Family Time: Halloween Craft and Treat Ideas

We had a fun weekend taking the kids to the Hall pumpkin patch in Grapevine and a (tame) haunted hay ride through a corn maze (excellent kettle corn I might add). Isaac was a little scared, we covered his face a lot and instead of using the word "monster" since he is obsessed with them after all, we told him they were "silly people" and pretending to be scary. He didn't like that, but accepted it and has so far, not had any damage (aside from the first night, muttering about "silly people").



Isaac mascara'd up Caleb (again) and I had to take a pic, because really, finding a camera and getting a good shot is the best way to calm down and have a laugh. Time out definately comes later though. Also, I thought I would share a fun toddler idea. Isaac LOVES taking pictures. He poses his toy cars next to the dog, or whatever and just snaps away. He especially loves taking pictures of feet and his baby brother. I just thought that was fun to share, and a good family idea. Maybe, you can get items together, and stage a little photo shoot for your little ones. Try doing this before holiday pictures are taken, so they can see what it is like being on the other side of the camera for once. Maybe it will teach them a fun lesson, maybe not, either way it can be fun, even if most of the photos are blurry.



I have been listing new jewelry in my shop, but I still have tons more to go and just lack the motivation to do it! I have some new pieces in the works, but I sometimes wonder if putting it off to the side would be best until I get more organized. Then, I realize, in this cramped up little home, that's NEVER going to happen!






Well, I DO have a Halloween party treat tip. It is an EXCELLENT one, I mean, truly amazing, but I do not have photos of it, so I spent an embarrasingly long time on this corny paint illustrastion :( We did this for a party one year and it was too cute, so please TRY and visualize with me people!!!



1. Get a pumpkin and clean the dirt off.
2. Paint a scary or silly face on one side of the pumpkin (or carve it, your choice).
3. Make kabobs. I used pineapple chunks, cherries, cheese chunks, grapes, little rolled turky meat, strawberrie... for an appetizer, but you can make a steak/shrimp/bell pepper/mushroom/pineapple grilled kabob instead if you want to make it a meal.
4. Stick kabobs into the top of pumpkin.

When you are done, the pumpkin looks like it has crazy hair! It makes a yummy and easy treat and an excellent display for your food table.

One more easy PUNCH tip:

1. Make a fruit punch in a funky color, red, purple, green... add your sprite and a coupel scoops of sherbert if you want. But the actual tip is not the recipe here.

Take a plastic/latex POWDER free glove, rinse it out well and fill it with water. tie the end like a water ballon. Freeze your glove. Then, when it is nice and frozen, cut off the glove and add your floating, dismembered hand to your punch. There, wasn't that simple!?

You could also make a little topiary with either fall flowers, OR use food! Use toothpics in the styrofoam and arrange grapes, strawberries, large marshmallows, cheese cubes and other fun things to make your desert topiary. The Kim Vallee blog has a little tutorial.



OR... Look at this excellent CANDY topiary, from of course, Martha Stewart, go there for the tutorial! Can you tell I like topiaries? Be prepared to see some amazing Christmas ones soon!



And one last yummy thing. I love Etsy, I love their "blog" the Storque. I LOVE their how-tos, and I especially love this one. How to make bleeding VAMPIRE cupcakes! It is perfect for Halloween OR for Twilight parties, yay!! The link has all the instructions as well as a nifty little video. Now make some and take a bite.

Eventful Times

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted in a month! Which is really sad because it has been quite an eventful month... maybe that explains the lack of posts? We had our semi-annual General, Relief Society and Stake Confernces for our church, which were amazing and refreshing by the way. Such a spiritual and almost healing feast to the inspired words of these men and women. You can read or watch some of them HERE. One thing I loved, is Dieter F. Uchtdorf said in one of his talks, how we as as a people, are happiest and fulfilled when we are creating something. Putting our minds and bodies to work to make something is a spiritual act. And why shouldn't it be, since we are sons and daughters of the master Creator, God!



Well, it was our 5 year wedding anniversary and so we took the family with some friends to the Texas State Fair. It was expensive just to go and park, and then you have to pay to play each game and each ride. Only a couple lame-o shows were free. We had 20 tickets left at the end of the night, it made me sick to my stomach we had spent so much money for nothing, so I took my tickets to the people in line to buy MORE tickets, and I sold mine to them for a tiny discount. But, the weather was wonderful, the company was fun, the kids loved the petting zoo and we got to see Michelle Branch sing one of her famous songs...



I also have been getting more sales, which is so great because David had to buy a couple of new suits for interviewing and such, so it has really helped. Thank you so much customers, you are all truly appreciated!!

