Happy Thanksgiving

I've been quiet this month for a variety of reasons... one, Thanksgiving isn't a huge decorating holiday for me, so those type projects are few.


Secondly, its been a rough month financially for us, and from work problems and stress and lack of sleep and all that kind of jazz I just really haven't felt like writing, to be honest.


I have not put up any Christmas decorations yet, but I imagine I will beginning Friday. I did at least get them out of the shed this past weekend, and now my family room looks like half family room and half storage shed - due to the Xmas bins lined against the wall!


My grandparents are coming over here for Thanksgiving tomorrow (they will have to cope with the xmas bins in the room with us!) Today I managed to make the cranberry sauce and apple pie, and the pumpkin pie is in the oven as I type. Hubby is in charge of the rest ;) 


This Thanksgiving...


I am thankful for...


my children and husband
a roof over my head
clothes on my back
food in my kitchen
my job(s)
a pre-thanks for the job i know hubby will get soon (nothing like being optimistic!)
my family (even the ones i dont like. well.... hmmm...)
my big giant bathtub and epsom salt
motrin (can we tell it's been a rough few weeks?)
and... scented candles :) One of my few indulgences :)
so many many other things, but thats all my tired brain can come up with at the moment. We all have so much more to be grateful for...more than we even realize.

Fall Centerpiece revisited...

A couple of weeks ago I posted the fall centerpiece I did for the coffee table. What I failed to think about was once the leaves die and wither and turn brown- they aren't nearly as charming.


At walmart today hubby found a bag of tiger pumpkins and some gourds for under $1 each (for the bag). He thought I might have something to do with them.


Why yes, yes I do!


I peeled off dead yard debris from the centerpiece. I then rub a light layer of glue and added some silver glitter to the pumpkins (i would have preferred gold, but all i had was silver). I then simply arranged them on the existing centerpiece. I left the leaves that retained some color - i think those ones will make it through the next couple of weeks....


I like it much better now!

Fall Centerpiece

Even though today is Halloween, the Holiday is over for us. You see, since Halloween was on Sunday our town said Trick or Treating was on Saturday. I'll leave my own beliefs out of it, but suffice to say, I am not happy and today feels very anti-climatic to me. So, after I took down most of my Halloween decorations, I started thinking about fall decorations. This year they will be of particular interest to me, since we are hosting Thanksgiving in a little over 3 (EEEK!) weeks!


I found a grapevine wreath (that I forgot I had) and set it on the coffee table. Just like this. 

 

Then, I had an idea. And, with 4 year old in tow... headed to find some fall like foliage.  We came back with this: 

Sorry for the poor picture quality. I forgot to change my flash setting. ooops. Anyways, it's pinecones and branches and leaves with the seed pods off of the old crepe myrtles in my yard and a few bits of wisteria leaves (gathered later to help fill in a few places). i sprinkled gold glitter glue on the pinecones just to give a little sparkle for when I have a candle i there ;)

And the finished product: 

You could hot glue everything in place, but I decided not to. Everything tucked in nicely with no problems, pinecones included. And this way, I don't totally deface the grapevine wreath that serves as the base.

I burn a lot of candles and think one of the big 3 wick candles will look great tucked in here as well and reflect on the touch of glitter glue to give a nice little 'bling'! 

Materials: 

Grapevine wreath

Fall foliage

glitter glue (gold/ yellow)

Cost: 

FREE!

halloween craft fail

As any crafter knows... things don't always work out in reality they way they do in your head.


I got some craft pumpkins at michaels (50% off!) last week and have been pondering what to do with them.


I decided to paint one black, make sparkly spider webs and a sparkly spider and have it on my coffee table!


Now, i could have used sequins or rhinestones or something but my easy, cheap gotta do it right now mentality was like ' hey- use some glue, make a web pattern, toss silver glitter on it and be done!'


it was quite elegant in my mind.


I made the spider first- slapped some red acrylic paint and doused it in red glitter. Looked awesome! 'YAY' i think to myself, 'this is going to be so cool'.


take my glue stick and make my web pattern on my pumpkin (I painted it this morning). 'Yup! this is definitely going to work!'


Sprinkle glitter on it.


