happy halloween!

Here's hoping your Halloween is a "hoot"! (cupcakes are from one charming party.)

around the house

I thought I'd share a bit of Halloween decor from around our house. It's certainly not a designers dream, but it's simple and we love each piece.

I wanted some small sparkly pumpkins for this tall glass jar. I found them at Hobby Lobby--half price for the grand opening.  

ella's preschool halloween party

The first words I heard Ella yell Tuesday morning were, "It's been two days!" Translation: it's the preschool Halloween party! The first words I yelled were, "Are you kidding me?" Translation: there's six inches of snow on the ground. Dang!

I lucked out on Ella's costume this year. She really wanted to be Tinkerbell and Grandpa McMurphy bought her this outfit back in February. I just bought sparkly shoes and we were done. Grandpa also surprised Ella with a Tinkerbell jewelry making kit this summer, so she wore an authentic Tink necklace and bracelet too.

Ella was so excited to bring her special "treat" for her friends.

out and about: fall break St. George getaway

It's COLD today. I really don't like being cold. I'm wishing we were back here:

no tricks... just a treat!

I'm laughing as I type this. The whole purpose of this week was to encourage my lurker friends to comment.  I did get some great comments, but according to Sitemeter I now have more lurkers! Welcome to all of you. I'm very grateful you take the time to check out my blog whether you comment or not.

As promised, to those that did comment I have a special treat for you. And I love it. I'm very pleased at how it turned out and I hope you are too. They look so much better in real life, I wish you could all see.

white on orange

wicked fun no. 6: decorating indoors and outdoors

INDOORS
I've had this in my idea file forever. I tore it out of an issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

I love garlands. And I love how the designer spray painted these dog biscuits white. There's also big plastic spiders, acorns and dried citrus fruit. They drilled holes through each item and strung them on 22-gauge wire. It's not super simple, but just the dog bones in an apothecary jar might be a great decorative element.

OUTDOORS

There was an entire article about this porch in Home Companion magazine a few years ago. I've taken some of the details as inspiration for my own porch over the years--the pumpkin lanterns, mums, pumpkins, etc. Obviously I haven't staged my entire porch like this, but I've been happy with it. There's a black chair again. Hmmm.

wicked fun no. 5: paper pumpkins & pumpkin bracelets

Time to play catch-up. Here are a couple of projects to do with the kids I thought were both simple and darling.

I remember making these as Christmas ornaments from green and red paper when I was in elementary school. I like them much better as pumpkins. I read that someone suggested making them from foam sheets instead of paper so they would last. Great idea. They'd make a fun garland tied together too.

They were designed by Vicki Shields for the Hostess with the Mostest blog. You can find the tutorial here.

wicked fun no. 4: word art

I'm late getting this posted. After seven days of feeling like I was hit by a bus--and not getting any better--I went to the doctor yesterday. I have influenza. You know, the bad, bad flu. I got an antibiotic for secondary infections and some magic cough medicine that actually helped me not cough at all last night. (Though now I have a massive headache.) We all got our flu shots while at the doctor. (Lynn has stayed home three days to take care of Ella--thanks, hon.) So stay healthy!

Now the fun stuff.

Shelley Smith from House of Smiths was featured on eighteen25. Love. love, love her style. It's very clean and fresh. To get a closer look at each of the decorative elements, go here. You'll be glad you did.

wicked fun no. 3: halloween play dough & fall recipes

I'm not a fan of loading kids up with tons of goodies for Halloween, so I'm always on the lookout for fun things for preschool or friends that don't involve massive amounts of sugar.

I saw this idea from Ashley at Under the Sycamore on my new favorite blog eighteen25. (I LOVE Ashley's blog too--gorgeous photos.)

wicked fun no. 2: simple monograms

I love anything with monograms. I think I'd do this with vinyl letters though.

I love the different colors and textures of these pumpkins. One year I'm also going to drill big holes in my pumpkin and make polka dots. I saw Martha do it and it was totally me. Loved this chair too. I found this photo on the Better Homes and Gardens website. My magazine subscriptions come and go, but my BH&G always sticks around.

wicked fun week, attention lurkers and a giveaway!

Happy October! Fall is definitely one of my favorite seasons--the weather, the colors, the decor and especially Halloween. I've collected some simple Halloween ideas I love--recipes, crafts, decor and just plain eye-candy. I'll share a new idea every day.

I'm also adding a special early Halloween treat for you to download at the end of the week. Here's the trick to getting it though. You have to comment on any post this week to be eligible. My sitemeter says there are A LOT of lurkers out there who read my blog, but don't ever comment. I want to hear from you! I promise, it's not scary. (Thanks to all my girlie friends who do comment all the time. I love it!) One more treat--a random commentor will be chosen to receive his or her choice of the printed version of my treat.

Here's wicked fun no. 1:
I saw these on  http://www.recipegirl.com/ last year and thought they were darling.

They'd make a great family night activity/snack. I also love that they're on sticks (and that they're chocolate!). Click here for the recipe.