Halloween Candy Jars

As Halloween got closer I knew I wanted to do something small for the people I work with. Nothing major, just something fun to make them stop and smile for a second. I saw this idea for Halloween candy Jars on the Sassy Sanctuary blog. I changed it up a little to meet my needs, but the concept was the same!

This was such a simple project. I just bought mini mason jars, and some glass paint. Here's where I pulled a "megan" and goofed. It was a last minute decision to get the glass paint so I grabbed what I thought was black and headed for the line at Joanns. Once I got home, I realized I picked up "pewter" instead! I was able to come up with a quick fix: once the glass paint dried I just went over it all with black acrylic paint. No one will ever know!

I traced the discs from the lids on the back of some left over fabric scraps I had from this project and "mod-podged" them to the lids.

Next I painted the outside of the lids black. This is when I realized it would have been totally worth it to invest in a can of spray paint (if I recall, the tutorial I pulled this from made the same comment!).... 50 coats of acrylic (ok maybe like 5) paint later, there were still some spots showing through. I tied a ribbon around it and called it a day!

(Yay for finally remembering to use my camera!)

Sneak Peak of Projects This Week

So there are 2 main projects I am working on this week and they aren't done but I'm itching to share. The first project is top secret and I feel like I'm running of risk of even sharing but I'm about 99.9% sure the intended recipient doesn't read this blog so I think I'm good! I will hold off on revealing the full details until she's seen it. But... here's a tiny little clue!

The colors are a bit distorted (that bottom left fabric is extremely pink, not orangish as it appears here) but thats because I keep being lazy and using my iPhone to take pictures instead of getting my big girl camera out. Maybe some day I'll get with it! I can't wait to see how this turns out!

I am much more excited about the first project, but my 2nd project is fun, too...and its for Halloween so I've spent the last 2 nights working on it instead of the first. Here's a peak... I'll do a full post on the finished product once I actually finish!

I have a few other projects that I plan to do that I haven't even started yet. This includes curtains for Jack that I got the fabric for, cut the wrong length and had a minor melt down over, recovering Grandma Tino's patio chairs, and my good friend Chrissy has asked if I can recover her patio chair cushions as well! If only weekends were more than 2 days!!

Pretty Flower Wall Art

I'm starting to wonder if I'm creating a Friday night ritual. I spend all week finding crafts I want to try that come Friday afternoon I'm bursting at the seams and the Joanns & Michaels coupons I get each week are burning holes in my wallet. So Friday night off I went... first to get supplies for a top secret project I will be able to share after November 14th! Second, I got the goodies to make this cute flower wall art I found the tutorial for on Christina's Adventures. I will admit, it looks very home made, and I coincidentally wish it would have turned out more the color of the tutorials, because it would have matched our new bathroom much better! But all in all, I am pleased, and Kali telling me repeatedly how much she just loved it and it was so beautiful sure made my head large enough to keep it! Plus, it was so inexpensive to make, I could easily try for a new color.. maybe once I get a cricut. (in my dreams!)

Just for Brittany... here are my step by step (sorta) photos!

First I just painted a piece of thin plywood I got at Joanns.

Next I made a stencil heart with construction paper and traced it onto the back of some cute scrapbook paper I found, and cut them all out. My hand was killing me by the time I was finished. Oh how I long for a cricut...

Next I determined where the center of the board was and used a clear bowl to trace a circle around it so I could use it as a sort of guideline on where to start gluing the hearts down.

Then I got busy gluing. It's worth it to use a hot glue gun because the glue allows the hearts to stick up a little bit making it not so two dimensional.

Tada! I love the shimmer to the paper... I just wish the purple was a bit more muted. I picked out a fun button at Joanns and plopped it in the middle to finish her off.

All in all it came together in under an hour, fun Friday night project!

Yummy Pot Roast Stew!

So last night I did all the prep work for a Company Pot Roast Cooking Light recipe I wanted to try. It's very similar to a crock pot stew we probably all grew up with, but since we are doing Weight Watchers it is really helpful to be able to have the nutrition info right there so we can calculate the points. The prep work was way easy (the meat has to marinade so you are better off doing as much as possible the night before) and was able to pretty much dump it all in the slow cooker this morning, put it on low and crossed my fingers. Nothing is better than coming home from a long day, getting out of the car and smelling a yummy dinner coming from the open window. Anyway, it was a definite do over... perfect for the rainy day we had today!

