Inspiration struck this weekend and so there's more than a wee bit of Halloween crafting going on around here!
I love seeing all my pretties in one place. It was such fun to go through my stash and pull out trinkets and treasures to match. This is when being a pack rat comes in handy. :)

It feels good to be creative again after being away and being too busy. I love when my head is swimming with ideas and images and I wake up in the morning with fresh ideas. Although I've dabbled in many craft mediums, paper, scissors and glue will always be my first and best loves.

Hooray for Autumn!

It's coming...

....Can you feel it?

Fall, I mean. Can you feel it in the air? I can! I can feel it in the slanting sunlight, the cooler nights and mornings. I could definitely feel it this past weekend, when we had constant rain and high temps in the 50s. I'm thrilled! When I was younger summer was always my favorite season but now my heart lies in autumn. I love the cool nights and warm sunny days that we usually have here in Colorado. I love the warm colors and the yummy smells. And long-time readers of my blog know that I LOVE Halloween!!

I'm so excited to have joined ArtsyMama's Sweet and Sinister swap this year! My partner is Julie B, whom I attended Silver Bella with last year. We both love vintage-style Halloween things so I know it will be fun to put together a package for her. I've already started gathering ideas so that I can get cracking--it's almost September, so I need to get moving!

Have you been to Michael's this year to see the new Martha Stewart Crafts Halloween line? As usual for Halloween, Martha and her Minions didn't disappoint! You can see the whole collection here if you don't have a Mike's handy. Don't you think that big glittery black chandelier is wonderful? It looks very Wendy Addison, but at about a quarter of the price (especially if you use your 40% off coupon!) I'd already own it if I could have thought of a place to hang it in my house. I have wanted the tissue pompom kit ever since the line debuted last year so you can guess how I feel about the candy corn pompom kit! Again, the lack of a place to hang them is the only thing restraining me.

I have already purchased this fun picket fence punch, and I plan to use it on my Halloween party invitations this year. I'm sorely tempted by the drippy goo punch as well! And those darling cupcake papers? Those will be coming home with me on the next trip! It's safe to say where my 40% off coupons will be going for the next few weeks!

Last night at Target I picked up this fun t-shirt for $5.

I hate the sizing on their 'seasonal' shirts--they are sized for tiny people with no bust and short torsos, and that's before the shirt shrinks in the wash! But for $5 I'm okay with wearing it once or twice then getting rid of it. And really, how could I not buy this one? It's not just a chandelier, but a spooky chandelier! Love it. Bring on the pumpkins!

Halloween report

I'm a day late posting Halloween photos, but I have a good excuse--yesterday I had LASIK enhancement on my left eye. I had my original surgery back in March but my left eye was stuck at about 20/35 (right eye is 20/15) so they decided it was time to fix me. It was kind of spur of the moment--the girl at the office called on Tuesday to ask if I could come in Thursday. Luckily DH was able to get some time off work on short notice and I had it done, otherwise I would have had to wait until a few days before Christmas for their next opening. I will say that it was much, much easier the second time around. Still no treat, but much less traumatic and my recovery was even quicker than before. When I went in this morning for my follow-up, I could already see 20/20 in my left eye and it's likely that will even sharpen up to 20/15 as the swelling goes down. Hooray!

And now, on to the gratuitous cute Halloween kid photos. :) Maren made a darling little mermaid! She was so excited to put on her costume and asked all day if it was time to go Trick or Treating yet. We practiced all morning and she was a pro by the time it got dark. We had only intended to go to our neighbors' houses, but she took to it like a duck to water (or should it be a mermaid to water?) and soon we were running to catch up with her!
She had SO much fun, and we had even more fun watching her. Daddy took the video camera so we could catch all of the cuteness in action. She is just a doll anyway, but put her in a cute costume and teach her to say (in her cute little chirpy two-year-old voice), "Thank you! Happy Halloween" and I don't care who you are, if that doesn't make you melt then you have no heart. Then when we came home, she had as just much fun handing out candy to the kids who came to our door. Halloween--the best night of the year to be a kid. :)


And to end, an appropriate Friday Fiver:
1. Did you celebrate Halloween? Silly question! ;)

2. Do you like to dress in costume? Love it! I dressed up for our party but didn't dress up in costume to go ToT with Maren. I did wear a Halloween shirt that day, though.

3. Favorite chocolate? Neuhaus (fancy schmancy hard-to-find Belgian chocolate) but the past two days it's been anything I can swipe from Maren's ToT bag.

