happy halloween!

Have a happy and safe Halloween dear friends!!

the beard

Liam's Gandolf costume is done. You guys had such fantastic ideas for the beard. I would have put your ideas to use except I had already purchased the materials for making this beard. I am mostly happy with how it turned out. The length and shape (especially the crookedness of it) I think are perfect. The color is off though. I couldn't find and gray or white trim, only brown. Maybe Liam can be a young Gandolf?

All is not lost though... the beard has already seen a lot of use. Liam wore it constantly for two days after I made it. And it even looks good on me:


Maybe next Halloween I will be the bearded lady. Totally hot, right? RIGHT?

I'll be posting more pictures of the kids in their costumes soon.

my body double

I have a dress form! A friend of mine from Church, Jenn-Lee, moved to Utah last week and had no room for this dress form. Knowing how much I love to sew she kindly gave it to me. I am SO excited! I have wanted one for years. I even contemplated making my own dress form. Now I don't have to. I can't wait to use it. Thanks Jenn-Lee!

one down one to go

For the last 8 months or so Sutton has insisted she will be Belle for Halloween. Last week, without a pattern, I turned an old sheet and 8 yards of tulle into the awesomest Belle ever (pardon my pride, I am REALLY happy with how this turned out). I probably spent at least five hours on the costume. Two days ago Sutton announced that she wanted to be a ballerina. I was not happy to hear that and happily I was able to convince her to where the Belle dress. She was pleased with it once she was dressed. I curled her hair and even put a touch of make-up on her.


Liam just recently made his final choice for his costume. He started describing it for me as he sketched "a wizard with no wand but a long staff. a pointy hat and a long beard. a belt and a money pouch."

Once I saw his sketch I said "you want to be Gandolf". Liam has no idea who Gandolf is. He has never seen Lord of the Rings (he is only 6) but somehow that is exactly what he was describing:

Creating a beard will be the most challenging part of this costume. I think I will use Merrilee's beard idea. The rest will be cake. I bought a braided belt at Salvation Army for $1.50 and I think I have enough fabric in my stash for the tunic, cape and hat. The staff will be found in the back yard.

I have no idea what Ezra will be. A friend of mine made the coolest Where the Wild Things Are costume for her baby. A brilliant idea but I don't want to copy her. I am running out of time...

my pumpkin obsession...

the husband says it is getting out of control.

so far i have made:

pumpkin spice granola from petitelefant.com - thumbs up. i will be making this again!

pumpkin pie milkshakes from ourbestbites.com - i had such high hopes for this but it tasted like i was eating straight pumpkin pie filling- good for a few bites but quickly becomes too much. i do have to say though that Our Best Bites has great recipes, everything else i have made from them has been fantastic!

pasta with pumpkin and sausage a Rachel Ray recipe from the Food Network - i thought this was delicious, so did the kids. my husband said it was good but also said he was weirded out by pumpkin in a savory dish.

pumpkin cookies with cinnamon frosting. from 30Days (a great blog BTW) i love the idea of pumpkin cookies but every recipe i try the cookies always seem undercooked even if i cook them twice the amount of time called for. anyone else have that problem? that said, i thought these turned out pretty well. the cinnamon frosting was to die for!

pumpkin bars - i make these every fall. i love them! this year i added cinnamon to the cream cheese frosting because i liked it so much in the frosting for the cookies.

pumpkin bars (adapted from a Paula Deen recipe)
4 eggs
1 2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
15 oz can pumpkin puree
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

8 oz low fat cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon cinnamon
3-6 cups powdered sugar (add more or less for your desired consistency)

preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

combine the eggs, sugar, apple sauce, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin, salt and baking soda. add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. apread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. bake for 30 minutes. let cool completely before frosting. cut into bars.

for the icing: combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. add the sugar and cinnamon and mix at low speed until combined. stir in the vanilla and mix again. spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

do you have a favorite pumpkin recipe? please share! although Michael may try to run away if i make anything else featuring pumpkin...

aw, shucks!

recently i was given two blog awards.

"One Lovely Blog Award" from Chris at Pickup Some Creativity.









