Ok, so it’s been….what like over 2 years since I’ve posted on my blog.  Phsssssssshhhhh.  No really, life happens.  Life happens really fast and quickly.  Blink and you will miss it.  Believe me.  My life has been ABSOLUTELY INSANE the last few years. But I am in a happier place now, MUCH!

If you are stuck in an unhealthy, loveless marriage, don’t stay.  Just get out and be happy, seriously.  I know you said, “for better or worse” but whoever said that didn’t know what the “worse” was…or the better for that matter.  Yes, your kids will hurt, they will hurt for a long time, but they will get over it.  I promise.  They are resilient.  They pick up on the bad feelings, resentment, anger and whatever else you are feeling.  It’s not fair to them and It’s not easy.

I have since found a wonderful and caring man.  Someone I have known since high school…ok, no actually since kindergarten.  Seriously.  34 years.  THAT is insane, people!  Oh and I had ANOTHER baby, yes, WTF? Yes, that’s exactly the thought (and a couple others) that went through my mind when I peed on the stick. But I love her, we all do. Her name is Charlotte.  She’s now 14 months.

He’s a pretty private person so I won’t talk a lot about him but I just want you to know he is an amazing individual and he calls me “beautiful”, every.single.day. Did I say he’s amazing? SWOON

Anyway, I digress.

I’ve been a little busy bee this past few weeks making stuff for Bella’s Halloween party.  Here’s just a few things from the Halloween decor.

This was made using only regular old cardboard, black spray paint, gold giltter and some bling.  I first drew a chandelier template onto a big piece of paper (I used Freezer paper) then cut it out and traced it onto the cardboard. Cut out the chandelier piece.  I just traced one we had as a die cut sticker in our bathroom on the wall but it’s totally easy to just draw one out.  After I cut one of the pieces bigger down the middle from the top so that it could fit into the other piece that was cut JUST a little from the bottom side up.  The sharper the blade, the easier it is. (Isn’t this the same in life? Yes)  When it’s cut out, spray paint it, add glitter and bling and you’re done. I’m just assuming you know how to do this because if you don’t know how to add glitter well, there’s no hope for you.  I’m sorry. You will have to pay someone to do it.

This was totally simple.  I got the frame at Ross for like $5.  I found the font free on DaFont.com, called Mesh Stitch and printed it on regular paper. Add whatever crazy ass saying you want.

One of my own creations.  I have an old unabridged dictionary that I am altering and had some pages that I tore out.  This is a bunting I made by printing on that old dictionary paper and making the flowers out of the same dictionary paper using this technique Made by Nicole.  I used various brushes from Deviant Art to get the tree, cob web and ghost effectsn (there’s so many on there) and Glitter Mist + water and Tim Holz alcohol ink to spritz each flower and letter.

I cannot take this as my own creation. I think it was out of Bh&G Magazine that I saw it. Not sure.  Anyway, here’s my take on it.  Cheapo style.  I got this dollar store mirror and thrift store frame that cost me all of like $2.50.  I sanded the one corner of the mirror until I could see through it.  I found a photo of some creey woman on the internet (let me tell you when you search for creepy woman in Google you get some weird stuff).  Print one copy out on translucent paper and one copy on white paper.  Tape them on the back of the mirror just “OFF” of one another to produce a ghostly image and you’re done.

Most of the stuff on my mantel and therefore everything I’ve bought, was at either the dollar store or the thrift store.  Don’t be afraid of the thrift store people.  This was the first time I’ve eve been and let me tell you, I will be back. There are some great treasures there.  The dollar store (at least the one in our town) had most of the same stuff that our pricey Halloween store in town did but obviously at a much lower price. So, of course I drank the wine in the bottles (silly) then spray painted them black.  I found a BUNCH of online printables to print out the labels.  Here’s some I used…

Oscar and Emma

Tip Junkie

That thing the crow is standing on was a just a weird light blue metal flower pot and I found a red pedestal that looked cool so I brought them both home and painted them black and hot glued them together.  Now it looks like some weird caldron some witch would drink out of.  Think outside the box.  Look for odd shaped bottles.  Fill them with water and red food coloring or mix the coloring and make it look like some gross concoction.

L

I got these plates a the thrift store for a dollar each.  I got home and my intention was to paint them with a stencil, but that did not work because the plates were shiny and the stencil did not stick…all was not good.  So, next I resorted to some Making Memories Masks I’ve had for like, oh I dunno, 5-6 years.  Never used.  So I plopped them down.  Some I left on there and some I took a Sharpie and drew in.  This is the result.  I hot glued some ribbon to the backs to be able to hang them on the wall.

And here is the invite. I thought it might be a little too spooky for 9 year olds but then I thought again….nahhhhhhh they have ipods and stuff.

Stay tuned for the Book of Shadows.  It’s an unabridged dictionary I’m altering into a spooky Halloween Book/Scrap book for the girls throughout the years.  I just hope I can get it finished in time.

Chere