Louisville Zoo Halloween Party

The Louisville Zoo hosts a Halloween Party for 15 nights in October and we decided to check it out this year.  Our school was on fall break last week and we stayed home instead of visiting family since my husband was working but we still wanted to do something fun with the girls.  So they dressed in the old standby princess dresses and pulled out their trick or treat bags and we went to the zoo!

The zoo and all the sponsors really do a great job and we were pleasantly surprised as we started to walk through.  They had characters for you to take photos with, a lot of fun backdrops for photos and kids under 11 were able to trick or treat along the way.  The lines to meet the characters were short and everything was perfectly spaced out. 

Many of the animals were not out for the night but we were able to see a few, especially Aubrey’s favorite, the polar bear.  The 2 previous times she has been to the Louisville Zoo the polar bears were not out as they are rotated with the grizzly bears throughout the day.  She was thrilled to see the polar bear and it may have trumped the trick or treating part.

I did get a pretty great shot of the lions from a distance and the lighting was perfect.  We even heard the lions roaring, both the male and female.  We were so happy to see that as usually the lions are napping when we visit.  This is also a time when I was glad to have a good camera with a decent zoom lens.   

It was a great night and we had the best time!  I hope this becomes an event we go to every year.  I linked the zoo’s website at the top if you want to check it out to get more info or current admission prices.

Halloween Décor Project

I love Halloween and for some reason I make more Halloween décor crafts than any other holiday.  Last week my mom and I were in Pier One and saw an adorable witches hat wall decoration and we were inspired to make our own. 

We went to Michael’s where we found paper mache witches hats.  We split it in half with a craft knife so it would hang flat against the wall.  We painted the hat purple and then covered it on Mod Podge before dumping a lot of Martha Stewart glitter all over it.  After the purple glitter had set a bit we tapped off the rest of the loose glitter and used a one inch foam brush dipped in Mod Podge and added a strip of glue around the base.  I had some fabulous green glitter from Stampin’ Up! in my stash and poured it on the glue. We did this carefully and with the hat on its side to keep the green from sticking in the purple. 
After it dried we added some bling swirls rather than try to freehand a web design.  This has been the most difficult part as I have had to add craft Glue Dots to the back to keep it stuck as the adhesive on the swirls didn’t stick once it was covered with the glitter.  I had a DUH moment here and I should have added a finishing spray of some sorts over the glitter but I didn’t have one on hand and decided to skip it.  So, if you are inspired to give this project a try, I would seal the glitter somehow.
We picked up a plain pine board from Michael’s for the signs and painted them black.  The Martha Stewart black paint is pretty nice and covered well with just one coat!  I had the great green, glittery alpha stickers from Doodlebug Designs in my stash and they were a near perfect match in color.  I went over the board with the Sparkle Mod Podge to seal it. 
We used black wire we found in the jewelry section at Michael’s to attach the sign after I drilled small holes in the wood and the hat.  It is hard to see in the photo but I also picked up some pretty purple diamond shaped beads and added them to the bottom corners of the sign. I wrapped the wire around a plastic spider before attaching it to the hat.  Finally, I used some green glitter ribbon I also picked up at Michael’s to make the loop for hanging it.
This was really a quick project and I love the finished product so much.  I cannot wait to hang it on my front door in a few weeks.  If you are interested in checking out some more of my Halloween projects you can look here for a cute upcycled jar, here for a easy, sparkly framed print, and here for a paper wreath.
Do you have a holiday that you love crafting for? 

I’m sharing my idea on The Celebration Shoppe’s What I Made Wednesday link party and Tip Junkie's Tip Me Tuesday!

Not Too Spooky

I made this layout using the Frosted Designs Sketch Along Tuesdays Sketch #34.  I stuck pretty true to the sketch only changing up the photo sizes and rather than adding a banner I across the middle I swirled a bit of twine. 

I have been waiting to scrap these photos from this past Halloween and I knew this was the perfect sketch for them. The photos make me smile!  I let the girls choose their own costumes and they picked a rather boyish monster and dragon so I just added tutus to girly them up a bit.  They were cute and many people remembered them when we went around trick or treating on Halloween. 

I used Bella Blvd.’s Too Cute To Spook papers along with Making Memories corrugated alpha and Cosmo Crickets Tiny Type stickers as well.

Don’t forget about the giveaway I have open here.   I extended the deadline to tomorrow and if I get to 50 followers (I am just one away) I will draw 2 winners!  So go become a follower of my blog and comment on the post to enter to win so fun scrappy goodies!

