Monsters, mummies and friendship!

I have a friend, her name is Yvette. She is crazy, she is fiercely loyal and she makes my work days bearable because she is my office-mate. We have lots in common: we both laugh at the dumbest things, we enjoy performing various Broadway musical numbers (in character) and we share an affection for Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.

We are very different as well. While I enjoy the changing of the season and love the themes of Harvest and Thanksgiving, my good friend enjoys the morbid and the scariness that is Halloween. Because I love her and because she saw a terra cotta pot at the 99cent Store, I obliged her affections and painted her a little something to make her smile.



I'd like to introduce you to Frank...that's Frankenstein to those who don't know him. Take a pot, in this case it was a dollar, paint it, and you have a very affordable, totally adorable Halloween planter.


I couldn't stop there and since I had several small planters in the garage, I had an idea. Last year, I wrapped chocolate candy bars in white party streamers, added a few googly eyes and gave my friends mummy candy for Halloween. I figured, why not do the same to a small pot and make it a terrible two-some...Frankenstein and the Mummy! Both simple, but equally adorable and both entirely capable of bringing a smile to a friend who deserves it!

Happy Halloween Yvette!!!

Creativity knows no bounds!

A few things that you've learning about me so far: I love Fall. I love a good bargain. And I love to use items meant for one thing to create something original and recycled. This craft encompasses all of these loves into one sweet little thing!

A little background, I have been obsessed with cleaning my home for the last few weeks...my two BFF's have been a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and a bottle of Lysol Disinfecting Kitchen Spray. (inside tip, it's not just good for the kitchen). When I was cleaning out my storage shelves, I found a bag of puzzle pieces from a puzzle that I was doing right before I moved into my current home...5 years ago...and determined that I probably was never going to finish this puzzle and instantly thought to myself...what can I do with puzzle pieces???


Last week I made a Fall wreath from Dollar Tree items and I love it! I think puzzle pieces look a little like leaves and I've been thinking of party favor ideas for my Pumpkin-Carving Party on the 30th so I put the two thoughts together and TA-DAAA!


This was fun to make so if you have an old puzzle laying around or see one in a thrift store, pick it up! I think it would make a great kids craft too...super easy and super fun! This is how i did it....


All of the supplies for this project were already in my craft room so it cost me nothing new. I grabbed some card stock, fall colored paint, some Mod Podge, ribbon and my glue gun. I was playing it be ear because I had no idea what the final product should look like, but I have to admit it was exciting to start from scratch and just figure it out as I went.



First I painted about 10 puzzle pieces in each of the fall colors: red, orange, yellow, brown and green. The colors were a little too bright and looked too "primary" so I shaded the pieces a little so that they resembled the gorgeous colors of Fall leaves. I used some yellow to shade the brown and green, some orange to shade the yellow and red, etc. I'm not sure why the green pieces look blue in the picture but it looks like little pieces of earth and that's not how look in person.


I laid some pieces out in a circle until I got the layed look that I was going for and it gave me the size of the circle I should cut. Using a piece of heavy cardstock, I cut a thin wreath form, not worrying too much about cutting a perfect circle because it was going to be covered in puzzle pieces anyway.



I started layering and gluing the puzzle pieces one layer at a time. Each layer took about seven pieces and it was fairly simple. I staggered the colors as much as possible as well as the direction I of each piece as I glued it to the layer below. Three layers was more than enough and gave the wreath some dimension and texture...I loved how it looked so far.



I made another wreath with the painted pieces I had left over and realized that I could make two wreaths with the pieces I had originally thought would make just one, and even had a few extra pieces to boot. I used a different color ribbon on the second wreath and gave each wreath two coats of Mod Podge.


Each wreath has an approximate circumference of 3.5 inches and took approximately 21 puzzle pieces each. I have tons of unpainted pieces left and think I might just make these to attach to the party favor bags for my party guests. I'm also looking forward to making some Christmas wreaths in the coming weeks as well...who knew an unfinished puzzle would be so fun to work with!

Hearts & Crabs is partying it up with these link parties!

I Heart Vinyl!

Have you been down the clearance aisle at Wal-mart? I don't usually find much but once in a while I find a little treasure and that's what this is....a little $1 treasure! They had vinyl wall pieces for $1 so I picked up a few of them and put the first one up tonight in my bathroom and I love it!

I also love how my pink shower curtain casts a pink shadow on my white walls...it's the little things!

My Grown-up Christmas List....

There's a little over 77 days until Christmas and I am excited! Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying every single day from here til Christmas because it goes by way too fast, but it is coming and I just refuse to give up my right to send a list to Santa because I'm thirty-something! I just might march myself over to the mall and talk to the Big Guy myself!

1. Waimea Silver Pendant from the SurfingSilver Etsy shop

Sigh...this is gorgeous. I have a great friend, who encouraged me to catch the wave and no matter how scary it can be, ride it out because it's better than sitting on the sand and watching. As simple as that may sound, it changed me and I feel like this pendant reflects exactly how the wave looks and feels in my mind.



2. Martha Stewart 24-Vial Glitter Multi-Pack

This glitter set just makes me smile! I have an affection for glitter, especially fine quality glitter and nobody says "fine" and "quality" like Martha Stewart. Her colors are so amazing and beautiful and it just makes me want to glitter everything I see. I won't...don't worry, but I want to.



3. Eerie Alley from Robert Kaufman Fabrics

Yes, I know it's a hearse but still. How adorable are these prints??? I want every single one and I want to make something pretty with them!




4. Silhouette Digital Craft Cutting Tool

You get to design and print...enough said. What crafter isn't in love with this!




5. "Sailing the Storm" print from vol25's Etsy shop

It's profound. It's true. It spoke to me the minute I read it. I love original prints!




