Halloween Treats

There are so many treats perfect for your Halloween celebrations, here are some of my favorites. Better Homes and Gardens has Easy Halloween Treats that Kids Can Make...who wouldn't love to host a little party where the kiddos create their own treats!?! *They also have some fun Halloween dinner ideas like spider pasta on a web of pasta sauce. Yum!!

Eighteen 25 had a wonderful guest, Somewhat Simple, who shared her fun Halloween take on lollypops.

What treats will I make for my little ghosts!?!

Bat Prints

I absolutely adore anything that has to do with hand prints! I think they are incredibly sweet and am always amazed at how big my boys have become. To go with the Halloween theme that our home is slowly adopting we made bat prints.
You will need:
little hands, white paper (cardstock or construction paper), black paint, white glue, and wiggle eyes.
*I told you we love wiggle eyes!

First you paint one hand black. Then have the kiddo shape the hand like an L turned on its back. Press down to make print. Repeat with the other hand.

Add two globs of white glue to put wiggle eyes in. *These neon colored eyes look so cool!

Wipe your misty eyes as you realize how much bigger their hands are since the last time you did something like this.

While we wait for our bats to dry Gray got creative and drew this little guy. I thought it was so cute & funny!

Paper Plate Owl Art

Ash brought home an owl art project from preschool. I thought we could make ones there were a little cuter and my boys could learn a little bit more about owls now that Ash had “hoo, hoo” down.  I riffled through our book collection and pulled out every owl tale that we owned and borrowed a couple more. We read all of our owl books (fiction and non-fiction). Then we set to work making our nocturnal friends.
 

We used dessert sized fall theme paper plates (any would work, but I liked knowing that my owls were

fall-ish on both sides, crazy I know!) and painted them brown. I had three shades of brown for the boys to choose from and during the painting process Ash started to mix the paints. Gray freaked out saying that he was ruining the paints, but once our owls started to dry the mixed ones actually looked really cool. It made more of a feather-ish look.

Once they were dry we glued an orange triangle to define the face towards the top of the plate.

Then we added two mini-cupcake liners for around the eyes. We glued a wiggle eye in the center of each cupcake liner. *We love wiggle eyes at our house!

Gray drew some wings for both boys on some brown paper. We cut them out and glued them on the owl’s sides.
While we were waiting for everything to dry. We talked about some owl facts and typed them up. Gray loves using my laptop so he was all over this!  We printed those bad boys up, cut them out, and glued them to the back of the owl. They boys were so excited to share their owls and their new facts with their daddy when he came home from work. *Gray's fav was the owl's ability to turn it's head all the way around. Ash liked that they stayed awake at night. It gave him a new argument to not go to bed. "No bed! I'm an owl...hoo, hoo!"

Halloween Bunting Shirt

Just a Bettie Trying to Be a Martha posted this aborable shirt tutorial. This isn't just a cute shirt, but could be the cutest little pillow, too.

Sihouette Giveaway

I WaNt one of these so bad! Oh the fabulous things I could make with one of these bad boys!
The Crafty Crow is giving one away. If you want one too...head over and enter! Good luck!!!

Halloween Treat for Teacher

I love, love, love Target's dollar bins! I came across these adorable little buckets and want to get them but didn't really have a reason for the purchase. I didn't want to buy them and never use them. So before they went into the cart there needed to be a plan. So next to the cans there were sticky notes in festive Halloween shapes and what teacher doesn't love sticky notes!?! A plan! Gray's teacher also has a weakness for Hot Tamales so toss in a couple of those and now he can spook the one he loves! Poor Gray is dying to bring it into his teacher but I feel like we should wait at least until Oct. 1st.

Junk Frames

So while my latest kiddo craft (can't wait to share...it's super cute and we had so much fun creating) is drying I thought I would share another love...junk! My husband and I love to find trash and turn them into our own treasures. First my husband found this awesome old (vintage if I want to class it up a bit) commercial washing machine door. He very thoughtfully turned it into a picture frame featuring my two crazy boys. It was a total surprise for me waiting on the wall when I came home from work last June.

