Halloween Roundup 2

MORE cute, cute ideas to gear us into the fall décor!

Above pic from Pinterest

I love the wreath! So colorful and whimsical.

I love this idea! It would be great minus the skeletons too for a year round piece.

Ohhhhh, spooky! This is actually a listing on Etsy! She has some awesome finds in her shop, Cat Tales!

Ohhh, I’d love to do something like this with my piano but I haven’t taken the plunge by painting it…yet. Have some inspirations here though =)

Love these and I actually saved some cans over the weekend that I was using for a green bean casserole!

Such a cute idea from House of Smiths! One of my fave blogs =)

And last but certainly not least, one for my lil booger bear! Availabe at sasybrna’s Etsy shop.

So cute. Even reminds me of Kenna <3

Halloween Roundup

There have been so many cute ideas floating around on Pinterest that I want to try. I need to get in gear with my fall décor before it rushes by like it did last year. Although last year, I’d like to think I had a fairly good excuse with a new baby and all. Just sayin’ =)

30 free Halloween fonts! Click the picture below to head over to Tip Junkie!

LOVE!

This would be easy peasy since I already have the same fabric =)

Made from old paper back books!

This is sheer genius! Can you guess what it is? You’ve probably seen it floating around the internet like I did but it’s a…wait for it…

it’s DRYER VENT! And we have some =) Well, if I didn’t throw it away, we still have some! What a cute gift or home decoration you could whip up in a snap.

My craftiness has been piqued so I’m ready to actually do some crafting this year (although we’re at the end of it already…oops). Well, here’s to another 2 months and next year! Woot woot!

Note: Sources are linked to pictures. Just click away to be introduced to the creative geniuses behind these beautiful pictures!

Ikea [insert melodramatic swoon here]

I absolutely have been begging for my hubs to take me to Ikea when we make our trip down south. I’ve never been and I’m like a moth attracted to the light. It’s a beacon in the sky. You get the picture, I’m sure =) I have browsed through their catalog multiple times dog-earing paged, highlighting what I definitely want while he looks on in a lackadaisical (don’t you just love that word. It’s a shame I don’t use it more) way. With regards to Mr. LCH, I ‘m going to share my Ikea Wants & Needs with the bloggie world who might appreciate it more.

First, I really want a duvet! I think it’s be awesome to switch out the cover at a whim and even make your own duvet cover like they did here and here.

Rug from the awesome Ikea place! And such an awesome price.

Are these not beautiful or what!?

We really really need one of these since ours broke =( But when we replace this, we want to go ahead and get a deeper sink. Those old ceramic sinks are so shallow.

AND NOW FOR THE BEST PART OF IKEA!

I love wooden kitchen play sets! I can’t wait to get Kenna one and get her all kinds of play fruit, food, pots and pans. In the catalog, Ikea says the stove top actually lights up (led lights) and the sink can hold water (we might not add water though, lol).

For my woMAN cave, I need some more accessories for sure. It will forever be a work in progress, I’m afraid.

Okay, that’s the end of my Ikea spiel for now. Hopefully, I’ll make it to the store next weekend. If not, I’ll be scouring the internet some more =)

Note: Picture are linked to sources. I was not paid to brag about Ikea. I love them just because =)

Windows Live Writer, how I love thee…

It is extremely awesome that Centsational Girl had a post about Windows Live Writer! I had no idea that such a thing existed. However, I am sure there are lots of things on my computer that I have no idea what they are actually used for like ABBYY Sprint Reader! What is that? I see it all the time…oh well. Anyways, it’s awesome!

Windows Live Writer is designed for PC users but CG did mention that there’s an article about how it is available for Mac users so yaaayyyy for Amy!

After opening up WLW and going through the installation/setup process which was no trouble at all, the first thing I noticed was that it imported my blog’s theme! How cool is that? Uber cool, that's what it is!

Check out my first ever screenshot below! I’m getting very technological here =)

As you can see from the pic above, WLW reminds me a lot of the format of Windows Paint. Very user friendly for the lazy blogger procrastinator blogging newbie.

I honestly think I’m in love. Maybe I’ll actually become less of a blogging backslider and post more =)

Crafting with the Cricut

Here lately, I've done a lot with my Cricut! I made Kenna's Happy Birthday banner, her invitations, and her small pennant banner for the cake table. I was definitely proud of myself!

Anywho, a few weeks prior when my mother-in-law and I were at Michaels, she picked up a cup with a lid and straw for my niece, Kelsea, and I offered to cut some vinyl to decorate the cup for her! Unbeknownst to her, I had never tried to cut vinyl before with my Cricut.

After scouring blogs and tutorials, I first cleaned my mat with just a small amount of mild soap and water. It had lost it's stickiness after cutting Kenna's birthday supplies. After it dried, it definitely looked cleaner and it was still sticky! I thought for sure the soap would take the sticky off but it worked. I had also read that using a spray adhesive or a glue stick also works. Maybe I'll try these before I break down and buy a new one. Gotta stay thrifty =)

Speaking of more thriftiness, I also sharpened my blade with aluminum foil because it was snagging when I was cutting just scrapbook paper so I was worried it wouldn't be sharp enough to cut vinyl but it worked like a charm!

and TA-DAH!

It turned out so well! I'm in love (and Kelsea is too) with it and want one for myself and already have one standing order from lil cousin Audi who decided she wanted one after seeing Kelsea's =) The first "kiss cut" I used didn't cut all the way through the vinyl so I increased my pressure by one and kept my blade depth on 6 and it cut through the vinyl but left the backing in tact so the second setting worked better on my Cricut than some of the suggestions I found on Google.

Master bedroom mood board!

Made my first ever mood board a couple of weeks ago when I scored an awesome vintage shutter at an antique shop (picture to come). I made my mood board using Paint.net, an awesome free program! I've been wanting to decorate our master bedroom for awhile. I feel like I spend time and craftiness in every room of the house except our room soooo, I'm hoping to make the room prettier =)

LINKS:

Pretty duvet cover

Rug

Inspiration color palette pic

Teal shutter table pic

DIY vintage crates

Spray painted star pic -- made by me!

Gray wall art

Yellow wall art

From desk to tv stand

My mother-in-law bought me this rather short desk from the auction for $3 a couple of weeks ago. I didn't get a complete before picture because it had a set of three drawers on one side that we removed. Because the desk was obviously meant for a very short person and the fact that it was extremely heavy, I decided I wanted to make a television stand out of it to house our television that my momma gave us =)

Before pics:
The desk is laying on it's backside...

During pics:

After pics:

I love the way the top turned out when I stained it darker =)