Jack O'Lantern Door Wreath

Halloween's here!  At least in my tiny little corner of the world.

The Youngest and I spent our morning decorating for Halloween.  This is hands down my favorite holiday of the year.  My house is filled with Halloween goodies.  But, when all was said and done, there was something missing.  My front door needed a wreath.  So here's how I went about fixing that little problem (as always, click to enlarge the pics):


1.  Gathered a few things together that would come in handy.  I didn't have a wire wreath form on hand, so I used the next best thing.  A wire basket from a canner!  This is a temporary wreath since I'm sure that sooner or later I'm going to want that basket back for it's proper use.

Supplies used:  Canner basket (any wreath form will do, this is what I had on hand), scissors, Halloween Garland, Neon orange micro-glitter (*see closing remarks), cardboard, black sharpie, black craftpaint, small paint brush, spray adhesive (any glue can be used), paper plates to catch the glitter.


2.  I wrapped a Halloween garland loosely around the canner basket and then I got a friend to make sure it looked okay.  The friend decided it needed more work.

3.  I needed a centerpiece.  Mr. Jack O'Lantern was designated to be the center of our door wreath, but I needed to make him first.

4.  So, I grabbed a piece of cardboard and a sharpie and got to work:

[Create a mental pic of me drawing a pumpkin since I forgot to take a pic of this step.  okay?]

5.  Next, I used painter's tape to cover the mouth and eyes.

6.  This is where I strongly, no wait minute;  Make that STRONGLY suggest you take this project outside.  Spray your adhesive onto Jack, covering every inch.  You can use any glue for this really, this was just faster for me.

Shake the glitter over Jack.  I then resprayed him with the glue and shook the glitter over him again.  (I might have also glued a bunch to the deck as well.  Oopsie.  Note to self:  Do this out in the grass next time.)

Once it's dry, gently peel off the painter's tape.

Don't worry if the edges are a little wonky.  Black craft paint will fix that up in a hurry:

7.  Attach Jack, I used tape, to the center of the wreath.

8,  The wreath still looked a bit odd due to some of the wire showing around the outside.  I dug into the craft supplies and got out some black pipe cleaners and wrapped them around the outside parts of the wreath where the wire was exposed.  You can still see some of the wire, but it broke it up somewhat and disguised it nicely.  Add a pretty orange bow, just for fun when you're finished!

*Closing remarks:  This would be a fun craft to do with kids.  However, if you do so,  Please, for the love of God, please use regular sized glitter and not neon micro-glitter as I did.  Micro-glitter, while really pretty, is incredibly messy.  If you mix a child and neon micro-glitter, don't blame me for the fact that everything you own for the next 1000 years will sparkle and shine without ceasing!

Sometimes You Lose, Sometimes You Score

I went thrift store shopping today while the boys were in school.  It's so much fun to see what you can find.  I thought that I had done so well today.  I found two Coach bags for what I thought was next to nothing.  Brand new, with tags.  Guess what?  fakes.  Oh well, I put them on Craigslist with a full disclosure that they are replicas.  Maybe I can recoup my losses.  I've already had one response, we'll see what happens.  They're actually pretty cute, replicas or not.

On the other hand, my Mom went thrifting in another city and found a set of curved back Clemes & Clemes handcards that look like they have never been used.  These go for $65 new.  Her cost?  $5.00!  She's giving these to me.  I love my Mom! 

Wouldn't Ya Just Know It

You ever see one of those Coke commercials?  You know, the one where a person is so thirsty and they buy the Coke and take a big swig and say Ahhhhhh.  Remember that one? 


Well, that was almost me today.  Almost.   Let's have a quick walk through, shall we?

The setting:   My Mommyvan, around lunchtime.
The object of desire:    A freshly purchased Coke, waiting to be sipped.
The person:   Me, thirsty and very sleepy, in desperate need of just a touch of caffeine in order to stay awake.
The conflict:    Mommyvan turns a corner, just a hundred yards from home.
The result:   Coke flies across the van. 

I might have been able to save a few sips of that lovely, refreshing Coke, but the straw jammed into the bottom of the cup creating a nice hole so that when I picked the cup up, more liquid escaped from the bottom.

The passenger side of the van is now quite sticky and the floor mats have been removed for further cleaning.

I never got one sip of that d@mned Coke.

I took a good two hour nap today and got nothing whatsoever done.  :sigh:

Birthday Cake!

I survived the birthday party!  Just barely.  I got a sum total of two hours sleep on Saturday evening.  I was a little tired the next day.  It was a fun party.  One of the boys declared that "This is the funnest birthday party ever!"  I call that a win. 

The camping themed cake went well too.  I took a 9 x 13 cake, chopped off the end, broke that into pieces and stacked it up in one corner to make a hill:

I covered the hill with some water and chocolate rocks, added a few trees (frosted sugar cones), a tent (used graham crackers), a fire (using pretzels and frosting) and some grass and came up with this:

Click to Enlarge for Details

 Here's another (and better) angle:

 Click to Enlarge for Details

 

This was also declared the coolest cake ever.  The parents loved it as much as the kids.  They had no idea how easy this cake was to make!

It got a lot less cool after the boys attacked it:

More fun stuff about the party:
- The kids got to make a camouflage shirt to take home. We used tshirts and Rit dye (brown, tan and green).  They turned out really cute.
- They made a fire in the firepit in the back yard and made smores.
- They camped out in the living room floor since it was too wet to camp outdoors.  They got to watch Iron Man.  This turned out to be a good settle down activity.
- They also made the survival kits.
-We had Pigs in a Blanket and fries for supper, and I made a mountain of pancakes early the next morning for them all.

I had other stuff planned for them to do, but it turned out that this was plenty.

The Eldest was extremely pleased with everything.  I guess I get to keep my "Best Mom Ever" credentials for another year.  :)