This Just Pinned

If you know me at all, then you know that I am not a fan of cake, but more specifically frosting. Gag! I was intrigued by this pin I found the other day, though, so I gave it a try. Verdict: It was de"light"ful. Emphasis on the light part. It reminded me a lot of marshmallow fluff. Which, if you know me at all, then you know I LOVE that stuff.

When Life Catches Up

And kicks you in the butt! That is how my last few weeks have been. I have worked pretty much everyday, got put in charge of our church's craft day, have my normal church calling to worry about, and have a couple costumes to make. Have I started said costumes? No...

I will make today short, since I have to leave for a Halloween party with my young women.

 

I made this shirt using a dress pattern. I truly HATE patterns. I hate the flimsy paper, I hate the directions, I hate the fit. I much more prefer to make up my own. But I started this dress last year, and never got around to finishing it. Mainly because I didn't have enough fabric. It sat unfinished for a long time and it was driving me crazy. I finally threw my hands up and made it a shirt. There are so many things I would have done differently, but it is what it is (my little sis hates that saying).

 

So, for now, it makes a nice shirt. I do love the material. So fall-ish and corduroy, even if it is snowing outside.

 

PS I said hate a lot in this post. Not a word we usually use around our house.

PPS or is it PSS? Savanah looks especially Asian in this picture. Her Aunt Te' would be proud!

Name Plaque

Before we had kids, Shawn decided on a name for a baby girl. He was adamant about it. He heard the name from someone that came into the bank and instantly fell in love with it. When we got pregnant with Landon he told me I could pick his name, if he could name our daughter. A while after we became pregnant with Savanah, and he cashed in his chips. I guess it is a good thing that I loved her name, too!

The only other thing he insisted on was only having one "n" instead of the traditional two. Fine with me. Although, even after almost four years, I still look at her name and wonder if it is spelled right.

Once we find Savanah a bed, this plaque will hang from the foot board. I saw something like it at Pottery Barn and really loved it. Again, once we find a bed...



I also divafied this paper mache' star I found. Just a little paint, ribbon, and some glitter. Am I alone in thinking that glitter makes everything better?

Halloween Week: Books and Bottles

I have my more cutesy Halloween decor on my sofa table. The kids' countdown blocks, my ceramic figures, and these fun books and bottles. The books were as simple as covering thrift store books with paper and embellishments. We made them one craft day while still living in Utah. Aunt Nell found the awesome labels and I found the spiders at Wal-Mart.

 

The jars were found in a consignment type store in Utah. We printed out more labels and I burned them up a little for effect. My sister added some liquids to her bottles, but I never got around to that.

 

As much as I love my vintage decor that covers most of my house, I still like to have some more kid friendly decor that the babies can appreciate.

Halloween Week: Spider Web Frame

My friends and I decided that this would be an awesome craft night project.

I hung it on the door that leads down to our basement. I cannot, for the life of me, get a good picture of it. They are all dark.

 

If you decide to make one, realize that the Rustoleum spray paint takes a long time to dry. Most everyone had to take their stuff home from our craft night and finish it later.

Now that it is hung, I wish I would have added more cross strings. I only have eight but I like how Dana has twelve. It looks a little more finished, don't you think?

Halloween Week: Wreath

This wreath was kind of a pain in the butt. Like an itchy, pins wouldn't hold the burlap, pain in the butt. Thankfully it will stay up ALL year long.

I found this clip-on spider from Wal-Mart for a little over a dollar. He is huge and I love him! After Halloween I can simply unclip him and put something fall-ish in his place.

 

Although a pain, the wreath is pretty awesome!

Halloween Week: Mantle

We interrupt this weeks' regularly scheduled posts to have some Halloween fun!

I love decorating my mantle for Halloween. It is one of my absolutely favorite things to do and I might have started a little early this year. Like... early September... maybe...

 

Here is my mantle from last year. I added a few little things here and there, but I am pretty happy with what I have already collected. My decor is very muted and simple. I don't really go for the loud Halloween decorations, instead I usually opt for the black and white, vintage stuff.

I hung my skull plate this year, but had a slight accident in the process. If you look at last year's post, I had this really cute apothecary jar that I put rocks and a skeleton in. I loved that jar. Key word being loved.

 

I got a little lazy and tried hanging the plate by taping ribbon to the back. That lasted about five minutes. The plate fell off the wall and totally shattered my apothecary jar. Sad day! Needless to say, I learned my lesson and properly glued the ribbon to the back.

My favorite is still the jars I made. Dollar Tree vases glued to finials from Lowe's that I painted black. So easy and so cheap.

My Dollar Tree graveyard. I painted them all black and distressed them a bit.

New this year is my black, felt garland. Cute little guys. I picked it up from Target after Halloween, so it was pretty dang cheap.

 

I love Halloween!

 

 

This Just Pinned

This wreath was the first project we did for our craft group. It was pretty easy, especially if you have a die cut machine. Fast, easy, and super light to hang anywhere.

And, because this made me laugh so hard I almost peed!

Be The Good

My church (confused? Look here) will occasionally do a big craft day called Super Saturday. I love these! This year I was asked to come up with something fun to go along with the quote. I racked my brain for a little and came up with this.

This frame measures 8x10, but I also made a smaller version in a 5x7. My inspiration was the paper. It was more then I normally pay for paper, but I loved it. I bought the pack with 48 pieces at Hobby Lobby. It is an assortment of oranges and teals. This way everyones' is similar but not the same.

I placed the paper in the frame and cut out my vinyl. Funny story: I cut out the orange "be the good" and then decided to use white for the other letters to make the orange pop. After cutting it out and applying it to the glass I noticed something interesting. I kept reading and rereading the quote, but it just didn't look right. After about five minutes I noticed that I totally cut out "their" instead of "there". That would have been embarrassing to show up with a few dozen of these cut out wrong.

I really love how it turned out and I especially love the quote. So go out and be the good in the world!



Ridiculous Recipes

My good friend brought this bread over the other day and it is soooooo good. Especially the glaze over the top. Mmmm! My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

This Just Pinned

This is the BEST stain remover ever! No joke. My sister was able to get out four year old formula stains from her baby clothes. My whites are currently soaking in the bathtub so I will give you an update once my soaking cycle is over. So excited!

Back to School Party

 Even though school technically started about a month ago, this party could be used for any celebration. I found some random ideas around Pinterest and put them all together for a fun school party.

The main theme of the party was "the movie theater". Each kid received a row of tickets. I think I gave each child ten tickets. The tickets were then used for everything.



We started with a photo booth. We wanted to take pictures before the kids got too messy. We taped up a black tablecloth to the wall and had several different props for the kids to use in the pictures. We did several silly pictures and then each kid got to take a picture with a their grade sign.

I bought several different theater candies and popped popcorn. I added the labels for fun. The kids got a cellophane bag to put all their treats in while they watched the movie.

 

Here is a quick breakdown of how they spent their tickets:

1 ticket- to watch the movie

1 ticket- to do the photo booth

1 ticket- pizza

1 ticket- water bottle

1 ticket- popcorn

5 tickets- scoops of candy

 

The kids had a blast! I heard them talking several times about how awesome it was. Major mom points!

Ridiculous Recipes

So, I haven't technically tried this one, but a very good source said it is awesome! I just need to go buy some steak and we will be in business.