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:

 

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! :)
 

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 

Back to school treat for teacher?

Looking for an inexpensive, yummy treat that will make you look like a creative chef? Look no further! I started making these little treasures a few years ago & have taken them as hostess gifts for many a dinner party. Recently, I took them to a friend when I met her precious new baby for the 1st time. They are delicious!!

Thank you to my dear friend Jeana for always having these at her house for our JLA meetings...and then teaching me how to make them :)

All you need is a bag of rolos, a bag of square pretzels, a pretty jar,

 a piece of ribbon & about 1/2 hour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Spread out the pretzels on a lined baking pan

Open the rolos (I think this is what takes me the longest)

Cut the rolos in half

Place the rolos chocolate side down on the pretzels

Bake for 2 minutes (seriously, just 2 minutes!)

The rolos will become shiney when they are heated properly

Once you remove the pan from the oven,

place the 2nd half of the pretzel on top & press lightly

You can either let them cool on their own for several hours or

place them in the freezer for 2-3 minutes

Look how cute this is! It sounds so simple but, no kidding, everyone asks me how to make these. Little do they know that besides these, all I can do in the kitchen is prepare a fabulous cheese platter!

A(nother) Door Project: Making a sweet table

Can we get back to the new craft room for a minute? I kind of thought that once it was finished, I would be wrapping & crafting away. During the holidays, I spread everything out on the floor & worked away. I loved being able to leave everything out & come back to it later. And, frankly, I like doing projects on the floor. Nonetheless, I took a look around & realized that I needed to add a small table. As I started to shop for a cool, old table, I realized that this was going to be a pricey addition, and the dimensions had to be just right. My husband has been cleaning out the garage, (thank goodness!!), and came across our old screen door from our former house. Yes, he kept that, can you believe it? He suggested that I re-finish the door & put it on sweet, dainty legs. I decided to give it a try. Check it out. Oh, and not to worry, we saved the other half of the door so I'm sure it will pop up in some project down the road ;)

Here’s what we’re doing:

My husband cut the door in half

I filled in the hinge holes with wood filler & did a quick hand-sand

I painted the underneath white, he added the legs (purchased from Lowe’s)

Then, I painted the top (primed it 1^st of course)

Even with the primer, it took 2 coats of paint

We ordered a custom piece of glass to fit in the scalloped area

Totally cute right?

A Door Project: A really easy project for me ;)

In case you haven’t noticed, we don’t throw away too much in my household. This is mainly due to my husband’s inability to part with anything & everything. Think Paw Paw style: “we may need these old hinges if we ever decide to build our own wine rack” or “you never know when you might want to go retro with an old lighting fixture”.  But, I have to admit, I love it when we can take something & re-use it for another purpose.

Here’s what we’re doing:

My husband knocked out each square of the existing door

He then affixed wooden beams for the legs & 2x4’s for the sides
He ordered custom glas pieces to fit each square

I decided to leave it red & scuff it with sandpaper…my only contribution to this project!

He added 2 coats of lacquer

Oh, I also helped transport it to the porch. This was no easy task, let me tell you!

We are going to order teak chairs that will tie in with the color of the beams. (compliments of my mom)

Come on over for a glass of peach lemonade or a beer!

This picture pretty much sums up my involvement with this project :)