Spooky Fun!

In years past we have done a spook alley in our back yard. It's been a few years but we pulled out all of our old junk/stuff and did it again this year for fun. Here are some pictures of it.

My favorite is the Library I created:

Boo'ing Your Neighbors for Fun!

Have you ever been boo'ed? I hope so, it's sure fun, and I do it every year for my neighbors too. If you look around the internet you can find many free copy's of these kinds of Boo, print them off, add a treat and have fun!

Here is mine this year-

Yeah, I am not baking, too much going on right now, so I took the easy way out and bagged some Pumpkin Poo instead! (that's cheese puffs really, but I think it's funny as pumpkin poo)

I made my own Boo's this year too, and even my tags, so that makes up for the no bake thing, right?

I will post them below, your free to use them but not sell them, and if you post them anywhere on the internet you need to refer back to the Sistas blog-only fair me thinks. ;-) (just click on the pictures to get their full size, and copy to your computer or print from here-and you do not have to use the last tags unless your poo'ing too. ;) )

Happy Boo'ing!!!

Enjoy Creating!!

~V

Fun with Frames, and Printing on Fabric

For my daughters birthday I decided to make her something for her, and her husband's home. Been wanting to try my hand at printing on fabric too. I can't wait to see them on her wall! Thought they would look great as a grouping. :)

I bought some cute frames at Hobby Lobby (make sure it's the week they are on sale at 50% off!) that have no backings on them. I bought some scrapbook paper to match her colors, and cut them to fit 2 of the frames. Spray painted an "N" for her last name, then glued it on one of the frames with paper, and then printed on fabric for the other frame. Added some sparkles cause we all need some sparkles in our life! Cut up a cardboard box for the backs to keep them all in place (I was going to staple them in but I ended up taping the backs so she could change them later if she wanted to).

Ok, now my advice to you all on the printing. You must use an inkjet printer. Best fabric to use is Muslin or Linen type. I used Burlap and it worked well but not as well as the other types I tried. Now, I totally am warning you now, do not use Felt!! Umm....let's just say the fuzziness of the fabric drags along and smears all the ink. ;-)

To print, you will need your printer, card stock paper, fabric, and a spray on tacky spray like Rustoleum's tacky glue which worked perfect for this! You can find it in craft stores.

Take your fabric, cut it to fit the card stock, at this point you can cut it a little big if you want some overlap for the spraying purpose. Take it all outside (you want good ventilation for this spray) and some newspaper to put down for the card stock to be sprayed. Spray the card stock well around it's edges and all around. Then take your fabric and drap it over the card stock. Smooth out the fabric, it will be easy to get out any wrinkles at this point, then let dry for 10 mins. Now, cut around the fabric to match up the lines perfectly so the paper runs through the printer without snagging onto something inside and jamming it.

Put it in your printers tray by itself upside down (least this is how my printer pulls and prints onto my paper, if your not sure, mark a paper first and send it thru) then set up your graphic to print (make sure you tell the printer it's card stock going through) then print. Walla!

You can pull the fabric off the card stock right after, as long as you sprayed on the card stock and not the fabric it should be fine. I found though with me wanting to frame this I left it on the paper so it stayed smooth and taut.

This idea works for fabric you want to make pillows with, or quilting blocks. I am told you can wash the fabric afterwards in cold water, air dry. Let me know if you try this, would love to see your project! I have more to come because it's so darn fun and easy!

Have fun creating!
~V

Fall Wreath's

Hello! Well......Goodness it's been so long that I freaked out from this new post layout.. lol!

Ok, so I am such a slacker! Been ubber busy and made every excuse why I was not posting on here, but here I go!

Here is a simple fall wreath for Halloween, I have had the wreath for a lot of years and cannot remember where I bought it, just thought it was so pretty, and fun to add things to it like this Trick or Treat sign and some spiders! After Halloween I will remove those and it's perfect for Fall, or you could add some different ribbon and acorns, or?

This next one I made for my Mom for her birthday. Cool thing about it was how easy it was, and how versatile it is, you could remove the owl and use it all year long. (She loved it btw.) :)

First I wrapped Twine around a foam wreath from the dollar store. This was the daunting part, but worth it in the end.

