Halloween

Well, Halloween was a huge success this year.  We did a "group" thing this year.....5 ladies, 12 kids and 3 streets took a bit of time.  My oldest was running ahead like lightning and the little one was sloooooow and was about 2 houses behind at any given time.
But they had fun. We had fun. It was finally a nice day out for trick or treating.

New craft

Whew. I have been b.u.s.y. being lazy and surfing the Internet. The blog world is a buzzing and there are some amazing blogs out there with some very crafty people. I'm talking UBER crafty.

One is Jellybean Junkyard  Not only is she SUPER crafty, she gave me inspiration to do this:

Give Thanks daily board

Seriously....CUTE, right?!?!

It was more a tiny bit more work than I had thought, but totally worth it. She did hers on a wood board and I did mine on a piece of canvas (from JoAnnes). I painted it with some left over paint from our computer room. I then tried forever to find coin envelopes, but I couldn't. So I just used small envelopes and cut down a tiny bit. Cut some cute scrapbook paper to fit over it and gluesticked it on. (is that a word?? Nope...spell check told me it is not. Sheesh.)
I finally used my Sizzix to cut out the numbers and letters.
I mod podged it on. I gotta say, being my first Mod Podge experience....I love that stuff. It is fun to use. (I'm weird)
So, for each day of November the kids will write something they are thankful for. Lord knows they need to be reminded of that lately.  Next year they can use the other side of the card, and they get to see what they wrote the previous year.
Check out Jellybean junkyard and see how she did hers. Hers is way cuter!

My new love of Dollar Tree

I hope I'm not alone on my thoughts that the Dollar Tree was full of crap stuff that you could find other places for close to a dollar. Well, I was WRONG. Starting with their fall decorations...they kicked butt this year. From leaf garland, to black crows, to cute ceramic pumpkins......ALL CUTE. And one dollar. I know, I know.

This halloween, I was looking through Pottery Barns catalog, which i LOVE, but can't always afford (or want to pay for) and they have some cuuuuute things. One of my faves is their vase full of moss and little skulls. Pretty pricey, though. Well...wouldn't you know it....Dollar tree has vases, spanish moss and little skulls for ONE DOLLAR. Check out what I've made....all from the dollar tree....

Vase from dollar store, gorilla glued a base (NOT from dollar tree, but on clearance for $2 at Menard's (?? random find) Spanish moss and skulls.

Seriously...LOVE the cloche with the moss and skulls. I do. The skulls are a little too fake and plastic-y looking, so I just took some craft paint in a dark brown and added some water. I dabbed that mix on each piece and let dry for a little bit. It really made a huge difference.

Also found at the dollar tree...

Super cute. I just sanded the edges a bit and took some left over watered down paint and made it look more aged.

This one I just got some black bottles at Hobby Lobby (not $1, but pretty close) and printed some spooky labels from the Internet. The glittery skull is from the Dollar Tree. See....they are my new favorite place to shop.  The white stand is from my last cheese dome turned cloche. (the bottom part)  The jar is full of gumball eyeballs. Now all I need is some spiderwebs and I'm good to go. :)

The tale of 2 halloween costumes

My kids are VERY differant. My son, 7 1/2, wants to be a lego for halloween. (I was SO hoping for Harry Potter, but he's his own person) Simple enough, I think....I've seen it in Family Fun magazine. Ummmm....little harder than I thought. I went through 3 boxes until I got the body right, and even now it's still not up to "my" standards, but it will do.
I started with a box and cut out a circle for his head and arms. I bought 6 disposable containers from the dollar store, lined them up and cut out circles for them. I couldn't glue them to the box because the rim is too thin, so i taped them to the inside.

I then went to Menards and bought Blue spray paint (he wants to be a blue Lego)

Spray paint that bad boy....

Please excuse our DIScusting garage. It's just too gross to talk about.
Anyways....all I need is a few more coats (and smooth out all my mistake cuts, random uneveness and tape marks) and to somehow get the LEGO logo on the front of each circle.

My daughter, 4 1/2, wants to be a bag of frozen corn. Yes, that is correct. She is a  Weirdo unique individual. Anyways, she started by wanting to be a PIECE of frozen corn, but a friend suggested a bag and that is MUCH easier. Poster board (Dollar Tree 2/$1) and some yellow pompoms. My friend did all the words in the proper fonts and here it is:

Just need to figure out a way to put it on her without sewing (either staples, glue or tape. That's how I roll....)

Fall decorating

Sooooo....I've been a little obsessed with spray painting and decorating lately (what, me??? obsessed????)  I have recently started following some "thrifty" blogs and I am in LURVE with cloches. LURVE.

Here is what you do.....you start at Goodwill. Get past the smell and some of the, cough, more interesting items and look for a cheese dome.

Usually about 2.99 around these here parts....

Then you find a candle stick (usually chunky and short does the trick). Gorilla glue the sucker on to the bottom and wait several hours. Then you spray paint that bad boy in any color you like. I prefer ORB. :)Now you have yourself a cloche that can be filled with all your holiday goodness. Some examples:

Isn't that lovely????

Here are some more (see.....i'm not obsessed at ALL)

I also LOVE to spray paint....I got these lovelies from the Dollar Store (my new favorite spray paint store) and spray painted them ORB (oil rubbed bronze), Heirloom white and bronze. The tall candle sticks were on clearance at TJ Maxx for like $2 and were just awful. I spray painted them and added them to my fall dining table.

My good friend, L., has these AH-mazing candy glass jars on her counter in her kitchen. I wanted to do the same, but in apocothary jars. I did NOT, on the other hand, want my kids messing with them....so I told them they were "fake candy". Ya know what???? THEY BELIEVED ME!!!

I thank Thrifty Decor Chic and all my other fabulous blog friends for so many inspirations.