I just had to share...

I've been skimming through my never-ending back-logged google reader feeds and am seeing so many awesome ideas!  I have been a bit lazy and found it's so easy to click that little "share to Facebook" button and feel like I've done my duty to share, but really I don't think many (if any!) of my Facebook friends care, but you do right?  Here's some favorite ideas out there:

Make these adorable Little Card Pocket Fans from Cathe Holden:

Or make this self zipping coin pouch from a ribbon: (from How About Orange)

And I think this would be a great DIY gift for those hard-to-shop-for tweens- Friendship Bracelet kits! 

Finally, I found a really awsesome designer blog called Sissy Print and it's loaded with gorgeous {free} printables!  She's got a ton of fun back to school things including bookplates and lunch bag tags, and I really love her "quotable Monday" prints, like this one:

Hmm that's what I'm most excited about today anyways, hope you have fun with this stuff too!  Now my head is swirling with ideas, I think I am going to go DO something...?  Good night, if you still read this blog, you're the best!

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...

Duck Tape Pumpkin Pop Yard Stakes

That title was a mouthful!  I was trying to think of an idea to enter this contest, and I came up with these giant pumpkin pops! They were really easy, and using black and white Duck Tape, it was pretty much instant crafty gratification.  I started by wrapping each of the wooden dowels with white tape.  Then I put a glob of glue onto the end of the stick and poked it into the bottom of a fake pumpkin. (I punched holes in the bottom with scissors.)  Once the glue dried, I used black tape to create the stripes on the pumpkins, and then wrapped the whole top with clear cellophane and tied it with a ribbon- done!  They look almost good enough to eat!

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!

Print your own decals!

I love this idea!  Cathe Holden from Just Something I Made created some great vintage style decals for various containers and printed them onto Injet Printable Decal pages!  I don't think I knew there was such a thing!  My mind is excited about all the possibilities... check out her post HERE.  She's got some great free downloads for you to label all kinds of things around the kitchen.
PS- the kids started back to school today! Some fun stories for another time... I have some mixed emotions about that but the good news is I will probably be blogging more! 

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!

Sweet Baby Gifts

Having everyone home for summer has been keeping me busy- and now that my little baby doesn't sit still for his bottle feedings anymore I don't have an excuse to sit and get caught up on all my favorite blogs as much as I used to!  Let alone take time to update mine.  I spent most of the last two days in bed with a miserable fever, but when the meds would kick in and I felt well enough to get up, I hobbled over to my computer and did some catching up! 

I just had to share this sweet baby gift idea from Suzonne at Urban Comfort- one of my favorite creative bloggers.  She's sharing the design for the iron-on free on her blog if you want to grab it and customize some gifts for someone. 

I love the little hangers and felt slippers too!  My 5 year old was looking on with me and begged me to make her a pair! 

For Mother's Day, or any day...

Anna Maria Horner has a new book out and it sounds lovely!  If you are shopping this Mother's Day for a new or expectant mom, or even a grandma who likes to make things for little babes, "Handmade Beginnings" would make a great gift!  I'm a huge fan of Anna Maria Horner and even though I am most likely done with the "welcoming baby" stage of my life (snif, snif!)  it's sitting on my Amazon wish list!  I know it will be full of beautiful pictures and darling patterns.  She is one of my "hero moms." You can order a signed copy from her shop HERE.

Lunch Box Love Notes

I remember sometimes getting little notes in my lunch box from my mom when I was little and loving it. It seems like our mornings now are always rush rush rush with me (not so cheerfully) telling them what to do over and over and over. I often feel bad dropping my kids off at school after one of those stressful mornings with me, they're going out into the "world" where people don't necessarily care about them or their feelings, they shouldn't leave feeling like mom thinks they're anything less than wonderful too! I try to throw a note in their lunches when I can, just to remind them I love them and let them know I care and think about them when they are gone, but if I wait until we are rushing to get out the door it's not going to happen. A week or so ago I was up at night and too tired to be really creative, but not too tired to go to bed so I busted out a little "mat stack" of cardstock and went to work cutting each sheet in half, then folding it and adding some kind of little embellishment to make some "special" lunch box love notes. They turned out kind of cute and were super easy and the girls LOVE them.I put them all in a shoe box with a pen in the pantry and now I just pull one out and write a quick note before dropping it in their lunches. It's quick and easy and they always tell me how happy they were when they saw it.

