Halloween With a Few of My Favorite Bloggers!

October 23, 2017October 22, 2017Leave a comment

Good morning! Halloween is only a week away! What!?!? How is that possible? I don’t really decorate for Halloween anymore, now that my girls are older, so I thought I would share some ideas from my favorite bloggers. Just click on the pictures to be taken to each ladies blog.

Of course, my first and most favorite blogger, is Karianne from Thistlewood Farms. She shared some big news this past week. She’s moving! She’s moving back to the home she grew up in. I can’t wait to see what she does with it! Here are Karianne’s Four Ideas for Inexpensive Halloween Door Decorations.

Lauren over at Bless’er House has a cool idea for marbled vases. Not too scary…just the right touch!

Kelly, over at My Soulful Home, has this cute mummy candle. Great project for the kids too!

Here is an idea that’s a little more on the creepy side! But doesn’t this look awesome? Angie, over at Knick of Time, has some great recycling ideas. I’m sure you have some spare bottles around!

Do you have any extra mason jars around the house? Linda at Mason Jar Craft Loves has loads of ideas for those jars! Just pick your favorite and start painting!

Well, it’s Halloween, so we need some treats, right? Amy at the Happy Scraps has some cute printables to add to your treats. She has lots of great ideas and I had a hard time just picking one!

This would be a great way to welcome your trick-or-treaters! The pumpkin even lights up! Laura at The Turquoise Home shares all the directions on her blog.

How about some free printables to hang on your walls for Halloween? I love how Katrin displays them in a canvas hung backwards. Perfect touch for Halloween! She even gives you the links for the printables.

Well, I am leaving you with Karianne again! These adorable little felt pumpkins were made by her sister and Karianne gives all the instructions on her blog.

What do you think? Are you ready to try any of these ideas? I hope it gives you some inspiration! Have a great week!

These are a Few of my Favorite Things!

October 20, 2017October 16, 20174 Comments

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful week and are starting to prep for all of the kids that will be coming to your door in 11 days. Are you ready, because I’m not…

Yeah…I happened to eat all of the candy I have purchased for Halloween. Not my proudest moment…

Either way, I wanted to show off some of my favorite pumpkins to decorate for Halloween. Now, if you are like me and absolutely hate gutting pumpkins (Terrible. Horrible. No Good. Very Bad.), sometimes it can be hard to find a good pumpkin decorating idea. So don’t worry, I have done the homework for you.

Here are 10 of my favorite decorated pumpkins for Halloween! I will post where you can find them. Enjoy!

Cinderella Inspired Pumpkin from A Pumpkin and a Princess

Studded Pumpkins from The Crafted Sparrow

Sequins Polka Dot Pumpkins from Sugar Cloth

Blue Porcelain Pumpkin from Craftberry Bush

Pumpkin Cage by Craft Passion Craft Passion

Gold Bling Pumpkin from The Swell Designer

Coastal Pumpkins from Crafty Morning

Unicorn Pumpkin from The Party Parade

Confetti Pumpkin from Madigan Made

Peacock Pumpkin from Home on the Corner

Pumpkins On the Front Porch

October 16, 2017October 15, 20172 Comments

Good morning! Another week has begun! Are you having fall weather yet! We actually are! We don’t usually cool off until Halloween, so we are definitely blessed this year. It actually makes decorating for fall enjoyable!

I was able to get a few things out on my front porch for the fall. A few pumpkins, my chalkboard dressed up for fall and some new pillow covers helped to get it ready.

I love changing out my chalkboard for each season. I use chalk markers to give it such vibrant color. The FALL banner was a free printable I found over at The Cottage Market.

I ordered a couple of new pillow covers from Amazon. I listed the links at the bottom of the page. I love the blue color on the pumpkins!

Of course, I have to have pumpkins! I have mostly orange, but I did manage find a beautiful blue/green heirloom pumpkin.

A cozy blanket keeps me warm on chilly mornings.

Our trees aren’t changing color just yet, so I threw in some faux leaves too.

I hope you have a great week!

Here are some links to similar items at Amazon. I get a little percentage back on whatever is purchased so, Thank You!

Pumpkin and Peacock Feathers Fall Tablescape

October 13, 2017October 12, 20178 Comments

Hello! I thought I would share a tablescape post from a couple years ago. Enjoy!

