Halloween tic-tac-toe

My computer is my Canvas did the CUTEST template on her blog: http://mycomputerismycanvas.blogspot.com/2010/09/freebie-friday-halloween-tic-tac-toe.html

I mod podged it to a magnet sheet and sewed up a little pouch for the pieces (I forgot to take pictures of the pieces).  The girls love it!

Halloween party!

Bubbling root beer was a hit with the kids and the adults!

We used The Big H brand extract - YUM!  I wasn't willing to pay a dollar per glass, so I found these in packs of 6 for a dollar in the wedding section at the dollar store (o:

We all took pictures in our costumes with a big mirror frame I had.

Peanut butter balls turned out great dipped in white chocolate 

I had the husband make these sucker stands for me the night before the party and my nieces painted them up with chalkboard paint.  I'm so happy with the way they turned out!  I made these teeny suckers to display.

I got the idea for these super cute bat boxes online.  I can't find where I saw it though.  If it's yours, please let me know and I will put a link to your site.

I copied old love letters from my great-great-grandfather to my great-great-grandmother and my husband folded them into boxes for me.  Adding bat wings made them the perfect Halloween favor boxes! 

These cute coffin boxes were inspired by a post on Better Homes and Gardens:  http://www.bhg.com/holidays/halloween/crafts/coffin-party-favors/  They even give you a template to print out for them!  Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!

I've always wanted to try these candy corn topiaries from Better Homes and Gardens.

I used an old rake handle for the "trunk" because I refused to pay $3 for a dowel.

http://www.bhg.com/holidays/halloween/crafts/candy-corn-topiaries/

My camera doesn't do anything justice...sigh.

I found this old candelabra at the thrift store - fantastic! 

Introducing...Faithy the Fruit bat!

My photoshop skills are quite lacking....

Had to erase the mess I forgot to clean up before pictures (o:

Fairy hair pins

Dollar store flowers, Dollar store bobby pins and some hot glue make the CUTEST fairy hair!

My little Fairy!

Fall Dollar Store Wreath

Renting makes decorating much harder.  I'm having a hard time making the transition from owning to renting, so I've set out to come up with decor that isn't permanent.

I got this cute idea from Thriftydecorchick at http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/search/label/Fall%2FHalloween .  (I hope she doesn't mind)  I just couldn't pass it up!  It takes some cardboard and about 4 stems of leaves from the Dollar Store.  A little hot glue here, a wreath hanger there and Voila!  A great Fall wreath to make my rental look that much cuter!

Halloween

Faith, Rahel and I decided to spend the afternoon painting pumpkin faces on the acorns we gathered yesterday.  We discovered a wall of scrub oak just outside my doctor's office and spent the entire afternoon gathering fallen acorns in the parking lot.  People were giving us the strangest looks as we scrambled between cars and up into the brush to claim our treasures!  We had such a great time comparing acorns and talking about squirrels.

Grammie's birthday

 Faith and Rahel asked if they could make Grammie a birthday present this year.  Faith has been eyeing my cricut lately so I let her pick the pictures to make these cute paperclip bookmarks.

We used the BIG paperclips for these.  Faith cut the pictures out twice, then sandwiched the paperclip inbetween them and used glue dots to secure.  I think they turned out pretty cute (o:

Cooking or cupcake party favors

For the chalkboards, I used the covers of old books that the girls had torn up.  After cutting them evenly, I painted them with 2 coats of chalkboard paint.

For the "MENU" part, I got a set of alphabet stamps 1/2 price at Michaels.  This would be WAY cute if you used vinyl, but I can't afford vinyl, so here's my cheap-o version.  I dug through the dollar stamp bin at Michaels and found this border stamp and the birthday stamp which I only used the scrolls from.

After stamping, I went over it with paint and a teeny paintbrush and then freehanded a little cupcake.

Next, I mod podged cute paper to the back for a finished look (sorry, I forgot to take a pic)

I was really cheap this time and used metal wire hangers to make the stands.  Just use pliers to cut and bend them into the shape of your stand and then curl the ends with the pliers.  I spray painted them the 97 cent white spraypaint from Walmart.  All in all, I was really happy with the menus - especially since I went so cheap (green) this time.

I'll do a post on the cookbooks later.  They turned out way cute and the girls LOVED them!

Happy Father's Day!

Here's a cute and easy Father's day card idea.  Faith made these for the big guys in her life (o:

First you cut your paper into an 8 x 4 inch strip and fold in half.  Measure 1" from folded end and make a 1" cut on both sides for collar.  Fold collar down and add brads before gluing or just glue now and glue buttons on later.  Cut out a tie and glue on just under the collar.  Open card from the bottom and let your dad know that He's the BEST!

Owie pouch

I made these to send with Rahel to church and sitters along with a HIV card to put people at ease in an event of a blood spill.  It's no big deal, but people do have worries so I made this HIV preparedness kit.  Great news - we went in this month for Rahel's 6 month HIV blood draw and the virus is now undetectable!  We couldn't be happier!

Bamboo coasters

A set of 4 coasters rolled and tied.  So fun and easy!

Go green!

Memory games

I made these from wood and scrap paper with mod podge.  Kinda fun!

New crafting blog

Okay.  I'm going to try and start a crafting blog so you don't have to sort through all the boring stuff.  I'm starting this off with a welcome for all of your great crafting ideas.  We are planning for a fundraising project for an announcement that is soon to come. 
On this blog, I will record and share all of my crafting ideas and also offer them for purchase to contribute to our cause.

I thought I'd try my hand at Soap

These ones are a clear glycerine soap with my favorite fragrances!

This one is Avacado and Cucumber glycerine soap with Lavender flowers added

I got brave and tried oatmeal and cinnamon with this one and I love it!