Happy Halloween!

 Happy Halloween!

 

DH's office had a Halloween decorating contest this month.
Check out what these folks have done. It's pretty amazing!

 

 

Easy Pumpkin Project: Vinyl Lettering

I saw this idea in a local shop, and gave it a whirl at home. You gotta love a pumpkin all dressed up for Halloween with no carving needed! :-) They also had small pumpkins spray-painted black with white lettering on the pumpkin. That looked very cool.  Imagine what a pumpkin painted silver with black and white and glittery ribbons would look like!  Ah, the possibilities....

Here's what you need for this quick and easy pumpkin project.

1.)   A pumpkin or two

2.)   Vinyl lettering -- Halloween phrases in a spooky font.

3.)   3-5  fabric ribbons, 3/4 to 1 yard each, in various crazy Halloween colors and patterns, all tied onto the stem of the pumpkin in a shoestring bow.

4.)  A friend to do the project with. :-)

I've Been Boo'ed!

...and if you're reading this, you've just been Boo'ed! (Thanks Mrs. B for boo'ing me!)

The Blogging Boo works like this... Go to as many friends as you want and tell them they've been "Boo-ed". Have them link back to your blog to pick up their Halloween Treat (the cute picture) and tell them to "Boo" their friends. Then, put the picture in your sidebar so everyone knows that you've already been "Boo-ed" and to send the picture to someone else.

Ready, set, BOO!

Have a safe, fun, spooky Halloween!

The Gracie-Monster and the Midnight Cupcakes

Recently, I made some Halloween cupcakes for a friend who's feeling under the weather. Of course, it was pretty late when I did this. It was midnight, in fact; which automatically turns it into a Halloween story!

This is the story of ...

 

  The Gracie-Monster and the Midnight Cupcakes

 

Once upon a time, there was a well-behaved, timid and shy, sweet kitty. Her name was Gracie. She was always a good girl. One night, she walked into the kitchen, just as the clock struck midnight.

"People still awake and up." said Gracie. "How annoying. They need to go to sleep so me can prowl."

" Hmmm, no people around in the kitchen, though."

Gracie smelled something delicious.

" Hey...what's this?"

 

 

"Oooh! Mommy made cupcakes!"

 

"Oh cupcakes! I love you! Mmmmmmm!"

 

"Mmmmm! Me want cupcakes!"

"EEK!" said the cupcakes. "What is that?!  A big furry monster!"

 

"Heh, heh! Me gonna GET those cupcakes!"

 

"Oh, hello, Mommy! Me not see you there!
I a good girl. Good job on the cupcakes!"

The cupcakes survived.

 

But not for long.

Bwahahahahaha!

(burp)

(excuse me)

Seasonal Ideas from Blogland

I was poking around different blogs the other day, and was just amazed at all the wonderful ideas and helps out there. You people just blow me away with your creativity and talent...and your generosity.... after all, you're sharing your ideas with everyone.  I've gathered a few I just have to share with you. Trust me -- there are so many more out there, I could do a week long series on everything I looked at! LOL

All these pictures are stolen from the blogs they came from. I figure it's a fair trade; once you see their blogs, you probably will forget all about me and my poor little blog. (sniff, sniff)  ;-)

 

The Crafty Crow  is one of *those* blogs -- once you find it, it immediately goes on your blogroll. This blog gathers craft ideas from the web for you. (gotta love that!) Right now, they are spotlighting costume helps. Crowns made from lace, how to's on capes, swords, shields, monster hands, tutus, headpieces... why are you still here reading? Go check it out! Costume helps? Woo-Hoo!!!!!

Elena, over at Manwaring Moments, recently shared a cute idea with wood blocks, letters and scrapbook paper that work for autumn *and* winter. Score! Learn how to make the Autumn Wood Blocks here. So cute! Her blog is a great read. I check it every day.

I know you know about A Soft Place to Land.  Kimba is incredible, isn't she? She shared a great tip on how to score some great looking botanical prints on the cheap by making them yourself. She chose leaves to fit in with an autumn theme.  They look amazing -- just like the stuff that costs upward of 500 bucks! Go check out her display.

 

Angela is going crazy with her Halloween ideas at her blog, the Cottage Magpie. She's showcasing several projects, and everyone you see, you say...  I *LOVE* that!

Look at these sweet Book and Button flower bouquets over at Just Something I Made!  Cathe gives you the how to. How cute are these? I love them....

 

What else have you seen out there in the blogosphere? Do tell! I love ideas!

Just a Few Halloween Decorations...

