Valentines Schmalentines

 ♥♥♥

Don't get me wrong, I love Valentine's Day and all the little cute sayings and mushy-ness and romantics.
 However, I think these gestures and flower deliveries should be done any other day other than Valentines day.

Show me you love me on a random day in March. 

Sprinkle me with affection on the third Saturday in September.

My boss buys his wife flowers every Friday on his way home from work.  EVERY.FRIDAY.
Yes.
Every Friday.

That's a bit excessive to me, but it's cute.

Pinterest has been loaded with Valentines day crafts, recipes and printables- and yes, I admit to pinning my share.  You can see my Valentines Day board here .

February is also the month for the mid season return of The Walking Dead. Um, I was so stoked for it to finally come back!

I wish I had kids, because what better way to send out Valentines?? Encorporate the love of Zombies of course.

Lolly Jane did just that.

I am so in love with this printable.
Go visit Lolly Jane and eat it up. ;)

Happy Valentine's Day! ♥

Jersey Strong

What a whirl wind few weeks we've had here in Jersey. 

Superstorm Sandy ripped though the area with a vengeance at the end of October.  Thankfully, I am not near the shore (I only lost power at my place) but seeing the photos of the devastation still breaks my heart.

So many people without homes.  So many lost so much.  I put together a donation drop off at our firehouse and was able to collect a lot of money and necessities for those in need.  It truly warmed my heart to be able to help so many of those that were affected.  

It isn't anywhere close to normal for a lot of people and won't be for quite some time.  I've donated money and time and will continue to do so until my help is no longer needed.

I had some downtime with my mom the other day and we decided to make some Salt Dough Ornaments.  I had ordered a NJ cookie cutter in hopes of making some cute ornaments.  I love the way they turned out and cannot decide if I should sell them or not. 

Excuse the dark photos, it was about 8pm by the time they were ready to hang, and the only available Christmas tree was the one outside on my parents porch.  (besides, I still have a crappy cell phone camera.  Santa, please bring me a nice camera for Christmas- please and Thank you.)

I love my NJ ornaments and plan on making some as gifts this year.   I love the Salt Dough in general.  It is  super easy to work with and the possibilities are endless. 

Cannot wait to get my hands into some other Christmas gift making shenanigans!

Source

Linking up to: Romance on a Dime- Take it on Tuesday 

Thanksgiving Mantel and Christmas Ornaments- Early or late?

Hey all.

I haven't been around much- sorry.  Things have been so hectic. I haven't had time to breathe.  Well, at least that is what is seems like.

When I get some more time, I will update on what I have been up to.

Fire department stuffs, Jersey Shore Restoring stuffs.  Fun Stuffs.

I finally had a day to myself this past Sunday and was able to take down my Halloween mantel.  Yes. I just took my Halloween decorations down on November 18th.

I never really decorated for Thanksgiving or Fall or Harvest-y stuff so this is what I was able to come up with.

Maybe next year it will better, and not so late being put up.


I was also excited to try my hand at some Salt Dough Ornaments. I kept the ingredients small since I just wanted to try them. The last thing I needed was some huge batch of glop I wasn't going to be able to use.

1c Flour (I used all purpose.  I can't imagine self rising would be a good choice for these)
1/2c Salt
1/2c Water

Mix together.  I used my hands- I don't have a fancy schmancy Kitchen Aid like a lot of pages said to use- my hands worked juuuust fine.

Roll it out and cut!  I used some cookie cutters I had (I can't believe I knew where they were!) and some other objects I found around the house to make imprints.  Use a straw to make the ornament hole.

Bake at 250* for 2 hours.  (I left mine in for about 2 hours and 10 minutes.)

Pre-baking!

I have not painted them yet-  Look for that new post soon. :)
I also ordered a few other cutters to make more fun ones! Cannot wait.

 It's a bit early for Christmas for me, but since I was late getting Turkey day decor up, it balances things out, right? ;)

CHARGE! DIY decorations from Charger plates

Hello October.  I'm about a week late with the Welcome.

Today may be the 10th, but I still got 21 more days to "Halloween it up"!

Remember the end of last month I posted what I felt to be a craft fail? You can see it here.

I had a handful of chargers left over.  This isn't counting the 50 my mom went back and bought that night!

THIS time I whipped out the Silhouette SD.  I also pulled out some of my vinyl.  I purchase my vinyl from Oh My Crafts.

Sorry I don't have photos of the actual process.  I was too excited to see the final outcome.

*Basically, design your image on the Silhouette program and send to the Silhouette.
*Peel away an unwanted vinyl so your actual design is left on the white "background".
*Use transfer paper (I just use clear contact paper...but make sure you stick it around other things first to get rid of the insane stickyness.  I stick it to my couch a few times or myself. What a sight!) Make sure it's clear, this way you can see the placement of your design easier.
*Peel your design up from the white backing (it should stick to the transfer paper)
*Press your transfer paper to the surface you wish your design to be. I use an old credit card to smooth out the design and make sure it really sticks.
*Peel up the transfer paper and wah-la! 

TA-DA!

Much better!

I have a few more Halloween ones to tackle before starting on Thanksgiving ones and Christmas ones.

*psst. Don't tell Halloween I cheated on it, but I made a Christmas charger last night too.*

:)

disclaimer: I am not compensated in any way shape or form from the suppliers listed in this post.

Craft semi-fail

I spent the day with my mom yesterday.  We decided to do some crafting!  Of course, we treked on over to Michaels.

I had every intention of making this DIY clay necklace from Henry Happened.

Naturally, I got sidetracked.

I came across colorful chargers on sale for $1.00.  I love things that are a dollar!  Even better? I had a 20% off coupon (including sale items!)  WOOT!

