~kids halloween craft-Q-tip skeletons~

There's a blog that is solely dedicated to projects

found on Pinterest that when tried to replicate

turned into COMPLETE FAILURES!

I don't know what the site address is and I don't

have the time right now to find it to share.....

but it does exist-take my word for it.

Not only does it exist, it is HILARIOUS!

This Halloween project I did with the kids the other day

is actually one that was a complete success.

       

 You can find the pin on Pinterest by clicking here

The blog is Busy Bee Kids Crafts.

The only things we did differently was gluing 

it to foam sheets instead of construction paper.

We also used a piece of felt and googly eyes for the

head instead of painting it on.   

~hibernating flowers and chalk people~

 This is the last of the flower arrangements

from our own garden for the season.

It's been SLIM pickins the last couple weeks.

 I love the beads of water on the rose petals.

I could have shaken it off before I placed

it in the vase but chose not to. I picked these

on a rainy morning last week.  

I still have a couple tomato plants with lots of 

fruit I'm hoping can ripen on the vine before it 

gets too cold....which reminds me, I need

to cover them tonight.   

The weather is getting cold FAST and my

husband is hard at work preparing the flower beds

for the winter now. Cleaning up and pruning the plants

and re-planting all of our bulbs that have been sitting

in the dark all summer. I almost choked when

I walked outside last week and saw that he

had cut down my ENORMOUS sunflower plant.

I replaced the sunflower plant with

something else that was enormous:

A chalk outline of myself.

My kid thought it would be fun to do 

outlines of our bodies in the driveway.

I'm not gonna lie....I thought it would be fun too.

Until I saw how short and SQUAT I really am.

I thought maybe it would look better if I drew

some clothes on it. WRONG!

Looks even more short and more squat.   

 My kids outlines turned out cute :

 It rained the next day and washed 

our little chalk people away.....  

 Next time I'll draw a more slimming 

and elongating outfit on my bod....

maybe some stilettos?    

            

~my DIY studded cuffs~

 I've been wanting a pair of rockin cuffs

for awhile now....for those days that I feel like a 

SUPERHERO....

or a ROCK STAR....

or a TEENAGER.  

Most days I just feel tired. 

 

I found these faux studded headbands at the

Dollar Store and knew I'd hit the jackpot.

The only materials needed besides the plastic

studded material are velcro and glue.

I initially tried hot glue and it DIDN'T work.

I had to go in for the big guns and pull 

out my E-6000. It worked GREAT....

and in my opinion it smells good too :)

I cut the plastic studs the size of my wrists and 

attached a thin piece of velcro to each end 

as a closure method.

 Be sure to attach the velcro to the opposite sides

at the ends so it lays flat. 

(one piece to the under-side and 

the other to the up-side) 

 I was able to make both of these with just

one headband. I'm not gonna lie.....they are a bit

itchyscratchy but I'm willing to deal 

with a little bit of discomfort for the sake

of fashion. I can attach a lining of

felt or softer material to the underside if

I want it to be softer.      

 I can also stack them for a really wide cuff.

Not bad for a dollar eh?

Just the right balance of bling, rock and trend

for my taste......and my budget :)

Hope your weekend has been fun  

~11-22-63 book review~

I'm not usually a Stephen King fan.

I DON'T do scary and I DON'T do gory;

two things I automatically assume a Stephen King

story entails. I've read many books over the years

about the JFK assassination, covering all the 

different conspiracy theories, the Warren Commission

reports, Lee Harvey Oswald, etc. 

BUT.....I have never read one like this.

Let me give the disclaimer here that I'm usually

not into science fiction....AT ALL.

This book has a little science fiction in the sense that

the main character finds a portal that allows him

to go back in time. When he enters this portal

he is transported to a September day in 1958.

No matter how many time he enters the portal,

he is always transported to that same day, same

time in September of 1958. Here's the weird part,

regardless of the amount of time he spends in 

the portal, when he comes back to modern day

time, he has only been gone 2 minutes.

Crazy isn't it?

The whole premise of the story once he discovers this

time portal is to go back in time and stop the 

Kennedy assassination. In order to do so, he

has to stay for 5 years, awaiting the date of

the Kennedy assassination, November 22, 1963.

