DIY Christmas Candles

This was SO easy - I made these super easy and fun candles as Christmas gifts last year.  All you need is glitter (I used Martha Stewart brand, red and silver), red tape (the SUPER sticky kind), and candles (I bought white and red from Walmart for pretty cheap).  The hardest part was getting the glitter stripes in the same spot on the same style candles.  I found the best was to do this was to lay the candles down and line them up and tape them all before glittering.

Here is the before.

And the after.

Seriously SO easy.  You can do this! Thanks, as always, for checking in!

Stampin' Up Ornaments

I went to the lovely Lis Ljung's Stamp Camp a few months ago where we made the most adorable ornament (which is also featured in the most recent Stampin' Up holiday catalog).  I absolutely fell in love with the ornament and wanted to make some on my own to give away as gifts this year.  Problem was I didn't have pretty much any of the necessary supplies.  Therefore, it was time to get creative and figure out a way to make a similar ornament with what I had on hand. 

Here is the original

Here is my interpretation

As you can see mine has different components.  I don't have the die cut machine used for the original shapes, but I have the ornament punch and matching stamp set.  I also used a heart stamp and punch for the interior layer.  I hope you like my interpretation and thanks for looking! If you too would like to make an adorable ornament but don't have the right supplies don't get discouraged, GET CREATIVE! I would love to see what you come up with so please leave a link to your interpretation in my comments so I can check it out!

Post Halloween Post

So it's been a few days and I just didn't get a chance to get on here to give my post-Halloween update.  We ended up having 212 kids who trick-or-treated, just a few shy of last year.  We have some candy left over which means I have a stomach-ache.  LOL. 

We didn't dress up in costumes to pass out candy, but we did put some festive ears on. 

 Every year I give my husband a little Halloween treat.  Think he liked it?

I decorate our front porch - this year hubby tore apart some pallets we got for free and made a fence which he painted black for me to decorate on the porch.  My favorite decor of course are the jack-o-jars which are SUPER easy to make!

And I finally finished my fun wreath that I made!

Thanks for looking and I hope you all had a fabulous holiday!

Halloween/Fall/Thanksgiving Decor Part 2

I am so pleased with how my holiday tree turned out! I got this lovely tree courtesy of the Junior League of Riverside.  I was actually a part of the construction of the tree which we used for centerpieces for our ball 2 years ago.  It's simply Manzanita branches secured in a pot using Plaster of Paris and then spray painting the entire thing silver.  Quite easy.  At the end of the ball we had an option of a donation for the centerpiece.  You may recall I used these for my friend Caitlin's Bridal Shower which I hosted.

Anywho, I decided I will revamp the tree for each holiday (as I post them I will tag them all with the "Holiday Tree" label which you can access on the left).  This is my Halloween version! It features beads from Michael's, flower balls (you can view my past tutorial here), black paper bats made on the Cricut, spider webs from the dollar tree, black paper spiders made on the Cricut, white raffia to cover the base, pumpkin ornaments that my mother passed down to me, and some cool skeletons that were actually on a garland I got at the dollar tree.  I just cut the garland apart to make them individual ornaments.  Oh and the cool raven at the top, also from the dollar tree.  I love it so much and couldn't wait to share it with you all! Thanks for looking!! I love to read your comments, so please let me know what you think by commenting below!

Halloween/Fall/Thanksgiving Decor Part 1

My living room is all ready for the upcoming holidays and I just couldn't wait any longer to share some pics!

My mantle is all ready for Fall/Thanksgiving.  I finally finished the 3D paper pumpkins that are on top of the finials.  

And finally, the shelves over my couch have received a spooktacular makeover for Halloween! Funny story about the purple tilted candles.... those were normal purple candlesticks that I packed away in my Fall bins and put in the attic after taking them down after last year's season.  I put them in the Frankenstein vase (which you can also see in the photo).  Well, silly me didn't even consider that because it gets hotter than Hades here in Southern California, that they would melt.  So when I unpacked them the vase was on its side with the candles melted to the side of the vase and leaned over the top of the vase.  I thought it was quite perfect for the Halloween holiday.  However, I am quite worried that it won't be nearly as awesome for my Christmas candles which have also been in the attic for nearly a year.  Sigh.  LOL.

The shelves over my TV have been revamped for Fall/Thanksgiving.  Here is a before and after shot.

Most of my decor were garage sale finds, some of it was handed down to me by my mother, and very few of the items were actually purchased by me at a store or handmade.  Thanks again for looking and check back soon for more Holiday decor!

Halloween Crafts

Been working on decorating the house and some fun Halloween/Fall crafts of late.  Hoping to finish them up this week and get some photos up ASAP.  Here is a sneak peek - hoping to turn this into some sort of wreath. 

I can't believe it's October already! What kinds of crafts are you guys working on for the upcoming fall holidays?