Happy Halloween . . .

From Princess Leia, R2D2, and the Giant Ewok.

We had a church/family Halloween party on Saturday and it was tons of fun! I finished the R2D2 costume just in time (I mean literally...I finished it like 5 min. before we left...talk about procrastination!). The costume was made using a large piece of white fabric, felt (for the detail work), and old metal coat hangers which I cut, bent into a round shape, and then sewed them into the top and bottom of the costume.

As for my husband and I, we headed to the thrift store just hours before the party and luckily we were able to scrounge together our Star Wars outfits. My Leia costume is just a white turtle neck, white pants, a shiny gold belt, and a fake gun from the dollar store. I also used THIS tutorial on YouTube to make my giant Leia buns. 

I will have to admit, my husband's Ewok costume was the most clever. He bought an old giant teddy bear at the the thrift store, took out the stuffing, cut off the face (a little morbid right?) and then added a rough piece of red fabric for the cape. He also fashioned his own spear out of a branch and stone from our yard!  

The best part about our costumes is that we put together all 3 for under $20! 

Tonight, we plan to stay home to pass out candy, finish our Harry Potter marathon, make homemade doughnuts, and take our little R2D2 around to trick-or-treat at a few of our neighbors houses!

What are your Halloween plans? 

Have a Spooky Weekend!

Ok, most of you already know about my undeniable love for the magical world of Harry Potter. So, you can imagine my delight when I came across this AMAZING "Deathly Hallows - Dinner Party" posted on Hostessblog. The party included Butterbear, Polyjuice Potion, Chocolate frogs, and much much more! I am seriously jealous that I did not receive an invite.

Although Halloween is officially not until Monday, my husband and I will be trying to catch up on our Harry Potter marathon this weekend (which is something we love and have been doing for many years...although I admit it is a little harder now that there are 7 movies).

Have a great spooky weekend! and view more of the dinner party photos HERE!

A New Addition . . .

We purchased a new area rug for our living room last week (on ebay) and I can't wait until it gets here! I have been wanting one since we moved in (a year ago now) and the search has been quite the headache!

There are so many awesome rugs out there, but WOW they can be expensive! I found some less expensive ones like THIS, but most of them were that rough wool material. I wanted something that would be comfortable to sit on so our little guy could have a spot to play with his toys (he never sits on the hardwood floor to play).

So, this is the rug I decided on (the price was a little bit of a stretch from our original budget, but it was only about $150, which is much less then some of the others I had in mind)...

I love the pattern and color combination! Although, it is a little scary buying things online, so I hope it ends up being as nice as it looks! 

I'm crossing my fingers that it will arrive sometime next week, so look forward to some updated living room photos!

Felt Flower Hair Clip

I use to have a little Etsy shop where I sold felt flower headbands and hair clips. I had so much fun making them but sadly decided to quit selling for multiple reasons... First off, I never had enough time to mass produce any of the headbands/hair clips so when I made a sale, it was always a race to try to get the headband made, packaged, and sent off asap. Also, I thought I priced everything fairly reasonably, but once Etsy and Paypal took their percentage of my profit I really wasn't making much (or at least not enough for the time and stress I had to put into each one).

But now, I love making the felt flowers for baby showers, birthday's, or Christmas gifts. I really love making them and turns out, it's a great inexpensive and thoughtful gift!

As promised, I have put together a tutorial for one of the flowers I make most often. Click below to get the full tutorial!

Nylon Headband DIY

Have you ever wondered how to make those cute nylon baby headbands?

A friend of mine showed me how a couple of years back and I am happy to say that YES they are as simple as they look! Lately, I have been making them (along with some felt flower clips) for baby shower gifts and all the mom's love them!  I think it's because they stretch really well and are super soft on baby's head (unlike many that will leave red lines and indents). 

If you haven't already learned how, click below to get the tutorial to make your own nylon headband and come back tomorrow to get my DIY for the felt flower clip shown above!

In case you were wondering...

I went into the Dr. yesterday for my ultrasound and found out the gender of the baby....

it's

a

......

......

.....

....

..

.

GIRL!

My husband and I are super excited and I am definitely looking forward to buying my first girly outfit for her maybe something like one of these vintage dresses from kyssa (they remind me of the dresses my sisters and I use to wear when we were babies...unfortunately my mom got rid of most of them over the years :(

A couple of updates . . .

As most of you know, I started trying out the "CG" curl method a few weeks ago. I think it has been going pretty well...my hair is definitely curling better and a little less frizzy. Although I have to admit, it's still not curling quite has well as I would like it to. On the plus side, (or weird side,) I have not used ANY shampoo in like 4 weeks and my hair really isn't greasy.

Here is what my hair looks like now, go HERE to see what my hair looked like before...