Knowing that my friend, Carrie, would go gaga over it he also found this old porthole for me to make her a frame.

First I cleaned the years off the glass and metal.

Then I took a picture of her little cutie pie (I was super sneaky...contacting her husband for the photo.) and figured out how I wanted to feature her sweet little face.

Once I had that figured out I took my circular craft cutter thingy (very technical I know!) and cut the picture down to size and popped her in! It didn't even need a back because there was a ledge that held the photo in place and it made for easy access to trade out photos. I am all about making it easy!

Tada! I think it's super fun and interesting. Can't wait to see it in their new home!

Owl Magnets

I'm kind of on an owl kick. I found these super cute owl magnets on etsy at Iszle Store. How completely adorable would these be on my whiteboard at school....maybe a little teacher appreciation for myself.

Owl Stuffie

I am loving all the owl stuff right now! Owls are so perfect for fall. Toad's Treasures featured this super cute owl stuffie. How fun would it be to cuddle one of these adorable owls on a chilly fall night!?! Making one of these is on my to do list!

Wax Paper & Crayon Leaves

V and Co. featured these fabulous leaves on Friday and I can not wait to do these! I love the leaf mobile! How fun would that be hanging in front of a window catching all the light!?! This is definitely a project that will be happening on an evening soon!

Wagon Tote

How adorable is this little guy!?! Say Yes! to Hoboken featured this on Thursday and I've been drooling ever since! How fun would it be to tote this around!?! Oh the things I would carry....

Great Magazines for Kiddos

I know, I know...we haven't even had Halloween yet and here I am thinking about Christmas gifts! I won't start even decorating for Halloween until Oct. 1st but I am always on the look out for a good Christmas gift for those on my list. My boys love to get mail (who doesn't!?!) so I thought it would be fun to get them magazine subscriptions. I ordered Ash Your Big Backyard and Gray Ranger Rick, I highly recommend both. I can't wait for them to start arriving! I ordered ahead so they would have a couple of issues to open on Christmas morning and get them pumped for their future magazines. *I ordered from the National Wildlife Federation website.

Children's Book Display

I absolutely ADORE reading & books! I hope to pass my love of reading and books onto my boys. Who wouldn't love books on such a cute display from Ohdeedoh!?! I want one for me...or maybe my classroom so it doesn't seem too weird.

Kid Art Gallery

I LOVE kid art and would proudly display all that my boys create all over the house, however, I married a man who does not want it all over the house. So I had to get creative in the ways that I displayed my kiddos fabulous art! Here was my list of needs: fun without being too kid-ish; flat enough to work in our hallway; easy to change out; have some interest for those in between days when the boys aren't feeling creative.

I took a trip to the junk shops with my friend Carrie and found these frames.

Once I had cleaned them up, I spray painted them with my favorite color, orange. *This added a really fun punch of color to our hallway and it does look good even when the boys request something be taken out before something is ready to replace it. Then I attached a wire to the back of the frames by screwing in some short screws and wrapping the ends of the wire around the screw. The wire was for the bulldog clip to attach to. *Making it easy to change out the work.Yes, I am that lazy that I would not want to have to take glass out of a regular frame.

Tada! Now I have a gallery that I can easily change the art out as the latest and greatest arrive! The whole family loves them. My boys get SO excited when they create something they deem gallery worthy!

