Ok I had two favorite costume winners tonight!. The top is Alyssa who is in Kindergarten and from Gretna. My favorite, a pink flamingo!!!! And of course our other favorite is little Diva who was a pumpkin. I will try to get a picture of Daisy tonight when I get home from work.
WAITING FOR THE TRICK OR TREATERSLiz was laughin so hard this morning. She found Diva taking the food bowl and she had a dish towel she carried over to the food bowl and carefully covered her food trying to stuff the whole towel into the bowl. She does NOT like to share with Daisy and is always trying to hide things from her. She cracks me up!
EMBOSSING FOLDERS
You plan your costumes for Halloween around the paper and embellishments you just bought.
Come to Nebraska Crossing Mall tonight from 4-6 to trick or treat with the Diva's There are treats for your little ones and for you there is 40% off your total purchase* today October 31, 2008 from 4-6pm. *normal exclusions apply.
Stop by the other stores at Nebraska Crossing as they have treats for your little ones also. It is a safe place to go for Hallowen..jpg)
Since the twins were born I have always dressed them to coordinate for Halloween. They have been Pooh and the honey pot, Minnie and Mickey, Football player and cheerleader, raggedy ann and andy etc.
I had ordered the blue wigs earlier this year for them to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 for Halloween. Well the last couple weeks I have been looking for them everywhere and could not find them. Last night I searched the whole attic and hey were not there. We finally found them as Ruth had them hidden in her room. She told me she did not wan to dress like Zacheus anymore as she was too old. It broke my heart to see my babies were growing up. I told her if she wanted to wear something different to trick or treat she could if she would just wear them for the school parade and next year they can pick out whatever they want for costumes. So tonight I brought home the costumes I had made at T-shirts Plus (who does a wonderful job) at the Gretna Mall and everyone was oohing and aahing over how cute they were and now Ruth wants to wear it for trick or treating too. Now if I can just talk Paul into being Cat and the Hat and going with us Trick or Treating. LOL
Their faces were painted as they had a big Halloween Party at School todayAs you all know I thrive on being busy and I am looking forward to this Saturdays 12 hour Christmas Card workshop day as I am taking the day off. I have cards due for a card swap on November 5th and also have 12 2-page layouts due for another swap. I will be very busy! We are adding more card swaps and page swaps to the calendar on www.ptdiva.com Also this month Scrapbook Club starts over again for another 10 months. If interested in joining email ptdiva@ptdiva.com
TWO MORE WEEKS UNTIL CHICAGO!!! woo hoo!!!! If you are debating on going book your flight ASAP as they keep going up the closer it gets to the date. You do not want to miss this trip as Christmas is my favorite time in Chicago as I LOVE store windows. I remember as a child going downtown with my grandma and just being drawn to decorated store windows. If you ever get to Village Point check out J.Crew or Francesca's sore windows as they are always wonderful. Or better yet check out Precious Treasures store windows as they will make you smile!
The photos have to be in for the Teresa Collins display contest. If we win first prize Teresa would come to Precious Treasures to teach classes. There are runner up prizes of product also. That would be so amazing to have her teach classes as she is a wonderful teacher as I have learned a lot from her when at CHA shows.
I will share the photos of the display on Saturday after the deadline has passed. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of making this contest a reality! You all are awesome!!!
Ti Vanbuskirk designed the wood display and Barry and Holly McMannes made the display according to Ti's instructions and I made it glamorous with lots of "bling". They are to announce the winners by the end of the first week in November so cross your fingers and say a prayer!!
These are so good!
INGREDIENTS
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, rinsed and drained
6 tablespoons white sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet. ( I like to use a stone as it takes more moisture out of them) Toast for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dry and toasted. Larger seeds may take longer.
In a large bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons of white sugar, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and sprinkle the remaining sugar over them. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar melts, about 45 seconds. Pour seeds into the bowl with the spiced sugar and stir until coated. Allow to cool before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
We have had lots of help at the store this week which I REALLY appreciate! We are hoping to get the Christmas Tree up tomorrow for our Holiday 12 hour crop and cardmaking event this Saturday. Just a few more days and it will already be November. Time sure flies!
We worked all day on the display for the Teresa Collins contest as we have to have our photo's turned in tomorrow for the contest. It is really looking awesome! If we win Teresa will come to the store to teach classes for a whole day!!! Say a prayer!
Tonight I did pumpkin carving with the kids and we had a lot of fun. I think Paul who is 19 had the most fun. LOL Even I carved one. (Diva Pumpkin) of course! Also check out the Vala's pumpkin patch post as I added more photos. (Of course not all of them as you know me, I take tons!)
Diva Pumpkin
Ruth's
One of our customers has been working on this wonderful project and I had to share it with you. This was from Bed, Bath and Beyond and was a white mat to begin with, It is huge about 4 feet wide. Absolutely GORGEOUS!!! She has painted, stamped, foiled made metal embellishments and so much more. All the photos to go in it are sepia tone.
We had a limit of 50 for the crop and they opened another building for us and it also is full now. I just got an email from the camp with a list of who did not get in as they took them in the order they were received. I will add these names to the waiting list. The camp has offered to do another event for us and I am going to work out dates with them when I go there. I am probably going to be looking at the beginning of the year sometime.