4. Best scary movie? "The Changeling"

5. Friday fill-in: ____ scares me. You want the truth? The thought of having another baby anytime soon scares me! I don't know how I'd deal with a newborn and Maren. yikes.

The Monster Mash

This weekend we held our 2nd Annual Halloween Bash. The 1st Annual party was actually in 2005 (we skipped last year) but we really do hope to make it a yearly event. The first time we held the party, we invited whole families. All of our friends have at least 2 kids, so you can probably imagine the chaos! We did a pinata and donut-on-a-string to keep them busy while the parents visited and we all ate. It was fun, but it was a ton of work, the kids were kind of wild and the house was trashed when it was all over. We vowed then and there that the next party we did would be adults only!

And so it was--a grown-up party and I have to say that I think we all appreciated being able to visit and have fun without having to keep an eye on the kiddos or worry that they were spilling punch on the carpet. I very nearly canceled the whole thing when I found out that DH would possibly not be there, as he'd be working at the World Series game that night. I contemplated doing it by myself anyway, but in the end he was able to be there and it's a good thing--no way could I have done all that on my own!

We used a Mad Scientist theme for the party, both for the invitations and the decor. DH was able to borrow some lab items from work and set up a bubbling, steaming "experiment" in the living room--something we probably couldn't have done if there had been kiddos with curious fingers in attendance. On the table you can also see a collection of bottles I filled with various strange-looking spices (from the dollar store). I had hoped to make labels for all of the jars with spooky ingredient names but I just ran out of time. Maybe next year!

For food we had various appetizers, like spinach-artichoke dip and guacamole. I made the brain cupcakes from my previous post, and they were a hit! They were really quite easy and they looked great. I used both homemade buttercream and canned frosting and I found that the canned frosting gave me better results because of the consistency. I frosted the cupcakes first before piping on the squiggles so that the cake wouldn't show through--just in case any of you want to make them someday.

I also made a favorite recipe from our 2005 party: Sweet and Spicy Spider Eggs. These were also a hit--we didn't have any left over! The recipe calls for heating the sauce in a skillet, but I just mix it together and dump it all into a slow cooker with the frozen meatballs. The recipe says it makes 48 but I had plenty of sauce for the entire bag of 80 meatballs.

We asked our guests to come in costume and almost everyone obliged. There were some really funny, clever costumes! One lady was a tornado--she dressed in black pants and a black sweater. She used black thread to sew through the sweater and left 4-5 inch lengths hanging out the front, which she tied to toy farm animals, fence pieces and tractors. When she stood up, she spun around and all of the toys flew out on the ends of the threads--it was hilarious! :) We also had a guy come as this kid. Here is a photo of DH and I all dressed up; he was Dog the Bounty Hunter and I was June Cleaver. I had really hoped to find one of those cleaver things on a headband but I looked at several stores with no luck. I would like to have been a Mad Scientist to go with our theme but I just didn't have time to look for a lab coat. I also considered dressing as Beth Chapman (Dog's buxom blonde wife) but couldn't figure out how to suitably stuff my bra. :)

One last recipe: I wanted a green punch to serve in my big cauldron and found this "Green Grog" recipe. It was really yummy and it looked great with dry ice making it bubble and steam. If you omit the bottle of rum (like we did) you'll want to have another bottle of soda on hand or you'll run out of liquid too soon.

I think all of our guests had fun, it was a manageable amount of work for us, and we hope to do it again next year!

Brains....braaaaains!

Thank you all SO much for your advice on the blue jeans! I went through all of your helpful comments and wrote everything down, so now I have a great long list that I can refer to when I go shopping. Next time I can steal away sans toddler, look out--I'm a woman on a mission! Several of the stores on the list I never would have even thought of for jeans--Eddie Bauer, White House/Black Market, Coldwater Creek--so thanks for mentioning them. I'm on the hunt and I will leave no stone..er..pants..unturned! One other thing--Sam mentioned a website called Zafu.com where you can answer 8 questions and then it brings up a huge list of jeans that might fit you. It's really neat, and it also does Plus size jeans and Bras (they're currently doing research on pants). Head over there and see what they have to say!

