Halloween Countdown block calendar

A couple weeks ago I got together with my sister-in-laws and we made these block calendars to countdown to Halloween and mine's finally finished!  You can find the instructions HERE.  My sister-in-law Jackie did hers a little different and I love them too:

I've started one for Christmas, and I can't wait to make a birthday one too!  Though that one might need 3 blocks because kids start counting down to their birthdays months in advance...

Halloween is coming!

So if I haven't posted anything in a month, can I still be called a blogger? I can't believe it's been so long, and if you're still with me you are awesome!  I used to wonder why people always seemed so busy, and why I wasn't, and I'm trying to figure out what changed that, and when, but time is flying!
Things are good though- we brought out the Halloween decorations and that always puts me in a good mood!  I tried my hand at canning pears over the weekend, and also canned some hot pickled green beans that I'm really excited about.  I got together with my sister-in-laws for a craft night and made some of those countdown block calendar things that you've seen all over, mine aren't quite finished but that's up next on the agenda- I'll post pictures soon!  I have snuck some time for reading blogs of course, and here's a couple links for you to check out:  Urban Comfort has some really great decorating ideas- including this awesome (dog) bone garland!

and after you go see all her great Halloween ideas, make sure you stop by Better Homes and Gardens to vote for the mask she created for them!  (click here) Besides being totally amazingly talented, she is also one of the sweetest people I've "met" through blogging!

I'm totally in LOVE with these fabric pumpkins from the Cottage Home . She MADE these and you can see her simple tutorial HERE.
Tip Junkie has compiled a list of 32 Creative Ways to Decorate a Pumpkin and there are some really pretty and unique ones.
Tatertots and Jello rounded up 20 free Halloween printables- and you know how I love free printables!
It's well past my bedtime, so that's all for now but I have a lot of things I'm exicted to share soon so I will be much better this month than last!

I saw this cute menu planner idea on How About Orange from Ollibird and I love it!  You can get it free by clicking HERE.  She suggests framing it under glass and then writing on it each week with a dry erase marker- so cute I might actually do it!

Kids Wall Art with the Cricut

I've been wanting to do this post for a long time- it's so simple to do and turns out really cute! 

I made this little guy for the boys room by cutting out the silhouette from the A Childs Year Cricut Cartridge and stuck it on some paisley paper and framed it.  Today I got out the Storybook Cricut Cartridge and cut out the owl and butterfly from some floral paper and stuck it on the solid purple and put them in Ribba frames from Ikea. 

Very simple and satisfying, and I can change out the shapes and papers at any time for the cost of the paper! I think it would be cute to do a big monogram too.  The girls were so excited when I hung them in their room. 

If you don't have a Cricut, (or even if you do!) head over to Little Birdie Secrets to get in the running for their Silhouette machine giveaway!  The Silhouette is like the Cricut except BETTER (gasp!) because you don't have to buy cartridges, it can cut any true type font on your computer, including all the fun shaped ones!  So if that interests you, hurry and click HERE because today is the last day to enter!

Pretty Little Desk (on the cheap)

Miss B needed a desk to do her homework in her room, so we got this simple shelf from Ikea. It's just a solid piece of wood and some wooden wall brackets. I first painted it white but since it had a slick surface it quickly started peeling and looking really ugly. Then I really wanted to cover it with contact paper, but if only there existed pretty contact paper! I looked EVERYWHERE. Don't you think Ikea should carry some? Anyways, I FINALLY stumbled on something online where they had used wrapping paper, and then covered that with clear contact paper- genius! So here's the new and improved desktop!

Sunburst Mirrors

I love all the super creative designers out there who share their cute projects with the rest of us! I think these sunburst mirrors are really cool, and perfect for the holidays with some glitter and stuff! Click HERE to see the simple instructions for these cheap decorations on Full House.
PS- have you been in a Target store lately? They have huge hanging paper ornaments decorating the store, I want some!
PPS- if you were impressed by my list of accomplishments in the last post, go back and notice how many things are still "in the process" and not finished yet, not so impressive really!

Painting

One room done, (being painted anyways) One more to go...

Does that pink scare you?

It scares me a little, but I really liked these rooms from Serena and Lilly:

I have some cute white eyelet paper lanterns to hang above the bed, and am going to put some white vinyl decals on the wall to help break up the pink.

Wish me luck!

