HAPPY HALLOWEEN + FREEBIE !!

Can you believe October is at an end? It's been a busy month here which included a trip up North to visit with my parents and help them with their overwhelming Fall yardwork! I was way more active physically up there on their property than I ever am here at home in my small environment. I happened to hit a really great seasonal time up there. The leaves were gorgeous colors, and millions of them came tumbling down in two consecutive days, thus the raking began. One of their 50+ years old apple trees was over-laden with delicious apples with hundreds hitting the ground beneath the tree daily. Their huge black walnut tree was the same as the apple in its bounty, and the chestnut trees were running a tight third place. I worked out in the yard every day until I didn't think my spine could take anymore. We got the lawn cleaned up of produce, gave lots of it away, sold some to the local markets, and I returned home with a truckbed full to cook and can. That's done now too!  I took lots of Fall photos!  Think I'll take November a little easier!  Here's a LO of the black walnut tree . . . and this template was free from the Template Tuesday challenges over at Jessica Sprague . . . (if you're a template addict, like I am, you should check that out since you get a free one each Tuesday) . . .

And here is a LO of a great odd shot I took while traveling across one of our popular mountain ridges up home, this being shot upward from the forest floor . . .

And here is a LO of our favorite roadside market only a little over 2 hrs. into our journey going North; I always have to stop here and browse all the goodies . . . (another free template from JS) . . .

And here is the last LO for now, just a couple of the trip moments I luckily captured; mom with one of her geraniums, yours truly with my DD on the mountain-top lookout, and my dad pulling a bucket of apples up the driveway in the old red wagon . . .  (another JS free template) . . .

November is full of family birthdays, so that will set a pace of sorts to my schedule.  Better put my mind on some homemade cake recipes!!

I've been enjoying some quality time with my three grandchildren doing pre-Halloween activities like making some party crafts, Halloween cards, candy apples and popcorn balls.  Here's a LO of one of those evenings with them "mugging for the camera", of course.  There are getting pretty self-conscious these days in front of the lens . . . (free template from Tiffany Tillman's blog) . . .

Okay, enough about me!  Here is something for you!  I was spurred by ghosts, goblins, and ghouls and knowing October is ending to make you something for scrapping those photos you'll be taking tonight of your own children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, or all those kids coming to your door for candy (I take pictures of them, too).  I present your FREEBIE, another in my large collection of photo mat/clipping masks, this one "SPOOKTACULAR".  This is a png file, 300 dpi, aproximately 8 x 6" and can be used in most software programs.  It can be easily resized to larger or smaller, easily recolored to use as a photo mat, or you can clip your favorite paper to it, or you can clip your photo to it directly making the photo take on the png's shape for an interesting effect.  Hope you can use it and have some fun with it.  Here's the preview . . .

DOWNLOAD HERE OR HERE

I'm providing two different download sites as the freebies have been so popular lately that I run out of bandwidth using just one download site.  So I hope this helps. 

Until next time, TRICK OR TREAT!  (I prefer TREATS!)

TOOTLES!!