6. "Our House" and "Live Simply" from daisychic's Etsy shop

They are so simple yet so beautiful. I want to frame them and hang them side by side in my living room.



What about you? What do you want for Christmas? Have you told Santa....

5 favorite rainy day things...

On any given day, I love living in Southern California. With the exception of smog, the cost of living and traffic...So Cal is an amazing place to live. That being said, we don't get enough rain here. I love, love the rain and rainy weather and it makes me happy! Today was one of those days and it's pretty amazing considering it was only last week that Los Angeles hit a record high of 113 and today it's raining...but I am not complaining! Here is a little breakdown of my 5 favorite rainy day things...

1. Sitting in the rain, under an umbrella, just enjoying the pitter patter. I'm not kidding. I love to do this and when it rains hard, you can find me somewhere on campus (I work at a community college) sitting under an umbrella with a big smile on my face. It's the best and I think you should try it.

2. When I'm walking in the rain, I am almost always singing this song and re-enacting some part of this scene. I love this movie and wish my mom was still alive to watch it with me...



3. Making a huge pot of pozole...like the one sitting on my stove right now! For the non-hispanics, pozole is a soup, very similar to menudo but without the weird meat. It's boneless pork and hominy in a rich red chile sauce and it is scrum-deli-umptious. It's a word. Google it.



4. Watching the news and laughing at the anchor saying "Storm Watch 2010" every five minutes. It really is comical watching Southern Californians deal with rain. They can't drive in it. Some won't even leave their homes in it. And our news anchors play on every single detail of each drop that falls from the sky.

5. And last but definitely not least...using my Snuggie! I love my snuggie and hardly get the chance to break it out but today is is on the couch waiting for me and my bowl of pozole!

Happy rainy Tuesday all!

Two Fall crafts for less than $10!

I think I've established that I love Fall and I know that I'm not alone. I also live on a budget and know that I'm not alone in that either. I made a trip to Dollar Tree last week and found out that I could take a few small things and put them together to make some beautiful Fall decor for my home.



I knew I wanted to make a wreath...I've wanted to make one for a while and this was the perfect opportunity! How beautiful are those colors? I live in Southern California, born and raised, so I've never experienced the beautiful colors that leaves turn in autumn. I look at pictures of the Northeast and dream of the day where I don't have to get my beautiful leaves at the Dollar Tree...it will happen! In the meantime, I am thankful for these.



For this wreath, I used a wooden wreath form, a few sprigs of different colored leaves, my hot glue gun and a roll of burgundy ribbon with a glitter edged detail. One of the bunches had a pumpkin and a few other embellishments that I glued to the wreath as a final step. These supplies cost less than $6.


My vision for the wreath was that I wanted it to be balanced, but also look somewhat random, similar to a pile of leaves with colors everywhere. Using wire cutters, I cut each leaf from the stems and gathered them together according to color. When I started laying, I took the largest leaves first so that they could cover the wreath form as much as possible and offered a colorful backdrop for the next few layers. I used a glue gun to secure the leaves to each other taking one color, then the next.



Knowing when to stop was difficult because I always tend to go overboard but once I loved the layout of the leaves, I knew it had enough and I was so happy with the way it turned out.



I glued the pumpkin, a few acorns and some berry springs around the wreath, with no rhyme or reason...just glued where they seemed natural. My cat Chankla, which means flip-flop in Spanish, was obsessed with my leaves and she kept trying to take a few to her bed...not really sure why but it funny to watch. She is my loyal fan and I love when she joins me in the craft room.


TA-DA!!! Doesn't it look great...and it was affordable and so fun to put together. I think I might make another one for the bathroom...what do you think?


Using the glitter-edged ribbon, I slid it through a section of the wreath and hung it on my front door. How beautiful is that ribbon?? 9 yards for a dollar...you can't go wrong!

I also purchased a pretty glass bowl and remembering that a friend had bought me a couple of bags of pumpkin shaped beads, I decided to make a small centerpiece for my dinner nook at home.


I filled the bowl with the beads, slid a few leaves inside the bowl and arranged them a bit. Finally, I took three strands of red yarn, braided a cord with the yarn and tied it around the neck of the bowl.

Two beautiful, hand-crafted pieces for less than $10....now that's what I call fun and affordable! As an added bonus, this blog post is participating in....

New beginnings...

I love the first day of any month...it feels like a new beginning...like we get to start all over and have a whole month to get it right..LOVE IT!

On the first of the month, I like to look forward to what that month has in store and one of my little rituals is to change the welcome person on my sign in the kitchen. I saw this kit at Michael's years ago and took it home to paint. It's supposed to go outside but I can't bear to leave these little guys out in the elements so I glued a magnet strip to the back and it lives on my refrigerator door.


The jack-o-lantern is hanging as of this morning and it's part of the Autumn gang. How adorable is that little turkey??


The Winter gang is next and one at a time they take their turn on the fridge. I think the New Year one was my favorite to paint but I secretly love them all.


The Spring gang shows up in March. The bunny cracks me up, not sure why but I think it's because I picture a person in a bunny suit, rather than just a bunny. Remember that scene at the end of 'Steel Magnolias' where Daryl Hannah's husband is in a bunny costume. I think there's a tiny man stuck in this bunny suit and hanging on my fridge. I'm a dork, I know.



The Summer gang.....love the July guy!


What am I looking forward to in October?

Getting my Fall decor out and decorating my home. I'm having my 2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party...cannot wait! Pumpkin pie...enough said! and of course, Halloweentime at Disneyland...man, I love those characters in costume. Priceless.

I have a confession...this blog post about the seasons put a song in my head all morning, so I'm just going to have to share it :)





Are you kidding me....we can't leave off there! we need to hear Stephanie sing!
Happy October all!