Then I made several different flowers from felt, super easy-the ones I made the same way I had made the book page wreath flowers which I posted. Hot glued them on, and added some tulle to fill in some gaps, plus it looks cool. Then I wired in the owl, pushed it through the foam. Easy and it turned out pretty cute me thinks?

I should of took pictures of it hanging up, but I gave it to her instead. Maybe next time I'm there I will? :)



Have fun creating!
~V

every hostess needs an apron

i love aprons. seriously adore them. i wear them when i'm cleaning (along with a tiara). i wear them in nursery. when i'm cooking. if i can get away with it, i'll wear one (along with a tiara *heeheehee*). there have been some really cute aprons online that i have admired, but i am NOT paying $45 for an apron. i'm cheap that way. i actually e-mailed a few ladies on etsy to ask if they would sell me their pattern. no go. i found patterns at joann's and combined a few of them - to make my DREAM apron!!

(i have NO clue why the pictures aren't clear, but ... it's the best i can do tonight. and the apron looks skinnier on me in person)

i am in LOVE with this apron. it is so me - ruffle with a sweetheart neckline on top, a flower at the waist, and THREE fluffy layers on the bottom. squeeeee!!

(oh, and total brag, but the capris i am wearing are my 14 year old daughter's size 2 capris - losing weight has gotten me a second wardrobe :) )

becka's room re-do

becka is the "baby" of the family. she's almost 10, but she will always be the baby. :) her room was horrid when we moved in. it ... well, look at it below! the top 1/2 was white. the bottom 1/2 was wallpapered with a striped blue wallpaper. there were two red chair-rails. in between the chair rails was a train wallpaper border. same with on the wood cornice / valance / curtain thingie. she HATED it. not that i blame her.

i pulled off the border and the chair rails. i think they super-glued the border on - it took me 7 hours a day, 8 days to get it off. due to that, i took one look at the bottom wallpaper and decided that mr. wonderful would need to put bead-board / wainescotting up. because there was NO way i was spending all my 'spare' time pulling that stupid stuff off. warning - he hasn't done it yet. but the rest of the room is done! if he doesn't have it done by christmas, i'm going to figure out how to do it when the kids go back to school.

(wasn't it ghastly?)

upon walking up to her room, this is what you see. yes, she is a princess. well, kind of - i'm the real princess. we call her the "pit" (princess-in-training).

opening the door, you see this on your left. i had painted the wall a toasted almond color - a while ago. but we weren't sure what to do with the rest of the room - becka had thought about a 'beach' theme. but i couldn't find what we / she wanted. then, i started looking at bedding online. i figured if we found that first, then we could coordinate. i found this bedding online at target - it was $30 for a bed set - on clearance. but all they had was full size - she has two twin beds. i bought them anyways - figured i could always just use two fitted sheets for her bed and then use the rest of the bedding. plus, it came with 4 pillow cases (2 regular & 2 shams) per set. which was nice. i like pillows.

to the right when you walk in the door. (the kids have watched the part on big bang theory when sheldon is in the ballpit - they laugh all the time over it *lol*) i did three tissue paper floof balls above her bed. just for fun.

a close-up of the bedding. she chose SO well. i love the colors and the design. it is very becka. "get your geek on" - becka came up with this 'quote'.

i made bed-skirts & a window thingie (after i painted the cornice thingie a light pink - and coated it with SPARKLY color on top of it) out of tulle - that tutu material. i tied them in a slip knot style on rope and then stapled it to the bottom of the beds and the window thing. oh it's so FLUFFY!! i used two pieces of tulle with each knot and used three different colors on the bedskirts - only used two on the curtain.

(i'm not so good at photographing windows)

the kids have also seen the part of big bang theory when sheldon and penny sing "soft kitty" in a round. it's kind of funny - the kids can all be arguing and one of them will say "let's sing soft kitty". another one will say "but in a round". then they'll all start singing it. dorks. :)

we did a 6-square shelving system too (with bazinga above that - makes her laugh). we only put buckets in 5 squares because then she can still access the outlet in the leftover square. which is way important when you listen to books on cd at night.