Due to my busy order time, I have neglected (cleaning, cooking, doing my hair, being a top notch mom)... so I decorated our ONE and ONLY shelf for Halloween so the kids could have a segment of the outside world in our home. I was at Joann's picking up some fabric for a puppet I am making and saw the 60% sale for Halloween stuff. Since I refuse to buy anything full price, and we silently decided not to fight our jam packed storage closet for holidays this year... I picked up a couple of things and used what I had left around the house, oh like a feather boa, some vintage chandelier prisms, a little swallow stamp I used on the mirror (I got the idea from HERE)...







I think it turned out very pretty, and my kids love it! And of course, there is my little Blythe doll! She wanted to be a cat, so I made her cat ears and a shabby black and white striped tutu, no way was I going to paint her expensive little face though. Don't you just love her boots? The display is still missing something. I think maybe a glittery silver and black pennant up top that says "Happy Halloween" will look good, maybe I will make it soon and post pics. See that crazy wire man? David made that, he is crafty :)



And now, for the good wife part, I think I am going to attempt to use the AMAZING smelling Indian Spice kit I got from Purpose Design for David's Birthday. (ps I got the one in the metal box, but isn't the beaker spice lab awesome!?)



Thanks for keeping up with me, more news/rants/goodies to come later! Before you leave, check out my pretty new banner! Thank you Sea Dream Studio for making it for me!! Now, I am off to do some MAJOR cleaning/organizing!! I know you are jealous ;)



xo
Lisa

A Change has Begun...

Camera Robot by Artsy

Well, "this is the way of the Bob", for anyone who knows the Big Big World show... my blog has been pretty much like me. I put something off, and then I do this suicide craft marathon, where I do everything all at once. So, I have been doing that with my blog, instead of a nice little daily message and picture, I did it all at once, like the grand finale of a fireworks show! So, I think this will be easier on myself and my readers to have simplified (yeah right) posts more on a daily basis!!



Onesie by heARTandSEW

Here goes... as a reward and a business move, I bought a new camera 2 days ago, then, last night at the evil corporation of Wal-Mart, I found the same camera (but a slightly older model) for $150 less. So... do I return the first camera and get the cheaper and slightly older model? What would you do?! The features I need like macro and white balance are on the older one as well. And I can write it off as a business expense since it is primarily for taking pics of jewelry.

Oh, and today is my hubby's birthday (I will post later about the Etsy goodies I got him)!! And, when he showed up at his internship at FEMA today, he was questioned to come in for a job interview that he recently applied for, but it was already filled. So yay, his interview is today (that was fast), so we will see how that goes!


And, I would like everyone to go and spend $10, and buy 10 of those canvas bags at your local grocery store (or, spend a lot more for a higher end, kind, it's your money). Not only do those babies save the environment with less waste and toxins polluted into the air from manufacturing, but they are super handy. I live in a 3rd floor apartment. It is quite difficult carrying up the kids with loads of plastic bags. But these canvas bags fit so much and they are so easy to carry, they distribute the weight magically somehow, so that even someone with a half broken back like me can handle half of my grocery cart at once. Please, go and make the jump today! Oh, also, on Etsy, you can buy eco friendly fruit and veggie bags, that are usually made of mesh and still lightweight, so that is great to use instead of the plastic bags at the store as well. I am going to go and order some today. Look HERE to see a selection of handmade produce bags on Etsy.

Random Ramblings

I am on some kind of weird kick on staying in a rut. For weeks, I tormented you all with my nonstop Twilight obsessiveness... then, I turned into a crazed, stay at home mom whining maniac... what will be next? Will I go vegan for a month, will I start listing excellent baking soda homemade tips? I don't know, I just... don't. I am kind of like that... all hardcore about something for a little bit and then, after I annoy everyone with my nonstop chatter, I get it out of my system and then, I am refreshed, on to the new thing, kind of like, Cathy!



Let me say this, I never watch Saturday Night Live, maybe in college a little, but rarely ever now. But I recently saw it and they had this little skit with comic strip Cathy. It was sooo dang HEEE-LARIOUS! It was complete with the frizzy hair, the random "ACK", the thrown bikinis... just like the drawings. Here is the transcript since I can't find the video:



Cathy (Andy Samberg) from the comic strip "Cathy" joins the newsroom to discuss back-to-work blues. She has a case of the Mondays and can't fit into any of her bikinis. She says being at work is like being asleep, "Wake me when I'm a size 5." She says she's told to eat a well-rounded diet. She hates diets so she's well rounded. Throughout, Cathy pulls her hair to the sides and delivers her trademark "Aack!"
Well, one last word on Twilight (until the movie comes out, because I will definately be commenting then). Stephenie Meyer's Midnight Sun transcript (which is Twlight written from Edward's point of view) got leaked. She was so distrought over this, that she decided she may never be able to finish the book. I am so upset by this, at LEAST she what was leaked, and even though it is incomplete and unedited, it is still a good read (I haven't read it all yet though). You can decide for yourself, by going HERE!!!



