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!  

Halloween Party Drinks

     Here I am again...blogging about Halloween.  I have decided to throw a little friends and family Halloween inspired gathering this year.  I would love to turn it into an annual event and most likely will...I just learned how to make a photo collage via Picasa and will post my inspiration board next week.   Today I am going to show you a fun idea that is perfect for any Halloween party that is serving spooky drinks.  
     I shop at JoAnn Fabric all the time.  I am in that store at least once a week.  I think it might truly be an addiction.  I always must have a project or two in the works.  Since I am in there regularly, I know the ins and out of the store.  One of my favorite sections is the $1 bins.  They are at checkout in my store.  The seasonal items they toss in there are fantastic.  This season I have had my eyes out for items that I can use for my Halloween party. I found a few things I will be using for the party.  I am going to share one of them with you today...vinyl bottle decals.  
    For one dollar you receive four vinyl decals that are simple to use.  You pull off the paper backing from the vinyl and adhere it to a bottle, drink dispenser, pitcher or glass of your choice. The result is a spooky drink container!  So simple.  So inexpensive.  

  For the Halloween party I plan on adhering the labels on the ( adorable, inexpensive @$3.99) SLOM glass bottle with stopper from Ikea and my drink dispensers.   I think these will look great on my beverage table at my first annual Halloween party!  Who doesn't love spooky drinks?

Now....What to put in them?  Any suggestions?

Halloween Decorations

     Yesterday was the first day of fall.  One week until October is here.  This is by far my most favorite time of year.  I try really hard to wait until October 1st before I start decorating for Halloween.  This year I started a little early.  I decorated my mantle a week or so ago so I could shoot pictures of my Halloween fabric streamer garland.  I will wait until next week to put up all of the other fun decorations.

I have also been "decorating" my etsy shop for Halloween so to speak.  I have been listing the new Halloween items I designed for this Halloween season.  I decided to keep things classic and simple this year.

Witch Cupcake Toppers

Bat Cupcake Toppers

Ghost Cupcake Toppers

Witch Silhouette Food Picks

     Cupcake toppers are a cute simple way to decorate for you Halloween party.  They are inexpensive and they are simple to put together.  Get a cupcake and insert pick and there you have it....A beautifully adorned cupcake!

****Mention this blog post to receive a free treat with your Halloween purchase.

Halloween Favorites

I. Love. Halloween.  I will say that 100 more times at least before October 31st!  I recently completed a photo shoot of a Halloween dessert table my sister and I styled and used items from some etsy vendors. (Not quite finished editing the pics. Will post soon.) You will find some of the item we used in the shoot in the treasury I created below:  pumpkin cupcake toppers, wooden utensils, crepe paper streamers and cupcake wraps.  The rest are things I found irresistibly cute! 

'Spooktacular Halloween Finds' by partypaperscissors

I love Halloween. These are just a few of my favorite finds.

Trick Or Treat banner or gar... SaraElise $27.00	Rustic Frankenstein Banner TheCherryBarn $15.00	Spooktacular - Kids Hallowe... blushprintable... $15.00	Fall Wreath Halloween Wreath... bellerosedesig... $30.00
Halloween Cupcake Toppers - ... CakesAndKids $17.95	25 Halloween Triple Striped ... ThePrettyPaper... $4.25	20 Wooden Ice Cream Spoons -... SucreShop $8.00	HALLOWEEN black and orange T... PoshPartyPrett... $18.50
Smell my Feet Witches Boots ... aedesigns $4.00	Classic Black with White Pol... sweettreatssup... $3.65	Halloween Banner Decoration ... GreenJazzFace $12.00	Halloween Cake Bunting Paper... HouseOfClouds $22.00
Halloween / Black Cat Cupcak... rainydaygirls2 $10.00	Orange and black Halloween g... CoutureByAyca $15.00	Halloween Cookies Mummy Cand... CookieCoterie $18.00	12 Halloween favor boxes, Ha... papirvendage $10.99

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Halloween Fabric Streamer Garland

Ahhhh....My favorite time of the year is finally here!  I love fall and I LOVE Halloween!  I am busy working on a Halloween project that I hope you all will find useful and will love.  Until it gets "published," take a look at this...I just posted this adorable Halloween fabric garland in my esty shop today.  I think it might be my favorite fabric streamer garland that I have made thus far.  I cannot get enough of Halloween decorations...Especially mantle decorations.  

I think what I love most about this garland is the look of the "pinking cut."  This is the first time I created a garland using a pinking rotary cutter.  I love the results.

This garland contains a combination of four fabrics:  solid black, solid orange, black with white polka dots and orange swirl.

I love the look it gives when hung on a mantle.  It would also look fantastic hanging on a banister or railing....In the office or in a classroom. The garland also makes great photo props as used by J. Shoemaker Photography.

Picture by J.Shoemocker Photography


I hope you like the garland as much as I do...Leave a comment and let me know what you think...Or share your favorite Halloween decor items or fall mantle decorations.
 For a short time, this garland will be on sale in my shop for $35.00 plus shipping.  Message me if you are interested and I will send you the coupon code to be used at checkout.

Thanks.  Happy Fall.

Hot Air Balloon Baby Shower

     I had the wonderful opportunity to style a baby shower for my good friend Jennifer. The shower was held at Jennifer's father's amazingly beautiful house on a lake in Treasure Lake, PA.  Jen is having a baby girl.  The color palette for the nursery is fushia, pea green and yellow.  I had a great time pulling these bright and fun colors together to style this special event.

Dessert Table

Hand painted pretzel rods by Peace. Love. Pretzels.

These adorable, hand painted pretzels rods were made by Peace.Love.Pretzels.

Fondant cupcake topper by Party NV.

I just love these fondant cupcake topper by Party NV.  They were the perfect addition to the the strawberry shortcake whoopie pies (made yours truly) and the delicious chocolate cupcakes made by Laurie from Our Hometown Restaruant, Reynoldsville, PA.

The adorable cake was made by a baker local to Treasure Lake, Brenda Pruzinsky.  The darling  3-D hot air balloon cupcake topper was made by party paper scissors.

3-D hot air balloon cupcake toppers by party paper scissors

Hot air balloon cookie pops by Melinda Ishman.

Cloud sugar cookie favor.

The hot air balloon cookie pops and the cloud sugar cookie favors were made by my sister, Melinda Ishman.  Melinda loves to bake and makes a great, soft sugar cookie.

Hot air balloon centerpiece.

These beautiful hot air balloon centerpieces were made by Jennifer's sister in law, Darlene Gildersleeve.  They turned out beautifully!

Gift table.

With a sky blue fabric streamer backdrop, the adorable hot air balloon garland and mini cloud garland, by partypaperscissors the gift table looked so charming.  Especially with the meticulously adorned felt hot air balloons.  These were designed by the ridiculously talented Nicole from eYarnmoni. The details are truly amazing and photographs do them no justice.

A great day was had by all...Even my oldest daughter and her daddy.