Halloween Mantel

 The girls and I finished up our Halloween mantel over the weekend.

 I had wanted to buy some vintage sign letters to spell out "BOO", but after I checked out the prices on Etsy and ebay, I decided to just make my own.  I used some scrap wood and cut out some big letters with a jigsaw.  The girls helped me to paint and distress them.

The large spider web is from Dollar Tree.  What a deal for $1!

 We made a banner to display their past Halloween costumes.

 We folded scrapbook paper accordion style and glued them into medallion shapes.  We then hot glued the photos and some buttons on and attached it all to some jute.

Lastly, I left up this big print of the girls, but added some black paper masks.  I just freehanded a few different mask shapes on some cardstock, cut them out, and them lightly taped them onto the print.

A little bit spooky, but mainly fun -- that's how we like Halloween around here!

Hanging Pumpkin Lantern

I submitted this entry to So You Think You're Crafty for Halloween week.  I had the idea for a hanging pumpkin lantern, but I wanted to to be something that would last.  I hate to spend a lot of time making something that can't be reused in the coming years.

I started with three artificial pumpkins from Hobby Lobby.  I tried to get a large, medium, and small size for a tiered effect.  I also picked up wooden embroidery hoops that were small enough to fit inside of each pumpkin.

I laid the embroidery hoop on top of the pumpkin and traced a smaller circle inside of it.  You want your cut circle to be significantly smaller than the hoop to create a lip so that the hoop will not slide out of the opening.

I used a serrated kitchen knife to cut the openings in my pumpkins.

Remove the inner portion of your embroidery hoop and completely unscrew the outer portion so that it is more flexible.  Carefully overlap the ends of the hoop until you can fit it inside the pumpkin opening.

Once it's inside the pumpkin, screw the opening closed again for stability.

I used the smallest black chain at Home Depot and hooked it around each embroidery hoop in three places.

Some of my pumpkins had holes in the bottom while one did not.  For the one with no opening, I used a drill to make three holes big enough to thread the chain through.  Once the chain was run up through the pumpkin, I hooked the lower pumpkin's chain onto the higher pumpkin's chain and it was all attached.

Obviously, you don't want to place real candles in these fake pumpkins.  I put a couple of the battery powered tealights in each pumpkin and it looks really cool when it starts to get dark.

You could really get creative with this lantern.  It would be fun to go ahead and carve jack o'lantern faces on the pumpkins or some fancy geometric designs.

Now, the only problem is deciding where I'll be displaying mine!  I loved it hanging on my covered front porch just as much as inside over the kitchen table.

I'm linking this project up to the following link parties:  

Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello, and Home Stories A to Z.

Preschool Career Day

A few days ago, my twins came home from preschool and were so excited to tell me about Career Day.  They were supposed to choose what they wanted to be when they grew up and dress accordingly.  I thought I would share their quick costumes for future Halloween ideas.

Madeline quickly decided that she wanted to be a vet.  I admit, I was really excited about this because the girls had received a play vet kit for Christmas, so we had lots of props.  :)

She wanted a "long, white jacket like a doctor", but I convinced her that scrubs would work for a vet.  We found lots of scrubs at Goodwill for $3.99.  I ran an iron-on transfer through the printer to add her full veterinarian name.  The size extra-small top wasn't too bad over some similar colored leggings and a long sleeved t-shirt.

For a finishing touch, I printed out a few fake business cards for her.  She kept them in her pocket and told me that she gave her teacher one before she left. :)

Grace had already decided about her career choice long before I asked her (big surprise).  She told me that she wanted to be "a person who works at the grocery".  I assumed that she meant a cashier, but when I started discussing a cash register, she quickly corrected me that she wanted to be the person who put the food on the shelves.  Dream big, little girl!

I picked up a child size canvas apron at Walmart and used an iron on transfer to make her a grocery store logo.  The apron didn't have pockets, so I just folded up the bottom and stitched the sides and the middle to make some pockets to hold her stock girl accessories.  We added a clip on name tag, a small notebook, some garage sale price tags, and a produce bag that I swiped from Walmart.  She shopped her play kitchen for a grocery basket and a few essentials to carry along.

I wish I had a picture of the whole preschool class.  They all looked pretty cute today!

The Easiest Classroom Snacks Ever

When I signed up to bring in treats for my daughters' preschool class for their Pumpkin Patch Day, I was determined to NOT bring in something full of sugar.  Then, I started actually thinking about what to bring and I was stumped.  Cupcakes and cookies were everywhere and seemed to be the logical choice.  I also wanted to stick with the pumpkin theme of the day and several kids have food allergies, which made things a bit more challenging.

When I saw the giant boxes of fruit cups at Sam's Club, I knew they would work for my pumpkin theme.  Cups of mandarin oranges plus a black permanent marker made for an easy pumpkin treat that was a lot healthier than a sugar filled dessert snack.  I just freehanded a cute little smiley pumpkin face on the side.  I suppose you could also cut out some vinyl with your Silhouette and stick on the side of the cup.  Peaches would also work for an orangey pumpkin.

I added a green spoon and a pumpkin napkin and the kids seemed happy with their snack.  They didn't seem to miss the sugar and the other moms were appreciative.