There are bats in my house!!!

Oh what a wonderful weekend I've had. Between Goodwill, Hobby Lobby and my craft closet, I was able to get my Halloween on.

I am in Halloween Heaven.

This year, I decided I was going to get CREATIVE and make most of the decorations. Reuse and Repurpose were two words I got to know real well during the past 48 hours.

On Saturday night, I was up until 1am cutting out bats. Last night, I was up until well after midnight glitter painting anything I could get my hands on!

Our spooky corner... The kids made the little ghosts that are sitting amongst the branches... The stickers on the mirror are glow in the dark...

Let me introduce you to my Halloween Mantel. With no real mantel in the house, I needed to get creative. 

Here's a breakdown of what we have on our mantel:

We have a lamp I took from my office and put an old shade on that was tucked into my craft closet. Added one paper bat. There is a black (purple?!) light in it.

On the left, I have an cast iron candle holder from Goodwill ($1.99) I have a cheap pumpkin that I painted in ivory and then covered with silver glitter paint (all on hand).

There are the potion jars... (you saw them in the previous post).

I have my green class candy dish, that along with the green vase on the right I got from Goodwill about 6 months ago. They were $2.99 each. I LOVE THE GREEN. I think they are from the 70s. I just need to add candy to the candy dish. I am going to put candy corn in there, to give it a little bit of color. (Plus I hate candy corn, so I won't have to worry about eating it.)

I took out my trusty New Moon book to rest the candy dish on.

To the right of the lamp, I took a $1 frame from the dollar store. The glass was broken, so I removed it and added black construction paper. Then I took a wooden bat I painted two years ago and found in the craft closet and glued it on to the frame.

The two gold picture frames came packaged together for $1 at the dollar store. I will share more details (tutorial?) in a few days.

In the green vase, I added black beans (left over from the potion bottles) and added 2 bunches of black rose ($1 each at the Dollar Store).

Finally, added 1 small orange pumpkin.  We love how our mantel turned out!!

In my kitchen, on my newly acquired pie safe, I added a pumpkin, a candle and a ghost! Again, dollar store frame. I took a metallic blue paint and painted right over the glass. Then I glued on a ghost we made a few years back (again, found it in the craft closet).

Finally, Marcos moved all of our downstairs furniture into the kitchen on Friday and rented a Rug Doctor to clean the carpets. I figured since everything was moved, I would change a few things, furniture wise (plus, we got a new coffee table for the family room, but more on that later). I took the Goodwill find sewing machine & table from the hallway and put it into the formal living room. I plan on refinishing it - probably turn it ivory. But for now, I added a picture that I love (my grandpa, grandma and my dad) and an IKEA plant and owl I found at Hobby Lobby a few weeks back.

I know my camera isn't the best... and the lighting sucks, but I hope you get what I was trying to share. The house feels WONDERFUL all decked out. The kids and I had a BLAST!!

Now we just need to tackle the OUTSIDE!!


Linked to Craft-O-Maniac

All out of #9

Another few great finds from my trip to Goodwill this past weekend involved these jars. One smelled of maple syrup. One smelled as though it was just unearthed after 100 years.

I've seen a lot of these around the web as of late, and Isabel and I wanted to make our own.
Reality is, I have a pitbull and a 4 year old.  I couldn't use liquid.
So, Isabel and I went to the 99 cents store and picked up dried black beans and yellow and green split peas.
Did you know that split peas came in YELLOW!?

I founds some cute (wait, it's Halloween - spooky?) labels online and used modge-podge (fun) to adhere them to the bottles.

I am working on my Halloween mantel. Even though I don't really have a mantel.
I can't wait until it's all pulled together and I can share.
Until then, I've got potion-duty. Have to make sure no one tries to spill the beans.
Get it?!

Happy Thursday!

A Lot Like "OVE"

Thank gosh I "own" this place. My hallway wall is starting to resemble Swiss Cheese.

