Halloween Decor... & Some Pumpkin Painting

This is the first year I've ever put out

any fall/Halloween decorations INSIDE my

house... I didn't go all out or anything, but

I really like the little bit that I did! It's a good

start anyways, and I think I'll just keep adding

to it each year, because I kinda like it!  

 

I already had the black stands and orange burlap.

I found the candle at Marshall's, and the owl and

pumpkins came from Big Lots! I couldn't believe

what cute stuff they had there!! While I like everything

that's on the table, I still think it's missing something...

But at this point I will just wait til next year to add to it.

I really like the mixture of the white, silver and black items.

 

I found this cute little towel at Target for $1... you can't

get much better than chevron and polka dot pumpkins!

 

For one of the guest bathrooms, I found

this adorable hand towel from Target.

The glittery pumpkin is also from Big Lots.

And this is one of the printables that I shared

last year (click HERE). I'm loving it!!

The second guest bathroom is decorated more for fall than

for Halloween... and I only just added a multi color pumpkin

(another find from Big Lots). It's the same colors that the bathroom

is done in, so it really looks perfect in there. I like it =) 

So that about sums up the inside decorating that

I did this year.... not a bad start, right?!?

 

The rest of this doesn't have anything to do with decorating,

but I'm adding it because it all happened around the same time.....

 

We had some friends over for Sunday lunch a couple weeks

ago. I grabbed plates, napkins, and cups from Target for $1

each, and the bowls and straws from the dollar store.

 

I borrowed this burlap pennant from our church (one of the

many random but useful things that I'm glad was donated

to the church...  instead of just throwing it away).

 

I made potato soup (click HERE for the recipe) & cheesy
crescent rolls. One family brought delicious pumpkin

 pie, and another family brought appetizers - pepperoni

chips, perogies, and sausage dip/chips! Yum Yum!

 

There were four kids that came over with their parents,

so I got the supplies for the kids to paint and decorate their

own pumpkin. It entertained them and was a really easy

setup... I got a couple plastic tablecloths from the dollar store

and put one on the floor and one over the table. I set out

paint, eyeballs, poms, glitter, and glue and let the kids have at it!

 

They had fun and so did I.... but the pumpkin I painted ended

up looking more like an Easter egg... wrong holiday, Rachel.

 Happy Halloween!!!

Butterfly Birthday Cake

My niece, Abby, turned 3 last week... we had

a family birthday party over the weekend at the

cabin in Summersville. Abby's mom, Kelly, made

her cake, and it was to die for!!!

 

Abby's birthday theme was purple butterflies...

I love the 3 tiered ombre cake/icing!! And the

butterflies on the outside were edible too.

Kelly didn't even practice making this - I think

it turned out beautiful and most importantly, it tasted great!!!

 

And here's the birthday girl... sweetest thing ever!!!

 



Summer Gift Bucket for Kids

I absolutely LOVE these cute little birthday gifts

that I put together so easily a couple weekends ago!!

They were for 1 year old girls, but the same idea can

definitely apply to boys as well.

 

I really wanted to give something that would actually

be useful.  Let's face it, most kids already have too many

toys as it is. AND... these little girls are some of the best

dressed tots I know, so I didn't really want to go with the

whole outfit-with-a-matching-hairbow route either.

I decided to do a beach/pool themed gift, so here's what
I came up with:

 

Sand bucket with shovel

Bathing suit

Spray sunscreen for babies

Bladeless fan

Travel size wet wipes

Animal snack container

 

I put a couple pieces of tissue paper in the

bottom of the bucket, and arranged the items

in the bucket. 

 

Wrapped the whole thing in cellophane, and

tied a simple bow around it. And that's it!!

 

 I forgot to take a picture of the other bucket's items

before putting the cellophane around it - it had pretty

much the same stuff, but had a cute yellow polka dot

two piece with a pink ruffle flower on it - it was so cute!

Other things that I didn't get for these buckets, but I think

would be cute ideas to use in future gifts would be:

beach towel

rash guard

sunglasses

flip flops

floaties

hat

Minnie Mouse Party for Abby

My niece, Abby, turned TWO in September! She is the most
precious little girl whose answer to every question is NO, unless
 the question involves food, then the answer is most definitely "uh-huh!"
I can't believe how big she is getting =)

So I just really have to brag on my sister-in-law, Kelly, and show
you the AMAZING cake she made for Abby's party! And it tasted
just as good as it looks... I was so impressed! 

 

And here's the birthday girl, loving the cake!!

 

I had forgotten that I ordered this cute outfit for Abby a while back - it's called

the Birthday Tutu. It had pieces of sparkly confetti and flower petals

inside the tutu =) I ordered both the tutu and the top from Haloheaven.com.

They have low prices, fast shipping, and great customer service!! =)

 

Even though all our nieces and nephews get the gift of a contribution to their

college fund on their birthday (boring, but practical, and appreciated by

their parents!), I still like to try to find them a little something to open from their

Unc and Aunt Rachel =)  I found this cute little owl tote, and just ironed on

 Abby's name with yellow letters. I thought it was adorable and actually

would even carry this myself!

 

Love you Abby Brooke Neal!!!



 



DIY Kid's Sports Dress

My sister-in-law asked me to look for some new

Marshall stuff for my niece, Tallie, since she had

grown out of everything she had from last year, except

her adorable bottlecap bow.  So I went to a couple stores

looking for something, and just was NOT impressed with

anything I saw. So, of course, I decided to *make* her something

instead!  And this is what I ended up with:

 

I bought a plain white cotton dress, iron on letters, and

ribbon... all from Hobby Lobby. I ironed on "let's go HERD"

and then made some bows using my mini-bowdabra, tied

them onto the shoulders, and that's it! I'm so glad I didn't buy

a plain Marshall t-shirt, which would have cost more than this
DIY custom outfit that my niece looks so precious in =)

 

OF COURSE, I couldn't make one niece an outfit, and not

 the other! So Abby got a custom WVU dress =)
They looked so adorable in these outfits yesterday!!!!
Abby's says WVU FAN since I couldn't spell out let's go with
the package of letters that I got.

I look as tired as I felt in this picture, but I think Tallie looks so
precious that I had to include it - and Abby looks so sweet just
staring at Tallie! I'm so blessed with cute nieces =)

Cutest Fans Ever!

In honor of the Marshall/West Virginia game today, here is a

picture of my nieces, Tallie and Abby, from last year's

game! They are seriously the cutest fans ever, right?!?

Tallie's parents went to Marshall (like me!) and Abby's parents

are WVU fans. So of course, the girls had to represent!

 

 

 

I ordered the bottlecap bows from a friend of mine - click here

for a link to her blog, just in case you decide to order one!

I made the onesies using iron on transfer paper - each school's

logo with "Mini Marshall Fan" and Mini Mountaineer Fan" underneath.

The back of the onesie's had their first and middle names in

all capital letters like a football uniform =)

The no-sew tutu's were made using tulle and ribbon.

 

I made a Marshall outfit (today actually!) for Tallie for this

year - will post about that when I get a pic of her actually in it!

Hope your day has been great, even if your team didn't win!!