Upcycled Halloween Jar

Is it a bit too early to be thinking about Halloween?  I made this jar a few months ago and have been waiting to share it here. 



I used an empty 7 oz Yankee Candle jar and lid that I cleaned out and washed.  Does anyone else save these jars with good intentions to give them a second life?  I have about a dozen just sitting on top of the pantry that I have a hard time parting with.  I always think they will make a great container for a gift of some sorts but they still sit in there.  We will be moving next year and I need to use them or drop them in the recycling bin. 

I pulled out some super cute My Mind’s Eye patterned paper and tag for this and used a strong adhesive to attach the paper to the jar.  I traced the lid onto the black paper and then used a white Uni-Ball Signo pen to hand draw on the spider web.  A black pom pom, pipe cleaner and googley eyes quickly became the spider and I attached him with hot glue.  I also cut a thin strip of the black paper to go around the edge of the jar and that is also attached with strong adhesive. 


Top it off with some bakers twine and a tag and in 20 minutes you have a super cute container ready to fill with a bit of candy and give to a friend. 

I am linking up with Tip Junkie’s Tip Me Tuesday for the first time!  I love all the creativity that is shared each week and wanted to join in.

Party Prep

We are T-2 for the Gibson 2010 Halloween Party and I am starting to put things together.  Up until now I have had things scattered around the house because I had to do some rearranging to make room for this display and for some party food on Friday night. 

I love the Eat, Drink and Be Scary sign and the gal that created this has it as a free download from her blog, Craftily Ever After.  She also has another great sign here.  After you download them take a look around her blog as there are lots of great ideas and inspiration there.  The Crafty Witches Book of Magic Spells was also a free download from the Chickabug blog.  There is an abundance of great party ideas there and I have added it to my favorites.  For the book you simply download the file, print it, cut it out and stick it on a book you already have on hand.  The Apothecary label on the flower pot (a re-purposed Yankee candle jar) is from Echo Park.  I love digital downloads because you can re-use them! 

I really love DIY decorations and with the power of the internet, a few minutes and a printer you can find just about anything these days.  Now I need to actually get off the computer and start cleaning up!  Have a great day.



Just One More....I Promise!

Last Friday Creating Keepsakes Dream Team Member Cindy Tobey was the Guest Blogger on the CK Blog and she shared a pattern for this fabulous little paper pieced haunted house!  I loved this idea when I saw it in the Creating Keepsakes October issue and knew I wanted to make this ASAP.  So after printing the pattern and cutting out all the pieces and then busting out a craft knife so I could make all the little cuts I had an adorable house of my very own. 

Once it was finished I had no idea what I was going to do with it but knew I wanted it on display so I used an 8x8 piece of a Scenic Route chipboard album and printed out the background from Echo Park's Apothecary patterned paper pack (I have gotten so much use out of this line and to think I only paid $1 for it from the Jessica Sprague Website on One Buck Wednesday).  I used a thin coat of Mod Podge to adhere the paper and then used a dry adhesive to attach the house.  The adorable little bat is from a free download I got from the Paper Glitter blog.  It was originally part of a tag but I just needed the bat so I fussy cut it and attached just his body so the wings lift slightly off the paper. 

I love, love, love the way this turned out!  I seriously couldn't be happier.  I worked with supplies I had on hand and that certainly helps to clear out some of my stash. 

On another Halloween note my paper cone wreath is featured on the Creating Keepsakes Blog today!  I am so flattered that Megan Hoeppner was inspired by my project and asked to share it on the blog alongside her take on the project!  If you get the chance you should check it out! 

Felt Halloween Banner

I have really been struggling with getting a good photo of this banner because it is so long but also because it is not hanging in a good place to get some natural light. I was inspired by this mini felt banner after visiting a blog in search of Halloween decoration ideas....unfortunately I did not write down the blog so I cannot give credit but if you know where this came from please let me know so I can give proper credit. I was sure I would remember the blog but after much searching I have not come across it again.

Here are the instructions in case you want to stitch your own. This was super easy and did not take too much time. The triangles are about 3 inches high and I used 3 9x12 inch sheets of black felt and another 3 sheets of orange felt for this. I used a rotary cutter and a ruler for this and it took me about an hour to cut all the triangles. I stacked the pieces so they were alternating and then stitched them together using my sewing machine. I slightly overlapped the edges and then back stitched across them to give a little extra durability to the banner. I stitched 3 inch pieces of black ribbon in the ends so I could hang it up. That's it! I said it was easy!

