Happy Halloween!!

Well as you can probably guess I was unable to get a project worked on today. 

I hope you all had as much fun this Halloween as we did!!  We had perfect weather so lots of trick or treaters!!

Especially this one

Captain America had a blast!!!  I think he had more fun passing out candy than trick or treating.  And of course he made out like a bandit!!  Our neighbors are prepared for him - most of the kids are too old to trick or treat and he is one of the few from the "next generation" that comes back to trick or treat.  He got cars, balls, coloring books, pencils - not your normal haul.

And he could not wait to get back and eat

an orange that one of the neighbors gave him.  Yep - when he got to pick from his bag that is what he chose!!!

Youngest daughter and her friends carved pumpkins

I would say she let her creative juices flow on that one!!

And to wind down the evening she broke out her birthday present and shared with little monster



He actually did really well!!  She was quite confident letting him play with it.  But his mom was about to have a heart attack!!! 

From our home to yours - Happy Halloween!!

Happy DIY'ing

Susan

31 Days... Day 29

Well actually the title to this post should be - huge project fail.  HUGE!!

Backing up to the beginning of the story - I am slowly, occasionally working on redoing the master bedroom.  Very, very slowly.  One thing I wanted to do was to take an icky blicky old lamp and repurpose it.  Sounds like a good plan so far right?

On blogland bloggers are wrapping everything with jute.  It looks so easy - just wrap and glue. I love the results and it would look perfect with what I have in mind for our room.

So today I broke out the jute and started wrapping

Hmmm - started off ok.  But I could not keep it wrapping even.  Then every so often the glue would let go and it would pop off and the coils would loosen.  Then I would have to cut that off and start over.  This happened way too many times.  I worked on this ridiculous lamp off and on for the whole day.

This one was the best attempt

Don't you just love the wide gaps and exposed glue!!  So not the look I was going for!!

Honey stepped in and said the jute I was using was too small so off to the store I ran and bought much wider jute.  Surely that would work...

Well we may never know, because when I got back home and plugged in my ever faithful friend

Smoked, sparked, caught on fire.  Waaahaaahaaa!!!

So now I am stuck and cannot even attempt to finish my project of the day.

Waaaaaaa

So until tomorrow

Happy DIY'ing

Susan

31 Days... Day 28



Happy Friday!!  After an incredibly busy work week and even crazier week here in the Hollow - I am thankful it is the week-end.

I finished a little project today that really made me happy!!  I may have mentioned before, but we love Christmas around here. This one really put me in the spirit.  I even popped some Christmas spice into the scentsy pots.  Crazy I know - but after our Christmas in October - or the mammoth birthday week - I always start looking forward to Christmas.

I love all the ornament wreaths that are all over blogland!!  Love them!!!  I do not know where the actual original post is but I book marked this one from Thrifty Decor Chick.  I just love her blog!!  She totally cracks me up!  And her tutorials are always so easy to follow.

I had bought the ornaments a long time ago at the Dollar Tree.  I actually made the form from a cheap hanger a couple of months ago.  When I was cleaning out the craft room it was sort of calling my name.  So tonight I finished it.

I have not unpacked my Christmas ribbon - for obvious reasons - so it had to pose for pictures just propped up on the kitchen counter.  This was a super easy, super fast little project.  I used a mixture of matte, shiny, and glittery ornaments.  I will warn you if you make one of these - when you are first working on it you will probably think "this looks like a hanger with ornaments on it - yuck!!" 

Don't worry, just keep going.  The more you add, the fuller it gets and the better it looks.

All of the tutorials I read said to hot glue the little caps onto the ornaments.  Well I bought these from the Dollar Tree

The little end caps on these are ridiculous!!  I did not end up gluing them because I could not get them off to re-glue them.  So I assumed that if I could not pry them off with needle nose pliers they really did not need to be glued.  None of them popped off during construction.  That probably saved half the time of making this - woo hoo!!!

I was not sure how many ornaments to buy - I could not find that in the tutorials I looked at.  Some said for a small wreath buy 50 to 60.  There were some I read that had used 300.  I was not exactly sure what counted as a small wreath but here is what I ended up with

Mine is about 15 inches across and I used 62 ornaments that are this size

I hope that helps someone else!! 

I did hot glue the last ornament on where the 2 ends of the wreath meet. 

So this cute little wreath cost a whopping $9 - woo hoo!!  And now I cannot wait to see all the Christmas goodies on blogland this year!!

Until tomorrow

Happy DIY'ing

Susan

31 Days...Day 27

I guess this can count as finishing what you start in a way...I did start this family.  Pushing it?? 

The past 2 days have been a whirlwind of birthday festivities.  Now I am really tired!!

