Pumpkins!

I fell in love with all these cute pumpkins and all the amazing fabric options! It's a big ticket and low budget decoration, as it uses a small amount of fabric for each pumpkin. I just love them! I found this cute tutorial that is pretty much the exact way I did mine.

Ahhh, I love em!

Toddler Halloween Skirt & Trick-Or-Treat Bucket

This skirt was so incredibly easy, and I made it in just over an hour. Totally worth your time, because it'll be stinkin adorable on your little lady!

It's just three panels, basted and gathered , then sewn to one another. The waistband is just a casing with 1/2" elastic. I'm so happy with it! I made it just big enough that she'll be able to wear it two (maybe three) Halloweens.

This trick-or-treating bucket was super easy too. It's a re-purposed ice cream bucket (not too hard to come by for me) covered in black felt, and stamped with a template from my Cricut. Her name is on the other side. I lined the top of the bucket with ribbon, then tied ribbon knots all along the handle. Super quick, super cute, and would be a fun craft with older kids who can tie knots! Can be used year after year.

Halloween Wreath

 I am on a wreath kick.  I love them...I want them...I NEED them...
So I decided I would make my own Halloween wreath.
All you need is:
a wreath frame,
black satin ribbon,
and
funky Halloween color ribbon.

First, wrap the black satin ribbon around the wreath frame.  Don't underestimate how much ribbon this takes.  I used about 20 yards.

Next, take all your fun colors and cut them in pieces about 6 inches long.  I would cut one first and tie it around the wreath to make sure it's the length you want before cutting all the ribbon.

Then tie the ribbon in knots all the way around the frame.  You don't have to go in an order or follow a pattern.  I just used whatever piece of ribbon I though would look good.

And.... ta-da!  You get a funky little wreath perfect for greeting those little trick-or-treaters!

I'm Committed!

With Christmas just 96 quick days away, I've got to step up my game! My mom has always been so amazing with her Christmas planning; finishing up her main Christmas shopping by Halloween, it seems. She's always as cool as a cucumber all Thanksgiving, and gets to enjoy the days leading up to Christmas because she's so pulled together.

My hope is to be basically ready by Thanksgiving this year. To achieve this, I've got to get started now (since my favorite gifts to give [and to receive, by the way] are handmade)! Alexis' main gift from us is going to be a table playhouse. These are not a new idea, so our generation of mommies can't take credit for this idea. Check out this Vogue pattern from the 1970s!

I'm sure you've seen these all over blog land, and I've fallen head-over-heels for this one from Homemade By Jill.

Isn't it absolutely gorgeous?

I love the idea of using felt because you don't have to finish edges, and it's so much easier to add embellishments that kids can detach, thanks to velcro, and actually play with. I'm considering making the body out of a cotton material, then adding the felt accents to that.

Thoughts? Tips?

All her little carrots, ears of corn, and apples come off. I love it!

I'm confident Alexis would get hours and hours of play-time with hers. And, it's so much cuter than that cardboard box she played in for 6 months!

The cute girl at Sew Much Ado made this adorable one for her little boy. Boys need playhouses too!

DIY Growth Chart

I have been wishing I had a growth chart for my little guy for quite some time. After searching in stores and online with no success in finding something that I liked enough to buy, I decided to make my own.

This is probably the easiest thing I have ever made.... and I love it!
I love how simple and rugged it looks. I also like how it looks like a ruler. Want to know how I did it?
Here we go.

First, I made a little visit to our local Home Depot and picket up a smooth, knotty board. When I got it home, I placed it against the wall, above the base board and marked where 1 foot would be. That was my first mark. Then, I proceeded by making marks every 1/2 foot with a pencil. If you look closely, you can see the markings on the board above.

Next, I asked my friend, Terra to cut some vinyl for me: black, simple font, numbers 1-6, 11 dash marks. This is what she came up with. It was perfect!

Next, I rubbed on all those little numbers and dashes on the appropriate marks.

And now we have a finished product. It's cute enough to put inside, but we decided to hang it in the garage.

Now, we can mark the little man's height on every Christmas, birthday and first day of school. Awesome!

More Crazy for SPRAY Paint

Hi! This is Shannon. I have been MIA from this blog for quite a while and my beautiful sister, Tori has been the sole contributor for months now. I love her. Anywho....I have a love/hate relationship with crafts. When I love them, I LOVE them. When I hate them, thinking about crafting makes me feel sick in my tummy.
With that said, when fall and winter holidays are on the horizon, I start to get the crafting itch. Thus, the sudden desire to actually post on the blog! YAY!
Alright, enough blabbing. Let's get to the purpose of the post.
Shortly after Tori published THIS post on Shenanigans, I called her to tell her that I had done the EXACT same thing in my house. I got so tired of looking at my decor and I felt the desire to freshen up the colors in my kitchen. I wanted to throw all of my decor in the garbage and start from scratch. (Sometimes I do that.) However, I resisted the urge and thought about how I could make myself like my stuff again. SPRAY PAINT came to mind. I spent the next few hours gathering all the stuff I was tempted to trash and painted it.
Here's what I came up with.The star needed a re-do. I love the color.

I sprayed these things Ivory to go in a flower arrangement.


I sprayed the little hook to hold my cute apron that Tori made for me.
Did you know you can spray paint wicker baskets?

Remember THIS plate? Well, I was tired of it so I soaked it in warm water to take off the mod podge and added this cute little vinyl bird instead. I also sprayed the stars ivory and the little LIVE thing.

It's amazing what a little paint here and there can do to brighten up a room.

A New Favorite!

You may have already heard of this website, but it has nearly changed my life! It's called Tip Junkie. Laurie is THE tip junkie! I can liken it to a gigantic linky party, that's archived, organized, and focused on economical/DIY. In addition to the ideas that came to me on this site, I got exposed to many new blogs, including one that sang to my heart, named I Heart Organizing. Are you kidding me??? How did I not know this one existed?! Another new treasure is Living Locurto, where she shares amazing printables, recipes, party planning, and home decor ideas.

Just after spending time in the "free printables" section of Tip Junkie, I have seen tons of resources for a variety of themed birthday parties, home organization, childrens' activities, home decor, gift ideas, and many more things! Here are just a few of my many, many faves:

Cute recipe cards for homemade play dough. Great for a hosting a playgroup activity!

This ridiculously cute birthday party printable pack

And for those of you who are already thinking of Halloween (ummm, I totally am!), Tip Junkie put 20 great Halloween resources all together in one list here. It's a fantastic collection! You MUST check it out!

One final website I'm featuring today is Sprik Space. She is so kind to share a ga-jillion beautiful, free printables for home decor and holidays.

I downloaded this one because I recently started singing this song to my little lady. The first time I sang it, she got super still and quiet as we were cuddling on the couch, and she said, "That's a pretty song, mommy."