Homefront: Thanksgiving Mantel

My mom and I have been eyeing these lovely Thanksgiving statues at Hobby Lobby for a few years now. She is so pretty! We have Cherokee in our blood, so we love little Native American touches here and there.

 A "mantel" doesn't have to be over a fireplace!

My mantel before. Pretty, and a little plain. I wanted to add more personalization. The orange glitter pumpkin is the jack-o-lantern from my Halloween display, just turned around. Thanksgiving decorating is really just borrowing from Halloween and adding a bit to it. The 'styling' began with the two paper wrapped pumpkins. I was going to spray paint them gold, but thought it would be too bold, so instead I lightly handpainted them a metallic gold color so details can still peek through.

  

Then, I took that gold paint to the wreath and the cute little pilgrim sign, just to add some glint. I always have some sort of artificial flowers and such laying around, so I made a quick little floral display. My tutorial on making quick and easy floral arrangements here.

 I recently taught a Thankful/Memory jar idea the other night. Tutorial HERE!

 

Breaking Dawn pt 2, Twilight Inspired Jewelry sale!

Copper stamped charm necklaces 
Wolves can be in either copper tone pewter or silver tone pewter, hearts in either red or clear.

Breaking Dawn pt 2, the LAST installment of the Twilight saga is upon us!!! And that means I have FINALLY made the last of my hand stamped charms into some new pretties. They make perfect gifts for you, or stocking stuffers for your lady friends and daughters. They are now in my Jeweled Ambrosia etsy shop!! MOST of these sterling silver and copper hand stamped charm necklaces are one of a kind, so don't delay!

 Sterling silver stamped charm necklaces (only circle charms are sterling, other metal is silver plate)
 Wolves can be in either copper tone pewter or silver tone pewter, hearts in either red or clear.

Metal Cast charm necklaces!
Wolves can be in either copper tone or pewter, hearts in either red or clear.

"imprinted" hand stamped sterling silver charm with copper toned pewter wold charm and chalk turquoise bead

"dazzle me" sterling silver charm w/ rhinestone bar and  Swarovski crystal heart in clear or red

 "be safe" hand stamped copper charm with lovely patina bird and freshwater pearl

 "la tua cantante" in copper with 14mm swarovski crystal heart in red or clear

"lamb lion" sterling handstamped necklace with Swarovski crystal necklace in red or clear

Girly: Ruffles, Lace and DIYing Accessories

Baby headband and necklace by Ruby Blue 

One amazing thing about having a baby girl, is the sheer abundance of things that are lacey, ruffley, prancy, fancy and just all around adorable. With a girl, there is no reason to glam her up. You just do and coo. So, most of these lacy rompers and baby legs are not handmade (I even know where to get them wholesale) so it really irks me when I find them on handmade sites, but they are still cute nonetheless and are totally customizable for diy versions, like to add sashes, bows and such. (I also HATE the bubble statement, jcrew knock-off necklaces all over Etsy. These are not handmade, do NOT buy them from Etsy sellers who claim they are hand made! They are bought cheap wholesale at market and it REALLY pisses me off!!) That said, I did buy my baby girl a pair of lace baby legs and a romper and cant wait for her to wear it!

Little headbands are super easy to make, especially nowadays when you can just buy stuff at the craft store and glue it together, but I enjoy taking the time to put things together and sew them up, like the one I made for my lil bit sugar blossom here above. *oh my gosh, look how tiny, that was only a few months ago!!*

 

 Big flowers are adorable, I prefer them to the side of the head, and with out too much other fluff.

Elisabeth is so styling in the adorable bib her aunt Lindsey made her.

 For this photo, I simply tied stretch lace to fit and added a vintage rhinestone brooch. A more permanent option would be to glue it to a felt backing first for a more wearable and comfortable headband.

 

The netting style is so adorable and easy to do as well.  by banner boutique

She looks like an adorable birthday cake in little girl form! by K Chic Designs

 layering the cuteness! hair pinwheel bow by ruby and sue

Baby pink leg warmers by All That Ruffles... I want that pom pom trimmed skirt!

Enchanting embellished shabby girls dress by My Fair Maiden

There are tooons of tutorials on line and pinterest on how to make these things. And for those who prefer to buy instead of craft, there are tons of amazing artists out there that sell online as well. Their creativity amazes me.

 

Halloween 2012

This month has been crazy!! If I didn't have carpal tunnel, than I sure do now. Lots of face painting, hair dos, balloon twisting, crafting, young women award night, camping, childhood illnesses and ... oh my! Let's just say, there have been lots and lots of mountains of laundry and dishes, but at least we have been having some fun 'round here.

It is entirely possible you don't know what my costume is. But in person, I was surprised by how many people could figure it out within a few quizzical seconds of looking at my fascinator headband and my flashy, blingy diamond ring. Yep, a trophy wife. Which is seriously the best costume for me ever because it is so far from the truth!

My little bit, angel baby was a cheetah girl, and she was so adorable. She is almost 6 months old and is the sweetest (and fastest) baby in the world. I totally planned on coming up with some awesome homemade costumes for the kiddos, but business prevailed, reality set in, and I went the easy way out. I was thinking of everyone going as a different kind of cloud: tornado, rain cloud, thunder cloud, rainbow cloud... (inspired by this and this costume) but the boys didn't buy it. I was a little relieved not to do all the work. And well... every one was happy, and that is all that is important.

I did make my headband which took a total of 5 minutes and I made the baby's several months ago back when she was a wee, skinny lass.

Face painting at the salon for downtown's trick or treating night. Everyone wanted my face design, so I just came up with a super fast and cute spiderweb tiara type thingy for them since we had a really long line.

I convinced my boys to be ninjas, because they were easy and on super sale. Isaac protested a bit, he really wanted to be The Arrow or Spiderman, but oh well. And to add to my luck, the store sold out of his size in minutes. Caleb wanted to be the white ninja, but they only had the red in his size. The red one is super duper.

green noodle monster by Isaac, white noodle man by Caleb

I did my first magic show in like, a year. I was a little nervous but prepared some cute things and the party was a hit. Fortunately, my baby isn't too scared of my clowny look.

And of course, the balloons and face painting this season was insane, as usual! We premade lots of balloons to bring to events we knew would be daunting. It worked out quite well!

 5 loaded bags weren't enough for my son's school carnival! His class booth sold out of them quickly, and his classroom earned the most money for the school. Yeah! We couldn't make it b/c we went camping that night and the kids weren't feeling too well, so we dropped them off at the school before the carnival.

 I love the cute little Jack-o-Lantern balloon wands I came up with. So did the kids!

My first attempt at a Sugar Skull. She had a specific design in mind, I think it turned out pretty great!

I hope everyone's Halloween was a blast! Now it's time to hide some candy and do some major cleaning before the next holiday rush begins.