I grabbed 10 chargers. Some in brown, purple, silver and one in black (I would have bought more black but there was only 1 that wasn't broken or scuffed to shit)

I immediately knew what I wanted to do with them.  Pair them up with some words and phrases from my Silhouette and I'll have a nice mantel piece or wall decoration!

I should have known this is where the project would take a turn for the worse.

At the register, I find out my coupon isn't valid.  (Ok, not TOO bad.)

My Silhouette was at my house, not my moms.  I am impatient.  Very impatient, so of course, I had to work on one right then and there.

I break out some posterboard to use as a stencil, some white paint, 3M adhesive spray and went to town.   (I started to take pictures of this step, deleted them when I got frustrated and almost threw the project across the street.)

That is some lovely adhesive residue.

Don't ask how long it took to come off.  You like the stenciling too?  Yeah, thought so.  Thank goodness it's a halloween platter- creepy is good in this case.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Once my fingertips were raw from rubbing the adhesive from the stencils off, I cleaned up the lettering a bit and sprayed it with some polycrylic to set the letters.

Holy epic fail, batman.  The can was spitting, not spraying right and it was just a mess.

Once the mess of Polycrylic dried (yes, there were more steps...I didn't give up!) I tried to sand it off.  You may laugh.  Needless to say, it didn't work. 

I glued some googly eyes to the middle which was part of the original plan.

The sanded polycrylic finish kind of ups the creep factor.... right? RIGHT?!

 

Sigh.

Mom suggested I paint a spider web on it, so I grabbed some gold glitter paint and freehanded one.

I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, so freehanding probably wasn't my best option.

Anyway.

Here is the completed mess in my mom's kitchen.  She really liked it so I let her have it.

I have 9 other chargers.  They WILL come out better than this one. I hope.

A haunting mantel

It tires me just to write to this post, thinking of the month yet to come.

Halloween is my favorite holiday (echoooo echoooo. Pretty sure I mention that in every post)

It also means the busiest for me.  I have a full time job that I work M-F 8am-5pm.
The month of October, I work at a haunted attraction on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

I also got hired for a chain Halloween store M-Thurs evenings and Saturday and Sunday mornings.

What?? I'm getting married....I need money. ;)

See why I'm already tired?

 I have been debating decorating my apartment for Halloween this year, and the fact that I even have to debate, makes me sad.

I have TONS of decorations in Storage.  I don't want to bring it out.  I really don't.  I won't be home at all to enjoy it.  I'd be setting up these decorations for what?  Not my Fiance either.  He has a full time job, a part time job and works the haunt with me as well.

Neither of us can enjoy it, so why put it up?  Let the saddness commence.

What I DID do however, was decorate my mantel with some things I had around the apartment..

Here's what you see!

The big candle holder on the left, a friend bought me on clearance for only $5  last year. (it's been in my closet, yes...all year. I was too lazy to bring it to storage)

I found the "cheesecloth" stuff at the Dollar Tree, along with the little skull candy dish.  Yes, the candy dish is empty and that makes me sad too.  (We don't get trick or treaters in our apartment complex.  Don't even ask how sad that makes me.)

I found the 2 brass candelabras at a yard sale.  $2 bucks! Those suckers are heavy! Fiance wants to scrap them to make some cash, but I refuse.  I'm debating on painting them.

The 4 paned mirror was a garbage find, spray painted black.  I had 2 of them.

Mr Bones, the skeleteon is a candle holder.  I ordered that in my last book party with Partylite.

Behind Mr. Bones is a dollar store plate.  Some verses from Poe's "Nevermore" are written on it in dry erase marker.  I love that little touch.  I can erase it whenever I want and change it up for the seasons!

I might move the big bulky luminary- something seems off with it.

Overall, I love my mantel considering it was mostly stuff laying around the house.

What do you think?

Happy Haunting!

Partying at :

Hookin Up with HOH #117

Someday Crafts: Whatever Goes Wednesday 

52 Mantels: Fall Mantel Link Party!

Halloween is everywhere...

I may have mentioned how much I love Halloween.  If I didn't mention it before- I'd be shocked. I love it. Adore it. Cherish it.

My favorite time of year! I love everything about it.  The crisp, cool breeze, crunchy, colorful leaves- it all screams Halloween to me.


I also may have mentioned that my Fiance works for the Department of Public Works.  In crappier terms, he works on a garbage truck.  This means he comes home dirty and stinky and and and....
He's become a great picker though! He will bring home some pretty useful things that he sees laying on the side of the road.  Somethings are brand-spankin' new!  It amazes me what people will just throw away!

The most recent find was a piece of art.  Now, I'm not a big, typical art fanatic.  I can't name artists by looking at a piece, I can't get down with the abstract stuff.  This piece.... it's hard to describe.  It's three dimensional.  It's definately eye catching... it's quite downright disturbing actually.

Yes, this was brought into our home.  He had plans to put it on our "Trash Mantel".

(He has nicknamed our fireplace, the "Trash Mantel"  Rightfully so.  The fireplace was free. You can see how I acquired it here.  Most things we use to decorate the mantel come from the trash or yard sales.  It's a fun way to decorate on a budget!)

Don't get me wrong. It would be the perfect Halloween decoration.  It just creeped me out. Gave me the heebee jeebees.

We decided to donate it to the haunt we work at for the month of October. 

We didn't even have the poor, creepy dude long enough to name him.   I'm not quite sure what I would have named him.  What would you have named him?  ;)

Here is no-name...chilling in the barn of his new home.  Maybe he can get some good scares.  Better at the barn than at my house!

What unusual things have you found for Halloween decorations?