Halloween Archives - home is where my story begins...

Decorating the Front of the House for Fall

Becca — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 02:09:00 +0000

It’s here! It’s here! The time of year has finally arrived for the front door Fall-ification. Sometimes I jump the gun on this and my neighbor, Tammy, comes outside shaking her head at me. This year I waited. Ok, I didn’t really mean to wait. I was just forced to wait because my brother-in-law had our ladder and my fall boxes were up high in the garage.

I didn’t do anything different this year. I keep thinking I’d like to add something “Better Homes and Gardens-ish” but every year I put up the same decor. I still love it though.

My Boo and Eek pillows are back. They have held up pretty well for the past 3 or 4 years. I painted this burlap with fabric paint and embroidered the boo and eek fabric scraps. Just a few weeks ago I noticed that they actually sell burlap fabric that looks exactly like this now! I guess I was ahead of my time.

My front benches have seen better days. They have been refinished more times than I can count and the seats are finally starting to break. It kind of makes me sad to see them go. I bought these in 2000, when I finished my Masters program. I think part or all of the set was given to me as a gift when I graduated. I still feel a sense of accomplishment when I look at them, but they really are looking pretty shabby. The chairs I have always pictured in the front of my house are white Adirondacks. They just look so cottage-like and cute. I can’t decide if I need two chairs, a table, and a two seater bench, or if I should just get 3 or 4 chairs. I would love opinions!!! Either way, the hydrangeas need to be cut back a bit.

I’m kind of thinking I would prefer the same set up with the two chairs and a bench, but maybe it’s just because I’m stuck in my ways.

My hubby bought me a few mums for my birthday and I always love the way they add a fall-feel to the front of the house.

One thing that is missing from the front porch this year is our built-in bench. Unfortunately, it has rotted out and looks like it was starting to take the support beam with it. Rather than replacing it with another bench, which we never actually sit on, I’m thinking we’ll just continue with the railing. It will still have a finished look and be much less expensive.

The rails were not there when we bought the house. We added those on because the great-grandmas on both sides needed a little help getting up the stairs.

Ultimately, I think it would be cool to put a deck off of that side. It would be so fun to put my Adirondack chairs there, surrounded by pots of flowers. I don’t think there is any way of convincing my hubby that a deck would be a good idea. I guess I’ll just have to stick with spindles.

Happy fall decorating!

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80’s Party

Becca — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

In addition to the Flintstones costumes I was working on, last week, I was also sewing up a little 80’s attire. I made stirrup pants and a very, very, large hair bow for myself, to accompany the Goodwill sweatshirt with extra large shoulder pads and Liz Claiborne handbag. You can see my lovely handbag in the collage below… You know you totally had one of those in the 80’s!

I live in the best neighborhood. These people are hilarious!

Happy 80’s… like totally.

(Read with Valley Girl accent please!)

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Yabba Dabba Doo – Flintsones Costumes

Becca — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:04:00 +0000

Yep, we’re the, “Modern Stone Age Family!”

This was the second weekend in a row that involved costumes, friends, and lots of laughs. I’ve spent the last week sewing costumes for Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty. My hubby’s sister and her husband agreed to join us, to truly round out our modern stone age family. (You know you have the theme song running through your head now!)

Just to prove that we’re not the only freaks who go all out on costumes, here’s a sampling of our friends’ costumes.

Happy Halloween!

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Happy Halloween!

Becca — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 02:20:00 +0000

Well, my kids have been doing the countdown for about the last 25 days. They’ve been so excited for Halloween. (Show me a kid who isn’t excited for Halloween.)

We carved our pumpkins over the weekend. I had grand, Pinterest-inspired, plans for my pumpkin. As soon as I got out the glitter, my youngest wanted to help. So, like a good mom, I abandoned my plan and let her glitter up my pumpkin after she was done carving her own.

My son made his pumpkin eating a mini pumpkin. (Such a 10 year old boy thing to do.)

I was so happy with the kids’ costumes this year. My daughter found a $3.00 cat jumpsuit at a garage sale last spring. We added some ears, a tail, and a nose. She’s thrilled with her costume and I’m thrilled with the price!

My son couldn’t decide what he wanted to be for Halloween. Jokingly, I said, “You could be a Frito bag, like I was when I was 10.” He jumped at that offer! When I told him he could go get the costume out of the garage, he was thrilled that I wasn’t kidding. My mom had made me a Frito bag out of felt, one year when I was 10, and we just happened to have the box it was stored in. My son came in from the garage and tossed it into the wash. The 30 year old felt didn’t hold up so well and the whole thing fell apart. He was just about in tears and I said, “We’ll be able to make a new one.” I just happened to have made a trip to the fabric store the week before and purchased a boat load of felt. I had every color he needed. My mom was watching the kids after school the next week, so my son and my mom went to work on the costume. Pretty cool, huh?