Just a few more days until Halloween! We sure have had a lot of fun with the holiday this year. Most of our attention went to decorating the outside for Halloween; I really don't have that much going on inside this year. Here are a couple of things I *did* do this time 'round.

I found this Halloween tablecloth at a grocery store (of all places!) -- Macey's for you local folks) and it's my favorite tablecloth for Halloween now. Click for more details. Spiderwebs, jack o'lanterns, tombstones -- what else could you want? Love it!

On the small buffet table in the kitchen I put this up. That's a lantern from Target, filled with small and medium pumpkins from a craft store. A small raven (or is it a crow?), my spooky sign, a waterglobe skull (when you shake it, bats fly around his head), and a couple of books covered in Halloween scrapbook paper round out the display. Mrs. B did a much better job of displaying some regular, everyday books she transformed into spell and potion books. Go check it out and then come back and shake your head sadly at my attempt.  After you see her talent, you may not come back here at all! ;-)

 

One thing I do love about that display is the gauze table runner. I think it's delicious. I found it pretty early on in the season at Target for about 5 bucks. The only thing I regret is not grabbing 4 or 5 of these babies! They are gone now! (Rats.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have my favorite Bath and Body Works wallflower scenty-thingie plugged in, too -- have you smelled this one?  It's called "Leaves". It's autumn in a box, people. It smells divine!  I also like Spiced Cider, but this one's my #1 now.

I've got a pumpkin craft on my to-do list today; hopefully I can show it to you tomorrow. Tonight we are carving pumpkins for Family Night. The only thing that is not getting into the spirit of the holiday this week is the weather! We will enjoy Indian Summer days, in the 60's and 70's (F)  clear through Halloween night.

Oh, I'm not complaining! All too soon, I'll be shivering in my boots, wishing for these days back again!

Hope you are enjoying a boo-tiful autumn where you are...

Words to Live By

Flowers that my Sweet Girl picked for me on her way home from school, on my birthday.

 

The family is a haven in a heartless world. 

                                         ~ Christopher Lasch

Easy Halloween Touches

What a week it's been! So much to celebrate. :-)

How about a few more inexpensive, easy Halloween touches for your house? Here are a couple more ideas we did here. 

Sidelight Window  

I actually saw this idea in a BH&G Halloween special issue magazine and tweaked it a little to make it my own. Simply take some tissue paper from the gift wrap aisle and choose a Halloween color. I went with a weird, bright green. I had some Halloween letter stickers leftover in my scrapbooking file, and used those. What is easier than peeling and sticking letters? Done.

Wait! Attach it all to the inside of your sidelight window. Okay, now you're done.

:-)

 

 

 Hmmm... I took this second picture at night, and for some reason, it's looks orange! Oh well.... Now you see what it would've looked like if you picked orange tissue paper! LOL

 

Light Bulbs    

 

 

Remember Remember when I said what could be easier? Well... this can. Simply change your  porch/outdoor light bulbs out for black light or green bulbs. Big impact for hardly any effort or cash. Love it!

Hope you're having as much fun with the season as we are. I'd love to hear what you're doing at your house for Halloween!

Feelin' the Birthday Love

Thank you, thank you to all of you who were so sweet to pop in and wish me a happy birthday!

Isn't the DH a stinker?! He's a sneaky little devil....and very sweet.  Who knew bloggy-comments could be such a fun present?  A big MMWAHH! to my hubby. <3

I had such a nice day. My Sweet Girl served me breakfast in bed, complete with hot cocoa -- ah! Now that's what I call waking up! DH got a lot of friends, family and you 'friends in my computer' to jump on the birthday bandwagon, on the blog.  My mom and dad took me out to lunch, and then our little family had a sinful dessert together later that night. My sis and her family showed up at the restaurant and so we all ate together. The more the merrier!!  I had fun calls, emails and cards all during the day.

Here are a couple of presents I received:

Some very hard to find Pfaltzgraff Madrid White dinnerware.  I am only missing 1 dinner plate and the mugs, but finding as much of what we did with this set, is a coup! Woo-hoo! I have been wanting a nice set of white dishes, not too plain, not too foofy. These are just right.

My sister Jen took me to Tai Pan Trading for shopping and lunch and this is what she got me...

...she knows what the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" means to me. I love it. Thanks, sis!!!

As you can see, I am loved and VERY blessed. I had a very happy birthday.

Thanks for being a part of it.

Happy Birthday!

 

Hey, everybody -- it's Wendy's DH sneaking into her blog to surprise her today --  
Happy Birthday, Wendy! 