Yesterday was youngest daughter's 19th  - wow it seems impossible to say that!!  We all went to her favorite Italian restaurant in Oklahoma City.  It is a very, very nice place and we always enjoy it there.  The problem may be that we enjoy it too much.  Have I mentioned my kids are nuts??

Really - we should not be allowed out in public.  We spent half the night teaching this one how to "slurp" his spaghetti one noodle at a time.

Then the ever so brave waitress brought out a birthday brownie and you guessed it.  In the really nice restaurant we belted out the most off key and loudest version of happy birthday you have ever heard followed by a standing ovation for our birthday princess. 

One day this ever so wonderful restaurant may quit taking reservations in our name.

Oldest daughter bought youngest daughter the most beautiful arrangement of roses.  Unfortunately I did not get a picture of it.  In it were branches with teeny tiny live pumpkins.  Too cute!!  Of course - the daughters plucked some pumpkins and posed them for photo shoots.  Yep - still in the restaurant.

On the birthday brownie

In a tea spoon



Yep - those are my kids!!

Then it was home for her favorite cake.



Yum!!!!!!

But I would say she really enjoyed her day! 

Then today was grandson's birthday.  So it was time for his favorite dinner - pizza.  Once again we all gathered.  This time at oldest daughter's house for dinner and cake - which he did not get this morning at 5:30 when he woke up asking for cake for breakfast.

And of course lots of presents

oh look it is that famous Transformer - Captain America!

Once we had him hyped up on cake and ice cream, playing like a mad man with all his new toys and up past his bedtime - we left.  Tee heee - the joy of being a grandparent!! 

I do have some real projects left for this last weekend of the 31 day challenge.  Hopefully I will get them done.  One of my projects will be helping to put together the trampoline we got grand-monster for his birthday.  Of course today a rainy cold front hit - so he thinks we gave him a big box in his garage!  poor kid!!

Until tomorrow

Happy DIY'ing

Susan

31 Days... Day 25

Less than a week to go - woo hoo!!  Unfortunately I have way more than a week's worth of projects left - but I feel like I have made incredible headway with what I have gotten done thus far.

Today I finished the little burlap pillows for the front porch and got them into the chairs.

OK - now I need to go outside and straighten this one

Not my best work ever - the outdoor cushions were "foamy" and the material kept sticking to it.  Next time just regular pillow forms.

At least the porch is looking a little more "fall-ish."

And youngest daughter surprised me by spending part of her birthday money on cute pumpkins for moi.  And then she even made 2 arrangements for me

one in the kitchen window

And one in the foyer

Sometimes kids can really wow ya'!!!

Oh and another completed project - the office/craft room is spotless!!!  No half finished projects laying around - no craft supplies on the floor.  It is all scrubbed from top to bottom and all organized.  I even organized Honey's stuff for him - and did a little purging for both of us.  His  side could use a lot more purging - but I will take what I can get!!

Until tomorrow

Happy DIY'ing

Susan

31 Days... Day 24

Ok - so I failed miserably at the challenge this week-end.  I was afraid October would be rough for this challenge because of the craziness in the Hollow in October.  But only one more week to go!!!

Saturday youngest daughter, one of her friends, and I took grandson to the pumpkin patch - sort of for both of their birthdays.  And for son-in-law's birthday - to give him a day off.  We had a blast!!!

Well - most of the time



Then it was rush home to celebrate son-in-law's birthday

He cooked dinner for all of us on his birthday present.  Smoked brisket - yum!!!!  I had spent Friday after work with oldest daughter and grandson cooking the birthday cake and the sides.

Then it was time for OU football - ok, we won't even go there.  Horrible horrible game.  Blick!!

Sunday I spent catching up on house work and took youngest daughter birthday shopping for herself and grandson. 

Sooooo - no projects were even thought about over the week-end.

And today I completed a project that may get me nominated for mother of the year!!  15 months ago, oldest daughter took youngest daughter's senior pictures.  Today I printed some - finally.  Poor second child!!!  Yes I fell guilty.  I even made a run to get frames.  There are tons more I could print  but here is what I did today

OK - everyone say "aaawwww she is just too cute!!"

They are all now officially in their homes!!

I also started another project that I have been dreading - cleaning and purging the office/craft room.  Definitely no blog pictures !!!  It will take a few days  - but I am relieved to have started it.  Hopefully I can finish it before the challenge is over!!

Until tomorrow

Happy DIY'ing

Susan

31 Days ... Day 20







Wow - 20 days down.  Have you been keeping track of the 31 dayers?  Inspirational stuff out there!!  It is easy to lose track of time reading all the incredible blogs involved.

You may have remembered me mentioning my friend Miss Bev.  I spend every other Thursday with her after work.  Unfortunately she now lives about an hour away, so it takes away some of our visiting time.  At least we generally get all her errands run. 

