Halloween 2009 Comes to an End

I hoped to have a bunch of cute pics of little Trick-or-Treaters, but I couldn't get them to stand still long enough to get good pictures. With one exception - this cute young flower fairy. She and her sister had matching costumes, but in opposite colors.My daughter and I made these costumes for her girls. We bought the fairy wings at Wal Mart and hot-glued the flowers to them, to the skirt and to the headband. Then we pinned flowers to their shirts and leggings. If I had it to do over again I would choose lighter weight flowers. The centers of these were hard plastic and way too heavy. But I thought they looked precious. This was the last time she stood still for the rest of the night. Do ya think it might have been the candy!?!

A Halloween Guest Post by My Daughter

Hello. My name is Amber and this is my very first guest blog. I am excited to show you the cute Halloween overalls that I made for my oldest daughter.

It all started with a trip to a consignment sale where I found a cute pair of Halloween overalls to fit my youngest daughter. But . . . there were none to be found to fit my 4 year old. So, as all good crafty Moms do, I looked around and decided, "Hey, I can make some that are just as cute, and probably for much less!"

So, I looked through her closet and found some overalls that still fit. I have a thing for ribbon and I have collected a good size box (or 2) of really cute ribbon that I found at 50% (or less) of it's original price. I gathered together several different patterns of ribbon that, when put together, had a similar color scheme as that of candy corn. For my specific design I had a wide orange ribbon (about 2" wide), a medium yellow polka-dot ribbon (1/2" wide) and a small gingham and small orange and black polka-dot ribbon (1/4" wide).

I cut a foot long strip of each of the ribbons, two of the yellow polka-dot. I placed one of the yellow ribbon strips right up against the bottom of the wide orange strip. I used a piece of scotch tape at one end to hold the pieces together temporarily. Not overlapping. Just touching each other. Then I hot glued, with a very thin layer of hot glue, the gingham ribbon strip over the top of the orange and yellow ribbons, covering where their edges met. Then I did the same thing on the opposite side of the wide orange ribbon using the other strip of yellow and white polka-dot and the orange and black polka-dot ribbon.

To get the shape of candy corn, I cut a 3" triangle template out of a piece of paper. Then I traced the triangles onto the back side of some Stitch Witchery and ironed the Stitch Witchery onto the back of the ribbon strips. Then I cut the triangles out, rounded the edges of the triangles to look like candy corn, and ironed the candy corn onto the leg of the overalls.I found this skull and the letters that spell out "sweet" as pre-made iron ons. As you can see, I applied the letters to the front of the other leg of the overalls and the skull to the back pocket, adding the ribbon to indicate that it is a girl skull!

The word "BOO" was made by just free-hand cutting the letters out of fabric that I fused to some more Stitch Witchery.

A friend embroidered the spider down the back seam on her fancy sewing machine and I finished them off by outlining the candy corn with black paint.

It was quick and easy project and my girls loved having Halloween overalls to wear to school.

Three Generations-Three October Birthdays

Three generations of women in my family have October birthdays. Tuesday, October 13 was my 35th birthday! Really! I wouldn't kid you! Just ask me? :)

Today, October 15th, is my oldest Granddaughter's birthday. Isn't she precious?! She is 4 and quite something. Just ask me - I'm her favorite Granny! She loves flowers so that will be the theme of her party on Saturday. I LOVE spending time with this child and her Mom and her baby sister. She is one of the happiest children I know. Every where we go she sings. Most of the time she makes up her own songs. I'm sure she is destined to be a famous singer one day! My Mom's birthday is Saturday, October 17th. She won't be 4 or 35. I wish I had a scanner so I could scan a picture of her and show you her picture, but alas, I don't (Oh SANTA!). Everyone says I look just like her so imagine me, but just a little shorter and a little older. She was quite something in "her day" too.

So - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND GP#2 (Grandpunkin). I'll see you both on Saturday!

FINALLY! FINISHED PROJECT FOTOS

Remember WAY BACK IN JULY! when I showed you this sneak peak of a project that my daughter and I had been working on?Well - I FINALLY have pictures of the finished project!

