knitting, creating, and loving life in the Midwest
As the days of Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, there is another event that we honor every year – Family Picture Day.
This year I am considering a very neutral theme:
Special friends such as my oldest’s Soft Elephant and my youngest’s Zebra & Rabbit are always welcome – they are part of the family ;D
Do you take annual pics?
I’ve been posting about the costume my husband made for our little one. 
I was very surprised that my youngest chose this, as the one who had loved this character to begin with, was my oldest (he even had his latest birthday party with this theme), but he’s moved onto superheroes.
Thank goodness our oldest went with a store-bought, because my husband needed every last minute to get our youngest’s costume done.
The Saturday before Halloween, our cousin needed help for his costume, so most of that day was spent working on that. His costume was (luckily for my husband) just the headgear to become DeadMau5. Yeah, I’m old, because I was seriously creeped out and had no clue who that was. My oldest, though, had no problem sitting on DeadMau5’s lap for a pic.
Sunday was the deadline, then, and my husband went to work, the level of detail in this costume blew me away.
The base of the costume itself was carpet foam that he got for free just by asking carpet installers. The spikes were cut from foam, primed, then spray painted. The texture all over the “skin” is small stripes of silicone. The teeth were cut from foam, then painted and attached to the upper and lower jaws, same with the foot claws. The feet are cut to go over our son’s shoes. We decided to not make claws for the hands in case our little man got overenthusiastic and scratched one of his classmates.
Here is the head, almost done:
My husband helping our little man right before his parade:
Waving to one of the people taking his pic. Kids and grown ups wanted to have their pic taken with him, people were filming him, it was hilarious!
After his parade was over, my husband and I and my in-laws (who joined us for the morning) had breakfast, then headed over to my oldest’s school.
A quick wave from a busy Captain America:
His good friend S. was Wolverine so there was lots of superhero talk 😀
So this was our morning, now we get a few hours of quiet before the madness of “candy extortion” as my husband calls it. And oh yeah, Godzilla was made for under $35.
Happy Halloween from Captain America and Godzilla! Be safe and have a great time!
Granted, the black and white effect is what kills it here, but still, we love our Halloween-ed mantel. The pumpkins are all from our backyard, I left some of the branches on them for a more rustic feel. 
My boys helped with the decorating, the center display is made up of my oldest’s first Halloween toy given to him by his grandparents, some favorite Halloween books, and a souvenir from Disneyland. They also liked my web ribbon so it was added on the sides.
Hope you liked our spooooooooky mantel, I think all the candy up there makes it a little less scary ;D
Okay, not really, they’re just three cute black photo frames from IKEA that got dolled up for Halloween with the help of some scrapbook paper 😀
I first printed out some suitable frightening letters and cut them out – this cardstock looks yellow but it is actually more orange:
Then I matted them on the black cardstock and pop-dotted them onto the frames:
These will be part of one of my Halloween displays – I am lucky to have a couple of hutches and mantels where I can put out some scary goodness, so I’ll show you those as it gets closer to October 31. I bought the frames in a 3-pack for $5 and I had the scrapbook paper and glue, so this little project comes in under $5.
I’ve started to think about Christmas presents – don’t shoot me! I know it’s barely September, but I am hoping to make some of these presents myself, which requires thinking ahead.
My husband and I had a Make Your Own Spa Goodies party a few years ago, so I think I could manage to make some of these scrubs:
Source: inbetweenlaundry.blogspot.com via Claudia on Pinterest
I LOVE these, with cheapie pillar candles from IKEA!
Source: potterybarn.com via Claudia on Pinterest
What a great gift idea for foodie friends:
Source: blogs.babble.com via Claudia on Pinterest
Another great spa idea, this time from The Martha:
Source: marthastewart.com via Claudia on Pinterest
Are you making anything to give away during the holidays?
The Easter bunny left a few treats in the backyard:
I love the color contrast of this pink egg and the greenery around it!
My boys did a great job finding each and every single egg.
My oldest was such a good big brother – he shared his loot and helped his little brother find a bunch of eggs.
Then we all pigged out on chocolate eggs, yum!
I’m giving up purchasing any new craft supplies for Lent.
Yeah, that’s about how I feel about it (image from thefrisky.com)
The good news is, I have a crapload of craft items stored away so it’s not like I’m going to be lacking materials, but it’s always so good to go out and buy something for a new project, isn’t it?
I found a piece of fabric in my old stash that I already have plans for.
I’d like to say that I’m going to clean out most of my stored stuff and use it all up, but who am I kidding? I won’t use half of it and I’ll still want new stuff to craft with.
Alas, I am going into this with the best intentions and that’s all I can ask for.
Are you giving up anything for Lent?
Valentine’s Day is barely over and I’m already eyeing the next holiday!
We had a rather ugly frame that had the redeeming quality of being wide and flat, so I figure i would decoupage it with St Patrick’s Day-themed papers. I got the little Luck, of the Irish embellishment and placed the paper so that the large shamrock would be in the lower right corner.
Easy peasy!
We are spending tonight as a family, I have planned a scavenger hunt for the boys and some sweet prizes. Should be lots of fun! I also got some heart shaped pasta for dinner – ravioli (from Costco) for us and plain (from World Market) for the boys.
I did, however, put together a little board with an outfit for a fancy Valentine’s dinner out. Yes, that is Kate Middleton’s engagement dress, but in a lovely burgundy color, with classic accessories and my favorite perfume for dressy nights.
I am so excited about tonight! Hope the boys like their scavenger hunt!!
This time I’m linking up my little Valentine-themed mantel.
I made the little mantel cloth from some remnants from JoAnn’s and leftover brown fabric I pleated for a pretty edge.
I’ve kept my mantel pretty simple, some pictures on the sides of my “loves” and a picture from our honeymoon in the center. Target has these seasonal frames for $4.99 and I wish I’d gotten more of the black ones, but I love the pretty red heart one.
A crystal dish on the left for Valentine Hershey kisses and a red candle on the right, and pretty candlesticks with red candles on the ends.
That’s my Valentine mantel linked up at The Stories of A to Z!
Casa de Berry 