I have the banner hanging across the wall and window in my living room and it has really held up well. It has been up for a month now and I love looking at it every day.

This is the last Halloween project I have unless I feel the need to make something else but I am ready to move on to some Thanksgiving and Christmas projects that I can share. Thanks for sticking around through all the Halloween ideas. I have been going a little overboard this year in preparation for our Halloween Party.

Have a great day!

Halloween Garland Wreath

The stars have finally aligned and I was able to actually add a photo to my blog!  I have had the hardest time with Blogger lately.  I am not sure if it is due to our slooooow internet connection or changes that Blogger has made but it has been nothing but frustrating for me as of late.  Here is my next DIY project....a super simple and fast Halloween wreath using nothing but a 12 foot Halloween garland that I picked up, a cardboard circle and some hot glue.

I used a 12 inch cardboard cake circle and removed the center after tracing a large bowl and using a box cutter.  I actually ran out of garland about 3 inches from the end so I would recommend using a 10 inch circle for a 12 foot garland.  I was able to use a piece of black garland from last Halloween to piece it together but meant a little extra work removing the pumpkins from it and then cutting some bats from the back side of the wreath to glue onto the front so it looks the same.  I simply hot glued the garland in place as I wrapped it around the circle.  I tied a 8 inch piece of black ribbon around the top before hot gluing a bat I cut from poster board on to the wreath.  The bat helped cover my pieced together garland. 

This project took me 15 minutes and I used supplies I had on hand, minus the cost of the garland which was $6 and I picked it up at the Post Exchange about a month ago.  The garland is fluffy enough that you would not really need a foam or metal wreath form unless you wanted to or have one on hand.

I am linking up with Eighteen25 for this post...if you haven't visited their blog before you really should!  It is full of great ideas.

Halloween Digital Layout

I am not a digi scrapper but I wanted to play along on a Club Creating Keepsakes challenge and I don't have any Halloween-ish papers so I tried my hand at a digi page.  I used PSE 7 and find myself working on many projects and have taken a few free classes from Jessica Sprague so I know enough to do a basic page but I never took the plunge until now.

I also do not have an abundance of Halloween photos so I pulled this gem out of my photo album and scanned it in.  Yup!  That is me.  I am pretty sure it was 1985 or 86 and I was dressed as a Wuzzle....click here if you don't know what a Wuzzle is. I was a huge fan and I think I felt pretty darn cute wearing this costume. 

The digi papers and adorable little characters across the bottom are from Echo Park and you can find those on the Jessica Sprague website.  The bats and title across the top are from a Club CK freebie download that you can find here.  If you have never been to the Club CK page before you should take a look around.  You can create an account for free and there are a ton of resources available just be clicking around.

I have a few more Halloween projects to share but I have had a hard time getting good photos so I will keep working on it and give it another go next week. 

Another DIY Halloween Project

I made a red, white and blue version of this decoration back in June after seeing the instructions over on Martha Stewarts website.  I looked so I could share the directions here but now can't seem to find the project so I will tell you how I made mine.  I want to add that the one I completed in June looks different because it only had 12 cones and this one has 16.  To be honest I like the fuller version better.

You will need: 

4 sheets of 12x12 double sided scrapbook paper

Paper Trimmer

White Craft Glue (I used Martha Stewarts glue and really liked it for this project)

8 inch cardboard circle (an empty cereal box works great for this)

Hot Glue Gun and glue sticks

6 inch piece of ribbon

Some type of embellishment to cover the center

First you will need to cut your papers into 6x6 inch squares.  Once your papers are cut roll each square into a cone shape and run a thin bead of glue down the edge of paper and press it together.  I generally hold the seam with my fingers for a minute until the glue takes hold.  Do this for all the squares of paper until you have 16 cones.

Take your cardboard circle and a cone and run a line of glue from the center of the circle to the edge and then press the cone down into it.  Repeat until you have all the cones glued down.  Hot glue your embellishment over the center of the circle to cover the tips of the cones.  I always have a difficult time getting the center to stick using regular glue.  This time around I actually used some dimensional glue dots to hold the center on so if you have that on hand go ahead and use it.  Finally, fold your ribbon in half and hot glue it onto the back so you can hang the decoration up.

