Baby for Brandaige

About a month ago, I got to host the first baby girl shower in quite a while!  It was given for my good friend, Brandaige, who after having two boys was expecting little Greta. 

One of the games we played was a spin-off of a game found in this post, which I loved.  It was to guess the names of the children's book characters that I had framed as a gift for Brandaige - all girls' book characters.  It was so fun for me to speculate what books we would be reading around here if I had a girl!

The shower was a brunch.  I provided chicken salad croissants...

and cinnamon roll cupcakes.  I also filled candy dishes with lots of pink and brown candies, since those were the colors of Greta's nursery. 

As usual, I ended up talking/hosting too much to take many pictures once the party began, but I did manage to snap one of the girl of honor.

Free Valentine's Printable

I just finished watching Pride & Prejudice (the long one) for the zillionth time, and it put me in the mood to decorate for Valentine's Day!  Here's a little quote from Mr. Darcy for you...just click on the picture, download and print!  It will give you a great quality print up to 16x20.  And Costco printing is cheap!  Enjoy!

linked up at:

Tatertots & Jello Weekend Wrap Up Party

The Stewart House of Haunts

Welcome, foolish mortals!  I'm here to give you a peek into our haunted house, and hopefully share some thrifty tips for making your house boo-tiful this time of year!  This door sign I crafted digitally using Haunted by My Mind's Eye, and mounting it with Mod Podge on a wooden sign painted black I found at a local craft store.

The mantle - a picture of last year's Halloween costumes, spooky lighted garland and candles, and a newly-made "Boo" sign out of vinyl lettering, backless frames and Halloween scrapbook paper. Oh, and some spiderweb fabric draped over the mirror.

I fell in love with the Halloween countdown calendar from Pottery Barn last year and wanted to re-create it for cheap. It definitely turned out to be a labor of love, but the kids love it and so do I!

I loved House of Smiths' Halloween candy jars this year, so I did my own version!

 

I added some Lizard Tongues...

and Witch Warts, which have been suspiciously disappearing...

Almost all of my lamps have been draped in spooky spiderweb fabric.  I love the effect.

I made some more Halloween pillows this year...I couldn't pass up Targets cute placemats & tablecloths, so I butchered them and made covers for my pillows, and table runners for my piano and dining table!

I fashioned some deadly black flowers out of fabric and attached them to the pillow cover.

Gotta love the dollar store black crows - here's one perched in my fall foliage. 

You also gotta love the dollar store pumpkins...I spray painted mine off white and hot glued a fun ribbon around it.

Every year we have what we call "Halloweekend" with my parents and sister's family in early October.  The girls do a Halloween craft as part of the fun...here's what we came up with this year, inspired by Li'l Luna.

I change these frames above my cupboards seasonally...here is more of Haunted by My Mind's Eye.

A shot of the dining room...runner made from Target tablecloth, black cake plate made from a black bowl and plate, dollar store pumpkin & moss, and Target creepy bird and tree decal.  The magnetic chalkboard I made from a large piece of galvanized sheet metal (found at Home Depot), chalkboard paint, and framed out with decorative foam molding from Lowe's that I spray painted with Heirloom White by Rustoleum. 

 

Bo-Bo Bones guarding our home office! We made him a few years ago out of paper plates!  

 

Simple Pumpkin topiaries, and my old autumn wreath made over by wrapping a cheap autumn garland around the old one! The bats for the bat cave were created with stiffened black felt, but you could use black cardstock as well! Here is the template.

 

I used a chandelier decal from Target and a black cat silhouette from Martha Stewart to create this spooky scene.

Thanks for visiting the Stewart House of Haunts!  Until next year!

Kids' Halloween Dish Towel Aprons

These are so easy to make, you just might want to make one for every holiday!  To make one, you will need:

1 new Halloween dish towel (I would avoid the terrycloth kind)

2 yards of coordinating ribbon

coordinating thread (plus needle or sewing machine)

*if you want to add embellishments, try rick rack, felt to cut into ghost, bat, spider shapes.

