Cute Halloween Pumpkins!

Well now that I have started, I might as well keep going on the Halloween things! Just got the Better Homes and Gardens Special Halloween Magazine! Browsing in the car at a stop light, barely glanced and KNEW I would need to make these! They just used fake pumpkins (Michaels has them on sale often!) and covered them with black lace! Sounds easy and looks wonderful!! I really like it on the white ones! Not sure I will make the towers, I like them individual better I think!

Linking this to

Halloween Silhouettes!

I wasn't going to do any Halloween posts until after the baby's first birthday but then some of my very favorite blogs are LOADED with them, too tempting! I have been working on 1 project, that I really like so far! Spooky Silhouettes! I like to do mostly black, white and silver Halloween stuff, these fit right in!
Here is what I did, pretty easy, and none of the steps take too long, just took me a few nap times.

~First I snagged some frames at Goodwill, and a garage sale.

~Spray painted black, left the silver ones the way they were.

~Found pictures online, copied to a zip drive and took it to the copy center. I did this because I don't feel like our printer prints REALLY black. I also brought the frames to make sure I sized them right for the frame.

~I really like Martha Stewart Glitter A LOT! I used a tiny glue pen and did this little witch and then covered with the black glitter, I did it in sections because the glue dries so fast. I didn't glitter all of them, just a couple

~Once it was dried I stuck it in the frame.

EASY, pretty inexpensive if you get a deal on the frames, or you have them already and not too scary.

 

But this one is my favorite! I didn't print it off, I used the cricut with the new Halloween mini Cartridge, October 31st. Cut the moon, covered with Martha's GLOW IN THE DARK Glitter, stuck it to some black cardstock, put it in the frame and thats it. I really like how not scary and just enough whimsical it is!!

 

 

This is them all together, I'm not happy with them yet. I have a few more that aren't finished, need to find the perfect silhouettes still! I want to add at least a few more, but considering it is still August, I'm not worried about running out of time!

These are in our living room, that we have done NOTHING to in 3 years, that's why it looks so plain!

Fall Cleaning Already?!

It's almost time to start Fall cleaning again! Doesn't feel like it has been a year since my last POSTS about this! I think having an infant makes the days long and the year seem short!  For me, summer means more time doing fun stuff and less time cleaning or worrying about what I didn't get to! Not only is it too hot to clean but the school age kids don't have to be picked up and dropped off and we can actually go do something! School here starts Sept 7th for our Kindergartner and the baby's first birthday is 2 and a half weeks later! 2 and a half weeks is not a lot of time to get ALL the cleaning done, but I think with some extra planning I can pull it off!

Getting all of this stuff done in that time frame means planning ahead and having my lists ready!  I'm sure I could re-post last years posts but I'm sure I missed something then or I use something entirely different now!

First thing I need to do is get my supplies ready! Here is my supply list!

Then the things that probably need done in every room here are

~washing the walls, I just use a old towel and a vinegar/water mix.

~Windows need washed and its a good idea to clean the tracks before anything can get too caked on, and right now it's just dust, but once it rains, it's mud!

~Baseboards, I vacuum them first, if that doesn't make them look clean, just a quick wipe down with the vinegar/water mix, if they are still bad or having red paint on them (thank you little Lightning Mcqueen car) I just touch up the paint!

~Our white doors get DIRTY! All those cute grubby little finger prints have to go though! Treat the doors the same way as baseboards, but they usually need a magic eraser too!

~Carpets need cleaned, sometimes just a spot cleaning. Here, the area rugs get some baking soda sprinkled and the kids have to "dance" to get the baking soda in realllly good, (they like to help and I'm not worried about baking soda!) I just vacuum it up when I have a chance.

~Finally, paint touch ups. We have kids, kids and flat wall paint don't mix, so we always have a few spots that need attention!

 

I will post ALL of the tasks I do in each room soon. On my lists at home I have the approx. time they take me, so if I have even a little window of time I can usually squeeze 1 thing in! 

 

I am not doing any cleaning yet though! Going to enjoy this last week of Summer with the kids and prep for the first week of school and all the new and different things it means for our family and house.

 

Super easy 1 dish 5 minute S'mores Yumminess!

My friend Kat posted  about her S'mores Bark, totally my kind of thing, I knew I would want to make these! Picked up some Goden Grahams and mini marshmallows at the store came home and planned to make these with the mini's after nap. Started reading the ingredients, holy smokes 2 pounds of chocolate, I don't think I have that much! Not about to run back out to the store, so I took the basic idea and did about half the chocolate! I don't know if mine looks the same as hers but it still has the same ingredients. So thanks Kat for the yummy idea, my mini's love it!

Here is what I did with the same ingredients!

~Melted 1 C chocolate, I used the discs from the baking store that I bought for the chocolate fountain.

melt it in a BIG bowl on defrost setting, stir it every minute and it should take about 3 minutes total to be melted.

~While it is melting get your bag of marshmallows and Golden Grahams out

~Once the choc is melted I dumped 1 1/2C Marshmallows and 1 3/4 C Golden Grahams ( I did more cereal than marshmallows because atleast the cereal has a *tiny* bit of nutritional value compared to the marshmallows)

~Stir it all together until the marshmallows and cereal are coated, my version gave them a light coating, I could still see the grooves in the cereal.

~Line a cookie sheet with foil or wax paper, so you don't add to your dirty dish pile, and it comes off a little easier too.

~ Spread the mixture onto the pan and put it in the fridge until the chocolate sets.

