B-Movie Star

Sure, it's early, but Designs In Digital wants to help you be ready for the Holidays, and there's  no better way to get ready for the holidays than to head over to Designs In Digital and get on Board Santa's Digi Express! What is this crazy train you might ask?  Well, it's a way for you to create your  holiday cards, holiday letters, gift card holders,  gift tags, party invites, and MORE!!!

Santa's bag is loaded with awesome mini kits created by pairs of designers - you pick up the mini kits and use them to create awesome holiday projects. For every challenge you complete and post to the gallery you get a chance of winning the DAILY PRIZE!!

The Grab Bag Kit, smorgasbord of awesome materials, arrive in the shop November 1st . . .  Challenges will be posted beginning November 15th and Santa’s Digi Express leaves Designs In Digital on November 25th so hurry and join the fun before it is gone!

Check out the forum at Designs In Digital for more details. If you are new to Designs and Digital or to the SDE - don't be shy - everyone is nice there and will be glad to help you out or answer any questions you have.  This event is known for being tons of FUN!!! Plus, you'll be creating gifts and holiday materials - what could be better than that? Oh, yeah, getting free prizes - which you can!!! oh yeah!

All this sounds pretty awesome doesn't it?

Well guess what? Santa's elves want to get this party started early! So they created a double edged challenge!! What does that mean? Well you get two chances to win!!

Come over the DID fan page at Facebook, become a fan, get friends to join and post a comment.. If we reach 1000 fans by November 1st, 3 commenters on the Facebook site will win the SDE kit for free!
AND/OR

Come on over to DID, tell us you are going to join us in the fun, and on November 1st I will randomly pick 2 commenters to win the SDE kit!!

Remember you need the kit to to play along and win more awesome prizes and coupons, so this would make your chances a heck of a lot easier!!

You are going to have so much fun this year!!!  And while you are at the site, join in a few of our regular challenges, each one earns you points and each point is worth money off  items in the shops, no conditions apply!!

Have you been planning to go candy shopping for the Halloween season? Are you confused by the vast array of candy choices available to you? Do you agonize over what to hand out to the little monsters ringing your doorbell? You cannot make this decision too lightly, otherwise you may wake up on November 1st to a yard full of toilet papered trees, or plastic forks dotting your landscape . . . no one wants this,  so I've made a (mad) scientific study of what the kids like and what they dislike - hopefully this will help you avoid a Halloween disaster!

My first test subject was a 63 year old male . . . when I asked him what were his favorite candies to get when he was a kid trick or treating, he had the best answer, yet the least helpful, "all of them."  Of course any candy SOUNDS good, but we all know about those poor little duds that get left at the bottom of the bag. You try to trade them to your friends, but no one wants them. Finally, your mom throws them away around Easter.

So upon further reflection he told me that when he was a kid, houses handed out more homemade goodies. He liked popcorn balls, and cookies. Now days, we don't really have that charming option. His other favorite choices were tootsie rolls, jaw breakers and gum.   He couldn't remember any candy he didn't want.  So, this interview proved interesting, but unhelpful in our quest to hand out the best candy.

Next, I asked a 37 year old male who gave me this list of favorites:  Baby Ruths, Jelly Beans, Sweet Tarts, Skittles and M&Ms.  hmmmm, very interesting. I wasn't expecting the Sweet Tarts. . .  His hated list was: Apples, caramels, lollipops, tootsie rolls, black licorice.  Another surprise. Caramels? Really? Someone doesn't like those. I'm beginning to think this guy's a freak, who let him into the laboratory?

Okay, let's try a female subject. I chose an 18 year old, and believe me she was FULL of opinions on this subject.  Her Love list was: Snickers, Twix, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Caramels and Kit Kats.  (We've all heard how women love their chocolate and this seems to prove that hypothesis). Notice she LIKES the caramels. Her hate list was: Pencils or erasers (does that count as candy?), Peanut Butter Kisses, Mary Jane's, Gummy Krabby Patties - actually all gummy candy except classic gummy worms or bears, and most "Dollar General" candy. I believe she's referring to off brand candy in general - not that specific brand.   Well, this gives us something to work with. Chocolate GOOD - strange colored gobs of unknown origin, BAD!