1.  Lay out your dish towel and establish the "top" of the apron.

2.  Make a template of a right triangle (I used cardstock) that is approx. 3"x9".

3.  Place the triangle upside down (3" at the top, 9" at the side) lined up with one of the top corners of the apron.

4. If you trust yourself, cut the towel along the diagonal line of the triangle while holding the template in place.  If not, trace the line lightly and then cut.

5.  Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the opposite top side of the apron.

6.  Fold the cut edges over 1/4" and press with an iron.  With your sewing machine (or a needle and thread), sew along the folded edges.  I used a zig zag stitch to prevent fray, but you could use a simple straight stitch.

7.  Cut your ribbon into 4 18" pieces. 

8.  Sew one ribbon to each of the top corners of the apron.  Sew the other two to the middle sides (the other end of your newly sewn seam).

9.  To prevent fray on the exposed ends of the ribbon, take a match or lighter and GENTLY hold the ribbon above the flame until it melts it and seals it.

10.  Embellish as desired!

I'm linked up at:



Attention Fabric Lovers...

Oh, danger.   DANGER!!!  Oh, the danger of reading other creative people's blogs.  Lindsey over at The Pleated Poppy has just introduced her readers to Hawthorne Threads - an online fabric (and more!) shop that has taken my breath away with its darling factor.  Oh!  I am so in love.

I won't bother to re-invent the wheel but instead will send you over to Lindsey herself to sell you on why the shop is so great.  It's worth a look.

One thing she doesn't mention, however, is their incredible selection of patterns.  Amy Butler, why oh why must you tempt me with your darling patterns?  Now I have to learn to sew FOR REAL!

Book Review: The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas

This was a great book.  I love all books set in the Depression era.  It makes me want to do my dishes by hand.  This particular book also made me want to take up quilting again...it's been a while.  It was entertaining and kept me guessing until the very end.  If you're looking for that boost of charity that makes you want to serve others, pick it up.  You'll feel sisterly in no time.

Evolution of a Craft Room: Part One

I'm cheating on my kitchen.  Seriously, I was in there yesterday to make dinner and had to say to it, "Hello, old friend!  I've missed you!"  The other lover?  My new craft room.  Or office.  Or croffice, as we have been calling it. 

We have been madly involved with making our former guest room into a real, live, place for the lady.  Our former "croffice" is now the new guest room, and both spaces are so much happier now.  I debated about whether or not to wait on posting and make it a "big reveal," but in reality I'm too excited about the little changes happening to be patient.

Weekend One:  I wish I had done a better job of taking "before" pictures, but here is the one I do have of the room, just before we Peter painted:

Just imagine a treadmill stuffed in there, a table with a t.v. and LOTS of crafting supplies piled on the bed.  That's how you would catch this room on any day of the week.  We sold the treadmill & t.v. on craigslist, tried five different "tiffany blue" patches on the wall, and came up with this:

EXACTLY the color I was looking for - Benjamin Moore's "Waterfall."  I didn't have a Tiffany's box to compare, but if my memory serves me correct, it's a perfect match. 

Weekend Two:  Find & install my girlie chandelier.  I found it at Home Depot and it had everything I was looking for - a white antique finish, crystals, and the ability to hold 60 watt bulbs.  I think every lady needs one of these somewhere in her home - especially if she does not have girls!

Peter painstakingly made my dream of crown molding come true.  I wanted something simple, and this was perfect.  And we learned that we need to invest in an electric miter saw for any future projects :).

I found these faux red tulips on clearance at Wal-Mart yesterday and knew they belonged in here.  My overall color scheme will be the Tiffany Blue with black, white, and red accents.  This purchase confirmed my vision of splashes of red!

Peter also put shelves up in the closet - but I'll post pictures on that when I am done organizing...and oh yes, it will involve me getting mean with a clearanced-out label maker I found at Target!