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I'm running a bit late on getting our October newsletter up. I had a bit of surgery at the end of September and it took a week or so to get back up and running. I'm sorry for the delay. And with October being my favorite month of the entire year! I was born in the colder parts of this country and October meant so many things to me. The snap of the wind in the trees was turning cooler. The leaves were melting into a beautiful mess in everyone's lawns. The smell of the leaves is like nothing I've ever smelled since.
And, of course, Halloween was on it's way, my favorite holiday of the year.
Times have changed a bit and we are all more cautious these days, as it should be, but it's taken a bit of the unknown out of the holiday. Taken a little edge off the wild side. But I know we all try to make it a really fun holiday for our kids.
I've included a couple of kid-friendly recipes and crafts this month so children of all sizes can enjoy the holiday. And I know there are some Halloween snags to dress up your signatures for the event as well. So come check us out. Ask for anything you would like and have a safe and happy October and Halloween to everyone.


For our get-to-know-you question this month, I would like to know what is the scariest movie you have ever seen?
Please all hosts, answer that on the Community Leaders board this month.


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Oct 1st - Homemade Cookies Day, World Vegetarian Day, International Frugal Fun Day, International Day for the Elderly
Oct 2nd - Name Your Car Day, National Custodial Worker Day
Oct 3rd - World Habitat Day, Child Health Day, Oktoberfest (in Germany) ends, Techies Day, Virus Appreciation Day
Oct 4th - National Golf Day, National Frappe Day
Oct 5th - World Teacher Day. Do Something Nice Day
Oct 6th - Come and Take it Day, Mad Hatter Day, Physician Assistant Day
Oct 7th - Yom Kippur, National Denim Day, Bald and Free Day, World Smile Day
Oct 8th - American Touch Tag Day
Oct 9th - Leif Ericson Day, Moldy Cheese Day, Curious Events Day, Fire Prevention Day
Oct 10th - Columbus Day, Thanksgiving Day in Canada, National Angel Food Cake Day
Oct 11th - It's My Party Day, Take Your Teddy Bear to Work Day
Oct 12th - Sukkot (begins at sundown) Farmers Day, Dia de la Raza in Mexico, Cookbook Launch Day, Emergency Nurses Day, Moment of Frustration Day
Oct 13th - National Poetry Day in England, International Skeptics Day
Oct 14th - National Dessert Day, World Egg Day
Oct 15th - Sweetest Day, National Grouch Day, International Newspaper Carriers Day, White Cane Safety Day
Oct 16th - Dictionary Day, World Food Day, Bosses Day
Oct 17th - Black Poetry Day, Wear Something Gaudy Day
Oct 18th - No Beard Day
Oct 19th - Evaluate Your Life Day
Oct 20th - Brandied Fruit Day
Oct 21st - Babbling Day, Count Your Buttons Day, National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day
Oct 22nd - National Nut Day, Make a Difference Day
Oct 23rd - Mother-in-Law's Day, Red Ribbon Week, National Mole Day, TV Talk Show Host Day
Oct 24th - National Bologna Day, United Nations Day
Oct 25th - Punk for a Day Day, World Pasta Day
Oct 26th - National Mincemeat Day
Oct 27th - National Tell-a-Story Day (Scotland, UK), Navy Day
Oct 28th - Plush Animal Lovers Day,Frankenstein Friday
Oct 29th - Hermit Day, National Frankenstein Day
Oct 30th - National Candy Corn Day, Mischief Night
Oct 31st - Halloween, Carve a Pumpkin Day, Increase Your Psychic Powers Day

Special Goings-On
Child Health Day (First Monday)
Columbus Day (Second Monday)
Thanksgiving Day in Canada (Second Monday)
World Space Week (1st Week)
Fire Prevention Week (2nd Week)
Fire Safety Month Reading Hour
National School Lunch Week (2nd Week)
Teen Read Week (2nd Week)
Sweetest Day (Third Saturday)
Mother-in-Law's Day (Third Sunday)
National Magic Week (4th Week)
Adopt-a-Shelter-Animal Month
Computer Learning Month
Family History Month
National Clock Month
National Dessert Month
National Hispanic Heritage Month
National Pasta Month
National Pizza Festival Month
National Popcorn Popping Month
National Pork Month
National Roller Skating Month
National Seafood Month
National Stamp Collecting Month
Polish American History Month


Pizza Mummies


Disguises aren't just for Halloween. Surprise your family with these dressed-up, spooky-looking snacks any time of year. Kids can help by spooning the pizza sauce on the English muffin and making the mummy face with the cheese and vegetables.

