That Thing Called Life...A Day in the Life of a Crafty Mom

Happy Halloween!!     How excited were your kids this morning?  Did mentioning it's Halloween help get them moving?  It sure did for mine!  We are all looking forward to tonight.  As soon as they are home from school we will start the makeup and dress up process.  I'm just as excited as they are, this is truly my time of year!!  Finally the wind has calmed down and hopefully we won't freeze our tush's off tonight, but just in case we will be layering up under the costumes.   Oh and remember the Zombie Costume I made my daughter ?  Here's what she looks like in full costume and makeup.   I'll post some more at the end.  For now, let's talk about all that Halloween candy they will get tonight.  What do you do with all of it?  Eat it?  All of it?!  My kids end up with 2 trick or treat buckets slam full and I don't want them consuming ALL of it.  Here's what we do: 1 -INSPECT Always, alw...

I can't believe it's been a week since I got to post last!  I've been busy making necklaces and ornaments, getting ready for an upcoming craft fair, as well as photographing everything along the way for this blog. Today I want to show you a really fun and easy craft that you can make together with your kids.  But, be prepared to get messy! Mummy Pail You need: A Pail (this could be a beach bucket like I used, or an old paint can or extra Easter bucket you may have lying around) Mod Podge Paper/plastic plate Large Google Eyes Thin white cotton fabric or gauze Take the white cotton fabric and hand tear it into strips.  This creates a more "mummified" texture.  Or, you can also use a roll of cotton gauze. Take some of the Mod Podge and pour onto the plate.  Take the strips of fabric and run it through the glue. Then start wrapping it around the pail. You can also use an old paint brush to smooth on some of the g...

What is Kitschy you may ask?  Well if you live in the dark like me I'm sure you are asking this question.  From a little "googling" I have found that the best definition for Kitschy is: tacky, lame, mismatched.  Attractive right?  I was reading through my emails last week and came across this little blog post counting down the days to Halloween.  On day 19, there is the title Kitschy Pumpkin , linked to Cool2Craft .  (If you are not following this blog, you should.  Crafts and instructions of all kinds, it's awesome.) Anyway the little project intrigued me.  You use a bunch of buttons, resins, broken jewelry, just any little thing you have laying around.  In the Pumpkin piece I read, she had her husband carve her out a wood pumpkin.  For some reason this turned on a light bulb in my over worked head, and I remembered purchasing some unfinished wood photo frames last year that I had never used.  Then I thought about all these res...

DIY Halloween Accent Pillow Made with Scrap Fabric.   I had a completely different idea in mind when I started this project.  My first idea came from another blog I saw, making slip covers for existing accent pillows (of course I can't find that blog anywhere now and could have sworn I pinned it.)    I started out with scrap pieces of fabric and cut various widths, 9 inches each.     Next I started lining them up on my cutting board to get a pattern.   I stitched them together length by length, 2 sets, and then stitched the widths together.   Next I folded it in half (right sides together), right on the width that I just stitched together.  I stitched the bottom, long side and half of the top side.     Clip your corners.     Grab the stuffing-mine is a polyester fiber fill.     Here is a good tip if you have never worked with this before:   Ope...

I told my husband I wanted to throw the kids a Halloween party this year.  His response: "Are you crazy??"  Well dear, yes, but that is way besides the point! I don't know why but I love party planning.  Even though when it gets down to "the day" I may be overly stressed and things will be chaotic, I still love it.  I am high strung, I realize that and embrace it.  I don't like to sit around and wait for things to happen: I make them happen.  And I can do this in a very affordable way. Here are some links to a few great Halloween party favors I wanted to share with you today.   Jack-o'-lantern Party Favors by Martha Stewart   Pumpkin Treat Bags also by Martha Stewart   Witch's Broom Treat Bags by Martha Stewart . (Yes, I'm a HUGE fan.)  Laughing Jack Cups at Free Kids Crafts   Halloween Treat Cone (HGTV ).  This would be great for any occasion, just switch up your card stock! These are just a few of my pers...

I hope everyone is enjoying the Halloween season so far!  Today we made our annual trip the the "Pumpkin Patch".  It's actually a local church that brings in tons and tons of beautiful pumpkins in all different sizes.  All the proceeds go towards the youth missions too, which I love.  My kids look so forward to going and then spending the day painting them.  I really don't know what gave me the idea to start painting pumpkins...we were painting them long before Pinterest was around! I wish I had pictures of them picking out the pumpkins, but I was to busy helping them find just the right ones.  We bought 8 medium sized pumpkins, then 9 "little spookies", 4 tiny gourds and 4 minis.  Back at home I covered the counter in newspaper and set out paper plates to place the pumpkins on.  I let both kids pick their favorite colors of acrylic paint and let their imaginations take over.   Those little bitty ones in the back I did...

For the past couple of years I have been making my daughter's Halloween costume.  This year she wants to be a zombie bride and I had a lot of ideas.  First I was going to go looking at consignment stores or thrift stores to find an old white dress, maybe even a used up flower girl dress, and add some rips and a little black and red spray paint to fix it right up. But then we went to good ol' Wal-Mart and glanced at their costumes.  The prices this year are actually a lot less than before.  Some of the cutest costumes for $15.88 or less!  They had all these cute zombie/ghost girls' costumes that made me think of the Monster High dolls. Seriously, how stinkin' cute and so cheap!  You can find all these and more on Wal-mart's website or your local store. Anyway, I thought I might just take the easy route out.  I really didn't think I could make one any cheaper.  Then my little Diva said she wanted me to make her one instead. ...

Pipe Cleaner Spider Web Decoration     This is a really cute and fun craft to make with the kids.  All you need is some pipe cleaner, pom poms, google eyes, glue and your imagination.     Start by taking 2 pipe cleaners and make an X.  Gently wrap them around each other to secure .   Next add a 3rd one and twist around the middle.   Take a 4th pipe cleaner and lay it out to make a circle in the middle.     Start twisting around each of the stems sticking out.   Continue around...   until you have a circle.   Now take 2 more pipe cleaners to make the top circle.   Once you have them in place, begin to "shape" the pipe cleaners with a little more dimension to look like a spider web.   For the next part, lay out some pom poms in the shape of a centipede.  Glue them together (I used hot glue but you could also use glue dots). ...