Looking at these photo makes me realize that I need a trim, and I need to re-color my hair (if you have never colored your hair before, don't do it! It has been an ongoing battle for me since I first did it my sophomore year in high school...I keep trying to just grow out my natural color but I can't stand when the dyed section starts looking all weird and orange-y)! 

As for my other update (if I am having a boy or girl)...Well, it will actually have to wait until tomorrow because I don't go in for my appointment until 1:00pm today. 

Also, I am working on getting our costume's done for a Halloween party this Saturday. I am attempting to make an R2D2 costume for my little boy (cross your fingers, this should be interesting!)

Happy Friday

Today may be the first Friday where I am actually looking forward to Monday. No, it is not because I am anticipating a crummy weekend...it is because Monday is the day I find out if I am having a boy or girl (hence the blue or pink).

These chairs are both tons of fun and I would gladly take either for my own home!

Which do you prefer? Blue or Pink?

photo credit: blue and pink

Bookshelf Update

The bookshelf is finished and I finally remembered to take a few photos of it! Originally I wanted to have a free standing shelf (and by that I mean one with no brackets) but my husband personal handyman said he had no idea how to make something like that, especially being about 7' long. So, I thought the next best option was to use small brackets and paint them the same color of the wall to help them blend in a little better.

Here are the before and after shots...

I love how it turned out, and even more I love that we finally have a place to showcase our vintage book collection. I realize that all of the "stuff" on the shelf is a little much (I mean things are looking a bit top heavy) I can't decide if I should take a few things off or try to cover some of the darker books in a fun lighter wrapping paper or something (any suggestions?)

I never did get to buy any new accessories for the shelf while I was in Utah last weekend. I only had about 20 min. to look around Ikea so I ran to get the throw pillows I have anxiously been waiting for months to purchase.

I may have snagged an awesome pillow case on my way out though...

Isn't it lovely?

Creepy Food Ideas

Making creepy food for a Halloween get-together is one of my favorite ways to celebrate the holiday and I am always looking for new ideas! It can get a little time consuming when putting together more then a couple of spooky dishes, so I like to do a Halloween potluck and ask each guest to bring one too! Plus, it's so much fun to see what everyone comes up with!

Here are some great creepy food ideas that I am considering...

Get the details here...1 2 3 4 5 

Pumpkin Carving

Do you have a favorite pumpkin carving tradition?

For the longest time I have loved to buy those intricate carving kits, you know the kind you have to spend hours outlining with the little toothpick punch and then a couple more hours to actually carve...and by the end of the night it feels like your hand is going to fall right off!

But a few years ago, I decided to leave my old ways behind me and try something less time consuming but a little more creative then your average Jack-o-lantern face.

Thanks to Martha, I found a couple of alternate carving techniques that were really fun...

This technique is VERY simple, all you need is a drill and some x-mas lights. 

Find the tutorial HERE!

This technique uses a scraping method and is a little more tricky but not too bad. 

I would recommend buying a pumpkin that does not have a thick shell (although I'm not really sure how you can tell). It also helps to scrape the inside walls of the pumpkin very thin.

Get the pattern to the right HERE. 

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday! Our little family is off on a weekend trip (I know this is a photo taken somewhere in Europe, but we are actually just headed to Utah for a friends wedding...it will be just as fun, I'm sure!) 

I hoping we will have enough time to head over to Ikea so I can look for some cute accessories for our new bookshelf. I also need some of their awesome feathered pillow forms so I can finish making the accent pillow cases for our bedroom and sofa. I've had the fabric sitting around for months, and I hate starting a project and not being able to finish it!  

Have a great weekend! 

Photo Credit: Via

Inspiration Thursday - a look to love

I have been loving this new design style. Although, I'm not sure what to call it. It's modern, eclectic, and slightly minimalistic all at the same time. The walls are generally just white, nothing in the room really "matches" or follows a certain color scheme, and there are usually a lot of different textures used especially with accent pillows or throws.

My husband and I have sort of been trying to mimic this look in our home home - which shouldn't be too hard because we already have white walls, neutral furniture, and random accent pieces that we have been collecting throughout our marriage. We even took some of our brightly colored picture frames down so we could re-paint them a more neutral color.

What do you think of the look?

Photo Source: Rue Magazine, but first spotted on Mimi+Meg

Spider Cookies

Spider Cookies have been a Halloween tradition in my family since I was a little girl. If I am remembering correctly... I believe my awesome Aunt Julie introduced them to me when I was probably about 6 years old and every year around this time I crave them like crazy!

This is the first year I have actually made my own batch and they were super fun and simple to make! Click below to view the full tutorial so you can make your own!