Side note.. we are NOT mushroom fans, so we completely omitted that step in the recipe, and it was still great!

Yummy Soup!

I don't know what came over me last night, but I made 3 meals! bah! It started with my chili recipe that I make all the time. Once I got that going, I realized that I had got a butternut squash about a week and a half ago so I had better do something with it soon or it was going to go to waste. So I yanked that bad boy out along with a recipe for Butternut Squash Soup I had been wanting to try. I figured it would make for a yummy lunch today. So I'm realizing I need to get better about taking pictures along the way. This was my first experience man handling a squash and needless to say I could see Josh's smirk from the other room as I dropped that slippery sucker a few times while trying to peel it! I took a picture of my end result and it looked like orange pudding. (festive, at least!) So here's the Cooking Light picture.

Since this wasn't my dinner, I didn't get a big ole bowl and dive in but man after one taste I wish I hadn't eaten yet! There is just something about it where I could pick up the whole pot and just slurp it down! It's not too sweet, the perfect amount of savory and waaaay smooth and creamy. Perfect for this rainy cold weather (that I love) that we've had all week!

If you are going to try to make this, I will say that I didn't measure out my squash and think I had more than it called for (and I may have thrown in an extra carrot & onion piece or two), so I ended up adding the entire carton of broth, figuring I could let it boil down if it was too watery. It turned out great!

The third meal I put together was a pot roasty-stew looking thing that I set up to cook in the crock pot all day today. So I just did the boring prep work last night so I didn't have to get up even earlier than the ungodly hour I already do!! It smelled awfully yummy already when we left for work this morning. I can't wait go home tonight and try it! If it was a success, I'll post the recipe tomorrow.

Happy Thursday!

Halloween Rag Wreath

When I found this Halloween Rag Wreath on the Sassy Sanctuary blog, I fell in love! It is so cute, and extra perk: it was way easy!! (Side note: There are like 50 things on the Sassy Sanctuary blog I'm dying to try... check it out when you have a minute, so many cute things! )

I loved it so much, I actually made 2. The first one turned out adorable, and Pattie (aka Nana!) seemed to agree so it felt right to hand it on over and make another! I skipped the black bow on both because I could not find cute black ribbon anywhere. 2 weeks before Halloween?! Whats up with that.

The process is really easy. These handy wire wreaths came in a few sizes, but having 4 rows really lets you get the wreath looking full. I bought 2 and a half yards of each. (Sassy's blog actually suggests 1 and a half but in Joanns, I was SURE it was 2!) So I had LOTS left over, hence my making two! Anyway, cut them down to 1x6inch strips and just begin tying them to the wreath... I was lazy and single knotted, but if you have the patience you'd probably be smart to double knot them so none slip out! After each row I'd change which fabric I started with so the pattern was random throughout.

After you paint your letters (I wished I had some glitter to add to them!) hot glue a bobby pin to the back to act as a hook, and you can secure them to the wreath. Way fun!!

Apologies for using camera phone pictures... not enough hours in the day!! I snapped these quick shots this morning while Josh was loading Jack up in the car and then we were off!

This was the wreath I ended up giving to Pattie.

This one ended up on our front porch!

I love Halloween! :)

Spooky Halloween Jars

I have been impatiently waiting for the girls to arrive this last weekend so we could try out a new craft I had found. I found these painted luminaries from Crafts By Amanda. Once I saw how simple they were I figured we had to try them out!

If I was more on my game, I would have pictures of the process including showing the girls having fun painting, but..... I forgot. :) We ran out of tea lights so not all are lit, but you get the idea! Super cute!

These came together really fast. All you need is some mason jars and acrylic craft paint. Side note: I was kind of surprised to find that Joanns didn't carry mason jars... however, Ralphs (next door to our Joanns) had them, 12 for $10. Not too bad!

Back to the jars. We did one layer of paint. I agreed with the blog I pulled this from that they looked more authentic and spooky to not be perfect and solid colored. I really like the way the glass still shines thru on some parts. Once the paint was dry we used a sharpie to draw on faces, then filled it in with black paint. One coat of a shiny sealer later and you are good to go! I love the way they turned out!

