And a Month Later . . . Happy Halloween!

Do you ever have one of those days when you're walking around a store somewhere and then *ZING!* an idea hits you? Well, that happened to me at Tai Pan trading last month when I saw these adorable ceramic Halloween plates selling for $5 a piece. Good gravy, do they think I'm made of money or what? The plates were orange and had cute vinyl lettering that said phrases like, "Happy Halloween" and "Trick or Treat." As I was standing in the aisle drooling over all the fabulous decorations, a stand caught my eye that was selling blank ceramic plates for 99 cents each! There were purple plates, green plates, orange plates . . . and then I suddenly remembered this pin on Pinterest I had that explained how to do Sharpie art. BAZINGA! I knew just what to do so I could have these adorable plates at a fraction of the cost! My sister and I got creative with some freehand we made these:

 

I have seen people use Sharpie art on bowls and mugs as well. If you’re able to get Acrylic Sealing Spray, use that with oil-based paint Sharpies. Otherwise, go with regular Sharpies but don't get too emotionally attached because I heard the art fades over time.

 

 

Other than this, Halloween was mainly full of class, work, and hours of studying! My sister and I did bake some zucchini muffins and brownies to bring over to our friends' apartment for a scary movie marathon. We watched "Poltergeist" and "The Ring." Yikes. I think I will stick with the "cutesy" side of Halloween from now on! 

Kill Them with Craftiness

I heart crafts. Give me an afternoon, some scrapbook paper, and a glue gun and you have one happy girl. This also explains my unhealthy obsession with Pinterest. A-hem. Anyways, I like my crafts to be sweet, short, and to the point. That being said, if you are looking for a fun, practical project that is relatively cheap and never takes more than an afternoon to complete, read below!

Menu Board

Let's get organized! I don't know about you, but I plan my meals by the week, and I wanted a place to organize my meals so I could refer to my plans throughout the week. With a cheap picture frame, some scrapbook materials, and a couple of clothespins, I was able to recreate a craft that I found on, you guessed it, Pinterest. Click here for detailed instructions on how to make your own menu board.




My menu board

Paper Flower Bouquet

After my sister moved in with me, I figured it was time to revamp our bedroom with some new décor. Using materials laying around the house, we were able to create a paper flower bouquet to place on our nightstand. For starters, I smoothed down some sticks from the backyard and spray painted them black. While the sticks dried, I added white beans to the bottom of a glass vase and chose three scrapbook paper designs to use for the flowers. For details on how to cut the flowers, click here. Next, I layered the paper cutouts and used a mini brad to secure the flowers. Then I arranged the dry sticks in the vase and hot glued each flower to a stick. Pretty darn cute, eh?

Our paper flower bouquet

 

Embroidery Frames & Glass Jars

The women in my family are professional seamstresses, but unfortunately for me, the word "sew" might as well be the s-word. Surprisingly, I have recently picked up embroidery to design my own frames. And trust me, if I can do it, anyone can do it!

 

To start this project, I used my computer to design the lettering and graphic image in Microsoft PowerPoint. Next, I laid my material over the computer screen and traced my design lightly with a pencil. After picking my color palette, I went to work outlining my pencil tracing with needle and thread. Next, I cut down cardboard to fit in the picture frame, centered my material over the cardboard, pulled the edges tight, and stapled the material to the cardboard. After securing the cardboard in the frame, I had a new cute-as-a-button decoration for my home!

 

As for the jar, I am one of those weirdos who saves every glass sauce jar from the store and washes it out "just in case." Well, this year I had many "just in case" situations, and I have been having a grand ol' time wrapping each jar in scrapbook paper and adding ribbons, buttons, glitter, you name it! These jars could not only be used for decoration but for stuffing with gifts as well.  

Embroidery frame and craft jar


 

Well, that's it for today. I promise to share my new craft findings as I go. As for now, remember: Kill them with craftiness!