Halloween Crafts

This is going to be our new tradition for pumpkin carving night. Instead of making a pumpkin desert (which I love but not so much when you smell the stink of pumpkin guts coming out of your pumpkin you decorate) I thought we needed a festive, non-pumpkin, treat. So this is just a 2 layer chocolate cake with tinted pb frosting. I used two reeses peanut butter cups, chocolate frosting, and hershey bars. The kids loved it!

 These pumpkins were so simple to make. Sew some scrap material in half (right sides facing) Then sew a loose stitch on the top and gather it together. Fill your pumpkin with batting or (if you're cheap like me...an old shirt and plastic bags. I gathered some sticks from outside and hot glued them on top along with a bow and a felt leaf.

 Here is our front porch.  I think it turned out cute this year.

Annie Sloan chalk paint for a kitchen table.

We have this table. This table was given to us and it has moved with us to every place (up to 6 now) and I've never loved it. It's thick and heavy and not my favorite color. After about 3 moves it stopped cleaning up very well. I couldn't get food off. It's as if the food morphed into the grain of the table. So, about 2 years ago I talked about wanting to paint it. About 1 year ago I went to Home Depot and actually bought the black spray paint. Then a year passed and I hadn't done anything. 

 Honestly, I was afraid of having to sand the table and chairs and all of their cracks and ins and outs. Then I didn't want to have to prime it and then I just kept complaining about it but never did anything.

 Enter ANNIE SLOAN CHALK PAINT. Seriously, this stuff is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I toyed around with replacing the table but even something cheap would've been in the $100. So, I felt that $35 was totally reasonable. Plus, no sanding or priming.

 I bought a cheap brush from walmart. I would've bought a small one for the chairs next time. This brush was a little tricky to use on the small parts of the chair but it worked. And then I bought the high grain sandpaper to scuff it up when I was finished.

 It is beautiful. It's called Emperor Red. It's perfect red. it matched my red Kitchen-Aid mixer and all my red in the kitchen. I love it. Best part is it only took 1 coat and a few days. I finished it with a coat of Poly-Urethane spray paint by Minwax. The whole project cost under $50 dollars.

And now, I actually finding myself loving this little table.

This is it.

I bought this cute outfit for Miss Belle at the salvation army for 1 dollar. I loved the knit on top. I got it home and it looked so ridiculous on my tiny baby. The yellow was just all wrong in so many places. 

 Never fear, I seam ripped it off and added a gathered shirt from an old blue shirt I've had in the stash forever  and a whole new outfit was created. And soooo cute.