In other news, we went to the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival this weekend. The rain stopped for a few hours so we really lucked out. It was a blast!! Here are some pics:

My First Craft From A Blog

So last week there were about 4 or 5 blogs that really caught my attention. I spent a ridiculous amount of time going thru all the different posts, ooohing and aaahing over everything, and decided on this craft to try first... it seemed the least intimidating! I got the idea from The Bird's Papaya, here's the post that convinced me to try it: Jute Twine Vase. If you have some time, just scroll thru her postings, everything is sooo adorable!

You'll have to excuse my pictures, I had all good intentions of taking some good shots in the afternoon sun... but by the time we got Jack home, dinner made, cleaned up a bit... it was 8pm. I tried for some mood lighting... but that just looked cheesy! So... here's the pic I sent from my phone to my friend to show her. (please feel free to ignore the mess on my sewing desk!)

Here's a close up in some super bad lighting, but it helps give you the general idea. I'm simply in love with this and at a high risk of having twine covered bottles all over my house in a very short amount of time!

Jack, Jack... the Pumpkin King...

So we are big Disney buffs, with kids, it's sorta mandatory. One of our favorites is The Nightmare Before Christmas, and you can imagine with the arrival of Jack, we've had lots of Jack Skellington references. I fully plan to force him into a Jack Skellington costume soon enough (once he's willing to wear a mask) and naturally I'll dress up as Sally! :0) ya ya, I know.

Anyway, the girls seem to be going thru a phase of the hallway seeming dark and scary at night lately. I remember being a kid, and running down the hall, across the kitchen and dining room into my sister's room to ask her to go to the bathroom with me at night when I was scared. Never mind you, the bathroom was literally across the hall from me. It was totally rational to me at the time!

Back to the girls... we were at a Halloween store last weekend (got Jack's first costume, I can't WAIT to reveal that!) and they had this adorable nightlight. I hope the girls like it when they come this weekend!

I want to be a craft blogger person!

We need an official name here folks, I'll take any suggestions. As I mentioned last week, I discovered (How did it take me this long?) the wonderful world of craft bloggers. I am so inspired by all these women (Sorry, haven't found a dude yet, so I will generalize and say women) who create such neat, personal things that make their houses homes. This is a big deal for me.... it's something I place a lot of value in. You know that feeling you get when you've been away from your home for a while for whatever reason and all you want is just to be home? Then you get there and all the comforts and familiarities wrap around you like a warm cozy blanket? Anytime I add something to my home, I'm hoping I'm adding to that feeling for myself, and my family.

Anyway, the best part about all these friendly faces is that they are just as excited as I am to share, and to learn. Everyone is willing to spill their secrets and show you how easy something that looked so hard actually was. I've already made 2 things that I pulled from these awesome sites, and I'm going to spill my guts about it in a blog tomorrow.. I just need to go home and take pics tonight! You know me, whats a blog without pictures... they give such a better visual than my rambles. I hope you give my two cents back to the craft blogger community and post my trials and tribulations in my home decorating adventures. Hopefully I'll actually get some readers! Wish me luck.



Pattie sent me this picture of Jack yesterday... makes my heart smile!

Ohhhhhh I got the craft itch

I don't know if you noticed, but I added a lot of buttons to the page (scroll down, to the right) of some craft blogs I have recently stumbled on and have spent a ridiculous amount of time going thru, looking at all of the great ideas these women have come up with. I've started to print the ones I like, and am making a folder to keep at home, so that in the event I magically have some spare time, I can make a few of these!