(of course, we HAD to put cute labels on the buckets - laminated, too :) )

this kid is obsessed with harry potter. has read the series like 3 times already and she's not even 10. and is a self-proclaimed geek. we looked and looked for wooden glasses to hang on the wall - i thought it'd be cute to hang the letters of her name from them. no such luck. then i found these glasses picture frames at target. PERFECTION! they're kind of nerdy, right? so mak cut out pictures of harry potter characters from some post cards becka had and put them into the frames.

mak also framed two pictures of harry potter characters (dumbledore and harry, himself) and put them on the wall. just for fun. i nixed her idea of putting voldemort or draco up there.

these are dry erase squares that are on her closet doors. i figured it'd be fun for her to write on - and also keep any important info there. and i can write chores on there for her to do. even better.

just a few more wall hangings.

if i could get away with it, i'd make the tutu bedskirt for MY room (maybe i should just do it on my side so he won't see it? heeheehee) i am in love with this room. so much.

joey's room redo

joey is the only son i've got. this boy is obsessed with sports. primarily baseball. each morning, he will get his chores done quickly so he can either watch "sports center" on espn or check the scores online. yes, it does get annoying. but at least he's got something he loves, right? and it's not a tv show that i hate. so i shouldn't complain.

anyhow, when we moved into the house 2 years ago, his room was just how it looks below - light blue on the top and white on the bottom. there's a white chair rail in between the two colors. there is a built-in bookshelf to the left of the closet - it's yellow. the 'cornice' (wood window topper thingie) was red & white striped with yellow edges. gag. i hated it. but i wasn't sure what i was going to do and how i was going to do it.

 (before picture - isn't it boring?)

finally, i figured out that i wanted to do a baseball theme. i've learned from experience to paint the walls in such a way that the "theme" of the room can be changed without having to repaint. also, i'm kind of ocd - i figure out the paint colors and "theme" ... and then i find all the accessories / decorations. i usually don't do the room until i have everything i need. because i'm particular like that. it's a wee bit scary, but i am how i am, right?

i painted the bottom of his room in a dark navy blue. it took me a bit to figure out what color of blue to do. i wanted something that wasn't a 'baby' blue but was a dark blue. but not too dark. michael tried to have an opinion. yeah, i let him think he had a choice. i had plans of painting the top of the room a creamy color and then using diamondback colors (black, red, cream) but after painting the bottom of the room, i actually liked the top color with the dark blue. that was a surprise. and yes, that was michael's idea. *lol* i'll give him that.

i already had bedding that i loved, so that helped us choose a color. it's a striped comforter with a light denim blue, dark denim blue (small lines), red, and a whitish cream color.

i had been shopping sales at various stores - hobby lobby, michael's, joann's, target. you name it, i was there. i LOVE looking for fun stuff for the walls. i found loads of baseball stuff - i kind of wanted a "vintage" feel but with some modern stuff. but more sepia colored things rather than white. 

i found this wall hanging in the above picture - it's has all the sports teams in the mba on it - a ball with their logo. where the backpack is hanging - that's a really strong hook - we have one for each kid in their bedroom. their backpack ALWAYS goes there and during the school year, the also hang their clothes up for the next day.  helps the mornings go better.

when joey was in kinder, we went to a diamondback's baseball game - we were blessed enough to go into the dugout for batting practice. he has a TON of pictures of him with various d-backs players. the game we went to was the 2nd to last game of joey's favorite player - he was traded to the florida marlins (boo - hiss - we LOVE luis gonzalez). after joey talked to and met luis, luis went into the locker room to get ready for the game. all of a sudden, he came out with his USED BATTING GLOVES to give to joey. they have his germs on them and everything. joey was thrilled. but you can't imagine how disappointed the kid was to not be able to wear the gloves and play baseball with them. so i found a shadow box and mounted them. joey has luis's rookie card somewhere, but i can't find it. i want to put it in the shadow box along with a picture of joey with luis (which is already on the wall - will show you that pic in a second - but a 2nd pic won't hurt).

this is joey's behavior chart. it has seven places for him to go - he starts off on batter up and then can move up (base hit, triple, home run) or move down (foul ball, strike 2, and strike 3. each way he moves has different "consequences" - both good and bad, depending on the way he goes. with foul, it's a "calm down" stage - he has a list of things he can do to help himself change his attitude and actions. so far, it's worked pretty well. i had to make a new rule, tho - if he asks me what base he's on, he moves down one level from where he was. has cut down on him asking me a million times a day.