~ Remove and break into smaller pieces, I just put ours in a bowl, I have a feeling it won't last long enough to need a baggie!

Yum! 

It's National Potato Day!

I didn't know that until this morning.. but I was sure I can throw something potato-y together for dinner!

Checked my pantry and fridge and sure enough just what I need for potato soup! I don't really cook from recipe's much, sometimes that is a good thing and sometimes it is a bad thing!  So today I am kinda flying by the seat of my pants with this soup since it's not my usual!

I cut up 6 potatoes into bite size pieces, bite size here is kid bite size!

I browned..err fried maybe?  half the potato pieces in some bacon grease.

While that was cooking I mixed some chicken stock, dill, nutmeg and white pepper.. a pinch, dash, however much you like!

Then I looked in the fridge.. whoops.. no cream or  half and half.. but I do have some cream cheese! I scooped about 1/3 of the 8 ounce package in and whisked all that together. Then added the potato pieces, all of them, the fried and non fried. I don't usually fry any of them, but my mom says I am doing it wrong.. so thought I might do it her way, well halfway her way!  So they are cooking away now. I hope it turns out!  I plan on serving the soup with some options of bacon, cheese, corn, and some chicken breast bites (it's what the kids like!)

And if I can get all 3 of the kids wrangled and to the grocery store I am going to make this cute dessert, but mini sized!

It's vanilla ice cream, rolled in coco powder, scooped out middle with whipped cream and sprinkles (in this picture though they are pistachio's)

I'm kind of excited to see what other "national" days I don't know about.. hopefully I can post about them a little ahead of time in the future!

Squirrely's 1st Birthday!

There were SOOO many pictures thanks to Michelle at Casual Camera Photography! Here are some of the details of Sydney's Squirrel/Woodland party!

One of the snacks... Hershey Kiss acorns in Target's $1 section adorable buckets!

Part of her Banner!

Cake

Cupcakes with acorns!

Cupcakes with Toppers!

S'mores pops, water bottles and CUTE Picture Tree!

Pink S'mores Pops!!

Water Bottles

Friends showing off the cupcake toppers!

Sydney did a GREAT job with the cake.. what we all hope they will do.. fling frosting and cake all over with a HUGE smile!!

This is the cleaned up birthday girl and her sweet mama!!

 

And this is my smooshy with a chocolate milk muscratch (in big brothers words!)

 

BIG Ruler Growth Chart!

I've been looking for something to use the first day of school every year, for all 3 kids. It needed to last a while, and be able to have a spot for all 3 kids marks and not be too girly or too boyish. Didn't ever find anything that would work so I decided to make one. It matches the BTS stuff I have out now and it isn't in the way but I can get it out easily for the 1st day of school!

Hubby picked up a piece of lumber and some spray paint. I wanted it to look like a ruler so he got a kind of squashy yellow color, gave it a couple of coats of paint and then I used the cricut and cut out some numbers. I marked with a small mark every 6 inches. I didn't want to fill it with ALL the inch marks, wanted to make sure there was room for the kids marks! Once the marking was done I used some mod podge and stuck the numbers on, then some mod podge over them. Let it dry and that was it! I wasn't going for perfection, I expect it will be pretty distressed in no time!  The whole project was less than $10, but if you already had the paint or lumber it could easily be much less!

Back to School Decorations

Alrighty things have changed, gotten better since last years decorations!  Check them out HERE!

Some stuff I did the same and I have added a bit more!  The Apples on the chandelier.. still love em!!

But over the last year I did find some great little things and I am still on the hunt for a few perfect things, I know what I want, just can't find it! When I think of Back to School (BTS) I think of PBnJ, Apples, school supplies and knee socks, I love knee socks! People with interior design degrees probably associate fall with great fall themed decorations like these.

This is my trusty feather wreath with a BTS makeover!  I just added a HUGE eraser, a ruler and some little apples!

Found these HUGE apples and it fits just snug in my fave bell jar and stand!

Found this little plush apple in the $ section at Joanne's!  Filled a jar with pencils.. I like the simple look of these 2 together and they are both very BTS for me!

My favorite BTS Goodwill find.. this metal schoolhouse candleholder! And the matching mini jar to the pencil jar, filled with mini apples!

And the garland I just finished..

And my unfinished project.. I took a $1 frame from the craft store, asked hubby to cut some rulers to fit, glued them onto the frame, rubbed with a little brown paint... and now I am waiting.. waiting for a vinyl G in the right size!

I also have a BIG jar of apples but I don't know where that picture went and a little apothecary jar full of crayons, that picture just looks like a blurry mess!

So here are some things I look forward to next year, or the year after!

This CUTE Apple beret from Gymboree.

Well this one is the cherry version, the apple is a little brighter! I don't know how to make stuff like this, but a homemade version would be SO cute for the 1st day!!

This ADORABLE pillow.. found on ETSY

I REALLY want to make these, might be able to squeeze them in this year still, but I would just do 1 for each kiddo, found these on a cute blog, but I can't recall which one.. Please if it's yours let me know so I can link!

Ive been on the look out for a long skinny sign with the Pledge of Allegiance, haven't found it yet but I do like this smaller version

I LOVE this idea.. not sure I am ready to tackle it though.. found HERE

I do have 1 more project I am working on.. not ready to share it yet, but SOON.. I am way giddy over it!! Hope I can have it finished by next week!! Come back and look for it, my best $10 project yet!

If it's already BTS for you have a great week! We have a couple weeks to go!