painting by Jean Weiner

My post would not, could not be complete without a bit of randomness. Aparrently, PETA has contacted Ben and Jerry's (phish food is my fav, hint hint) to follow the actions of a Swiss restraunteer and exchange the cow's milk they use for human breast milk. My first thought on this was... "EWWW!" My second thought was, "How much would they pay... since I still have not weaned my little one yet?" My third thought was, "Bad, Lisa, BAAAD! Come on, that's disgusting don't think that!" Then, after a couple more thoughts, I have come to the conclusion, that it IS truly disgusting and there is no way the US would allow it anyways. So we are safe. Even though PETA DOES make excellent points about the male calves and the overbreeding and poor conditions of milk cows (except on smaller farms), it just isn't humanly ethical. (and to think I donated to PETA when I was in middle school). Don't believe me? Read it HERE for yourself!


onesie by Mama Monkey

Also, blogging has been very difficult for me to do lately. Whenever I try to copy and paste or edit html, move pictures around or create links, for some crazy reason, my computer will take that link and inject it right smack dab in the middle of some random paragraph, or worse, right in the middle of some other code. At first, I thought it was blogger, so I started to do this in another format and then paste everything into blogger, but it messed up there too, it is definately an internet provider meltdown, among other things. Also, half of the links/images I DO try to include isn't being accepted, so I have to delete part of my cute posts, and then it is just all jumpy and even MORE random sounding. This has been a huge, time consuming headache, so I can't really feature as much awesome stuff that I typically would have :(

I suppose, my fair ones, I should reveal the earrings winner, as well as which photo was the one chosen to be published. Thanks to all who participated, as well as who voted for the first one, since I was in it... maybe you were just trying to get on my good side, eh! Well, the photo that was published was the guy pic #2 and the winner is... no, I'm NOT going to type the lame drumroll thing... Aurora! Actually, she was 3rd, the first two I drew didn't have contact info on their profiles, so make sure next time, you post it with a profile with info or leave a contact email.

Oh real quick, I saw this blog post of the wonderful Always Amy, and I just had to link it. She shows how she organized her crafty goodness! Check out her gorgeous rotary phone!



ps, please take my poll at the top left of my blog, thanks!

xo,
Lisa

Ooooo, Art and Fabric Fun!

So, I was talking to a neat seller, Art by Rosemary, about a month ago and told her I would do a blog feature, but that thread got buried and I could never find it again. Well, she popped in the forums today searching for new sellers with no sales, so that she could purchase from them (awe, so sweet) and I recognized her shop as the one I had been searching for. I would so plaster my home with her artwork, if it wasn't pink taupe and sage (shudders) and only had one wall that is large enough for a painting! She has gorgeous contempory, abstract art in lovely rich, bold colors. While looking through her thread, I found this shop, Kale, also with 0 sales. I don't think that is going to last long, because she has the most wondrously cute fabric creations, go check them out! Even a fabric charm, how sweet is that?!



On a side note, last night we cleaned like crazy, it looked so nice in here! I figured, well, if all of my crafting/jewelry items are far far out of reach, maybe today will be better (of course any production for me then is kaput)? Well, not exactly. This just made it even funner for my toddler to destroy furniture again. Did I ever tell you that I have to wrap bungee cords around my table legs so he won't break them apart? Well, I haven't been able to find those, so today I have been picking up chairs all day long. And couch cushions. He destroys the couches all day long, every day, in less than 10 seconds flat. Oh, my aching back, I feel like I have aged about 10 years this week alone, and I am serious when I say that I am in search of a good back brace.



Aaaaand, I got a new calling in church, nursery, yay! So, I struggle all week long with my son, then I struggle with him during church so I can attempt to hear the talks being given, and now, instead of dropping him off in nursery so I can have 2 hours of peace to hear lessons, I get to go and struggle with him and 18 other kids for 2 hours. I definatly feel like God is trying to teach me a lesson at this point, punishment maybe for my lack of creativity of parenting? When I stood up to be sustained at church for the calling, I tried SO HARD to smile, but my husband said it looked like I was sucking on sour lemons and about to cry at the same time. During nursery, he was pretty much the only one who disobeyed and threw tantrums. Great, I am the mom of THAT kid. The one that other moms probably look at like, "Oh, she must be a terrible parent, can't even keep her own kid under control." Every week the nursery leader is like "Oh, we had to put him in time-out again." Yet, when I tell them "sorry, I know he can be difficult" people always respond back, "Oh no, he isn't difficult! He's just a boy, that is how they are, he is an excellent kid." Oh yeah? Then how come none of the other kids get put in time out? Why is he the only one who is acting nutso and screams and destroys everything in his path like a hurricane.