That was the downfall. the glitter stuck all over the pumpkin (no the paint wasnt wet). I wiped off what i could, i even stuck it under the shower head to rinse off the excess!  but... hmmm. yeah. my craft fail for the week.


I'll leave it out cause I'm lazy like that, but next year I will take it and fix it 'right'. maybe rhinestones or sequins or or something....

I promise. it looked MUCH better in my head!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spider Nest Pumpkin!

I originally saw this project over on the Family Chic blog and liked it so much I decided to do my own! The original design used one of the smaller white pumpkins. Since I'm not a fan of white pumpkins (and had no desire to paint mine white or go buy one) I used a regular orange one that was sitting on my porch.


The idea is simple- cut off the front and back of a pumpkin, press in some screws or nails, and wrap spider webbing around it. Toss in some spiders and TA DAAAA!~ a nifty new pumpkin! My 4 year old insisted on adding the flies ;)


We are having company for dinner and I think I will toss a little tea light candle in there before they come! (there is no webbing on the inside of the pumpkin- just the outside)


Cost: FREE (everything on hand)

Just busy... not dead

No projects this week, well... maybe a birthday cake but that won't be anything amazing or unique (but definitely yummy!). I might post a pic and the recipe. Don't know yet.

This week is a busy one for us - Tuesday we took the kids to the State fair (you can see a photo slideshow here). My daughters birthday is Saturday. My grandparents are coming over for a small family party Friday night (hubby spent the whole morning out shopping and running errands- we will be having steak and gyoza (known in the US as potstickers) for dinner (her request), so he is prepping that as I type. I will make her cake tonight, since tomorrow I don't think I will have time.

Tomorrow after school she has a Halloween dance until 6- my grandparents are coming for dinner, and I have to work since the other girl I work with is out today and tomorrow so I can't get away with doing nothing (working from home has its benefits but sometimes can be every much as a pain as working in an office!)

Then Saturday I am taking her to the mall for a shopping spree (as she calls it). She didnt want a party or presents- just money and me to take her to the mall (gotta love the 12 year old pre teen priorities LOL)

So between work, cleaning, getting ready for a 'non-party', and a day at the Fair... there hasn't been much time for idle crafting this week :(

Vintage Halloween Garland / Banner

I am so jealous of anyone who has a fireplace mantle. You name the holiday, and I see so many cute ideas for decorating a mantle with some sort of garland or banner.


All I have is a big ugly wall with 2 uglier mirrors and 2 windows above the loveseat. Sadly, those windows are directly across from where I sit. I really hate them. I wish it were a mantle. And now I'm wondering how feasible it would be to put a shelf above those windows, but I digress.


Back to the subject at hand. So I am sitting here looking at those windows thinking about Christmas (of all things) and how much I like it because then I will be able to hang my garland and bows and wreaths from that window and have something to look at. hmmmmm something to look at. And it came to me. I will make my OWN garland- a halloween one!


I love vintage cards and postcards. They are so cool. but I haven't really gotten into the decoupage thing (yet, give me time and some mod podge). So I turn to google and search images for 'Vintage Halloween'. and oh, what treats I found! I downloaded about 15 images and printed them out. I printed them so they were approximately 4x6 (I really love windows 7 by the way, it does it for me! hehehe). I then cut them out on 3 sides with craft scissors (FYI- I can't find my regular scissors at the moment). I left the top portion uncut, so I could use it to fold over the twine that I am using for the banner.

I then took my roll of twine and climbed up to the aforementioned ugly window, and measured it out, I went ahead and made my loops where I needed them to hang off the hooks (this way, I didn't have to worry about gluing a card right where I needed to hang the banner). I folded each picture and placed craft glue on the folded seam and 'tab' (for reference, I am calling the folded part the 'tab'). The 'tab' is about 2" (estimate). I placed it on the twine so that the twine was on the seam, and glued it all down without trimming it

I did one, then would glue it to the twine. I would then do the next. I spaced them about an inch or so apart. I think it turned out pretty darn cute. Even if its NOT on a mantle!

Stuff you need:


Twine (on hand or $1)
Images (on hand via internet and printer)
Glue (on hand)


Cost: FREE (or $1)