Here is the list of those who did not get in: Tammy Tamborini, Megan Addison, Kathy Hansen, Dolores Rose, Sara Secora, Sharon Bady, Rosa Spinharney, Jackie Richards. Deana Hayes.
We got in all the new White Christmas, Halloween Costume Party and my favoorite line "Candy Land". We got every last thing from the candy land line! It is amazingly different from anything they have done. Kind of the "Bam Pop" look.
Diva's hit the sky! We are going on the annual Chicago Christmas shopping trip November 15-17th. Leave early Saturday morning and come home late Monday night. If you are thinking of going the longer you wait the higher the flights get. It has gone up since we announced it. We do have one room with 3 people that we can add one more person to if you are interested call the store 402-763-9675 or email amy@ptdiva.com.
Picking a pumpkin
Hayrack ride
There was a lot of water things added to Vala's this year. The water in the Haunter Coal mine was AWESOME!!
The punpkin maze was hard as some teenager vandalized it the day before and took out all the clues. The maze got a huge expansion this year.
This was new to the patch this year. This was the end of the day and Ruthy 
This is the new second level in the bakery. It would be a great place for a country wedding reception or book it for Christmas parties?
The kids could not wait to go see Mary Alyce (right( as she is one of our customers and friends that works there and to our surprise our friend Sylvia was working in the bakery with her today! 
The girls wanted to see High School musical tonight and it was sooooo..... cooooooolllllldddd! brrr.... I think winter is coming soon. I am going to take the kids to the pumpkin patch tomorrow since we did not get to go Friday when the kids were off school due to the rain. Look for photos coming! :)
The sale was a HUGE success for everyone who participated. We will be doing another one in January so start planning now. You can call to get a number for the next sale 402-763-9675 or email ptdiva@ptdiva.com/ You can also keep your same number if you participated in this sale.
Come check out the Scrap and Craft Garage Sale today from 1-6 at the store and there are 10 tables of items piled high that are half price! The other 8 tables are as marked but the prices are so low on those sellers that I can see why they did not want to do half price. There is still LOTS of great stuff.
Our next sale will be in January. This one was a huge success and we will have a better check out system as we have some kinks to work out as we had long lines and apologize for that.
I just seen this on Vickis blog and thought it would be a fun contest. Place a reply on this post naming the 6 things that make you happy and we will have a drawing for a gift certificate on November 7th.
1. God
2. My family
3. Water, swimming, drinking, showering, the ocean, water is the thing God made that always amazes me as it can calm you, warm you, cool you, cleanse you. amazing!
4. Music
5. Flowers
6. Vacations
this would be miss.liz talking =) i just wanted to say how awesome it was to see you all today!!! It was a huge blessing just to see you all and catch up!! hope to keep in touch with you all! love ya mucho!
P.S.
turn around bright eyes =)
3 weeks till CHICAGO!!!!
love always
xoxo
miss.liz
Liz and I were just talking that we need to have a big sale every week as all of our friends and customers have been in today and we love seeing and talking to everyone!!! It has been such a fun day!!!!
There is so much stuff and we will keep putting more out as there is room on the tables as all 18 tables were piled high this morning. If you do stamping it is a must for you to come as you will not believe how many stamps there are.
The concert was my Christmas present and such a wonderful gift! We had excellent seats in the front middle. We did not get time to do dinner first as I ended up working later. (think I should get a rain check on that) hee hee
I cried so much last night at the concert. Stephen Curtis Chapman lost his 3 year old daughter in the spring and it was amazing how he has clung to God through it all. It was great to see both Smith and Chapman together as they are great friends. I did feel old as I started out listening to Steve and Annie Chapman as they are wonderful motivational speakers also on raising kids as well as sing. Then I became a Steven Curtis Chapman fan which is their son and now Steven Curtis had his son there playing guitar and singing back up.
Smith and Chapman both are very passionate about adoption from other countries as they believe that infertility is Gods way of telling us we need to adopt as there are so many orphans out there. Compassion International helps feed and clothe orphans and people be able to afford to adopt the children. It is an amazing organization.
We have gotten in a ton of product this week but I do not have time to list it as we have been so busy. I will hopefully get to it by Monday. But I wanted to let you all know the Cricut Storage Boxes are here as so many people want them. They are the empty cases that hold 4 cartridges and books in each one and are $9.95 each. We ordered 48 of each color. Stop by soon as they will go fast. Also all colors of the Cricut inks are in.
All I can say is do not miss it! We have extended it to Saturday and Sunday as there is SO MUCH STUFF!!!!!! If you have not received a number to sell please call the store as all items must be in by Friday at 6pm. You have all next week to pick up unless you want to donate your stuff to Make a Wish or Lutheran Family Services.
Saturday 10-6
Sunday 1-6
We all went on a Christmas shopping trip last year to Chicago and we all had a great time and planning our 2nd annual trip. It is November 15-17th. We leave early on Saturday and home late on Monday. Call the store to sign up or email ptdiva@ptdiva.com For the two night stay at the Palmer House and round trip airfare it will run about $500 for flight and hotel based on double occupancy. If you want 4 in your room the cost comes down. You will shop Michigan Avenue and also we will show you the bargain hot spots downtown. You will also visit the Navy Pier and enjoy true Chicago Pizza. And do not forget Garrets popcorn. It is always on Oprahs favorite list and you will find out why. mmmm........
Pumpkin Mooning You
