Found some cute gift tags

You can download and print these adorable little gift tags for free from CocoaMint HERE.  She's got some other cute gift tags on her blog as well and lots of cute things in her etsy store HERE. (Including the adorable pink pirate clip art I am using for Miss G's birthday party this month!)

Start Your Christmas Notebook

I don't even pretend to be organized, but I have found one thing that makes my Christmas shopping so much better- the Christmas notebook. I went to do a "quick" Costco run this morning and was sidetracked by all the great new things they have out for the holidays and ended up getting a couple gifts, so I knew it was time to pull out my notebook. I got it a few years ago from the Michaels $1 bins and pull it out each year when I start shopping.  It's very basic, I make a page for each of the kids, and then list any other people I will be shopping for on another page.  When I buy something for Christmas, I write it down and put a check next to it.  If I hear them mention wanting something, or have a great idea, I will write it down to remind me later when I'm shopping.  It's also great to keep track of what you're spending on everything.  I stash gifts in a big box up in my closet and when I got it down today I discovered 3 puffer jackets I bought on clearance last year, 2 cute sweaters, and a Halloween T I got for Mr. C - whoops.  But I was excited that I'm that much closer to being done shopping for this year!  (and glad I didn't pick up another jacket at Costco)  I have a tendency to buy and forget, and then buy more, and then I don't return things, and it's money wasted.  This notebook has been a lifesaver for me during the holidays, hopefully it can help you too!

Duck Tape Halloween Costume

I'm posting near the Happiest Place on Earth tonight!  We are all totally worn out from 2 days of rides, characters, churros and lots of walking.  Continuing with duck-tape crafting, I made my boys race car driver costumes out of $4 Walmart clothes and blue, silver and white duck tape!  I need some help, if you have a quick second click HERE and rate our entry!  (yes I like contests) It's not solely how they choose the winners but it does help.  While you're there browse the other entries and get some great inspiration for quick, cheap Halloween costumes! Thanks so much!

Halloween Monster Finger Cookies

I wanted to make witch finger cookies, but my sugar cookie dough puffs up too much and they looked more like monster fingers to me after baking!  They were a huge hit though, and very easy! 

Use your favorite sugar cookie recipe and mix in some green food coloring.  Scoop dough and roll into "fingers" and press an almond into the tip before baking.  Gross and yummy :)

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!

Favorite Simple Valentines for kids

I love all the great ideas that pop up on blogs around the holidays! My kids will be giving mini bags of microwave popcorn if I can come up with a cute label or something for them but I love these 2 ideas!
Blonde Designs has templates for lips and moustashes that can be slid on the bottom of a lollipop to make these cute treats:

I also think these 3-D lollipop valentines are so clever and simple, found on 24-7-365:

You could use the same idea and stick a flower or something in there too.

(click on the pictures to go to the original blog post for instructions and more pictures.)

Valentine Wreath Calendar

You can download and print this pretty February calendar and then hang it over your desk to make you smile all month! Created by Lisa Rupp- click picture to go to her blog for the free download.

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!)

A couple things to get you ready for Christmas!

Time is flying with the holidays coming, and especially with a new baby and I'm giving myself permission to not do a lot of the things I want to do so I don't get stressed! I'm way behind on my blog reading (so forgive me if I haven't left any comments lately!) but I have come across a couple of things I really wanted to share- first, a list of 30 great ideas for neighbor gifts from How Does She HERE. Lots of really unique ones there, also, Little Birdie Secrets has a bunch of cute ones HERE. Next, Shabby Princess has a free download for some ADORABLE Christmas recipe cards! You can get them HERE.And finally, Creating Keepsakes has a great set of Christmas quotes you can use for cards, gift tags, place cards or whatever and you can get those HERE.

One of my super talented friends has FINALLY opened up her etsy shop and has really cute, unique holiday photo cards, so go check out Lilly Mae Designs 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.

These are adorable! Free download...

Head over to design.wash.rinse.repeat to download these free pumpkin pop toppers from Celeste! I am in love! Click HERE.

Easter Eggs

Ok aren't those the cutest little egg holders ever? Williams Sonoma is full of adorable Easter things right now. If those wired egg holders aren't in your budget, (like me) Creating Keepsakes Blog has some cute paper ones you can download and print instead of those ones you punch out of the egg dying kit! Find those HERE. I also thought these tissue wrapped eggs were really pretty, I want to wrap some chocolate eggs up for my kids Easter baskets to look like these.

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.

The holidays are here!

The first sign of the holidays beginning is my mom's house turning into a haunted house, followed soon by the matching pj's from Sam's mom for all of the grandkids and the photo shoot that gets more interresting each year!

Christmas in July

I came home from vacation to a big stack of catalogs hoping to get me. I started going through them last night and got some good inspiration of things I want to make. The first one is a ribbon garland from Current:

I think you could make a really cute Halloween garland with the same idea, just dangle some chipboard pumpkins or something? I don't know but it got some ideas rolling. Then I saw these: What a cute way to package popcorn for your neighbors or something- it seems like the Target dollar spot always gets cute buckets that would be a good size for something like this. Anyways, I realized last year, that if I plan to get crafty for Christmas I need to start much earlier than December, like July I guess.