Modge-Podge Fun

I think the word "fun" should always follow the words "modge podge."
Because it's fun to use.
Especially when you've made a wicked mess and then you get to peel the modge podge off of everything.

What's not fun?! Having your fingers stick to your keyboard.

In light of October making an appearance on our calendars, I decided to do a little Hallo-Crafting.
Nothing fancy - that's not how I roll (oh, but how I wish I did).

I picked up this beauty for $1.99 at Goodwill on Sunday.
Isn't it special?

I turned it into this:

Since I started to get out my Halloween decor, I figured I would make a few things. I used the plaque, an old Vanity Fair novel ($2.00 from Goodwill), modge podge and my trusty computer.

I know you've seen better.
But I had fun.
Because I got to peel all of the glue-y goodness off of my fingers for the rest of the night.

It's Twins!

Marcos was off work for a few days last week, but had to go back yesterday. So I took advantage of my new found freedom and crafted my heart out.

Before crafting, though, must come Goodwill. Isabel and I were the first peeps in the door, at 10am right when they opened.

We actually hit up 2 Goodwill's and 1 $0.99 store.
And then I crafted my heart out.
I only paused one time, long enough to run and grab a Mr. Pibb.  Okay, a second one.

At the first Goodwill, I found two lamps. They didn't have any shades, but at least I scored two lamps that matched! I recently decided to do my hall over again. It just doesn't feel right.

Here is a picture of the lamps, in progress of a make-over.

I only had one can of Ivory spray paint left, so I used a white spray paint for a base coat.

Once that was dry, I went over both lamps with the Ivory. Can you see the glass and gold?! Ugh.
I think they look so much better now.
Isabel thinks the leaf looks like a Mary Jane leaf. Kids these days.

While I waited for these sweethearts to dry, I worked on a few other pieces...

But more on those later!

Now I just need to find the perfect lamp shades!
And find out if Thing 1 and Thing 2 actually work.
Keep your fingers crossed!!

Linking to: Polly want a Crafter?
Linking to: Craft O Maniac

Wake & Bake

First things first - I finally found a rooster.
Now, it ain't much - but it will do. Especially since it was a mere $5 at Wally World.
I completely forgot to take a before picture. Not very smart, huh?

To help you understand the color 'before' - I will borrow words from the great master-mind himself, Mr. Nico. He said, "Mom, it looks like an animal cracker."

There. That should tell you that it was a very blotchy, beige-y, beige.

After some time outside yesterday and a coat of Ivory spray paint, allow me to introduce Roo, the rooster.

 

And here he sits, in his new home.

Isabel was joking at dinner last night..."What if the rooster wakes us up in the morning?!" We just laughed at with her. Silly girl.

Do you want to know what DID wake us up this morning?!?!  The alarm.
As in the HOUSE ALARM. As in Nic just wanted to know what the weather felt like. Oye ve. Our alarm company is going to LOVE us!

In food news, look at what I made yesterday.

My very first apple pie. Ever.
Last year, I made my very first pumpkin pie.
I will admit - for this particular pie, I did not make the crust. Marcos was begging for this pie, and I just wanted to get it over with, so I bought the pre-made crust.

Shame on me. I had NO IDEA that the apples and spices would be soooo good that they would be over-taken by the eh - so - so crust. I know I can make a nice, flaky crust. I've done it before.

So, I think I am going to give Apple Pie # 2 a shot. And really knock the socks off my hombre.

Next weekend, of course.

There you have it: Wake & Bake!

P.S. Lots of little crafts to share with you through out this coming week.

Signs, Signs, everywhere Signs...

Or maybe I should have titled this post Reminders, Reminders, everywhere Reminders...
But it doesn't have a catchy enough tune, me thinks.

Evidently, my high school crush thinks this is the best way to remind me to do something:

What I want to know is why he doesn't just fill out the form and send it in himself?

Instead of waiting 5 weeks for me to do it.

Sheesh.

Men.