My new Halloween Wreath

Halloween…I can’t believe it’s already October and that the leaves are changing. Halloween decorations are out and about. I am hoping to go to a pumpkin farm too.

Well my latest search on Pinterest has led to some fun Halloween wreaths. I love a good wreath but they can get sooo expensive if you were to buy them.

Here are a few that I found on Pinterest that I was fond of.

You can buy this one on Etsy 

Or this cute Chevron one that you can find at Tatertots & Jello

So that got me thinking that I could make my own. I love the idea of the first wreath and how “Classy” it looks.

 Here’s what I ended up with:

Guess how much it cost me? A whole $2. My accountant husband loves that for sure. Although, I am pretty sure he would rather that I not spend any money or time on stuff like this, but you can’t win ‘em all.

Anyways, here’s my little tutorial on how to make this gem

Materials:

·        Various Felt Colors – I bought 1 8x10 sheet in white, black, gray, orange, and marigold ($0.20 each)

·        Wreath – I found this one at the dollar store. Now I had to do a little digging to find one that wasn’t broken, but they sell these all over the place (more expensive). I think this is why people wrap theirs in yarn. There are all sorts of tips on Pinterest for getting the base for the wreath – take a look

·        Glue Gun

·        Glue Stick

·        Scissors

·        Ribbon (use whatever you have laying around)

·        Piece of Paper and Marker – enhancement

Directions

·        So the first thing that I needed to do was make the fun flowers. I found some great tutorials online.

These beauties are from Keeping LifeSimple.

And I also liked these from Do More With Less: A day out...and a spiral felt flower tutorial

I wanted a combination of the two…

The gray and orange ones were way easier to make but the other flowers make for a nice dimension. You can find more specific instructions for how to make the flowers on the blogs above.

Then I just glued them on the wreath

Once that piece was done, I wanted to add in something extra, so I simply wrote “Boo!” on a piece of paper and attached it to the wreath

Not too shabby for $2, huh. Once Halloween is over, I can switch out the “Boo!” for “Give Thanks” or something. Pinterest strikes again!


This project is also linked here...See Vanessa Craft is one of my favorites and she has some awesome crafts

New Blog Topic: The Joy of Pinterest

Well once again, I have realized that I am horrible with the blogging. It's just not in my nature...and I don't think it will ever be. BUT...you want to know what I have realized...that I freakin' love Pinterest. I mean, I could get lost looking at that site for hours. And that is a problem. I may need a Pintervention soon, but until that point, I am going to share some of the things that I have found and actually made on Pinterest. This way we can see if these wonderful things actually work or if the people who post them are really too talented for all of us.

First on my list - October means Halloween and you can never have too many Halloween decorations. So I saw this little gem and thought, this can't be too hard right?

https://picasaweb.google.com/101228210398772412134/Halloween?authkey=Gv1sRgCOeJ07KO9eHGMA&feat=directlink#5589872348469580786

So the one thing that I don't LOVE about Pinterest is that people can post pictures of awesome and super cute things without the instructions on how to really make the item....

So here are the instructions (ps...I didn't take pictures as I was making this because I was running around making sure that my one year old didn't spill the paint)

Materials Needed:

* Orange Plate - I found mine at the Dollar Store

* White Paint

* Paint Brush - I used a foam one and a thin brush

* Black Sharpie Marker

* Orange Glitter Puffy Paint (enhancement)

* Small Child with feet

Instructions:

1. Depending on the age of the child, you will want to make sure that they are in some area where they can't run away and get paint on the floor. I strapped mine in his high chair - he couldn't get away even if he wanted to. 

2. Paint one of the child's feet with the white paint.

3. Press foot on plate - I brought the plate to the foot versus having the child step on the plate, You will see that the foot print isn't super clear, but it gets the job done. 

4. Clean off that foot.

5. Re-peat steps 2-4 with the other foot. Or use another child's foot if you have more than one kid.

6. Out line the feet with a thin white line - I would recommend using a white paint pen, if you have one, but I didn't so I used the paint...I think the paint pen would have make a cleaner line like in the example above.

6. Let the paint dry. I let it dry overnight. 

7. Use a black sharpie to write on the ceramic plate. You can then make eyes and a mouth on the "ghosts" too. Now, this is when the paint wore off a little and got stuck on the marker, so just take your time with this step. 

8. Enhance with orange glitter. 

9. There are some sites that have a similar project that discusses "setting" the marker by heating it in the oven, but I was unsure how the paint would react to it, so I am not going to do that. But feel free to experiment. 

Cost: $1

I had all of the other materials around the house.

Here's how mine turned out. 

So Blessed

Well we are extremely blessed and fortunate to have so many wonderful people in our lives. And we know everyone is so excited to meet the new baby. We are too!

Yesterday was our shower and I am completely exhausted but whole-heartily grateful for everyone's presence and thoughtfulness.

I of course took pictures, but not of myself or any of the guests, but of the centerpieces, cake, and cookie favors (the important things?!?)

So here they are...

 This is the great cake that we got from Kirsten's Bakery http://www.kirstensdanishbakery.com/

Each table had the Hungry Caterpillar stuffed animal and part of the story as the centerpiece. Some of the guests even won them to take home.  

 These cookies were the favors for the guest. Also from Kirsten's...so cute and so tasty.

And of course, I had to recognize just some of the important people in the baby's life like Grandma and Nonnie, Auntie and Great Grandma and Gigi.

It was such a wonderful day...makes me more and more excited for his arrival.

