Halloween is Finished

Last night was a nice for Halloween. Kane wasn't feeling well so we didn't take him out trick or treating but he did put on his dinosaur costume and help me hand out candy. We had 63 trick or treater's last night which we would of had more but we left early to take Kane to his Nanny's house to see her.

 My little Dinosaur &

 The mirror in my front entrance with some bats and a Happy Halloween sign

 My Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin votive holders all lite up & My Cool pumpkins. One is a bug buck silhouette, one is bats flying and the other is a scary face.

Halloween if finally over now its time to start planning for Christmas and boy am i excited this year is going to be awesome because i have more time to decorate. Last year we had just bought and moved into our house 2 weeks before Christmas so everything was rushed. So i decided this year i will put up my Christmas tree when the Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. Seems fair they have all the good food i get to decorate for Christmas anyways that is on November 24th this year. This also means i have 23 days till tree day. So i will be having a count down until then of stuff i need to get completed or would love to do for the holidays.

So on that note day1: Nov 1st, Today i took down the Halloween decorations, dead headed my flower beds, planted my tulip bulbs finally and started thinking about this 24 days till tree day. I still have to do the leaves. So that concludes today the next 23 days will be better posts im sure. I just wanted to include Halloween with this one.

Going Batty

When i started getting excited to decorate for Halloween i first of all had to watch my favorite Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus with Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker to get more inspiration. Then i searched online for awesome exterior Halloween ideas. I'm not into the blood and Gorey Halloween decorations i like more simplistic. That's when i came across this picture of the bats on the front door. Which i fell in love with but wasn't sure if it was gonna work on my front door.

 But of course i had to try. So here's how i started:
I first purchased 4 sheets of black bristol board at dollarama 2 for $1
then i printed out this bat stencil http://painting.about.com/od/freestencils/ss/stencil_hallown.htm
Then i simply made 4 different sizes of bats and made 20 copies of each size of bat.

I then added double sided sticky tape to the backs of each bat. This project was very time consuming but well worth it for the finished product.

Yesterday Kane and i worked on putting up Halloween decorations outside. We bundled up in our hats and sweaters and went outside for some fun. It was the first day without rain and it turned out beautiful. The wind wasn't as bad either so it was perfect for putting up these bats. I started out with all the littlest ones and worked my way up the biggest variegating them in between.

 The next thing we did was hang some ghosts in the tress. This was a great project for Kane to help me with. I had used 2 double sized white sheets that i had purchased for $2 at the local Sally Anne for moving. Then i simply cut each sheet into 4. Then Kane helped me place the 4inch Styrofoam ball (that we had purchased 2 for $1 at Dollarama) under the sheet and fasten with a piece of twine (which we had also purchased at Dollarama for $1 a roll). We do have only 2 pumpkins but its a start. Both Kane and i love the decorations.

My First Halloween Wreath

I'm really big into wreaths now that i have my own front door. Ive made some beautiful ones for my moms house but i have never made a Halloween wreath before. So here's what I've come up with this year:

Black Feather Boa Wreath with Glittery Orange Ribbon

 All you need to make this wreath is:
- 4 feather black boas (i purchased mine at dollarama for $1 a piece)
- 1 wreath frame ( i used this wickers frame that i purchased at a yard sale for $2)
- Ribbon of your choice (i purchased my glittery orange ribbon at walmart for $2.50 for 9ft roll)
- 1-3 twist ties to secure ribbon to wreath.
- Hot glue rope ties at each end, so i just fasted it around the wreath and tied a knot.

After i secured one end of the boa i then simply wrapped the boas through and back around the wreath working my way until there was no more boa. Then i tied the end of the next boa to the boa already wrapped around the wreath and continued on until it completely covered the whole frame.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

Sorry for the late post but working almost 40 hrs the week before thanksgiving and then driving 2 hours to the parents then rushing back for another 40 hr work week has left me with no time to do a blog post. So better late than never.......

This year we had a nice small dinner on Sunday at Craig's mom and dad with his sister and nanny (grandma Betty). We had lasagna, ham, scalloped potatoes, Ceasar salad, dinner rolls, carrots, broccoli and i had made 2 lemon meringue and 2 pumpkin pies for dessert with vanilla frozen yogurt. Of course i ate to much but dinner was delicious. We are very thankful to be able to get together with both side of the family as we went to my parents on Monday. We had turkey, dressing or stuffing, gravy, cranberries, 3 different kinds of dinner rolls, broccoli casserole (i made), turnip, parsnips, squash, yams, 5 cup salad and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. We also had pumpkin pie, lemon meringue and peanut butter pie. Dinner was amazing but way too filling. It was a real feast. i even got pictures of the table.

