An etsy Thanksgiving

I love etsy and do a lot of my shopping there.  I thought I would share some of my favorite Thanksgiving finds with you today.  I hope this inspires you and gives you ideas of how to make your Fall and Thanksgiving more beautiful!

'Thanksgiving ' by partypaperscissors

A few of my favorite Thanksgiving finds.

fall tassel garland AidiesHideaway $16.00	thanksgiving napkin rin... riricreations $35.00	Fall Burlap Table Runne... Wonders4You $21.00
Thanksgiving Pilgrim Cu... TwoPaperAngels $16.00	Thanksgiving Halloween ... bekahjennings $28.00	Autumn Stripes- Fall Li... sunshinecreate... $18.00
Girl's Fall Turkey ... MsCourtneysClo... $17.00	Thanksgiving Fall Straw... PaperPartyGirl... $5.00	Tree art print, fall au... onceuponapaper $13.60
Fall Wedding Decoration... CoutureByAyca $17.00	Fall Burlap Placemats S... ParrisChicBout... $15.00	Festive Fall Felt Flowe... threadowl $35.99
Autumn Acorns, Bowl Fil... TheBakersDaugh... $21.50	Fall Orange & Cream Che... MichelleBollma... $18.00	Set of 6 Very Primitive... KokomoLanePrim... $15.00
Thanksgiving Cookie Pla... CakesnThingsby... $21.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Thanksgiving Decoration Inspiration

Fall is my favorite time of year.  I not only love seeing nature create beautiful landscapes, I love the weather, the temperature, the clothing, the food, and the rustic fall color palette.

I am excited to create new fall items to add to my my shop. I will be making a fall banner or two and some Thanksgiving decorations.

This year's Thanksgiving Decorations are going to consist of the true color palette of Fall: hues of green, orange, yellow and brown.

I've included some pictures that have been an inspiration for my Thanksgiving decoration line.

Corn picture is from the blog Abergailia.

Leaves/trees picture is from We Heart It.

Tablescape picture is from All You (magagzine).

Wreath is from Red Robyn Lane.

Leaf painting is from The Joy of Color.

Eat. Drink. & Be Scary. Halloween Party

Halloween is my second favorite holiday!  Now that we are finally settled in our new house I HAD to throw a little party!  This past weekend, we hosted our first annual Eat. Drink. & Be Scary Halloween inspired party. 

Here is a (not so good)picture of our party invitation.  The invitation was made by Emily of Sweetly Scrapped.  I love Emily and her vintage chic creations.  I am a repeat customer of Emily's.  I use her for invitations and the like every chance I get.

This is our dessert table.  I had fun styling this table.  I decided to keep it classic and simple.  I choose the traditional Halloween color palette of orange and black.

The Hardware:

The bats on the "bat tree" were made four years ago and are inspired by the one and only, Martha Stewart.  I freshened them up by creating a black modge podge vase for them to be displayed. Target was a huge help and inspiration to this years' dessert table.  I found a lot of inexpensive items there. The kitties, the pumpkins and the popcorn boxes are from the "dollar section" at Target.The cake stand, the cake pop and lollipop stands and the spider cupcake holders are also from Target.  The cupcake stand is from JoAnn's Fabric. I designed the black doily banner.  The remaining plates are from places unknown...I've had them forever.  :  )

The Yummies:

I decided to make most of the goodies this year.  I made brownie push up pops with the new Cool Whip Frosting, which I love so much.  I also made a carrot cake and used the Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting  for the carrot cake. I made additional brownie bites, banana pecan bites and Devil's Food Cake cupcakes. 

The upside down witches in the cauldrons were inspired by Kara's Party Ideas. I purchased the witches cauldrons from Kara's Party Ideas the Shop.  *See Kara's shop andvamazing Halloween party ideas  here.

These adorable cookies were made by a friend who just started baking these sweet, tasty treats.  Yes.  She is this good and is only a beginner!!

The super cute fondant pumpkin cupcake toppers were created by Julie from Cakes and Kids.  I am a repeat customer of Julie's too.  I love her work.

These beautiful, delicious lollipops are from a new vendor (to me) I found on etsy. She is SO.  AFFORDABLE!!!!!  Visit her shop:  Candied Cakes.

Delicious confections by one my favorite confectionista, Kimberley from Kimberley's Kitchen.