Last, I decided to ask a younger male to compare results, so we brought in an unruly petulant tween and quizzed him.  His love list was: Kit Kats, Skittles, M&Ms, Crunch Bars, Snickers.  His hate list was: licorice, mints, erasers, popcorn balls, boxes of raisins.

After plugging all this information into my fancy laboratory computer - it's got a lot of lights and it beeps quite a bit. I'd explain it, but it's, "Things you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand." Here's what we came up with:

Candy NOT to Buy:  licorice, "healthy" options like apples or raisins, cheap candy from China or Mexico,  and old people candy like Mary Jane's and Peanut Butter kisses or mints.

Candy TO BUY: Snickers, Twix, M&Ms ... aw, heck it seems any small bars of chocolate are going to get you love!  There are those candies that it seems are somewhat safe to hand out, like skittles or starburst if  you want to mix things up a bit, but the weird gummy candies seem to be a bit of a risk . . . it's up to you if you want to play it safe or throw caution to the howling wind!

Whatever you decide, have fun and don't forget to dress up to hand out candy - come on! Don't be such a stick in the mud!!

Okay, now I must be off to do some further experiments in the lab. I'm working on something to help those poor vampires who've come down with the "glitters." Poor suckers.

I figure if the NFL can have preseason games, why can't I have pre-season Halloween!  So when I find cool stuff, I'll pass it along as we get ready for the big October Countdown!!!

First,  I saw this cute little Halloween Countdown Calendar - it wouldn't be too hard to make - and it would be a fun way to keep track of the days - especially for little kids, I think these countdown calendars help them get the concept of days and time. Or heck it's just a fun thing to do and an excuse to eat candy!

Over at Oopsey Daisy, she has a tutorial to make one of these calendars, and she also has free printables to help you make it!

So, yeah, sometimes you just need to put things into perspective right? If you do you can head over to Despair, Inc.  You can choose from a huge selection that will have you laughing until your head hurts - or you can make your own (see above).  They also have calendars, mouse pads, t shirts - whatever you need to spread a little joy to the rest of mankind. And subtly tell your coworkers to get their panties out of a bunch . . .

Here's one of my favorites, something I can really aspire to . . .

There's an awesome HOT SUMMER SALE going on over at Designs in Digital! Can you believe it's 30% off all orders over $5.00 - from any designer in the shop!!! So cool, huh?!  Now would be a great time to stock up on all those new summer kits that have been released - you know you're going to need them to scrap all the fantastic summer memories you're making right now!!!  Click on the coupon to head over there now!

Oh wow, I forgot to tell you about a really cool event that's going on this weekend! There is going to be a Monster Movie Marathon all weekend long - ONLINE - it's the first time, I think that something like this has been attempted, and I'm so excited to watch some really cool, cheesy or just plain scary monster movies!

The marathon webcast starts at 5:00 p.m. EST - so it's about time to get your supplies ready and head over to the 100 Years of Monster Movies website to watch!

George Romero, Elvira and a whole bunch of others are going to be participating and introducing movies! I'm so excited about this - can you tell!

So anyway, I'm going to be busy this weekend getting my monster movie fix! Hopefully you will be too! Have fun!

Need some help staying warm? This delicious recipe is just what you need on a freezing cold day! Make some Mexican Hot Chocolate, curl up under a blanket and read some Isabel Allende! (She's not Mexican, but her stories will fire up your imagination!)

Ingredients
* 1/4 cup baking cocoa
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar
* 1 cup boiling water
* Dash ground cloves or nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 3 cups milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* Whipped cream
* Whole cinnamon sticks

Directions
* Combine cocoa and sugar in small saucepan; stir in water. Bring to boil; reduce heat and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
* Add cloves, cinnamon and milk. Simmer 5 minutes (do not boil). Whisk in vanilla. Pour hot chocolate into mugs; top with whipped cream. Use cinnamon sticks for stirrers - mix will settle to the bottom if not stirred before drinking.

Stay Warm!

At Design Sponge there are a couple of the most fantastic room re-dos, you must go and see the transformations for yourself. It's very inspiring!

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Need some quick tombstones to "liven" up the yard on Halloween (or would that be "deaden" up the yard?) Anyhoo . . . over at Evil Mad Scientist they show you how to make your own tombstones! Quick and Easy - just the way we like them!

This is more Halloween cuteness - a bat sock doll! If you're feeling crafty and ambitious, you can download a free pattern at Hello My Name Is Heather

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