Good intentions

Last weekend I finally got all the Halloween items out of the house and back in storage where they belong. I also grabbed a few of the constantly multiplying Christmas bins. And that's about as far as they've made it. Sitting in a nice little stack in the living room because I can't quite part with my pumpkins and leaves. *sigh* There's always next weekend.

Oh oh oh it's magic...

This weekend's rain gave me lots of time to dig through Halloween decorations, and an excuse to try some projects I've had in the inspiration files. Last year I raided the dollar store Halloween items and armed myself with plenty of glitter and ribbon-- as if there's ever enough :) I try to mix in Halloween with my normal fall decor so I don't have to completely start over on November 1st.

One of my favorite inspiration sites is Family Fun Magazine. Last year the young un and I decided to make the CandleEyebra. Instructions can be found here, or you can take the Thrifty Decor Chick shortcut here.

If you haven't picked up the special Halloween edition, then you're in luck--- I have one copy to give away to a fabulous blog reader! All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me about your favorite Halloween costume. Mine was Velma (which you can see in my header) to compliment the young un's Scooby Doo obsession. I'll pick a winner Thursday morning at 7:00 A.M.


And with H1N1 season is full effect here in TX, a teacher can never have too much hand sanitizer. When I saw what Chris over on Just A Girl did for her co-teachers, I knew it would be the perfect October treat.
Whew! what a crafty weekend-- would you believe I did it all in my pajama pants? :) But, I feel productive and that's all that really matters right?

Just a little love

I realized today that I never really showed off my super cheap Valentine's decorations. I don't go all out for V'Day, but I do put a few things in our entryway that make me smile. And in respect to my new "budget", I tried to do it as cheaply as possible.

Let's start with the door (which looks as though it could use a good cleaning). I found my inspiration here.

Rose petals $4, Styrofoam Round (free), Ribbon (free), small tailor pins (free) and red glitter heart ornament (.99). The loss of feeling in my fingers from pushing all those pins into Styrofoam? Priceless!

Now what about the entry table? I grabbed a bag of picks from the Dollar Tree, broke of the sticks and used leftover snow from the Christmas displays. I need to find some ribbon for those candles... didn't realize how bare they look.

Also in the entryway is my Big Lots score ($5 for the glass canister) filled with conversation hearts and a few glass ornaments I picked up for 50% at Hob Lob. I have noticed that the candy tends to wander around the living room :)

On top of the super attractive entertainment center speakers, One of our wedding pictures lives year round. I loved it up with a little raid the stash creation.

And my favorite Valentine? That would be this little surprise I came home to tonight, courtesy of the Mr, who will be out of town until late on Valentine's. I love you too babe!

I need to start in July...

Ok, first of all let me say that my weekend was out.of.control. It involved a three ring circus auction, the purse & accessory meca of Sam Moon, pizza and U-haul. It will be posted about later, when I can find the cable to connect the camera. If you want the short and sweet version read C's recap here.

I am pretty sure that people who make homemade gifts start in July. Or they don't sleep. I have so many ideas running through my head that last night I talked in my sleep. I mean really talked... for several hours. I only do that when I'm stressed to the point of breaking. So how to channel all the pent up energy? I started at the gym, for a little filthy fifty workout. I have to brag on PR time of 39:50 on only my third to attempt this W.O.D. The gym was great, but there were still so many things running through my mind during the workout that I had no other choice. I had to craft. I had to cut, glue, glitter, wrap, glitter more and mod podge.

I love my flame-less votives, so I made something sparkly for them to sit in. Mod podge, glitter and some ric rak= fabulous! I also had several of the snowflake mini ornaments left over from the charm bracelets. A little hot glue and presto!

With only 4 school days left before Christmas break, I needed some quick and easy teacher gifts. A search through my boxes located clear acrylic stamp blocks courtesy of the $1 spot at Target. A little mod podge, some scrapbook paper and some magnet tape= cute holiday fun.

Oh, and with 10 days to go, my tree is now up in my living room. No ornaments, but we'll get there eventually.

Crafting Christmas

Is it bad that I wore pajama pants all day Saturday? I don't even know what the temperature was like because I stayed like this from 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.

*See me being a good SITS girl and leaving some comment love? Holy Cannoli there are a lot of you to visit!

Now how could you turn down snuggle time like that? In reality, after about 10 minutes my arm starts to go numb from the weight of the cat, and she periodically rubs across the keyboard causing me to lose everything I typed. But I decided that after the mental, physical and emotional drainage of the past few weeks, I needed a day in bed. I gotta admit, it felt good to be lazy!

By Sunday, I had done all the "nothing" I could do and talked the boys into a coffee shop run for a peach smoothie, a blueberry scone and a bite of pumpkin muffin (the young un can never quite finish). My favorite coffee place has a fireplace, big comfy chairs and plenty of eye candy (no not that kind, this kind). I would have taken a picture, but we were having a technology free morning :)

I have been a bit worried that I haven't gotten caught up in the whole Christmas Spirit this year. Thanksgiving was just a blur and it's thrown me off my game. I feel a little Cindy Lou Who.




The young un proudly announces the countdown each morning when I wake him up, and I feel bad that we don't even have a tree up. So off to the storage building we went. I think someone must be sneaking in there and leaving stuff, because there is no way it should take two trips with a packed car and still not get everything! Since I had spent a lot of time blog stalking Saturday, I started to tackle some projects that inspired me to get my Christmas self together.

First, we tried our hand at these. Out of 2 boxes of ornaments, I was quite impressed there was only one casualty. I think I may use some of these on our garland and some for gift tags.

Then I broke out my Cricut, my endless supply of scrapbook paper and anything "winter-y" in my stash.

** mom these little happies are headed your way.**


This is what the kitchen table looked like after about half an hour... and will continue to look like for the rest of the week. We just kind of make a place to eat amidst the rubble. Oh who am I kidding... we don't eat at home that much.

At the end of the day I felt some of that holiday happiness creeping back in. I also felt the aches in my back from being hunched over at the table all day. Crafting is not glamorous work!

I have one finished project to show for my chaotic crafting. It's already claimed a spot in the living room.

Oh, and I brought a little Holiday to the young-uns shower too!

P.S. Kelly, my super fabulous blog makeover maven is having a Fabulous K Creative giveaway. The winner will receive a complete blog makeover using a kit of your choice from her designers. How much fun would it be to start the new year out with a new look? Go visit her to get entered.

At least the door is done...

Just wanted it noted that I have put up one Christmas decoration... my sweet Canton-purchased wreath!

I even added a bow.