Covered Clipboard Organizer instructions

Since a few people have asked, here are my basic directions- get a clipboard.  Cover surface with Mod Podge and smooth on a sheet of pretty scrapbook paper.  (measure and trim around the clip at the top,) Add a layer or 2 of Mod Podge on top of the paper if you want.  For the pocket, I just got a piece of white cardstock and trimmed it to be the width of my clipboard, which was about 9" and 8 1/2" long, and then folded down 4" on the top and bottom and that left me with about 1/2" in the middle to hold stuff.  Then I made little accordian folded strips out of colored cardstock for the sides, and  I attached it together with double stick tape.  Then I put some patterned paper on the front of the pocket, and cut a scalloped circle and initial on the Cricut and stuck those on top of the pocket.  If I did them again, I would either use double sided patterned or colored cardstock for the pocket, or line the inside of the pocket too.  I got the pocket idea from a blog called OurBigEarth and you can see their detailed tutorial HERE.  I think I first saw these simple modern looking ones on Martha Stewart: 

But you could get really crafty with ribbon and chipboard etc too.

Creepy Vellum Spider Web Candle Shades- free download

Edit: 9/10 download link updated! Let me know if you have any problems opening it! Thanks!

I played around with a spider web template from Martha Stewart's website and came up with these printable candle shades! I printed mine on vellum, but it would work just as well printed on regular paper. You basically just have to cut the sheet in half lengthwise and trim edges, secure each wrap in a circle with double stick tape and then set your little "lantern" over a tealight in glass. (or if you are like me and have little hands around that won't leave them alone, get those little battery votives and drop one in the middle.) You can download the spider web sheet by clicking HERE. They are my favorite Halloween decoration at the moment! I have big plans for the wall above them, stay tuned...

If you use these, I have one tip, I put the printed side on the inside of mine, so it's hard to see the spider and web in daylight, but when it gets dark they look really cool, and you can see the design inside when you look down at them.

Rope Headboard

I plan to wait as long as possible to move Mr. C out of the crib and into a toddler bed, but when I do I think I'm going to try this idea from Serena and Lilly:

They just wrapped a metal frame headboard with rope- perfect for a little cowboy room, or really most any boy theme room. You can see their complete instructions by clicking on "Get Creative" next to the picture HERE. (isn't that puppy silhouette pillow so cute too?)

DIY Mercury Glass

I've been trying to just toss those catalogs before I even bring them in my house but I had to sneak a peak at the latest Ballard Designs catalog and completely fell in love with these mercury glass tealight holders:

And then I had to do some searching online for other new mercury glass items out there and found these gorgeous pumpkins from Pottery Barn:And these folksy looking hurricanes:

and finally I zoomed back to reality that I don't have money to be buying anything mercury glass, I started to wonder if there was a cheaper way to make my own out of glass things I already have so I found this great post on Wedding Bee Pro- she made 35 different center pieces for a wedding using Looking Glass paint and silver leafing sheets- isn't it pretty?? Click the picture to go to her instructions.

I've earned some credit on Amazon (through a focus group I joined via Survey Savvy) and they didn't have any Looking Glass Paint but I ordered some silver metallic paint and we'll see how that turns out- I'll keep you posted. Let me know if you make something, I'm curious how hard it really is to make it look nice!

Simple Pretty Initials

Today was a bit of a lazy day for me- we were babysitting some of my nieces and nephew's tonight (started another babysitting exchange!) so I couldn't make myself do much cleaning. Mr. C was coming down with a cold and needed lots of sitting on my lap (trying to push my belly out of the way) and I got some magazine reading done! Family Fun had this really cute project from Lauren Brandy's blog, Goody Goody.
And now I have another blog that I need to keep up with- she has a lot of cute ideas!

Art Wall Project

This etsy shop has some really unique vinyl wall art- I think these are so cool! Check out Art Wall Project HERE.

and I'm sorry for my lack of blogging lately- my brain is all over the place and nothing seems to be getting done! I will have a Food Storage Friday post for you tomorrow- I know you can't wait. I also took the plunge and ordered some fabric and sewing patterns, I'm really excited to try sewing again.

Pretty Pier One Holiday

I got a little Pier One catalog in the mail last week and finally went through it tonight and it was so pretty! I'm keeping an extra sharp eye out for cheap-make-it-myself decorating ideas (in case I can actually make the time to do some this year) and I loved this candy garland: Another fun thing was the balloon tree in the picture below. I'm not sure how exactly they did it, but if you have a big bag of green balloons laying around, I bet you could put something together.I liked the pretty paper garland around it too- they had those strung around in lots of the pictures.