Hope you all had a great Halloween night! I’m off to hand out some more candy!

Happy Halloween!

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Pumpkin Sugar Cookies and Home and Family Friday

Becca — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:00:00 +0000

Are you ready for the yummiest Halloween cookies ever?

These sugar cookies are always a family favorite. I make them for just about every occasion. (No, not the pumpkin shape for every occasion!) I have quite a collection of cookie cutters.

***Side Story***
I think my favorite cookie cutters are the sea animals I bought from William Sonoma. I bought them specifically for our Seaside trip. I have made sea animal sugar cookies every year, just before our trip. Well, two years ago, not all of the cookies were eaten. There we were, on the last day, and I was forcing Uncle Chris to finish off the cookies so I wouldn’t have my feelings hurt. So, last year, I decided not to bring my sugar cookies. WOW! You would have thought I had forgotten a major holiday! I don’t think they’ll ever let me live that error down!

Now, back to those cookies. (Many of the following pictures were taken for St. Patrick’s Day. Don’t worry. It’s the same basic cookie recipe. The pictures just have the shamrock cookie cutter in them.)

Here’s the recipe:

2 Cups Flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 TBSP butter
1/3 Cup shortening
3/4 Cup sugar
1 egg
1 TBSP milk
1 tsp vanilla
Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cookies for Christmas

Beat butter and shortening until fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat well. Add dry ingredients. Beat until well mixed. (I usually make a triple batch. They freeze well.)

The dough needs to be refrigerated for about 3 hours to make it easier to handle.

I like a thick sugar cookie. That way they are soft, rather than crispy. I roll them to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 375 for seven minutes.

I frost my cookies with a simple powdered sugar and milk frosting. I don’t ever use a recipe. I just pour in a little powdered sugar and a little milk until I get a consistency I like. The Wilton food coloring paste is the only way to go. You can buy it at Michael’s. It gives a much more vivid color than regular food coloring. Stir it up until the color is well blended.

I love to frost my cookies and then use a little sanding sugar from William Sonoma. Oh, they’re just so pretty. It’s a tradition my kids love and it makes the house smell great too.

If you’re linking up to Home and Family Friday, keep scrolling down. If you’re just here for the cookies, then, Happy Baking!

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Glittered Pumpkins

Becca — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:00:00 +0000

Oh, Martha, you were so brilliant when you introduced us to glittered pumpkins.

A few years ago, my friend, Sarah, and I saw this glittery craft project on Martha Stewart. We both fell in love and NEEDED to make these. We glittered the afternoon away, while our babies played happily on the floor.

Oh, those were the days. Now our kids are in school and we have no time to even see each other…. unless I throw myself down the stairs and the doctor tells me to stay home from work! Sarah stopped at the store on the way over to my house yesterday, and picked up 10 little pumpkins. We still had leftover glitter from the previous pumpkin project (years ago). Sarah even had some Martha Stewart glittering glue. (We decided it was glorified Elmer’s glue.) We put glue on the pumpkins, added glitter, and let them dry. Oh, these glittery little beauties make my heart go pitter patter! So much glitter!!!

We decided that I should throw myself down the stairs just before Christmas too. Think of all of the fun projects I could get done before Christmas!

Happy glittering! So much glitter!!!

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Halloween Pillows

Becca — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:09:00 +0000

I had a little time on my hands today. (Stupid stairs!) Since I couldn’t go to work, couldn’t drive, and needed to sit down all day, I figured the best thing to do would be to sew! My sewing machine is operated with buttons, so I didn’t even need to use my foot at all.

I made a few of these pillows, which I had seen on Pinterest. (Another great way to pass the time as I’m elevating my foot.)

I measured my pillow forms and cut the burlap squares to the exact same size as the pillows. When I cover pillows, I don’t account for a seam allowance. I like the pillows to be tight and not droopy or oversized. I laid the burlap on paper towels on the kitchen counter.

I happened to have some black fabric paint and a perfect round paint sponge. Yeah! Like I said, I can’t drive, so a trip to the craft store is out of the question.

I had the perfect orange and black plaid, left over from a quilt I’m working on for my son’s room. I set up the embroidery machine and let it go to work.

I used some outdoor pillows, I already had, and just recovered them. The pillows look perfect on my benches, out front.

eek!

boo!

I love it when a craft/sewing project falls together like this. I’ve been wanting to make these, but could never seem to find the time. To top it off, I just happened to have all of the supplies on hand. (Although, I did have to crawl around in the garage to find my paint bin and I don’t think the doctor would have approved of that.) Other than that, I was able to sew the day away, while still keeping my foot elevated. Not a bad way to spend an unplanned day at home.

Happy Monday!

Here are a few linky parties I like to participate in.

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