During the 5 years leading up to it, he lives

 life and learns quickly the concept of 

the "butterfly effect".......

how a small change in events can effect

the big picture on a HUGE level. 

I got so involved with the characters and their

stories that I forgot completely about the 

science fiction aspect of it. 

The story is brilliantly told and full of

surprises, colorful characters, suspense,

brain bender concepts and a 

CRAZY UNEXPECTED ending!

And true to form with any Stephen King story....

it has it's fair share of creepiness but in

this particular book it delivers without

going overboard.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read.....

all 849 pages of it.

~silky shirt transformation~

 My friends all know I love to re-vamp clothes

and because of that I often become the recipient of

bad shirts like this:

It's OK for me to say the shirt was bad.

My friend knew it when she gave it to me 

and she never wore it herself. Her Mom,

bless her heart, gave her this shirt to wear

for a job interview......LAST YEAR!

Needless to say, my friend didn't wear it 

to the interview. Instead she gave it to me.

I love the challenge of taking something that 

is not wearable (for my taste) and transforming

it into something that I love. 

I love polka-dots and really wanted to 

find a way I could wear this.

This is what I came up with:

I wanted to give it a more modern shape.

The first thing I did was cut that elastic band

off the bottom of it and turned it under with a hem. 

After that took off the buttons and

sewed it together right up the middle. Next I changed the 

neckline to be a v-neck instead of that round crew neck (ugh).

The last thing I did was make a cut-out at the shoulder

and tucked the sleeve at the top and bottom.

 I like the final product and I think I'll wear it a lot.

It's one of those shirts I can wear when 

I'm feeling chubs because it's forgiving 

and hangs nice but it also has that little edge

I like in my clothes :) 

And really, how often do you say,

"My shoulders look fat today."

NEVER!

~embellished girls boots~

 My little lady LOVES boots and she has outgrown

the 2 pairs she had. She keeps trying to squeeze her

little chubs into them and gets seriously pissed 

that no matter how hard she tries they just WILL NOT fit.

I pulled out these little winter boots I saved 

from when our son was a babe.

Truth be told, they were fine and feminine enough

just like this. In fact-I tend to think they tip more

on the feminine side than the masculine side.

BUT-they were the only warm boot we could find

for our son when he was a babe and we went with it.

When he wore them they actually didn't look 

girly at all because the fur was always covered.

I don't know if it's because I associate them with

my son or if it's because I just love to embellish things

but YOU KNOW I had to add a few little things to

make these scream, "GIRL! girl! GIRL!"

 I found some embellishments in my collection here at home

so I didn't have to buy anything. I have intended to make

some leg warmers for her with the long socks but 

need to wait until she gets a little bigger. I cut a little off

the top to use for this....leaving enough to still allow

for the legwarmers when I am ready to make them.

 It's easy.....just pull out your glue gun and start gluing!

I did it in 5 minutes.

I slipped the sock over the top of the boot to see if

I liked them (which I DIDN'T) but my little lady 

threw a fit when I tried to take it off. Here's a picture of

them on her feet.....cute huh?

 I like them better without the sock around the top.

 What do you think?

~halloween decorations~

 I got my Halloween decorations up last week.

Check it out............

My kitchen table

 With the shelf in my living room I decided to go with a

black and white theme.......which I usually don't do.

I love how it turned out.

 My china hutch.....

 The old sewing table in my living room

 This is behind my couch......

the mummy pumpkin was a decoration I added

this year. I bought the Styrofoam pumpkin at the

dollar store, wrapped it in toilet paper, put googly eyes

on it and a bigger paper stem. My kids love it 

and if I can get them to keep the toilet paper on 

until Halloween, I'll be shocked.

 These are on the coffee table in my living room.

 They are another addition to my decor this year. 

I bought the frames at Michael's for 

$1.50 apiece and put the spider stickers on cardstock.

I drew the webs on plain white cardstock.

 My outdoor decor.....

 Tonight we walked to the pumpkin patch and 

added our pumpkins to the front porch.

Now I just need to figure out the costumes :)