It takes less than an hour to complete this project and I love how easy it is to make a cute and fairly inexpensive decoration.  Here are a few things I learned this time around.  First, when working with a patterned paper that has stripes (or words) make sure you fold the cones so the design goes in the same direction (you will notice that this did not happen for me but I was not going to start over).  Second, it is much easier to use hot glue when putting the paper onto the cardboard. 

I do not have an abundance of Halloween themed papers so I used Photoshop Elements 7 and digital papers to create my project.  The papers are from Echo Park's Apothecary Paper Pack #2 that you can purchase and download from here. 

I hope you feel inspired to give this a try.  I plan on making another one for Christmas!

DIY Halloween Decoration

With Halloween just 38 days away I have been in full on decorating mode!  Not that we have one of those extremely decorated houses, it is just the opposite, but I do not have an abundance of decorations and decided that this year I would make as much as I could.  Now that I have kids I want each holiday to be fun for them so I find myself wanting to go a little overboard with our decorating.  Unfortunately for me (but better for JG's checking account) the Germans do not really celebrate Halloween so heading out to purchase decorations on the economy is impossible.  The Post Exchange is not any better as they carry a very small amount of decorations and costumes.  So if I want anything I need to order it online.  And I do but it is generally limited to costumes and party supplies. 

So now that I have rambled on let's talk about the cute BOO frame I made after seeing this idea on the eighteen25 blog.  I loved the idea but instead of creating 3 5x7 frames I went with 1 since I was using supplies that I had on hand.  Digging through my stash of scrapbooking supplies I found some chipboard letters that were covered in a design that I no longer liked so I carefully peeled off the top layer and coated the bare surface with a layer of Mod Podge before completely covering the letters with glitter.  Since this was a messy project I used a sheet of wax paper to cover the work surface and a toothpick to help get the glitter onto the sides of the letters. 

The background paper is a digital paper from the Echo Park Trick or Treat collection that you can find here.  I don't have any Halloween papers in my stash so I am glad that I could use digi papers to make this a hybrid project.  I used Photoshop Elements 7 to create a clipping mask sized slightly larger than my 5x7 frame and moved the paper around until I was happy with the placement of the spider and webs.  Then I printed out the paper and trimmed it to fit the opening of my frame.  I removed the glass from the frame and saved it so after Halloween I can use the it for something else.  Finally, I added the letters using glue dots once they were dry.

This was a simple project that adds some glitter to my book shelf and I love it so much.  I am thinking of ways to use this idea for other holidays. 

Don't forget to enter the giveaway below.  I am leaving the comments open until this Saturday.



Pumpkins Are Done!

I am glad I finally carved our pumpkins this afternoon. I tried to get pictures of the girls with the pumpkins and that did not happen. I am beginning to think I will not get a picture of the two of them together to send out in our Christmas cards as they never want to look at the camera at the same time. I get plenty of crazy photos. Does anyone have any tips?

I totally have pumpkin on the brain right now so I am thinking of making a pumpkin latte tomorrow or maybe even some more pumpkin cookies. We don't have any plans until Saturday so maybe we will make lots of pumpkin recipes over the next couple of days.

The girlies and I were invited to a Halloween party on Saturday with folks from James' unit so it saves me from figuring out what I was going to do with them. I don't really want to take them trick or treating because they are too little but I want to dress them up even though they won't stay in their costumes for long. We will be pulling out their sweet little tutus to wear. I am sure Lolo will keep her tutu on because we get it on her she wears it all day long. Aubrey would rather take it off with a grand show and then toss it on the floor.

We found out last year that Halloween is an American holiday and while the German's are starting to pick up on some of the American traditions the girls and I can not go trick or treating in the neighborhood because they would think we are crazy. Last year we had a couple of German kids come trick or treating but I am not sure if they dressed up or not. We had our carved pumpkins at the end of our driveway and since our town is small they know that Americans live here.

As much as I like the fall holidays I really have Christmas on the running through me right now. I have no idea why but I have been tempted to pop in my Christmas music and put up my tree! My sweet friend Stephanie and I were discussing our holiday cards the other day and flipping through the Paper Crafts Holiday Cards and More issue. I feel so inspired to sit down and make some projects after seeing all the beauitful cards, packaging and decorations in the magazine. I hope to complete a few up next week so I will post pictures as soon as I finish.

One a super positive note we are half way through this deployment!!!! That is super exciting for me. These past few months have really been stinky without James here.

I realized I have been going pretty long between posts and I like blogging so I will attempt to blog more.