Mainly for me...

Because my "Favorites" folder is stuffed to the brim and I'd never find these links again, I am posting some really cool things found online that I need to revisit- and I think you might want to check them out too!

Tutorial and pattern for these darling felt rose hair clips from Purl Bee HERE.

Rolled Fabric Flower tutorial from House of Three HERE.

30 Printable valentines (free downloads!) from The Long Thread HERE.

Trinket Keepers (really great little bag things) Tutorial from Amazing Mae HERE.

Celebrate the Boy- tons of CUTE things to make for *gasp* BOYS! on Made HERE.

And finally, easy handmade card ideas from Better Homes & Gardens HERE.

I did something brave for me, I planned a little party for this weekend, a Valentine cookie exchange (inspired by Blonde Designs.) I realized I need to host a get-together of sorts every few months so I can kick my booty to get things done around here! I nearly had a panic attack when I dropped the invites off at the post office- no backing out now! Since Mr. H arrived lots of things have been getting overlooked around here. So back to work- I can dig into those links next week! Enjoy!

Stockings

If I ever make stockings for my family, (and I would like to someday) I think I will go with wool felt styled after these ones from Hable Constuction. I love the simple whimsical designs, and I think I could manage something similar. (and for much less than the asking price at Hable!)

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!

Exciting!

Tip Junkie featured my little spider web candle shades! It's one of my favorite websites because they always have tons of "tips" for everything from all over the blog world. You can see the other Halloween ideas they featured today HERE.

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.

Make your own PB Pirate Pumpkins

We are on round 2 of the fever bug, 2 kids on the mend and the other 2 down now- today I told them we'd make some Halloween decorations. I can't get out to buy the felt but I love this idea from Living with Lindsey: She made her own patterns to make the Pirate Pumpkin kits she saw in the PB catalog. You can see hers and get the patterns HERE.

Will this be the year?

I've been wanting to make a pair of pumpkin topiaries for the front door- like for years. Lowes has some great instructions HERE. I think you could do it with the faux pumpkins and re-use it year after year, I'm pretty sure real pumpkins would rot in a few days with the heat we have.

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?)

Lucky day

And speaking of pasty things, I won a giveaway for some really fun looking paints from one of my favorite blogs, Little Birdie Secrets! Probably the lowest value giveaway I've ever entered, but I'm thrilled and can't wait to try out these Extreme Glitter and Texture paints. Little Birdie Secrets has so many great ideas, you should check them out HERE. Thanks for choosing me for a fun giveaway!

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!

Personalizing with Shrinky Dinks

DesignMom featured a shop that sold cute custom name tags for kids to put on their lunchboxes and backpacks etc. and I got a little obsessed with the idea of making my own for the girls. I decided to make them out of inkjet printable shrinky dink plastic- (from Michaels) I made these shapes then typed on the names and printed them, punched a hole, and shrunk them in the toaster oven! (my kids think it's a "shrinky dinker" because I never cook with it) After you shrink them, it's necessary to spray them with a clear coat of paint to seal it or the minute a drop of water hits them they are ruined. Anyways, if you want to make some too, you can download my shapes pages below, click on the image to get the free download.Also fun would be to print a picture of your kid and shrink it- you just have to make sure you lighten them up enough, I tried it and didn't lighten them up much and when they shrunk it was too dark to see anything and I didn't want to use any more of my plastic! Another fun way to personalize stuff is with scrapbook stickers- everywhere we went they had the same plastic pencil box so we used these "Glitzers" stickers to personalize Miss B's. She requested I put her in the picture on my blog.