Halloween Throwback Thursday

I never thought that Halloween was my favorite holiday. However, looking thru my costume bucket last night, I realized I have had some pretty great costumes the last few years. 

Growing up, my mom always made my costumes. I have continued that tradition and made all of mine. 

Pasta Party

A few months ago we had a pasta party! Everyone brought something to share!  It came together great! 

 Noodles- 3 kinds

Sauces- Red sauce, pesto, Alfredo

Toppings- Olives, pepperoncini, red peppers

We also had salad and bread and set it up buffet style. 

The kiddos and adults both loved it!

Before & After Bookshelf

It is amazing what paint can do! I used Annie Sloan chalk paint to paint these! I really did just slap the paint right on the wood! No sanding or priming!! 

Vivi even helped me a bit! I rubbed the wax on using old t-shirts. The wax has a little more of an odor than the paint. It works better to do it in a well ventilated area. 

We were sure to bolt these big bookshelves to the wall, so they wouldn't fall on the kiddos!

Before & After! LOVE! 

Playroom Reveal!

This past weekend I went over to my friends house to finish up their playroom. I think it turned out great and the girls love it! It is amazing what a little paint and a few accessories can do! 

This room started out builders tan.  I think we did it under $200.  The paint for the room and bookshelves was about half.  The small accessories were basically free, as I used a lot of scraps and stuff I had at home.  The trough was $80, and makes an awesome, HUGE, toy box! I have to give Abbey the credit for that idea! 

Here you can see the red book shelves, banners, and tissue paper poms.  We painted the bookshelves with Annie Sloan Emperor's Red.  It took us 1 coat of paint and about 12/2 hours to finish them! I can't say it enough, how much I love Annie Sloan paint.  We did not have to sand, prime, or do anything to them before we painted them! 

 These banners were made from scraps of fabric I had. The poms were leftover from a party my mom went to.

Red frames with the girls pics in black and white are from Hobby Lobby. They were $4 each!

I have to give Cody the credit on this one! I gave him the idea, and he was the engineer and construction worker! He used hook and eyes, I think that is what you would call them, and 12 ft of thick wire.  He drilled holes and put the eyes in them.  Then he bought this mini tightener thing to adjust and tighten the wire.  He spray painted some clothes pins yellow to hang up artwork and pictures! 

This Play sign was made from scrap wood, yellow spray paint, vinyl, and washi tape.  

I painted this large frame with Annie Sloan paint. In 2 weeks, we are going to paint chalkboard paint behind it! 

We did a little sorting and rearranging and made an area for the girls to play house. 

I found these bins at the Dollar Tree. I used vinyl to add their names. We used these buckets to store small pieces and baby specific toys. 

The girls love it! They kept asking if they were having a party down there because of all of the decorations! 

Friday Funny

Nice try buddy, you can't trick me! You copied it off the back of a movie!

Enchilada Casserole

A few weeks ago we had a shower for one of my friends.  We made tacos and had lots of leftover meat.  I decided I would use the leftovers to repurpose a meal.  I decided on enchilada casserole.  I invited my Aunt Claire and Aunt Marie over because they were in town from Minnesota.  My Uncle Paul also came too!

The Minnows had never had enchiladas before! I think everyone enjoyed them.

Ingredients: 

1-2 lbs ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning

1 can corn 

1 can enchilada sauce 

1/2 onion, diced

3T chopped fresh cilantro

corn tortillas

cheddar cheese

diced green chilies

Directions: 

Cook ground beef and season with taco seasoning. 

Add corn, green chilies, 1/4 cup enchilada sauce, and onions. 

Cook until onions are softened. 

Layer corn tortillas in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. 

Drizzle 1/4 cup enchilada sauce over the tortillas. 

Add 1/2 of the ground beef mixture to the pan. 

Cover with cheese and sprinkle cilantro. 

Repeat layers ending with cheese and cilantro. 

Bake for 30 minutes at 350*.

Serve with salsa and sour cream 

Halloween Onesies & Bow

This onesie is cute, but I am obsessed with the bow! Hobby Lobby sells these feather poofs with the clip already on them.  Then I bought some flowers in the scrapbook section. A little hot glue and you have a super cute bow! 

For the onesie I used my Silhouette to cut out the pumpkin and "a." I ironed it on and sewed around the pumpkin to make the ribbon stem stay. Can't wait for Miss A to sport this outfit!

Mustache Dash

My friends and I signed up for the mustache dash 5K because it looked fun!

I made us a few shirts using my Silhouette. 

We had a great day... Some of us had too much fun!

Before the 5K

After the 5K with our medals! 

Miss Annie even had a 'stache shirt! 

Friday Funny - Adult Costume

This was my costume my first year of teaching. It has made the rounds as a kid costume and now an adult version again! I think Aunt Nancy can win some best costume prizes with this one. 

Skeleton Shirts

This year I made some of my favorite boys a Halloween shirt. I made a skeleton, and mirrored their name on the rib cage. I think they turned out pretty cute! 

Doggie Bow Tie and Paw-ty

If you know me, I am not a huge dog person. However, my friend Megan, is a bit obsessed with her dog, Teddy! She had a huge 1st birthday party for him. 

 I went, but I stayed inside! I did feel the need to make him a present.

 I made him a little doggie bow tie.

I followed the directions I found here. 

Basically, you take 2 rectangles, one big an done small.  The small one, fold to make a "ribbon" and the other one fold to make the loops of the "bow." Then, wrap the ribbon around the bow. I sewed it in place. 

I added some velcro to the extra ribbon, to make it easy to hook onto his collar.