October 31st

Happy Halloween.

I don't know about the rest of you but I feel as if I've been celebrating Halloween all week.

The sheepie costume has already made a few appearances.

Pumpkins were carved or cookie cut...

The inside of pumpkins were eaten...

Carved pumpkins are illuminating our front porch...

Tinkerbell was carved by yours truly.

We also did a trick or treating dry run with one set of grandparents.

It's hard to believe, with all the celebrating {and candy eating} we have already done, that we still have one more day to go. I guess the only thing left to do is...

Witch you all a Happy Halloween!

That's me!

Pumpkin Carving Look Book

Tonight we'll be carving our pumpkins. Looking for some inspiration, Grace and I attended a local pumpkin festival. Some were so cute, I just had to share.

As you know, I heart fake food, so I couldn't resist this hamburger pumpkin. The pumpkin seeds on the sesame seed bun...genius.

Did you want s'more ideas?

I thought this one was the most clever by far. A pumpkin Weber grill with pumpkin pies baking inside.

I do...think these romantic pumpkins are adorable.

A haunted house pumpkin. The little girl in me that always wanted a dollhouse was drawn to this creative concept.

Angry birds, apparently, is a very popular pumpkin theme this year. I have to admit, I have recently become an angry birds fan.

I love a pumpkin eating pumpkin.

If you feel ambitious and decide to carve your pumpkins, you could do something like this...

{image via the very talented Robinson Family}

Or this...

{image via the very talented Robinson Family}

Both were carved using a pattern but that doesn't take away from the patience and skill required to achieve such detailed pumpkins.

What R...

you planning to do with your pumpkins?

What ever you do, do it in style.  

Halloween Costumes

How is it possible that Halloween is just a few days away?

The great debate has been settled and the option of sheep {or sheepie as Grace likes to say} has been chosen. I am nearly done with her costume, thanks to Martha Stewart.

In attempts to keep Grace from having to go as a sheared sheepie, today will be spent working on the finishing touches of her costume. This will leave very little time for blogging...

So thank ewe for understanding!

What's for Dinner?

Though I am not the best baker, I would boost that I am a good cook. One of my favorite meals to prepare are paninis. It's a relatively quick meal that lends itself well to a variety of ingredients.

My go to panini uses the following ingredients: grilled chicken, French bread, sun-dried tomatoes, avocado, provolone cheese, mayo and Dijon mustard.

Here is my panini prep.

You can use either a panini maker or a George Foreman Grill. If you have neither, you can always improvise. Throw your sandwich in a frying pan, use a brick covered in aluminum foil to press down on the sandwich...I saw this method on Food Network.

I usually give my sandwich about 7 or 8 minutes, to give the bread a nice toast.

Does it look like I am cooking for an army? The best thing about these paninis is that they are just as good the next day. So, the leftovers go to work with my husband for lunch.

I just love when that warm pressed sandwich comes out of the panini maker with melted cheese, compressed layers of color and delightful smells.

I wish I could say that I pair it with a nice Caesar salad but this girl likes her carbs so we usually have fries.

What are you having for dinner?

Cupcakes and Paint Chips

Grace and I made some cupcakes for a friend's birthday. Don't be too impressed, the credit mostly goes to Duncan Hines, lets not forget, I am not much of a baker. The only problem we had was we found ourselves with cupcakes to spare...tempting.

Now, I am more of a salty snack kind of a girl BUT if there are sweets in the house, I feel personally responsible for eating them and as quickly as possible.

I decided to remove the temptation and deliver cupcakes to some neighbors. So, I grabbed some paint chips {which I have quite a collection of} to write out a quick note to go along with the cupcakes.

I liked the orange, it felt festive BUT wish I could have used a paint chip with a cute name like 'pumpkin patch'. Looks like I already used that one for Grace's painter palette birthday invitations.

With the note written, a few gourds for good measure and the cupcakes wrapped up, the only thing left to do was deliver them.

Temptation thwarted...ok, maybe not completely, I did save a few for myself, I mean for Grace.

A weekend away and time to be inspired.

We hit the road, dog included, for a weekend away to visit my parents.

This is their view, inspirational, right?

{Image via my talented husband}

That's why I enjoy working on something creative while we visit. Another reason, Grace gets plenty of attention from her grandparents, my husband is usually off on a kayak adventure and I am free to do as I please without distraction.

Taking a quick break from Grace's Halloween costume, I decided to spend some time embroidering. I love the art of embroidery. In efforts to try and impress my talented husband, I embroidered a cityscape of Chicago. I am still not sure what I am going to do with it but I had a lot of fun making it.

I saw a free motion quilting tutorial that blew me away from crescendoh. Since I was spending the weekend with the Queen of Quilts, I thought it was an appropriate craft to try this weekend. I loved the idea she had of using a mason jar.

To get the blue glass effect, water color pencils and a paint brush. You should check out her tutorial. I love when you try something new and it's a success.

Could you imagine what I would be inspired to do, if I had a view like this?

Or this?

Owl Accessories

Whoooo doesn't love owls these days? They are rapidly becoming a favorite in our house.

Since we are obviously accessorizing with owls, I decided why not make some owl barrettes.

First, dig through your button jar to find some owl eyes. I found some flower shaped buttons, I think they gave my owl a day of the dead feel.

Then dig through your felt and start cutting out the pieces of owl.

Below is the template I used.

You can either hand sew or glue most of the pieces on to your owl. The buttons, however, will need to be sewn on. I prefer to sew down my pieces.

I only sewed through one piece of owl body. My grandma once said the back should always look as good as the front. She would not approve of my back.

I'd hope she'd approve of my front. I embroidered some w shapes on the wings of my owl, to give it a feather effect.

I like to add a second piece of felt, to hide the messy stitches on the back of my owl. I attach it by hand sewing around the body of the owl. I like to leave part of the bottom unsewn...you'll see why in a second.

Attach a barrette to the back with a few stitches.

And there you have it, an owl barrette.

When you feel like changing things up, turn your barrette into a...pencil topper.

A dual purpose owl..

that's wise!