- to all of YOU who linked up at this week's Linky Party :)

- to have my phenomenal husband, daughter, and mother loving and supporting me

- to be learning a really cool new skill (I'll be sharing more later!!!)

- to be blessed with a creative bone, and to finally have an outlet to share it (this blog - YAY!)

I'm thankful for lots of other great stuff, but I'll spare you from a long-winded blog post.  I want to introduce a couple things to you, and I'm going to expand on them in the days to come.  I just want you to start getting your thinking (and "thanking") caps on!

FIRST...

Start thinking about who you are thankful for in your life.  Make a little list...shoot for 30.  Make a list of these fabulous people in your life and write a little blurb next to their name about why you're thankful for them.

Keep your list handy, work on it over the next few days, and come back Monday with your list ready to go!

SECOND...

Start getting your family excited about Thanksgiving by talking about what you're thankful for, not just who. 

Get some supplies together, and come back next Thursday with these things:

• Piece of canvas, at least 8 x 10
• Acrylic paint in fall colors
• A couple sheets of 8.5" x 11" cardstock
• Color printer
• Scissors
• Glue dots or 2-sided tape

Getting curious yet?  Good!  That means you'll be back next week!

So, I'm taking the weekend off from blogging - this week has been INSANE so I'm playing catch-up.  See you next week!!!