Even though I won’t be hosting any family dinners for the holiday, my table is set and ready to go! I just like having a pretty table to look at. Most of the time it has lots of other things on it like mail, magazines and books, but I did manage to clear it off to get some pictures to share with you!

I started out with my white tablecloth. I use this one for almost every season! It makes a great base to build on. Next I layered a scalloped chalkboard runner over the middle. I love this runner! You can write messages right on it! This would be great for your Thanksgiving dinner and everyone could write what they are thankful for. I looked up the website and I noticed they didn’t have any chalk cloth right now, but here is the link in case they get more in and you are interested: http://modernjune.com/collections/chalk-cloth-2.

I placed an orange tea towel I picked up from Target a few years ago, in the middle of the runner. Next came the teal napkins which I used as placemats.

Now came the fun part, for me anyways! I layered my white plates with smaller turquoise salad plates, then added a peacock napkin and a small pumpkin to each place setting. The silverware is my everyday, BH&G silverware. I placed a glass and a mug by each setting.

The centerpiece of the table is the large woven pumpkin. I had been admiring these for quite a while and then happened to find one at a thrift store. Don’t you love it when that happens?

I also added a candle on pedestal, an owl and a lumpy white pumpkin.

On the other side of the large pumpkin I placed this wonderful glass and wood holder, also found at a thrift store with the Target tag still on it. I placed a glittery pumpkin and a few leaves inside.

Once all the decorations were placed, I wound some leaves around it all and then added the peacock feathers. Sure glad Haley wanted a peacock theme for her graduation party!

I almost forgot to show you this cute little ruler pumpkin! I found a bundle of rulers and varnished them with different shades. I cut a piece of wood in the shape of a pumpkin and then glued the rulers to the top. Once the glue was dry, I cut out around the pumpkin shape again to trim the edges of the ruler. I also made a larger one that is on my front porch.

Are you getting ready for the holidays? Will you be spending time with family and friends, maybe hosting dinner at your house? I’d love to hear how you spend your holidays too!

Helping a Cause

October 9, 2017October 10, 20173 Comments

Hello everyone! Did everyone have a good weekend?

This week I want to talk about an awesome cause that my whole family takes a part in and cares deeply about. It is an organization that we have helped to build from the ground up, which makes it even more meaningful to us. This would be the nonprofit animal shelter Valley Animal Haven.

We have known the owner since for about 12 years, so when she told us that she was starting her own animal shelter, we were completely on board to help. We helped with fundraisers to raise money for supplies, we volunteer countless hours, and help with different adoption events.

In other words, we are there a lot.

We were there on the day that we opened the doors at the first official shelter location. My whole family became board members to help out even more. My sister did a 4-H fundraiser to help get another kennel for the dogs. My dad has built all of our indoor cat areas by hand. My family has rescued multiple dogs to take to the shelter and have adopted 3 (Rozy, Munchy, and Maggie), from the shelter.

And the shelter continues to grow.

The shelter was started in 2014 and had barely any adoptions. And so far this year, we have almost hit 600 adoptions! This includes dogs, cats, rabbits, turtles, and guinea pigs. Honestly, we don’t really know how we acquired and adopted out the rabbits, turtles, and guinea pigs, but we will take it!

We have also had many fundraisers that have helped out the shelter with some finances. There have been garage sales, dog washes, costume contests, dog walks, and many more. Any little bit helps them out.

But the most important thing is if you want to help out. You can donate money or supplies to the shelter, but we are always looking for volunteers. Every little thing helps. Even if you can only come for an hour and help feed the puppies, we will take the help. And there are so many dogs and cats that are looking for homes. If you want to check out Valley Animal Haven’s website, you can look at it by clicking on the picture below.

But you don’t have to just help at animal shelters! There are plenty of local nonprofit organizations in your area that are looking for help. Nonprofits require a lot more work than you expect, so any help that they can get would be greatly appreciated. You can look in your local newspaper or use the handy dandy Google to see what is in your area. There may be something in your area that you absolutely care about that you can help with! Give them a call and find out how your can help!

Thank you so much for checking out Valley Animal Haven and this blog post! We helped with fundraisers to raise money for supplies, we volunteer countless hours, and help with different adoption events. There are many tools out there to help plan different nonprofit fundraising events. So if you have a cause you like to support check out how you can create your own nonprofit fundraiser. Have a wonderful week!