Guest Post

Hope everyone had a great weekend! My little guy is all better, but has still been extra crabby! Yesterday, I noticed a couple more teeth coming in so that might explain why. We had a fun time at the pumpkin patch...although, the web site said they closed at 6:00pm but when we got there (at 4:45pm) the lady working there told us they actually closed at 5:00pm and that the last carriage ride out to the pumpkin fields had already left. Luckily we decided to just walk around and the nice man in charge of the carriage rides asked us if we would like a ride anyways (Hooray for nice people)! We weren't able to get any pumpkins, but we had fun!

By the way, I am guest posting for Melissa over at Rooms today (which is an awesome new design blog). She is doing a super fun series called "The Ugly Show & Tell" where fellow bloggers share photos of something ugly in their homes and then say what they would like to do to fix it. So head on over to her blog and check out what my VERY "ugly" show and tell item is!

Here is a sneak peak...

Just One of Those Weeks . . .

I've had "one of those weeks" this week and am happy to announce that today is finally Friday! My little guy has been sick since last Saturday. It started with 2 days of a fever and turned into a chest cold/cough. He really gets sick A LOT. This is actually his 3rd cold within the last 6 weeks and it's not even winter yet.

The worst part about it is just not being able to take him out to do fun things, like go to story time at the public library, or play at the children's museum (like we usually do). We both go crazy being in the house all day and he has literally lost interest in ALL of his toys. But, I refuse to be "that mom" that brings her sick kids out so that all the other kids (like mine) get sick too.

Last year, when he kept getting sick, I had a Doctor recommend that I not take him out anymore. She actually made me feel like a horrible mom for even thinking about taking him to the store with me. I ended up leaving the office in tears and immediately switched Doctor's. I mean seriously, NEVER take him anywhere? That is both ridiculous and unrealistic...I'm not going to lock my kid in the house every day of his life just so he wont get sick. How is he suppose to build an immune system?

Anyways, I am excited because this weekend we are planning to go to the pumpkin patch, and finish the shelf for our living room wall. I hope everyone has a great weekend, and if anyone has suggestions for how to keep kids from getting sick, that don't include keeping them in hibernation for the rest of their lives, let me know!

Halloween Costume Ideas

Halloween costumes can be such a tough decision, and there are endless options! Last year, my husband and I wanted to be Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and then have our little guy be an E-walk. But we came up with the idea too last minuet and didn't have time to get the costumes together!

Hopefully we will be able to pull it off this year, although we haven't been invited to any Halloween parties yet (darn we might be loosers). I might just have to through one myself!

Here are some costumes from last year's Halloween (some are of us and some family members), hope these ideas get your creative juices flowing!

80's business professionals, with a giant 80's cell phone...of course

A pair of ducklings...

or a duck farmer...

 Pippi Longstocking...

Nacho Libre, or a ninja (with Nike's and a pool stick?)

Have you decided what your going to be yet?

Design Dilemma

Is it just me, or is designing a wall with a big fat TV in the middle a little difficult?

Before I get into my design dilemma, I would like to note that I am not a big fan of having an unattractive black TV screen as the focal point in any room (unless it is specifically a theater room). But, when you live in a small space, and have to use the same room as a living/entertaining area it is almost inevitable that the TV will become the main focus (especially considering that all of the furniture must be arranged facing the big black box in order to meet optimal movie viewing needs.)

Last year, we were fortunate enough to be able to purchase our first flat screen TV (thank you x-mas bonus!) and while we love that our new TV is thin enough to not spill over the edge of it's stand, the wall decor around our TV has been a bit of an issue.

This is what the wall currently looks like...

Not too bad right? But, what you aren't seeing is the vast amount of negative space I sneakily cropped out of the picture in order to make things appear more balanced (notice you can't even see the tops of the door frames).

I was thinking it would be nice to bring the wall art down so it meets the height of the TV and then add a sleek bookshelf over the top (sort of creating a built in entertainment center look without having to actually buy one).

I used my Photoshop skills to put together this mock up of what the new wall would look like...

I can't decide if the bookshelf is "too much." My awesome husband has already starting cutting the wood to make the shelf...but we are both feeling a little skeptical about the decision.

What do you think? 

(photo credit for bookshelf, via) 

An Update

Well, I'm about 16 weeks along in my pregnancy now and things are going fairly well! I'm starting to get "the bump" but am at that sort of awkward point where if you didn't know I was pregnant you would just think that I have put on a few extra pounds...not so fun. My clothes are starting to get too tight but my old maternity jeans are still too big so getting dressed everyday has become a bit of a challenge. I still get a little nausea and heartburn everyday (or every evening/night I should say) but I had that through my whole first pregnancy so I'm expecting this one to be the same.

I had one of my regular Dr. visits last week and was reminded that I will be having the ultra sound where I find out the baby's gender at my next visit (which is at the end of this month)! I couldn't believe it was already so soon but I'm excited to find out!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I made THIS soup for dinner yesterday and it was delicious! A perfect way to start off the fall!

Do you have any favorite soup recipes? I'm always looking to add some to my list!