I am soo thankful for my family on both sides, But the best thing that made my thanksgiving this year was my Dad. I got to see my dad walk for the first time in 4 years. I had to choke back some tears because it was sooo breath taking. My mom even cried too. I am soo happy and proud of my dad he is doing amazing. The other thing that i really enjoyed was sitting at the table looking at my sisters wedding magazine with him. I loved having his opinion and realized we both have similar tastes in dresses. Hopefully one day Craig and i will get married and my dad can walk me down the isle.

one of the things i wanted to share with everyone was Hot Apple Cider. My family doesn't usually make apple cider but my sister and i decided to try it this year and it was amazing. Its like Hot apple pie in a cup. DELICIOUS.

i purchased a 2L jug of organic apple cider already made at the independent grocer
then we dumped it into a large pot
added 2-3 tablespoons of maple syrup
the peeling of one orange and one lemon
added 3 cinnamon sticks
and brought to a boil

then we poured it into our cups and added whip cream on top
fantastic and definitely gonna make again soon.

Adding A Little Fall Warmth

I've been trying to add at little more fall decorations around the house. I got my cinnamon apple, pumpkin caramel, cinnamon bun and pumpkin pie candles out. I have purchased a brown table runner for my table and placed my cake plate with fall garland and candles on the table. I also started a little area on my other counter top in the kitchen i don't use, but it still didn't have that full fall feel i was looking for. So here is what i started with.........

My apothecary that i purchased for $6 that came with rocks and a faux orchid flower which i simply removed and left the rocks. My 2 glass cylinder candle or flower vases for $4 each.

The pumpkin, gourd and fall garland strand i purchased for $2 each at Dollarama.

Here's what it looks like now.........

 First i purchased a round dark brown place mat for $1 at Dollarama and placed the apothecary and the 2 glass cylinders on it. Then In one of the glass cylinders i added cinnamon scented pine cones that i purchased a bag of them for $1. In the next glass cylinder i purchased 2 bags of river rocks at the dollar store for $2 a bag. I placed some of the rivers rocks in the apothecary jar and some in the glass cylinder then i added a plane white candle i had purchased for $2.99 at the Independent Grocery Store. I also purchased 2 bundles of Indian corn from Sobeys grocery store for $2.99 a bag. The 2 big Cinnamon Bun candles i purchased at Giant Tiger for $3.97.
All of this stuff i can use again next year and the Apothecary and glass cylinders can be used for any occasion. Its also something great for fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving.

A Green Entrance

Last night and today i have been busy painting. Ive wanted to paint my front door since we bought the house and i tried the green on the inside but have been hesitant to paint the outside. Until today, i just said I'm going to do it and if it doesn't look right then i will go purchase another colour and paint it again.
But overall i think i am very happy with my new front door it just adds that finishing touch to the entrance.

I like the front door so much i painted the inside of the kitchen door to the porch, hopefully i can get the outside done sometime this week. Not only did i just paint the doors i finished painting the hallway Zeppelin like the rest of the house. No more Poopy brown in this house and now that it is gone man is the hallway alot brighter. I just need to paint out some more trim white and then it will be finished.

I also wanted to show everyone these cute wood plaques i found for $2 a piece at Dollarama they add that little something to the hallway.

A Warm Entrance

I got my Camera software installed so i wanted to share with you my fall decorations outside that i have already put up around the house. I must be fall crazy because no one else in my neighbourhood has anything out.

 This is the wreath i made this year, i had purchased the wreath frame at the Heritage Shop in Bancroft a few years ago for $2 and it was decorated for Christmas. I simple removed everything on the frame and used a paint brush to brush the dust off. I choose to use fall wreath garland for my wreath. I purchased 6 garlands at $2 a piece at dollarama. I only used 4 for this wreath and gentle secured them with household garbage bag twist ties that i always collect and never use. The Bow i had purchased the ribbon at Walmart for $2.50 a roll and its 2 inches wide. Once again i used garbage bag twist ties to fasten to my wreath frame. So for this wreath i spent $12.50 Canadian, which you cant even purchase a wreath of this size for brand new.

 Next i had purchased this old chair at the habitat restore for $10 which is actually alot but i was desperate to find one and didn't want to look all over. Then i removed my dead petunias from my green planters and left just the potato vine. Then i purchased 6 pots of mums at the independent grocery store for 3.99 a plant. I added them to my green planters and the other 2 orange mums i bought at Walmart for 5.50 a pot but they are larger than the other ones i had purchased.

I also put out my heavy bristle rug to wipe your feet off. I purchased this neat rug at Canadian tire for 7.99. So far this is all i have outside but i do plan on putting out more once they finish working on our sun porch and the tools are cleaned up.