While I was visiting all my relatives in Michigan, I took my mom by to see the old farm house she grew up in. Everything was so beautiful covered in snow. I just wanted to move right in. What a wonderful place this must have been to live in.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
The magic of zip ties
Last year, as I was trying to figure out how I was going to get this enormous tree in a storage box to store, I came up with an idea. Zip Ties! My husband, the collector of all things junk, had a huge bag of zip ties sitting on his desk. Perfect! So, I carefully straightened each branch as best I could. Then, with the help of my son, took each section starting with at the top, pushed the branches up and inward and zip tied the branched to the center pole. We did this all the way to the bottom. The tree fit perfect in the box.
When it came time to unleash the beast, all I had to do was cut the ties from each section starting at the bottom and fluff the branches. This could not have been any easier. It only took me about an hour to get the tree set up. Now it's time to decorate!
When it came time to unleash the beast, all I had to do was cut the ties from each section starting at the bottom and fluff the branches. This could not have been any easier. It only took me about an hour to get the tree set up. Now it's time to decorate!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Hugs and Kisses.....
I just love doing these jars. I found the idea in an old BHG book that I had. They are so easy and quick!
Materials needed:
Clean canning jar or other clear jar with lid
Black acrylic paint
Lime green nail polish (or other spooky color)
Sponge for painting with
Small plastic spiders, bugs and snakes
Black tulle or mesh
Black ribbon
Tag
Hot glue or other clear drying glue
Hershey Kisses
Instructions:
Paint the outside of the jar and the lid with the black paint using a sponging technique. Using the same sponge, splotch the green nail polish over the black paint. Let dry. Cut the tulle or mesh into square to fit between the two pieces of the canning jar lid so that the mesh hangs out of the sides a bit. Fill jar with Hershey Kisses. Glue bugs on outside of jar. You can also add little snakes for the "hisses" part, but I didn't have any on hand. Of course, I did glue rhinestones to the back of the bugs just to give them a little bling. Decorate tag with poem to say "Hugs -n- Kisses, Bugs -n- Hisses" and add ribbon and tie to the outside of the jar.
These are easy enough for the kids to help with.
Happy Halloween!
Materials needed:
Clean canning jar or other clear jar with lid
Black acrylic paint
Lime green nail polish (or other spooky color)
Sponge for painting with
Small plastic spiders, bugs and snakes
Black tulle or mesh
Black ribbon
Tag
Hot glue or other clear drying glue
Hershey Kisses
Instructions:
Paint the outside of the jar and the lid with the black paint using a sponging technique. Using the same sponge, splotch the green nail polish over the black paint. Let dry. Cut the tulle or mesh into square to fit between the two pieces of the canning jar lid so that the mesh hangs out of the sides a bit. Fill jar with Hershey Kisses. Glue bugs on outside of jar. You can also add little snakes for the "hisses" part, but I didn't have any on hand. Of course, I did glue rhinestones to the back of the bugs just to give them a little bling. Decorate tag with poem to say "Hugs -n- Kisses, Bugs -n- Hisses" and add ribbon and tie to the outside of the jar.
These are easy enough for the kids to help with.
Happy Halloween!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Glimpse into Halloween Past.....
Today, October 24th. What? October 24th? Halloween is creeping upon us yet again and I can't help wonder "where did the time go?" I just didn't have enough "time" to prepare for our usual planning of childrens parties, making massive amounts of cool creepy cookies to sell and decking the house out with graves, spiders, bats, witches and homemade monsters and ghouls in every nook and cranny I could cram and stuff them into. Halloween has always been my thing. Our house was always know by local kids (and adults) as The Halloween House. For crying out loud, we even made the local news paper for erecting a giant spider on the side of our house. We were ruthless. There was nothing we wouldn't do for Halloween. "Build a life size casket?" No problem, we did it.
So I sit here, one week before Halloween night, no scary monsters on the porch, no bats hanging in the "Batroom" (only thing scary in there is the sink that needs to be cleaned, yikes!) no mummy's on the stairs waiting to scare the children as they wake from their nightly slumber. I have just run out of "time". So I make this vow to myself, right here, right now... next year is the year. I will not let the lack of "time" rob us of our beloved Halloween. I will start in June....ok, maybe July.... I will work till midnight every night if I have to. And I will bring Halloween back to Key Haven Lane and we will once again be known as "THE HALLOWEEN HOUSE"!
So I sit here, one week before Halloween night, no scary monsters on the porch, no bats hanging in the "Batroom" (only thing scary in there is the sink that needs to be cleaned, yikes!) no mummy's on the stairs waiting to scare the children as they wake from their nightly slumber. I have just run out of "time". So I make this vow to myself, right here, right now... next year is the year. I will not let the lack of "time" rob us of our beloved Halloween. I will start in June....ok, maybe July.... I will work till midnight every night if I have to. And I will bring Halloween back to Key Haven Lane and we will once again be known as "THE HALLOWEEN HOUSE"!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