Aaaannnddd...What's a party without yummies from Peace. Love.Pretzels.?  They made these adorable cake pops and hand painted pretzels.  They made the chocolate covered oreos especially for me!  I am a lucky girl!

Kids Table:

The kids table.  The cute trick or treat bags were designed and made by my sister.  The pumpkin bracelet is by Gillian from Gillie Beans Boutique.  The super cute wooden utensils are by Brooke from Sucre Shop

Random fun-ness!!!  Scooby Doo and the gang.....

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. A Giveaway.

     I am so lucky and grateful to have gained such a great following.  It's funny, when I started this social media journey, I thought 1,000 "likes" on facebook would take me years.  To my surprise, it has taken a little over a year.  Thank you friends!


 I hope you are enjoying your ride with me.  I hope I am sharing content with you that you love and can use in your daily lives. 

To show my appreciation and to honor you, I am hosting a giveaway.  I am giving away one copy of Kara's Party Ideas the book.  

"Kara’s Party Ideas will wow readers with seven never-before-seen parties and six fan-favorites, each displayed in remarkable detail through photos and descriptions. From the delightful Circus Train Birthday Party (p.47) which features baby cribs as display tables arranged into a circus train, to the breathtaking Princess Birthday Party (p.1) where several elegantly dressed princesses held an exquisite tea party in a blossoming fruit orchard, to the exquisitely detailed Pow Wow Party (p.21) featuring a child-sized teepee and desert corncobs made using Twinkies, Kara’s Party Ideas is full of fun creativity, that will inspire the party planning novice as well as the professional event stylist." 

**Excerpt taken from www.karaspartyideas.com**

Included in the book is a CD with free printables including invitations and party decorations.

Enter below.  Winner to be announced: Monday, October 22

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Huge Giveaway and an Explanation

My life is so busy.  With two girls under 5, a husband who is never home from work on time and a dog that craves massive amounts of attention....each day is a complete whirlwind!  I feel like it is time to go to bed shortly after I have just woken out of bed!   With that said...Sometimes I think I might be trying to take on too much.   Let's see... each day I am doing the best I can to:  be a mom, be a wife, be a friend,  be the best I can be, keep up with my etsy shop and social media, blog,  start party planning business, etc.... Something's gotta give.  For me the something that "gives" is either the etsy shop, social media, the blog or building the new business and it's different from day to day.  I think that helps creates balance.  Hmph?!  Anyway...

Here are the reasons I am blogging today.  
1. To explain why I haven't posted pictures( as I said I would )of how we hung our glitter pumpkins from our last post.  I apologize. I honestly have been forgetting to charge the camera battery.  It has been charged and pictures will be coming soon.

2. To share a fantastic giveaway hosted by Banner Events, who is celebrating her first birthday.  A giveaway that my sister Ashley from  peace.love.pretzels. and I are participating in....I sponsored a fabric streamer garland.  Ashley sponsored some custom, hand painted party goodness. There are 67 prizes totaling approximately $3,000 and 66 winners!!

The link to enter.

Good luck and have a great day!

Halloween Art Project: Glitter Pumpkins Take One

***This is a fun and CASUAL post.  Pictures are less than perfect...Details are less than perfect...But the fun of it all was PERFECT!!!
    
 My family and I went to Cook Forest State Park this past weekend to visit my parents who have a "camp" in the beautiful forest.  The drive there was beautiful.  The leaves are beginning to change colors....Fall is truly here!  I knew my girls, Kaelen (age 4) and AJ (age 2.5) would have plenty of outdoor activities to do while we were there but I brought a couple of projects with us in case the weather became wet and rainy.  Well, the weather was perfect all weekend long. No rain.  Cool enough to need the fire to keep you warm.  Perfect.  Though there was no rain, we decided to work on the projects any way.  The first project was a glitter pumpkin cut out.  This craft is super easy and super messy and loads of fun.

First I found a pumpkin template and cut it out.  I then traced it onto black cardstock.

 I cut out the pumpkins on the black cardstock.

I then made a mixture of three parts glue and one part water  and used a foam brush to "paint" on the glue.  By adding water you are making the glue thinner and easier to spread.

Next I did the fun part.   I sprinkled orange glitter all over the pumpkin.

I shook off the excess glitter.

And voila!  A beautiful, glitter pumpkin.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post to see how I hung our pumpkins and where we decided to hang them!

Some extra cuteness...Had to share!  ***Excuse the background...My husband and brother in law were in the process of refinishing my parents' patio!