Wednesday, October 31, 2012

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

As you may know, I have always loved dressing my puppy Mardi up for Halloween. Let me just say that a few things;

A. The new puppy, Marlin, apparently doesn't have a festive spirit/like wearing outfits

B. Getting them both dressed & in the same picture was impossible. Regardless, enjoy my effort and a few other Halloween treats!

Can you guess who they are going as?




If you guess Rod Stewart and Rachel Hunter, you are correct!!



Have you wanted to try those new Sally Hansen stick on nails? I LOVE these! They were super-easy to apply & have stayed on for 5 days thus far.  I can't wait to see what styles they have for Christmas...maybe something with snowflakes?

A simple front door display 

Adorable baby pumpkins that served as a centerpiece for the October baby shower I hosted.


A blast from Halloween's past:



 


Sunday, October 28, 2012

How to (not) Make Your Own Fall Wreath

This October, my husband & I hosted two mother in law visits, a visit from our 7 year old niece & nephew accompanied by a sister & brother-in-law and a couples party (aka: a couples baby shower)  I decided that I needed to step up the decorating a notch & thus decided that my front door needed a wreath. I love doing a fresh spruce Christmas wreath, and didn’t want to be too Halloweeny, so I focused on something that would take me from late September through Thanksgiving.
One thing you must know about me is that I am not a huge fan of silk flowers. However, something happens to me when I walk into a craft store. I turn into a third grade teacher, (no offense to third grade teachers), and I start wanting to be-dazzle everything, buy cute stickers that I will never use and yes, I always look at the silk flowers. That being said, I am not particularly skilled in the area of creating décor as evident by a white feather Christmas tree I made several years back. It was supposed to be angelic with a funky twist. It just looks weird, but I still display it in the WAY back of my Christmas tree collection. Knowing that this may turn into a disaster, I turned to the Internet for some inspiration. I really liked several of the options I found:


Ultimately, I decided to give this one a try:
 
I purchased a grapevine wreath on sale for $2.99 & the rustic floral filler cost just under $22.
 
I started by adding wraping burlap at the top for a guide so I could work
my way around keeping focus on the middle/top.
 
I then began placing each of my lovely, rustic looking silk flowers & tying them with florist tape.
 
About halfway through, I took a look at my little creation & decided that it looked terrible. Not in a cute little 3rd grader way, but in a really, really bad throw it away kind of way. Sooooo, I made the decision to painstakingly remove each section and just keep it simple. I think it turned out nicely.
 
 
I certainly hope you all have had a lovely October. Mine has been so much fun and oh so memorable. This November you can find me relaxing in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot tea, reading a great book. P.S. Shoot me an e-mail if you know where I can purchase a beautiful wreath for next Fall, ha ha! :)
 

Monday, October 1, 2012

A Special Halloween Treat

One of my absolute favorite things about our new neighborhood is that we get Trick Or Treaters...LOTS of Trick Or Treaters! I am not sure who enjoys it more, me or my sweet puppy Mardi. This year, we have added a new dog to our household (Marlin) & I cannot wait to share a picture of them dressed in their Halloween costumes! I love seeing all of the adorable kids in their costumes and, of course, having lots of candy on hand. Several of my friends bring their kids by & I always like to have a special treat ready to go for them. Check out what I did in 2011...who knows what I will do this year!

I thought these Martha Stewart witches brooms were super-cute, and could work for a boy or a girl. I bought mine at Michael's Craft Store for around $10 but you can get them anywhere that carries Martha Stewart's line of crafts. I checked, and they are making these again this year.

Of course it comes with directions,
but I always find it helpful to have a visual.
It comes with an inside bag & an outside bag.
You just put a little sticker between the two to hold them together.
Drop in the candy & broom stick, then tie it loosly at the top.

How great are the mini Tootsie Roll pops? 

I hope someone's kiddo will bring me another spider ring this year! 

The broom stick is faux but, obviously, this isn't for small children. They can untie the ribbon or they can tear the sides to get to the candy. 

With one of my leftovers, I made a bird's nest.
I cannot tell you how much fun this was to make!
 I just twisted the sides of the bag in various directions & glued the pieces into place with hot glue.
I then added spanish moss and feathers.
What on earth am I going to do with this you ask?
I have no idea, I just like it ;)


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Here are some of Mardi's past Halloween costumes:
A CUTE COWGIRL

AN ALABAMA CHEERLEADER 

 
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