"Best Blog Award" from Steph at Memories and Mischief.






i'm not going to pass on the awards but i did want to acknowledge them and say "thanks"!

the poopy clutch

Melissa Esplin has a great tutorial for a diaper and wipes holder that she calls a poopy clutch. clever, right? it corrals the diapers and wipes so they don't take over the purse.


the tutorial has options for leather, vinyl or fabric. i initially wanted to use leather for mine but the smallest piece of leather i could find was about $40. while i could have made several clutches with that one piece of leather i only need one clutch. luckily i was able to find a remnant piece of white vinyl for a couple of dollars.


the lining is 100% cotton and i used heat and bond to fuse the lining to the vinyl. i bought the button post at Tandy Leather Factory for $1.30.


this is a really simple project- there is no sewing involved! the total cost was less than $8 and i no longer have bunched up diapers cluttering my purse. hooray!

my necklace

i have gotten a few emails and comments about my necklace. it is one of my favorite etsy purchases ever! i love etsy. the necklace was a custom order from Under Her Charm. this was not a thrifty purchase but i love it and wear it often. it is simple and beautiful. Lisa makes great quality jewelery. go check out her shop and maybe get a little something for yourself. you'll love it too, i am sure!

flower cluster tee

a little t-shirt restyle. i forgot to take a before picture but it was just your basic run-of-the-mill t-shirt.


i cut off the neckline, the bottom few inches (the shirt was so long it look like maternity) and shortened the sleeves. i used elastic thread to gather the neckline and sleeves.


the flower cluster was something i made last winter using this tutorial. it just happened to match the t-shirt perfectly.






part of DIY Day.

how to hem your jeans and not look like a dork

are you short? i am! 5'3" to be exact. growing up i hated having to have my jeans hemmed. my mom is an excellent seamstress but her hemming jobs were always obvious. for years i just wore jeans that were too long. i am too tall to wear petites and too short for regular length. it's as if the fashion designers think all women wear stilettos each day. news flash, i am a mom not a super model. i generally wear flats not heels. anyhow, a couple of years ago my friend Shanda taught me this method. from what i understand this is how the professionals do it.

jeans that are WAY too long.

pin jeans to the desired length. now take your jeans off and put on other pants or you can sew in your undies like me while hoping that no one comes to the door.

sew close to the bottom hem. if you arent' taking off much length you can now fold down the original hem and iron.

because i took off so much length i surged close to (but not on) the seam.

close up you can see the seam but in action you'd never know.

more play kitchens

remember my repurposed entertainment center play kitchen?

well my sister-in-law's friend Jenn was inspired to create not just one kitchen but two!

her kitchens are so fantastic and chic, they make my kitchen look shabby!




Jenn is auctioning off one of her kitchens for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Check out her play kitchen blog for more information and pictures.


edited to add: thank you for all your kind words. after i posted this i realized that i sounded like i was fishing for complements... sorry! not my intention. i just wanted to share Jenn's cool kitchens. :)

green lamp

my lamp collection is growing! this one is my latest. it was purchased at Goodwill for $6 and the shade was purchased at Old Time Pottery for $7. i used "avocado" by krylon.

the color is aptly named- same color as all the appliances in the '60's and '70's. that's why i love it!

i also spray painted that little lidded box!

have you caught the spray painting bug? tell me or leave a link in the comments- i would love to see what you have painted!

Added to Kimba's DIY Day.

hello october!

october really snuck up on me. fall is in full force here in north carolina. which i am excited about because i LOVE fall. it is by far my favorite season. perhaps this stems from growing up in the west where there was no such thing as "fall"? anyway, this season is usually highly anticipated for me but this year i have been dreading it. why? my baby turns one later this month. i am SO sad. i want him to stay my little baby forever but he is persistently growing each day! what's a mom to do? distraction! my distraction of choice is currently decorating for halloween. sadly, it didn't take long. all the decorations were things i made last year with the exception of the TRICK or TREAT pennant and the halloween cat pillow.

(please ignore the tarp covering who-knows-what out on the patio.
it's raining and i am too lazy to go out and move it!)

all the orange accessories (pillows, votive, candlesticks) are always in this room it's just a bonus that they can double as halloween decor.

halloween cat pillow. made with canvas left over from another project, black fabric paint and freezer paper stencils. since i already had the supplies total cost was $0

spooky tree. a dead branch from the backyard spray painted black. the pot was also painted black and filled with rice to hold the branch.

the ghosts, pumpkins and bats were hand drawn and cut out. i used a little spray glitter on each side. in person the glitter is really subtle. then i strung them onto the tree with invisible plastic thread so they appear to be floating.

this little guy (what is he? a ghost maybe?) i picked up on super clearance at hobby lobby. he is kind of like a bobble head, if you touch him his body bounces around. spray painted black candlesticks and black taper candles lend a spooky touch.

on the shelf we have a dried gourd painted as a wacky jack o' lantern, orange candlesticks and a witch silhouette. the little bat hanging from the ceiling was made by Sutton. it is a toilet paper roll painted black with cardstock wings and googly eyes. it slowly rotates and moves around all day long.

after the last freezer paper project i wasn't sure i wanted to ever see the stuff again but i
am so happy with how this pennant bunting turned out it has restored my faith in how
fun freezer paper can be!

this was made with the same canvas as the pillow so again, no cost!

a very happy october to you!!

taking part in DIY Day.