Family Meetings

Like most mothers & wives I completely adore both my husband & my kids, however, there are moments when I think, "Seriously!?!" this can be accompanied with "I am the only one who sees, can hear, or do something about *you fill in the blank*." Enters the family meeting! I started the family meeting about 2 yrs ago after returning to work post 2nd child. I was feeling squeezy and needed help before I broke down in a puddle of tears speaking in a pitch that only animals could understand. So I wrote down everything that I did at home and everything that needed to be done in a very long list and called our first family meeting. In this meeting we divided up the duties so that I was not carrying the brunt of the load myself. This meant that I would have to be okay with things not being done the exact way I do them. A bit of a struggle for me. *As anyone who has loved or lived with a teacher knows, we are all control freaks!* But we did it and I only re-vacuum the living room 1x per week.
Recently I found a new use for the family meeting....
We were at Target letting our youngest pick out a special toy that he could earn by going potty on the potty. (A whole other issue...)Of course our oldest wanted something, too. I don't want him growing up with a sense of entitlement so I said that I would purchase the Lego set, however, he would have to earn it. How I did not know. He proceeded to harass his father and I with how he could earn it but we hadn't had time to give it a thought. So in stroke of genius I put it on his plate and told him to come up with a list of ways he could earn the Lego set and pitch it to us at our next family meeting. Ahhhh...relief!

I Spy Bags

Blue Cricket Design featured these fabulous I Spy Bags from Oopsey Daisy Style. Oodles of possibilities: party favors w/ things inside to go with party theme; quite time in the car; hide letters of alphabet for letter recognition & for older kiddos have them find letters to spell words; and holiday themes (find the bat, ghost, pumpkin). I'm thinking stocking stuffers or little gifts for those kiddos that you love around the holidays.

Backpack Makeover

This boys backpack that I Am Momma Hear Me Roar featured is super cute! I love that it can be customized for girls and boys and for whatever your kiddo is in to. Great idea!

Special Halloween Giveaway!

Jen at Tatertots and Jello brought this fabulous giveaway to my attention! How fun would it be to count down the days to Halloween with my kiddos!?! I can feel their excitement right now just thinking about it! You can win a really cute & fun Halloween countdown calendar or buy a kit to make your own. It sounds like a win, win!

ABC Button Pillow

So clearly I am a little obsessed with Martha this evening....the ABC pillow is so cool! How awesome it would be to have all the letters (with a couple of extra of the frequently used letters) to spell common sight words, CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant ex: cat, man, ram) names, etc. Oh the possibilities!!! Maybe a handmade Christmas or birthday gift...hmm...

Fall Pillows

I LOVE these leaf pillows that Martha is featuring on her website. I am a big fan of all the fall colors, but I really like how she mixed it up a bit and used some unexpected shades of blue and green. Very chic, Martha!

Falling For My Front Porch Step 2

I started my fall front porch makeover this evening, but I felt like it need more! So why not a wreath!?!

While at Michaels to get my foliage for the milk jug I ran across feathers attached to a wire. I HAD to use them! So I grabbed them, a grapevine wreath, and some beads. At home I had some cream wide ribbon and some scraps from the bridesmaid dresses my MIL is making. I was hoping that all of these ingredients would create something fun.

First I stuck the feather wires in the wreath. I simply tucked the ends into the back to keep them from poking out.

Then I made some fabric rosettes, much like the ones I featured earlier from Little Birdie Secrets in both orange & cream. *I was lazy and glued my beads on with Gorilla Glue instead of sewing them on, but shhh don't tell! I ended up thinking that the orange rosette, while very pretty, just didn't pop against the feathers and brown of the wreath.

After that I glued the rosette on the base of the feathers. Tada! Finished fall wreath!

Falling For My Front Porch Step 1

My front porch was looking a little drab, not quite the way one wants to say welcome! We painted our front door orange this summer and I LOVE it! It's so perfect for this time of year! The single pot of flowers that was still blooming (you can't really tell in this picture but there are only two plants left in this pot and the side next to the door is just dirt) looked lonely.

A family friend was getting rid of this vintage milk jug and my husband scooped it up knowing that I would love it. And I do!! My neighbor also loves it and happens to ask for this treasure weekly pointing out the spot he would put it in. Not wanting to give it up I thought I'd better find the perfect place for it soon!

This weekend Michaels was having a big sale on all of their fall decor so I got this for a steal. Unfortunately, it was a little shorter than I wanted so I stuff the bottom of the jug with cardboard from my recycling bin to give it a lift.

I simply adore the finished product!

Here is what it looks like now...wreath is step 2.