Lots going on around here. We're hosting a Halloween party tomorrow night so I'm running around like crazy trying to round up food, decorations and costumes. We're doing a mad scientist theme and among other things, I'll be making these delightfully disgusting cupcakes. I hope they won't be so disturbingly realistic that people won't eat them! They kinda give me the heebie-jeebies, but I think they'll be perfect if I can get the frosting consistency just right! Can't decide if I'm going to give them a cream filling or leave them plain. Maybe a red jelly filling? Ack, now I've really grossed myself out.

I mentioned a few posts ago that I found a fabulous vintage dress at the thrift, but had to have it tailored. I was finally able to pick it up this week and I have to show it to you! (Click on it to enlarge) It is a gray wool sheath and the armholes and neck are completely lined with iridescent beads and rhinestones--the older kind that have to be sewn on individually by hand. It's quite ornate and nicely done, although I couldn't find a tag inside so I don't know if it's store-bought or homemade. When I bought it, the arms and bust and neck fit perfectly but it was too big around the middle, so I had the tailor take it in and put some darts in the front and back, and now it fits great! The dress itself was $5.99 and the alterations were $45, which is a little more than I had hoped it would be, but I still think it was worth it! In the photo I'm wearing a black long sleeved t-shirt but I think I'm going to take that back and try a mock turtleneck instead. I also have some fun black tights to wear but I couldn't be bothered to squeeze into those just for a quick blog photo. :) I love it, and I can't wait to wear it!

And last, a Friday Fiver:
1. What makes you feel exposed?
Looking at photos of myself, thus seeing myself as others see me. I swear I'm cuter in the mirror than in photographs.

2. What do you have to force yourself to do?
Clean the bathrooms, and get a babysitter for Maren. I have the hardest time getting her a sitter, I feel like I'm imposing on people.

3. Where do you like to spend your time outdoors?
The beach! On a boat in the middle of a lake with my family. Geocaching with DH.

4. What surprises you?
How quickly Maren picks up new words and concepts. We can say something once and she'll be repeating it in no time. Better watch what we say from now on, huh?

5. Friday fill-in: Late at night I'm ____.
First, let's define Late. Anymore, late for me is about 10:30 p.m.--not the same as when I was in college and late was into the a.m. hours! Late at night I'm usually getting my second wind. I'm not nearly the night owl I used to be but I still find myself getting really productive starting at around 9:00 p.m., just in time for DH to want to go to bed (he gets up at 5:30 a.m.)

Hello again

My goodness, I didn't realize it had been almost a week since my last blog post! No wonder my mom was worried about me. :) Do you ever have things to post, but just feel lazy about it? That has been me for the past few days.

I received a fabulous, out-of-the-blue Halloween package from my friend, Miss Thrifty Goodness herself! Rebecca knows that I adore Halloween so she sent some wonderful goodies to help me celebrate! She included the cutest woolly bat, one of her darling handmade paper rosette pins, two of the cute 'crackers' that she blogged about today, sparkly little spider candle holders, a neat enamel sign, a Glitterville ornament, and the most adorable little cupcake picks and paper umbrellas! Her package was a surprise and it was such a treat! Rebecca was one of the very first bloggers that I ever connected with and is one of the most generous, creative people I know! Thanks again, Rebecca! :)

I did a bit of thrifting on Saturday morning and found some neat stuff! I decided to look through what the thrift store deemed "Halloween costumes" and actually found some really great clothing items. I don't normally look at clothing in the thrifts because I just don't have the time when I'm shopping with Maren, but this particular morning I was alone so I was able to take my time and try things on. I ended up with this Pendleton wool plaid cape for $5.99. I'm not sure it is particularly old--it has a "Dry Clean Only" tag attached--but I thought it was neat and you can't beat Pendleton for quality and classic styling. I was tickled to open up my November Country Home magazine the other day and find a feature on plaid! How au courant. :)

I also bought a great vintage dress that is currently at the tailor being fitted so I can wear it. I'll show a photo when I pick it up next week. It's a gray wool sheath and around the armholes and the neckline and down the front it is lined in sparkly rhinestones and iridescent beads. It's really very pretty and very unusual, and for $5.99 I couldn't pass it up! I hope the tailoring goes well because I think it has really great potential.

The last thing is a length of vintage fabric with a border of the sweetest little pink cherubs. I have no idea what to do with it, but it leapt in my cart and I brought it home. I am curious as to what it is intended to be made into--the fabric width is rather narrow, so it seems unlikely that it would have been for a baby blanket. It is thin, smooth cotton--reminds me of sheeting, actually. Any ideas?

Somebody thinks I rock! :) More about that tomorrow!