Its a toddler bed for Zoe, my daughter's youngest, that we made out of an old 1950's baby crib. After we got through with the mod podge portion of the project, my daughter decided to send it off to a friend who has the equipment to do spray on polyurethane. It took him FOREVER to finally get the bed back to her! She has now decided that she could do just as good a job, or better, with wipe on poly!

Once she got it back, she hot glued the red trim around the edges of the toile fabric and set the bed up in Zoe's room. Zoe promptly doned her PJs, climbed in the bed and went to sleep! Apparently she was happy to have her new bed!

What started out as an old, cream & gold, 1950's crib (sorry, the original picture got lost when my computer crashed), then morphed into a REALLY PINK toddler bed that didn't fit in the spare room at my house,Then, much to the dismay of other family members, got a new coat of glossy black spray paint,and then morphed into a precious toddler bed for princess Zoe!

We couldn't have done this project without the wonderful tips we received from Amy over at Mod Podge Rocks! If you haven't visited her blog, go do it NOW! She has wonderful projects that are so much fun, and anyone can do them!

THANKS AMY! YOU ROCK!

Front Porch Update-The AC goes in

Friday night my #1 Step Son and his family came for a visit. The purpose was for #1 Step Son to run the AC duct under the floor and out to the new room.

The bonus was that I got to play with this little doll baby!

Last time we saw her she was just starting to crawl. This time she is cruising around furniture. Next thing you know she'll be walking. Then there will be no stopping her! She's gotten new upper teeth and learned how to wave since the last time too!

Oh, and the sub floor is now down and we've started to put up the wall treatment. Check back, I'll have new pictures soon.

County Fair Poultry Show & Remodel Update

On Saturday my handyman and I went to the Dickson County Fair Poultry Show & Sale. This is the first time I've been to this event and it was a lot of fun. We met some really nice people, saw some beautiful chickens from teenintsy to huge. And, much to my handyman's surprise, I didn't buy anything!

We really enjoyed watching the 4H kids in their Fairest of the Fowl contest. In this contest the kids choose a theme and they dress themselves and their chicken according to the theme. Here is the line up: (Left to Right) #1. A chef: he had on an apron and was carrying a HUGE knife and clippers in one hand and his chicken in the other. If I'd been the chicken I'd have been concerned! #2 was a vet in her blue scrubs and white coat. Then there was #3, her sister, the magician. She was carrying her chicken inside a top hat. #4, for you Vanderbilt basketball fans, a basket ball player and his chicken cheerleader. Someone had made stocking arms for the chicken and had sewn little pom poms into the hands. It was really cute. #5 was a Cop and Jail Bird. The young lady was dressed as a cop and had her chicken in a cage in the paddy wagon (red wagon). Cute, cute, cute. This young lady also won the Grand Champion ribbon for her 6 Barred Plymouth Rock chicks that she raised for 4H. They sold for $45 each! #6 was Colonel Sanders. This was so cute. She had her chicken in the KFC bucket with it's feet sticking out of the bottom. The chicken was calm through the entire show! #7 was a precious pirate and her companion. #8 was a 1950's Poodle Skirted girl. Her chicken also had on a Poodle Skirt and even had a pink bow in it's hair, I mean feathers! and #9 was The Cat in the Hat with Thing 1. I met this young lady and her parents prior to the show. She was adorable. Her chicken is a Polish with a big white top knot. So cute!

And here are the winners:

Because of the Labor Day Holiday and having a house full of people, we didn't get to work on the remodel until Sunday. Here is a picture of the floor joists going in. My handyman got all 13 of them in, but it was dark when he finished and I couldn't get a good picture. It is really starting to look like a room! My handyman's oldest son is coming on Friday to run the duct work for the air conditioning. Then the sub floor goes on and it WILL look like a for real and true room! Awesome!

Post Weekend Kitchen Wall Demolition Update

Window wall before (top) & after (bottom). Now even the frame that was around the window is gone as well, but I didn't get that picture yet.

Wall behind the refrigerator before (top) & after (bottom).

Don't ya just love the smell of sheet rock dust in the morning?!!

Next step - floor joists to bring the floor up to the same level as the rest of the house, air conditioning duct work and sub floor. Whooo Hoooo!

But that will have to wait. Lots of company coming at the end of the week and lots of other things to do between now and then. Don't forget to check back.