Happy Halloween!!!

I just wanted to pop in on my favorite holiday of the year and say Happy Halloween!  We have had so much fun this week doing "Halloween-ish" things.  It is really fun to see Lillie getting into the spirit of it all.  In fact, we let her choose all of our costumes this year, and she decided that she wanted to be Jessie the cowgirl, I got to be Woody, John is Buzz, and Addie is one of the Aliens.  (Don't you see the resemblance?
"The cla-aw!" 

If you haven't already seen it with your kids, I recommend watching the new Dreamworks Spooky Stories that is available on Netflix.  There are four videos as part of it, and I laugh my head off every time.  It is a Halloween movie that is perfect for little kids.

Here are some fun Halloween projects we have been working on.  Lillie likes spiders, so we made a web our of yarn and mod podge and a cute spider out of a styrofoam ball and pipe cleaners for our door.  Plus, we even made a spider that was a yummy treat.

I hope you are safe and have a BLAST tonight trick or treating!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Gardner Village Giveaway

I have a really fun and quick giveaway for you today!

Have you ever been to Gardner Village during October?  If you haven't, you NEED to!  It is a blast!  There are so many fun things to see and do. My family goes every single year, and we LOVE it!  They bring out the mechanical witches, the real witches, people dressed in costume, and they have a bunch of fun things for kids.

One thing that I have never done before is check out the petting zoo, pony rides, straw maze, and Ride to a Witch.  This year, I decided to give it a try.  The pony rides were a huge hit with my daughters and niece, and so was the petting zoo!

Now, Ride to a Witch is something that I hadn't really heard anything about, but REALLY enjoyed.  Basically, you take a hay ride to a witch village where the witches show you around and interact with you.  My daughter, Lillie, LOVED this.  The whole way home, she couldn't stop talking about the witches and how they take a bath in the green bathtub.  She even told us that we should help them clean the tub and that she likes snakes, but that she would NOT like them to be in the tub with her.  It was so fun to see her face through the whole thing.  The village is quaint and they have so many little details to look at.  They encourage touching, and the kids were all so fascinated by it all.  I would recommend this to anyone!  (Well, unless you don't like fun. Or witches.  Then it's not for you.) :)

 Would you like to go to Ride to a Witch?  I have two tickets to giveaway.  All you need to do to enter is comment below telling me your favorite thing about Gardner Village -OR- if you've never been there, tell me your favorite thing about Halloween.

Since this is time sensitive, you have until tomorrow night to enter and the winner will be announced Monday morning.  Good Luck!

Little Ghost-ies 2 Ways

Halloween is getting closer.  You can feel it in the air, you can see it in the stores, and you can taste it in the yummy treats of fall.  I love Halloween.  I know I've said it before, but I just had to say it again.

If you are looking for another quick decor item for your house, or if you are in need of a center piece for a Halloween party, these would be the perfect choice! I have two different fun ways to create ghosts.  (or Pumpkins, or Frankenstein.)

I was sent the cute faces and wood from Fab Decor to create the ghosts with. My cousin Dorothy was over at my house the other day and I asked her if she would like to do a project with me, so I pulled this out for her to make.  The ghosts whipped up in no time. 

All you need to do is paint the blocks white, sand the edges, put the vinyl face on, and add a tulle bow if you would like to.

Easy and cute!

This second option was a lot of fun.  I was recently asked to be a part of Activity Days which is an activity that takes place every other week and is held for the girls in my church that are ages 8-11.  I am in charge of the 11 year olds, and I thought this would be the perfect activity for them to try.  Turns out, I was right!  It was a total hit.  If my 11 year olds can make these, so can you!

The basic tutorial is simple.  Paint your mason jar with mod podge and then apply tissue paper.  You can use one big piece, or you can do like we did and kind of piece it together.  It all ends up looking about the same anyway.  I had the girls apply the paper to the outside of the jar so that there wouldn't be any fire hazards. We had three options.  White, orange, and green tissue paper which would make a ghost, pumpkin, Frankenstein, and at the end I realized it could even be a witch!

Once it is dry, apply the cute vinyl faces.  

I had the girls leave the can ring on so that it has a more finished look up on top, but left the jar open for venting purposes.  Then I wrapped wire around the jar to create a handle of sorts.  I used an 18 gauge wire and it worked great.  

Last the girls decorated the wire to make it look like hair on top of their lantern, or a bow.  They turned out so so cute.  They really would be the perfect centerpiece at a party.  They look so spooky glowing in the dark.  We used glow sticks since we were in the church and can't have an open flame there. 

There are just so many options for the cute vinyl faces that I was sent from Fab Decor.  You should head over and order yours now.  AND don't forget to use the code FABFRIENDS at checkout so that you can get 25 % off your entire order (including sale items!)

10 Great Books for October

I love this time of year. The cooler weather, changing colors, and great decorations are perfect. I've got some fall/Halloween books to tell you about. They aren't all blatantly Halloween books, but they're great for curling up to read with your little ones in this crisp autumn weather.

1. Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night

This book is a little bit nostalgic for me. My mom read it to us when she first got it. It was published when I was in Jr. High, so I wasn't even a little kid. I still liked it. The narrator is a little boy who talks about knowing when it's "pumpkin time" and how he chooses his perfect pumpkin. It's a sweet, simple story.

2. The Spider and the Fly

"Will you walk into my parlour?' said the Spider to the Fly." I love the poem by Mary Howitt, and Tony DiTerlizzi took that classic poem a step further by adding incredible black and white illustrations. It's an awesome combination and I love it.

3. Go Away, Big Green Monster!

This is a fun book for kids. The pages have cut outs and you watch the face of the monster appear as you read its description and then disappear. It has great colors and few words per page, so it's great for little attention spans.

4. Happy Halloween, Little Critter!

I always liked Mercer Mayer books when I was younger. This is a classic Little Critter story, just focused around a Halloween party. The illustrations are great and the story is fun.

5. The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat

The Berenstain Bears are another childhood favorite. This is one of the first Halloween books I can remember reading. It finds a teaching opportunity in a trick or treating adventure.It's a bit long for tiny kids, but it has a great message for those old enough to sit still.

6. My Monster Mama Loves Me So

This is a silly, but sweet story about a little monster whose "Monster Mama" loves him. He tells all the ways his mama takes care of him. Kids can giggle about "lizard juice" or fang brushing, but still get the message that all kinds of moms love their little ones.

7.Monster Mash

I think just about everyone knows or has heard this song. This book adds fun illustrations to well-known lyrics. It's a fun book to read or sing together.

8.Skeleton Hiccups

This is the story of a skeleton with hiccups. He tries all kinds of things to make them go away. It's a new angle on the typically spooky skeleton and lots of fun.

9.Mouse's First Halloween

This is another good choice for truly tiny people. The book is full of bright pictures and sound effects as a little mouse experiences Halloween. Who doesn't love a good onomatopoeia? (The word itself is awesome.)

10.Heckedy Peg

This one may be a bit of a stretch for this book list, but it is one of my favorites. It's the story of a witch who turns seven children into food items and their mother who tricks the witch to get them back. It is clever and well-illustrated. Perfect for older kids.

What are your favorite books to read this season? I'm always looking for great new reads, so please leave a comment and share!

Spooky {Boo} Blocks

Are you ready for Halloween yet?  I have my house decorated and love it.  If you are looking for a quick and easy decoration to add to your home, this one is it!  It is seriously cute.  Fabdecor has done it again and for an incredibly affordable price!  This kit is only $4.50!  Plus, they are offering my readers 25% off your entire purchase-including sale items!  Just use the code FABFRIENDS at checkout.

Let me show you what I did with my kit.  The pieces all come pre-sanded (!) and ready for you to paint.  (Awesome)  I painted the blocks black and mod podged paper to the front.

I put the vinyl on top and bam!  Done.  Want to know something that's even cooler?  The eyes are GLOW IN THE DARK!  Seriously.  It's pretty cool.

There you have it.  I think this took me about 20 minutes from start to finish including dry times and taking pictures along the way.  Easy Peasy!

Now go get your kit from Fabdecor and get busy!

DIY Happy Halloween Banner

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!

There. I said it.  

Now that I have that out of my system, let me tell you about the fun Halloween Banner I made. :)

I have been wanting to make this for a while now, and am so SO excited with the way it turned out.  I even talked Charli into making one with me.  (As soon as she hangs hers up and takes a photo, I will show you how her banner turned out.  It is so stinkin cute and it's different from mine.)

I started off by gathering my supplies.

You can find the wood pieces in your local craft store.  I got mine at Hobby Lobby in the wood projects isle.  I could have left them long, but I wanted them to be smaller, so I sawed them in half.  Well....almost half.  I ended up with two different sizes, but then I thought it would be fun to mix and match.  Then I forgot that I had two different sizes, so they aren't very mixed or matched.  Mostly clumped.  But it works.

I purchased the Thickers at a warehouse sale, but I have seen them at any craft store as well.  I decided to make this project as easy as possible.  If you don't have a Silhouette yet, no biggie.  I didn't even use it this time!  (This is a huge step for me because I use that thing for everything.)

The rest is just personal preference.  I wanted to go with more neutral kinds of Halloween colors with a little pop of orange and green.  I am LOVING the cardboard paper I found at Hobby Lobby as well.  

The wire is an 18 gauge wire that I found at Home Depot in the picture hanging stuff isle.

We good?  You got all that?  Let's get to the fun part now.

All you need to do is cut your pieces of scrapbook paper to match the size of the wood.  Then use mod podge to attach it.  Once you have your base paper on, you have creative license to embellish your little heart out.

I liked the look of having each board be a little different, but that is just my personal preference. Once you have all your boards finished, you will need to drill two holes in each piece.  This is really easy.  If you are too scared to use a drill, you could attach it some other way like with tape and ribbon or even use a staple gun.

I wanted a simple look, so I put the wire through and then just bent it so that it actually just looks like a staple.  On the ends, I left about 12 inches to curl and hang the banner up with.  

Ta-to-the-Da.  Finished.

Stand back and admire.