Ingredients
English muffins
Pizza sauce
Black olives
Scallions
Red or green pepper
Cheese sticks or slices

Instructions
Heat the oven to 350º F. For each mummy, spread a tablespoon of pizza sauce onto half of an English muffin (toast it first, if you like).

Set olive slices in place for eyes and add round slices of green onion or bits of red or green pepper for pupils.

Lay strips of cheese (we used a pulled-apart cheese stick) across the muffin for the mummy?s wrappings.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the muffin is toasty.

another great Halloween treat for the lil' monsters-

Apple Bites


These toothsome treats are a fun and healthy break from Halloween sweets.

Ingredients
Apples
Slivered almonds

Instructions
Just quarter and core an apple, cut a wedge from the skin side of each quarter, then press slivered almonds in place for teeth.
You can also use broken banana chips for another look and taste.
Tips:
If you're not going to serve them right away, baste the apples with orange juice to keep them from browning.




Stone-faced Pumpkins


Place them in your garden or along your front walk. Even a grouping on your dining table or mantle. They will last for years.

Wash any dirt from the stones and let them dry completely. Then paint them orange, using 2 coats if necessary.
Once the paint is dry, draw on faces with a black marker. Finally, glue a twig pumpkin stem atop each stone.

Another wonderful Halloween idea-

Spooky Thumbprint Cards or Invitation


Your child and her friends are sure to give a thumbs-up to these silly and easy-to-make Halloween critters.
Just paste your fav pic of your lil' trick-or-treater and everyone will love to receive these cards.

Materials
Nontoxic rubber stamp pad
Card stock
Fine point markers

Instructions
To make them, just help your child press her thumb onto a nontoxic rubber stamp pad (black for spiders and bats, orange for pumpkins), then onto a piece of heavy paper or card stock.

Add small dots of white acrylic paint (we used a dull pencil to apply it) for bat and spider eyes.

Let the ink and paint dry before using fine-point markers to add pupils, legs, wings, stems, and other features and details.


We will be offering one or two new glitter siggy snags every month on the Glitter Board here. So drop on by each month to see what we have offered to brighten up your signature. If there is something you would like to see offered in the months to come,
please just drop on by and let us know what we can do for you.
*Look out for a special Halloween glitter this month and check out a couple of other holiday snags from our hosts on the Snag Board here.



We have started our monthly scrapbooking challenges here at Graphic Central and it's been exciting to see the pages that our members are creating. Our winners last month were Richelle (sweetpea2020) and Leah (leah_is_waiting).
Congratulations to the winners for giving us such beautiful pages.
Richelle (sweetpea2020) has decided that we will be changing our format for the school year to only one challenge a month. She will be posting a new kit for the challenge at the beginning of every month. Check here for the October kit. There are TWO great kits for you to choose and mix from! We will vote on a winner on October 31st.
One of our members asked what kind of software we use to make our pages. Several of us use Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop and Gimp, a free program. You can get trial programs for PSP and PS for download. If you have any scrapbooking questions, including software questions, please feel free to post a message for us. We would love to help you on your way to entering one of our monthly challenges. We have started a thread with the programs you can download through a trial basis or for free. We have also added some tutorials but we really need to know what you want to know. So please, if you are interested in learning to digital scrapbook,
come by and visit us and let us know how we can help you learn more.


If you have any questions or concerns about anything here at Graphic Central, we are always available by email, private message,
or you can even post here!.
Community Director - Marg (Margarita) at signesmom@yahoo.com