Halloween Crafts

Happy Fall! Today is the first official day, but it's been feeling mighty autumnal around here for a while. I swore I wasn't going to turn the heat on until October, but I didn't want to freeze our little parakeets, so I had to break down and turn it on!

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter handed me this Lefton figurine, Miss November. She had decided that she was going to clean off her shelves and pack away things from her childhood. Right away I knew what I wanted to do with her.

I turned her into Miss Halloween!

Isn't she cute?!

I hate when you have an idea for something, and you can't find the necessary stuff to make it. I was looking for a paper mache moon at Hobby Lobby, but they didn't have any, so my daughter Liz made me one!

See? Isn't she amazing?

And once I had that moon, I was able to make this! The owl came from Michaels, and I made him a little party hat too.

I also made some flags.

I love making these, because they take no time at all, which is my kind of craft.

And lastly, we have a treat cone. I have a couple of other things that I'm working on, but honestly I don't know why I do it, because I have a teeny weeny house and I don't know where I'm going to put it all. But I can't stop!

MY WEEKEND FINDS

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of My Weekend Finds, the continuing saga of one girl's quest for more junk!
My friend Nancy and I had a garage sale over the weekend. As each customer told us about how many sales there were in the area that day, all I could think was "I Wish I Was Garage Saling!!!". It was sheer torture knowing there were sales going on without me!

I did get to go to the flea market on Sunday, but all I got were these little tin plates. Cute, aren't they?

I bought this cat from Nancy at our sale. As hard as I try, I never seem to be able to have a garage sale without buying something!

This old light-up pumpkin came from a thrift store. It's always a thrill to find something vintage in amongst a ton of new stuff.

Ok, I confess, I did sneak in a sale or two......while I was out taking down the signs from our sale! I found a few additions for the Easter collection.

And a red, white & blue snowman. So that's it. That's all of my finds. At least I found some holiday stuff, which is my favorite thing, but I hate it when having a garage sale interferes with my garage saling! So, did YOU get to go garage saling over the weekend?

MY WEEKEND FINDS

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of My Weekend Finds, the continuing saga of one girl's quest for more junk!

It was a glorious day at the flea market, and when I saw this pink phone, it was love at first sight! But where would I put it? I didn't have the answer, so I walked away. When I decided that I just had to have it, I had to walk back across the entire flea market, because it was in the very last aisle. Would it still be there? Well, obviously it was, and I was able to negotiate a lower price too! Pepto Bismol pink, wouldn't you say?

An old flamingo tray, now sitting on the toilet tank. Fancy, huh?

Lovely vintage tablecloths and a dish towel.

I was happy to find one of those vintage pins where you pull the string and Santa's nose lights up. I had one of these when I was little. Did you?

And I just have to say that I met the nicest woman at a thrift store the other day. We got to talking, and I admired the cat trick or treat bucket in her cart. She told me that I could have it! When I told her how nice she was to do that, she said that it was "just stuff". I think it was good karma coming my way, because I know that I've done the same thing in the past when someone liked what I had in my hand. I felt good the rest of the day, grinning like that pumpkin, because a total stranger had been so nice to me. Isn't it sad that these days, that's such a rare occurrence?
So, did you find anything over the weekend that put a smile on your face?

Patriot Day 2011

Ever since September 11th was officially proclaimed to be Patriot Day, I've chosen to observe it by celebrating the love I have for my country. And by doing some All-American things.

I'm going to the flea market today. Gotta keep the economy strong!

The next town over is having a Patriot Parade. They'll also have a 1000 pound steel beam from the World Trade Center on display. I really want to see that.

We'll watch football. My Green Bay Packers won their season opener on Thursday, so I'll pretend to cheer on Mr. Old Glory's Chicago Bears today.

We'll do a little grilling. What's more American than grilling?!


Afterwards we'll enjoy some cake. I know, I know. That's a German chocolate cake. But I lost my recipe for Patriot Pie that I usually make!

And all day long, and into the night, we'll remember those that we lost on this day ten years ago.

Halloween Crafts-A New Project Every Week!

Recently I got the brilliant idea that I would do a different Halloween project each week. Yikes! I know that doesn't sound like much, but to me it's a big deal, because I'm not really a crafter.
Well, here's my first creation. I love how this bunting looks against the green cabinet! My sewing machine is all bajiggety again, so I had to do this completely by hand.

You would think that it would be a very satisfying feeling to make this completely by hand. You would be wrong! In the time it took me to make this, I probably could have made two or three by machine. And I probably wouldn't have jammed that needle up under my thumb nail like I did. Still, I think it turned out well. I need to make two more, which will involve another trip to JoAnn Fabrics. They have alot of great Halloween fabric this year.

Next week, it will be time to make something with these. Can you guess what it will be?

MY WEEKEND FINDS

Thanks for tuning in to a special holiday episode of My Weekend Finds, the continuing saga of one girl's quest for more junk!

First I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Labor Day! I hope you're all out there squeezing the last bits of fun out of summer! I'll be spending the day trying to finish a project so that Mr. Old Glory can once again park his car in the garage!

I went back on the second day of an estate sale and got these noisemakers to use in my New Year decorations.

Gobble Gobble! It's a herd of Gurley turkeys to go with my Thanksgiving decorations, and at this point I think that the pilgrims are officially outnumbered!

A retro pink aluminum pitcher. Did you grow up with aluminum stuff? I loved drinking out of the glasses in the summer, and eating ice cream out of the bowls. Super cold! If you like this pitcher, it's for sale in my Ebay shop. I'm finally selling again! Click on the Ebay icon on my sidebar to see what I'm un-hoarding each week!

Another flower frog to hold a picture of our daughter Liz sniffing a flower in Paris.

I'm really excited about this candelabra! I got it at a thrift store, and there was no hesitation on my part. I knew I had to have it! It weighs an absolute ton, so I don't think I have to worry about it blowing over when it goes on the porch. Yes, Mr. Old Glory, on the porch!

Can't you just picture some black candles and pumpkins and spiderwebs on it?!?!?!

This bust will get Halloween-ified!

And just for fun, a pair of blingy cat-eye glasses! Somehow someway I'm going to work these into the Halloween decorations. I know what you're thinking. Put them on that bust! Well I tried, and they're too big!
So tell me what you found over the weekend, and enjoy your Labor Day!

Halloween Shopping!

For the last ten years, I have waited until after September 11th to take down my patriotic things and start decorating for Fall and Halloween, but these last couple of weeks I've been so itching to drag out all of the Halloween stuff! So far I've resisted the urge, but I've bought a few things in the meantime.
These trick-or-treaters are silly looking, but I had to have them! They're from Michaels.

Of course I had to have Martha Stewart's magazine, because she's the Queen of Halloween, and BH&G's Halloween magazine is usually pretty good too.

JoAnn's has some really nice fabrics this year. I can't wait to get started making some bunting.

Is that not adorable?!

I'm going to make a tablecloth for the dining room table out of this fabric. I haven't checked out Target's Halloween section yet, but they always have cute stuff, so I should probably just stay away from there, because goodness knows I've got enough things! The problem is that I really, really love Halloween. So if you've seen some cute Halloween stuff that you think I should know about.......