these are the pictures of joey with various diamondback players. he looks so stinking young in them, doesn't he? from top to bottom, left to right, he is with ... orlando hudson, craig counsel, eric byrnes, johnny estrada, chad tracey, orlando hudson, brandon web, and luis gonzalez. there's a picture of joey with a player named conor jackson (who, incidentally, is the son of the actor who played the colonel on jag). now color jackson is hot - but he's like 12 years old and needs manscaping around the eyebrows. other than that, he's quite pretty. :) but joey didn't want his picture on the wall because he said "mom, you'd be in my room all the time looking at him." *rofl* (can you see the ugly window thingie? i want to paint the striped part a solid red color - but more of a darker red) and paint over the yellow with black.

in his stocking this year, joey got pennants of all the mlb teams - i made mak (my oldest) measure the room and put them evenly on each wall. she is a math wiz and i figured it'd keep her busy for a bit. *lol* on the left of the picture is a wall hanging (again - kind of vintage) and a hat hanger thingie. he has way too many hats. he has two asu sun devil hats. we are big sun devil fans.  

more pennants. i have a wall hanging above joey's pictures of himself playing baseball that says "eat. sleep. play ball." that describes this boy to a t. the fish tank is on top of the bookcase - it's still yellow. i need to move the fish tank when we clean it so i can paint it a red color. or black.

a close-up of joey's pictures - him playing t-ball.

joey's closet with the behavior chart on it. the rule is that if i find him not changing his base (especially below "batter up", the chart goes out into the family room - which is not what joey wants. he wants it "private" in his bedroom. makes sense, i guess.

and that's the tour of the boy's room! :) i love it - we put it together without him in there and surprised him with it. he was quite thrilled.

granola anyone?

this is one of our family's favorite recipes. it's simple, healthy, and easy to make. you can customize it to your family's likes, too! win win, right?

so here's the recipe:

granola

6 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup coconut

1/3 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup sliced almonds

1 cup canola oil

2/3 cup honey

1 t. vanilla

add all dry ingredients to a big pot and stir well - incorporating everything together. mix 3 wet ingredients together before pouring over the dry ingredients. i usually warm the 3 liquids together and mix with a hand mixer to ensure better combining. so stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients - stir well until there are no naked dry stuff. spread onto a cookie sheet (if needed, use two cookie sheets) lined with parchment or sprayed with pam. parchment makes it easier to clean. oh - and don't ask how i know, but wax paper shouldn't be used ... :)

bake for 30 minutes at 350. after 15 minutes of baking, take the pan out and stir well to ensure even cooking and less chance of burning. watch closely during the last 15 minutes, also.

let cool and store in airtight container.

if you want, add some dried fruit to the mixture after it's cooled.

i usually make a triple or quadruple batch of this. after mixing everything, i put 1/2 of the granola mixture onto a cookie sheet. with the other 1/2 of the mixture, i had 1/2 cup more of honey. because i like it chewy and mr. wonderful likes it all crunchier.

ENJOY!!

Fun With Spray Paint!

A before and after of some ceramic decorative pieces I have had for years, used to be into the red, but now I'm a turquoise freak, and thought.."why not?"

Spray Paint: I used to be afraid of it, now I'm covered in it...literally! If you saw my hands you would laugh, and I'd probably be the first suspect in a tagging incident, but I LURVE spray paint!

Found this beauty at the Thrift Store for $15! Bought Rustoleums Hammered Black and went for it.

During the painting process, this one had so many nooks n cranny's I did about 4 coats to cover it.

And after, hung up in my dining room, so excited!

My old porch planter was looking shabby, so I chic'd it, with yes, more turquoise, but it goes great with my grey front door and white house. :)

Before

After

(picture of it on my front porch is later, still working on my paint there. :) )

My other night stand (previous one showed in a post below) is painted and ready for me to faux glaze it and poly it. Found it at a thrift store, it works perfectly with the other nightstand so I am excited to get my bedroom finished so I can show it to all of you.

So, go out and buy some fun items, some spray paint, and have fun!! Or use items you already have and refresh them!

~V