It may seem odd that I pinged so many of you for comments on Wendy’s birthday BEFORE posting the actual birthday post. Well, I did the asking from work, I had to sneak home on a lunch break to pirate Wendy’s blog. So here we are at lunch, Wendy sent off on a wild goose chase, just me and all of you. Let’s all wish Wendy a happy birthday!

So, happy birthday, darling! You’ve had a great mumble-mumble years, and you’ll have that many more and then some.  I’m grateful for every day that we’re together. And I look forward to many more!

Thanks to all of you who have checked in already and left comments on her other posts. Let's keep going! Help me wish her a happy birthday today!

 

HOW TO LEAVE A COMMENT:

1. Go down to the bottom of the current post, and you'll see (in small letters) the word "comments". Click on that.

2.  (a dialogue box might pop up at this point, just click yes)  Now you see the comment page. Start writing your comment in the box provided.

3.  When you see "Choose an Identity", don't worry. With Wendy's blog, you don't need to have any special identity.  If you have a google username from your gmail email, great -- use that. Look at the other choices. If none of them matches up with you, then choose "anonymous". (Do me a favor and sign your name at the bottom of your comment if you're choosing anonymous, so she'll know who is leaving her a message.)

4. Now just click on "Publish Your Comment". (you can also click preview if you want to preview your comment.) That's it. Your comment is posted!

You all are great for doing this!

Thanks, the DH.

Halloween House Numbers

 

Over the weekend, I changed out our oh-so-respectable house number plaque for one more befitting Halloween. This spooky outdoor idea is so easy. First, go to your Home Depot or hardware store. Instead of searching for the perfectly sized piece of wood, do what the DH did: head over the house number section and buy a house number plaque. They're already the right size, cut and sanded and ready to go. (Mine is 6" x17")  (FYI: some of the numbers have been removed from this photo to comply with our family's internet safety rules...)
 
Decide what ghoulish color you'd like and paint away. (My plaque was unfinished pine, so it took 3 generous coats of acrylic paint to cover it. Find a spooky font you like from your computer (or download a free one at DaFont.com) enlarge it to 500 and print. My font here is called Nemo. After your paint has dried on the plaque, cut them out and place your numbers where you want them, and then mod-podge them to the plaque.  Let everything dry and finish it off with a clear matte spray.

 

Oh yeah, much better for Halloween!

 

Our Halloween Porch 2008

 

The Inspired Room is having a Porches on Parade Day today -- go over and visit and see all the great Halloween porches people are sending in! In honor of her porch post, here is the reveal on our spooky Halloween porch we've been working on...

 

 

Welcome to our Halloween Porch 2008!

DH's graveyard

My autumn berry wreath suddenly looked out of place with all the skeletons and tombstones! So, I went to Michael's and made this one for my hubby from a picture I saw on the internet.

 We changed out our normal house numbers
for some with a little more spook!
I'll show you how to do these this week.

Even a sidelight window can get in the act. Boo!
I'll do a how to on this one too.  Easy peasy.

Spiders and webs....ewww! Don't make me do my spider dance! Eeek!

DH dubbed this skeleton "Curly". He's kicking back. :-)

 

DH loved this creepy touch.

A random tree branch becomes a bat-infested graveyard tree!

We changed our light bulbs out for green ones. The decorations look so much spookier at night, with all the eerie green light everywhere. Yeah, we changed out ALL the light bulbs! Check out how things look now! Click on each picture to get a better boo...I mean...view!

 

 

 

We're having a lot of fun with this. Hope you enjoyed the tour. Tell me all about what you're doing at your house...I'd love to hear your fun ideas!
Happy Haunting!

Words to Live By

To succeed in life, you need three things: 

a wishbone, a backbone and a funny-bone.

                                 ~Reba McEntire

What We're Working On

We're enjoying our Fall Break for the next few days -- DH is at work (poor thing), the Sweet Girl is out of school and on the computer working on her story, and me? Well, I'm trying to catch up on a few Fall and Halloween projects I couldn't get to earlier. I'm still working on them, but here are a few pics and previews of some things we're working on:

 

 

 

Getting ready for some graveyard action in the front yard. I tend to decorate more on the Halloween "fun" side. DH said this year...we go scary!!! :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DH, diggin' the graves...

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Boooo!", says the Sweet Girl.

(BTW -- it was f-f-f-freezing the day we worked on our outside Halloween stuff! Brrr!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here I am, adding just the right gruesome touches....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's our other little kitty, Gracie. She's pawing at the window, 'cause she wants us. Or maybe she just wants to come out and help!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some fun Halloween and harvest ribbons. They're for another project I'm working on. More on this later...

We're enjoying our Autumn. Looking forward to Halloween!

To be continued...

:-)