I've just really been struggling with deciding what to spend my time on since going back to work. Every night of the week I'll look up at its already 7:30... and it just bums me out because half the night is already gone. There have been some (shhh, don't tell Josh) signs that we are indeed growing up. Josh and I are TV Junkies.. theres no use denying it. We may or may not have even made spreadsheets in the past of the fall line up to make sure we didn't miss shows. That was before the days of TiVo and DVR... now we are even more insane about it. However, this fall TV season I'm realizing... it's not as worth it. I'm beginning to feel like rather than veg in front of the TV, we'd rather spend a few hours with Jack before he falls asleep. (duh, right?) Theres also many more things I'd rather do in that little time after Jack falls asleep and I've still got a good hour or two before I pass out from sheer exhaustion. So... I'm not sure which ones yet, but we'll be letting go of some of our fall line up, in fair trade for crafts for me, and other hobbies for Josh. How adult of us. :)

My Stuff Bags Foundation

A few days ago one of the ACs (Admin Coordinators for you non Amgen readers) set up a volunteer day for us to go to. I'm actually incredibly embarrassed to admit I know very little of what is in the area in regards to volunteer assistance programs, what companies are out there, etc. Sure makes me feel a bit self absorbed to admit that! But, it is what it is for now. Anyway, she sent us to this place called My Stuff Bags Foundation. It's actually kinda cool, but sad too. They make care bags for kids, infants to teens, who have been pulled from their homes by child services and are sort of in that limbo state where the courts haven't decided what to do with them. The woman explained most kids are pulled in the night by surprise so the parents don't take them and run. The result of that is they have none of their belongings. So these bags are filled with a blanket, stuffed animal, and age appropriate items for them.. coloring books, reading books, games, etc. After giving us the lay of the land, we got lined up in an assembly line and began stuffing. I looked down, in my bin of stuffed animals were 500 "Spirit" horse stuffed animals. I just wanted to cry. Mackenzie has the same stuffed animal. She is obsessed with horses and went thru a phase where the only movie she would watch was the Spirit movie. I could close my eyes and picture her bed, half full (I'm not joking) of stuffed animals, Spirit right in the middle of it. Our girls have been thru a lot, but they have a home where they are safe, loved and not alone. These bags are going to kids who will feel like no one cares, they've been left alone, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. I wish I could crawl into these bags, and go on the journey with them, hugging these kids, and telling them everything will be ok and they aren't alone. I just can't imagine any child going thru this.. and yet thousands do every day.

One of the things the volunteer told us they are most short on, is blankets. On their website is a simple way to make fleece blankets. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to Joanns and walked by the clearance table to see tons of fleece marked down for quick sale. I plan to keep my eyes out next time and buy a bunch... it's one of those things I could do while sitting in front of the TV at night and probably bust about 20 blankets in a week's time. With their goal being 30,000 bags a year, 20 bags isn't much, but it's a start. If you are interested in the foundation, here is their link: http://www.mystuffbags.org/

Let the worrying begin.... I sense a long road with this one.

Ask any parent, and they will tell you that from the minute their child is born, you'll never stop worrying about them. I had no idea how true this would be. It's not like a constant state of fear... but he is 100% always in the back of my mind. I've patted myself on the back up until now because I feel I've been pretty level headed about things. I haven't had sleepless nights where I am sneaking into his room 100 times to check that he's breathing or anything like that. Then I had this dream - nightmare the other night, and it has changed everything.

In the dream, I was giving Jack a bath just like we do now. He has a mesh baby tub, so we fill our tub up with just enough water that he can dab his toes into it while he sits in his bath. However, in the dream for some stupid reason I left the bathroom while he was in it and when I came back he was floating in the water. I was screaming for Josh but he couldn't hear me. I grabbed Jack, ran to find Josh and he smacked Jack on his back and his eyes popped open but they were black and glossy. It still gives me the chills to picture it. I woke up screaming Josh's name. Even now, days later, I feel a pain my chest just imagining this happening. Even though I know it was just a dream, it makes me feel sick thinking about it. Well, ever since this dream, I have caught myself having unrealistic worry moments about him. At night, I've not been sleeping well because my eyes pop open and I'm convinced I just heard something on the baby monitor and then I sit there in silence staring at the little green light waiting to see if it waivers. This is just getting ridiculous. He's fine and I need to realize that. I refuse to turn into one of those paranoid moms who refuses to have a toaster in the house because it causes more deaths per year than shark attacks. (apparently this is true!)

I'll deal with legit worries.. first day of school, first day he drives, first day he gets his heart broken... those are ones you sorta have to go through, they are like notches in life. Hopefully I can return to my level-headedness soon.. I'm too tired already to not be sleeping at night!!