wood sign by Morning Star Design

Did you know that his wooden bed frame is DUCK TAPED to a BARBELL, because he kept flipping it over and destroying it? His mattress is actually NAILED down to his bedframe, because he has shredded it as well? His furniture is in our verry cramped little room because he tears it apart and climbs it? His brother can't even sleep in his own crib, for fear the he will climb in and smother him? Don't get me wrong, I love, love, LOOOVE my kid and my baby, my toddler is a complete angel when he wants to be (about 50% of the time) and he is so stinking smart, and adorable. I am just exhausted and tired during the other 50% of the time.

motherhood shirt by Juror2

So, I outed myself on Etsy about having bouts of regrets of parenthood, and most women were pretty understanding about having similar feelings at times. They gave me a lot of support and great ideas to keep him somewhat occupied that I will be trying this week. A lot of things I can't do, like take him to the park/library... because for one, carrying 2 children up and down 3 flights of stairs is very difficult for me to do, so I only leave our home when necesary, and because he is a runner. He takes off and runs away, fast, and I can't chase him while pushing a stroller or holding my baby, so those types of things are out (yes, I have tried a harness/leash, but he throws tantrums even worse so I end up dragging him, and then, he just takes it off anyways). So ladies, if you want to know why I don't do play dates, or get togethers at parks and such, here is the honest truth.



Now, I have a whole week to recuperate and try this nursery thing again, as I know, I will probably learn something valuable in there, and I am thankful to be able to teach the sweet little ones! So, in the meantime, think I will just move into this little fairy cottage and eat potatoes and Indian food and chocolate, and dance around in tutus and rhinestones (yes, it is a real house, I found it on Strawberry Anarchy’s blog).

Earrings Giveaway!

I thought I would give you a glimpse into my life. I graduated high school in 1999. Moved away to go to college, hated it, went to the Paul Mitchell Academy of Hair Design instead, graduated in 2001, and I have been doing college off and on ever since. I decided to do beauty school, because my dad's health was very poor, and I knew I wouldn't be able to finish college before I would have to return home to take care of my mom, so I needed a back up plan. Sure enough, I was right, so having the license was a nice thing to fall back on.



While I was in beauty school, I did some crazy hair dos, got my eyebrows tattooed (a post on obtaining perfect eyebrows will come later), I was on the design team and got to design for some runway shows, and I even participated in photo shoots, one of which was even published. (Interestingly, I was chosen to participate in an elect study, where we were given extra education and entertainment, and I even got to take a metalsmith class at the Sundance resort with a group of amazing stylists!)

On the photo shoots, I cut/colored the hair that I designed, created the outfits/pose and did the make-up all myself! So, here is the deal. I am going to post a photo of my crazy hair days and 4 shots of my photo shoots. YOU guess which is the that was published. I will write down who is right and randomly draw the names out of a bag next week. Be sure to post contact info in your guess so I will know how to contact the winner. You will win this pair of vintage Indian charm earrings that are perfect for fall or a Christmas gift!! Read HERE for info on these earrings.


Also, I have taught classes on beauty tips such as skin care, make-up, hair care, dressing... and I thought I would start doing a weekly post on some tips. Please let me know what area you would like to see covered. Feel free to ask questions, even detailed ones and I will be sure to answer them.

Photo 1 (black and white with 2 models (yes, I am the platinum blonde with the extremely narrow eyebrows, I was not supposed to be in the shot, but coersed by some onlookers):



Photo 2 (male model with the blue black hair)



Photo 3 (twisted burgandy hair with warm copper highlights)


Photo 4 (shattered, choppy layers) Factoid. I created this cut. About a month later, a celebrity stylist came to our school to teach us this revolutionary new cut, that looked extremely similar to this one!


xo
Lisa

Etsy Spiffiness

I love this Etsy video. I think it's very informative & full of Etsy spirit. I am challenging all my readers to post this on their blogs (business & personal) in the next few days (if not right now)! & please ask your readers to do the same! Let's create a little Etsy Pre-Holiday Buzz! Thanks to AlwaysAmy for showing it to me, and providing the exact wording listed above!

If you search for Etsy on You Tube, you will find a plethora of excellent (and some lame) videos, so go searching!

I also had to show this lovely damask treasury. So classic, bold and bright!