Christmas Wreath with a Twist

I'm starting to feel like I've fallen off the face of the planet with blogging. It's not that I'm not crafting. In fact, I'm crafting SO much that I've been overwhelmed at posting it all.

Because of work, my husband and I made an early trip to see my family before Thanksgiving. I had been on the lookout for a project I could do with my sister while we were there, but she actually beat me to it. She showed up at my moms' house with this prize that she'd won at Bunco the night before:

It was so cute, we decided to make a few more of them for Christmas presents. I got so caught up with working on mine, that Tracy ended up doing nearly all of the work on these Christmas wreaths for my aunt and grandma.

 

Didn't they come out so pretty? I felt guilty that I didn't help her more with hers, especially since I didn't end up finishing mine that day anyway. It's not a difficult project, but because I'd chosen different styles of ornaments, I was struggling to decide how to put it together. My "wreath" actually sat in my basement for nearly 2 weeks before I finally finished it. It is nothing like the beautiful wreath's that Tracy created, but it came out kind of cute, anyway!

Really adds to that horrible brick wall in my kitchen!

Overall, this really is a fun and simple project!  There are so many different directions that you can take it, and you can really personalize it to your taste!

Snowbulbs

I am a saver. I can't help it. I look at things and see possibilities past the purpose they have already served. So, when a light bulb burned out in my bathroom several months ago, I couldn't quite bring myself to throw it away. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I knew I would find something! Don't I always?

When I saw this tutorial , I knew I had found the perfect project for my bulbs (which multiplied fairly quickly!).

 Now, I will admit that I actually like Amanda's better. I love the plaid scarf that she used on hers. Way cute!! However, I really love love love how mine turned out as well!!

 This was such a fun and easy project, I will probably make more, even though I'll have to buy the bulbs! At 4 for  $1, what a cheap project! I like her penguin, too, so my little Snowbulbs may be getting some waddling buddies!

 Can't wait to get them on my tree!!!!

Our Halloween Creations

I don't know about you, but our Halloween was pretty quiet. Regardless of the fact that we'd heard that our neighborhood doesn't get many Trick-or-Treaters, we'd decided that this year we were definitely going to carve pumpkins. 

Technically, I don't feel I have the right to say I carved my pumpkin. I spent more time cleaning the guts out of my pumpkin than actually carving it. Really though, I couldn't see the point in telling the story of a pumpkin that spoke for itself.  

Quite a stark contrast between my pumpkin and my hubby's. Cute meets gruesome. If he'd had his way, Snoopy would've had a bite taken out of his head .... I'll leave the gory details at that.

 Since my pumpkin didn't take long, I decided to make some fun little additions for our display.

 Just wouldn't have been the same without them!

Hope your Halloween was creepy fun!

Falling Leaves

Remember these?

I still love my soda can butterflies! They make me smile every time I see them! Somehow, though, they just weren't quite fitting in with all of my pumpkins and scarecrows. I needed something a little more.... Fall.

 

 Aaaaahhh, that's better!

What's so great about these, I can leave them up clear through November, as well!! Multi-purpose!!

Soapy Ghosts

When it comes to holidays, it's normal to think of dressing up our doors with wreaths, our windows with decals and lights and our shelves with cute nik-naks. I had all those things and more, so where was I to go from there?

Where else? Somewhere a lot of people wouldn't think about.

The soap dispenser.

Every once in a while I get really lucky and think of a project that comes together really quickly. It's even better when something so easy turns out better than I expected. I love the way the spider looks like he's clinging to the bottle and the ghost looks like he's just "passing through".

I can't wait to get started on November and December's soap covers!

BOO! Did I scare you?

 I didn't plan on sending Halloween cards this year, but something came up and I needed just one quick card.  I've been so busy playing catch up with Activity Days that I hadn't put any thought into what kind of card I wanted to do. So, imagine my surprise when, after just a few minutes, this emerged from the paper.

Isn't it cute?! I have no idea how it happened!!! Every once in a while, I step back and, with a little grin say "Did I do that?!"

And no, not in the Steve Urkle way!

I seriously love love love this card. I immediately made 2 more.... they might not all get sent!

Keepin' It Simple- Me Style

I had only been serving in my "new" calling for a short time when I realized that 9 of the 24 girls in my group  had birthdays in a 6 week period- and I had already missed almost half of them. I needed to get caught up, and I needed to do it fast!

Most people, under these circumstances would have bought a few cards, grabbed a little treat and called it good- at least that's what I saw on most of the Activity Day's blogs I looked on. I decided instead to keep it simple- at least "simple" according to me.

Step One-

Birthday Cards. I mass produced a stack of these pretty and basic little cards.  

Step Two-

Birthday Treat. I have a bad history with baking so I instantly ruled out the idea of cupcakes. Instead, I trimmed down brown lunch bags with decorative edged scissors and glued simple paper flowers to the front. Each bag was filled with candy (I'm so glad it's October- lots of big bags of candy to choose from!!!) and tied off with bits of raffia. Amazingly enough, I had exactly enough candy to make 9 bags of evenly distributed treats! What are the odds?

Tada!!!

As I stepped back and looked at the finished projects, I realized that simple can be the best way to go! There was so much more that I could have done. I'm so glad that I didn't! Simple, sweet, and well received!!