I finally managed to get a picture of the 2 of us today.  We went out to lunch to celebrate her 88th birthday.  And you will never guess what she wanted for her birthday - a harmonica.  Too fun!!!  She and her "group" - the Harmoni-cats - have a "gig" on the 28th and she wanted a new shiny harmonica.  Oh and by the way, she is the next to youngest in the Harmoni-cats.  So needless to say - we went and got her a new shiny harmonica.  And I received a harmonica education.  There are many, many harmonicas.  The store we went to had over 100!!  Oh and by the way - they can get a little pricey.  Yowza!! But we had a great time and she serenaded me the whole ride back to the home.

Between my visit with Bev and birthday shopping, I did not have much time for a project.  But I did manage to get one 3/4 of the way done. 

A while back I saw the cutest fall pillows at a little cafe a friend and I were eating at.  They were canvas or duck cloth with felt leaves.  The leaves were stitched on with lopsided stitches in different sizes.  So I decided that I could do that.  I bought extra burlap and some felt.  After the banner and the pillows, the joy has gone from working with burlap.  I lined the burlap with dark green and pumpkin orange material since the burlap is rather see through and covered 2 outdoor pillow forms.  I cut out 2 leaf shapes for each pillow and got them stitched on to one pillow.  How is that seeing someone else's lopsided stitches looks so cute and mine just look like lopsided stitches?  Oh well - they will look cute on the front porch once I am done

So tomorrow all I have to do is add leaves to one more pillow and stitch on some ties to tie them to the porch chairs - and that will be one more project down.  Woo hoo!! 

So until tomorrow
Happy DIY'ing
Susan

31 Days... Day 19

We are on a roll!!  I love clearing all this stuff out!!  Woo hoo.  Back when I bought all the stuff to make my fall topiaries I also bought enough to make 2 more with the promises that Mrs. J and I would get together and spend the time with just the 2 of us crafting.  We finally nailed down the time today and made one for her and one for my oldest daughter ....  shhhhh, don't tell her - it's a surprise!!

We had such a good time crafting together!!!  And not to mention that my craft room is much happier!!  Do you have any idea how much room 12 faux pumpkins take up!  Yowza.  Mrs J. really seemed pleased with hers which makes me happy - since it was my idea!

We also made her a gorgeous fall wreath - but  I totally forgot to take a pic of it before she left.  I guess that means I will need to make a run to her house for tea and a picture!!

So until tomorrow

Happy DIY'ing!!

Susan

Versatile Blogger Award

Wow - thank you Karie at the house of bledsoe for giving me the versatile blogger award!!!




Here are the rules:

Here are the rules of the Versatile Blogger Award:

1. Thank & link back to the person who gave the award to you.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Send it along to 15 other bloggers and let them know you have awarded them!

So here are my 7 things

1.  In the first 2 years of our marriage we lived in - Mississippi, California, Florida, Illinois, and Virginia - my honey was in the Navy and attending alot of schools at that time.  As if you cannot tell!

2.  I love being at this point in my life where my girls are now my friends.  Don't get me wrong  - I still throw in the motherly advice, but they are old enough now that we all have some similar interests.

3.  My honey and I have been married 24 years in two weeks!!

4.  My night is not complete with out a cup of hot tea with my youngest.  It has become our tradition since she started college.

5.  I was born and raised in a small Mississippi town.  I am still a Southern girl at heart

6.  I love being at home with the house full of kids and the grandson.  It is the best "vacation" ever!!

7.  I am so proud to be a child of God.

So now I am off to tag 15 other bloggers!!

31 Days .... Day 18

Wowza - 18 days have flown by already??!!??  There is no way I am going to finish all my unfinished projects in 13 more days.  But I feel like I have made a great headway.  And by the time this challenge is finished it will be time to focus on... Christmas!!!  Woo Hooo - my family loooooves Christmas - the decorations, the traditions, the music, the fabulous church services.  We love the whole season!!

Ooops - back to topic. 

I love banners.  Would have never thought of it myself, but love all the banners through out blog land.  Over a month ago I bought burlap to make a fall banner.  That is as far as it got.  So tonight I broke out the stencils I used for the J's anniversary banner and painted my burlap.  That looked - well - blah, very blah.  So I took leftover material from the pumpkins and put it behind the burlap, stitched it to some jute and voila

Love it!!  I probably need to go back and stitch the burlap to the material to help it lay down better - but it will do for now.  And it makes the living room seem so much more fallish! 

Oh - and don't you just love my fall mantle?  Oh that's right - I have no mantle.  And no real way to put one on the fireplace.  Youngest daughter and I have pondered that quite a bit.  It did not dawn on me how much I would miss a mantle when we bought the house. 

Until tomorrow
Happy DIY'ing

Susan