The Scratch Offs

I finally have pictures of some of the things that I am creating for the baby shower and wanted to post them. So here are the scratch-offs. (I referred to these in a previous post). First make two designs - one for the winner and one for the non-winner. Since our theme is the Hungry Caterpillar, I used the caterpillar as the winner for the scratch-offs. Then go to a craft store and find clear contact paper - I think I found 6 sheets for $6 and I didn't use all of it for this project. I used a scrapbooking circle punch and punched out enough circles for each of the "tickets." They become clear stickers that you place over the part to be scratched off.

Then take craft paint and mix it with dish soap. Typically 2 parts paint to 1 part soap and paint over the part that is covered by the contact paper. Let dry and ta-da! You have some fun scratch-offs.

Here is an example - they actually scratch off pretty easily. It's a fun and in-expensive little game to play.

And speaking of games to play, here is a picture of the Game Program that I made for the shower too. I was able to print them in color for pretty cheap at bestvaluecopy.com - they are awesome and I highly recommend them.

Cars and Appointments and To-Do Lists...Oh My!

Well it has certainly been an interesting couple of days. Tornados are a blowin' here in the midwest but luckily we haven't been hit. Lot's of rain and wind last night, which makes for an exciting drive home.

In baby news: today marks my 32nd week/56 days left assuming Baby Charlie gets here on time, which of course I am not expecting, but slightly hoping. Both my brother and I were over 2 weeks late so that's a sign right there. Nana pointed out that it looks like I will be having a large baby so that's also fun. I am running out of things to wear (currently fashioning my husband's white undershirt and a black stretchy skirt - thank god the undershirt isn't one of the ones with the pit stains). Plus getting a little more uncomfortable than I would like...but that's how it goes I guess.

Time does seem to move pretty fast though - I can't believe 4th of July is right around the corner...so I know it won't be too long before the baby gets here...I am just anxious I guess. I started filling out his baby book yesterday and it is super cute (thanks mom).

Now with just about 2 months left, the timeline is starting to creep on me a little bit and I am feeling more and more pressure to get things done. We still have so many appointments to schedule before he arrives and I am just feeling overwhelmed. Plus, we thought it would be a good idea to purchase a car too so not only do we have the pressure of what car to buy, we also have 20 million car salesmen calling every day. And then leave it to me to think of different projects to get done too. I swear I think I am super woman or something. It will all come together, but as I said before, I am nervous, anxious and overwhelmed. Yay for sanity!

Numero Dos

So I just stumbled upon my old blog - see I told you that I am an awful blogger. I completely forgot what I even titled the blog. So this is promising right? Well anyways, I am getting geared up for the baby shower on July 9th. With only 1 month to go, we still have a bit of work to do. Now, I realized that it is a bit taboo for the mother-to-be to interfere in the planning of the shower. However, grandma (my mom) is more of the financier versus a planner and asked me to contribute. So of course my brain and ideas went into high gear and we have been working for quite some time. The theme is "The Hungry Little Caterpillar" and all guests have been asked to bring in their favorite book for the baby's nursery vs. buying a card. I can't wait to see it all come together. Pictures are a must here.

Some of the things we are creating:
Door Prize Scratch Offs - Yes, you can make your own scratch-offs and it actually is pretty inexpensive if done right (The key is done right, remember to use the dish soap in the paint mixture) This idea is from ArtMind http://artmind-etcetera.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-make-scratch-off-lottery-tickets.html

Baby Game Program - I saw this "program" idea at a bridal shower and absolutely loved it. This tri-folded piece has all of the games that we can play during the shower. This gives the attendees the opportunity to complete the game at their convenience vs. telling them when it's time to complete a game. Just depending on the make-up of the group they may not all know each other and so it may be a great way to fill some of the time, especially with opening presents. Pictures to be posted soon.

Centerpieces - Well Kohls has been extremely instrumental in this theme because from time to time they have stuffed animals and books for $5 http://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/landingpages/kohlscares/kidscausemerchandise/PRD~c22283/Kohls+Cares+Eric+Carle+The+Hungry+Caterpillar+Collection.jsp
And as luck would have it, they were doing an Eric Carle theme a few months back so we got the caterpillar stuffed toy and book (which will be used as the guest book).

Stay tuned for more ideas and pictures as the time draws near.

In Baby Arquilla news - we are T - 64 days and counting until the little bundle joins our happy family. Feel free to visit our website!http://kristincharliebaby.ourbabychannel.com/view/7482118977182775/4886645

Oh to blog or not to blog?

Well it seems that most of my friends with kids have blogs to keep their family and friends in touch. I love reading them even if the person who writes the blog sits across my office from me. Really though, it's quite entertaining and I know that it helps when there are family members across the country or even across the world.

So then I asked myself, should I start a blog? With a new baby on the way, yep, 10 weeks to be exact; it may not hurt to have a place to record all of the crazy things that go on and the crazy things that this baby will bring to my family. I really only have 1 member of my family that lives far away and I don't think "Uncle Jack" will be reading the posts, but it's nice to have out there I guess. My out of town friends may visit the blog too.

But then, there is the fact that I am lazy and forgetful. I mean really lazy and forgetful. I was never one of those kids to keep and sustain a diary. I would start one (typically on January 1st) and write in it consistently for a good 3 weeks, then dunzo! I have actually started blogs before and have been unsuccessful with keeping them up. So I apologize in advance for stealing this url and wasting it because I know there are two wasted url's out there already- my bad.

However, seeing the blogs of my friends and seeing their cute family pictures and stories - well it makes me want to have that...how cool would it be to save these pieces and memories for when my little kiddo grows up? I know...it is cool!

So the point is, I am gonna do it this time - I am gonna be a blogger. Not a great blogger. Not a frequent blogger. But a blogger non-the-less. And perhaps people will want to read about the crazy ANTICS of the Arquilla family. Cause trust me - there are some and what better way to air my laundry then to post about them here.