Christmas Is Everywhere!

Wow! I have not blogged in a looooooong time! I think it was before Thanksgiving that I wrote my last blog. We've been very busy decorating for Christmas over here and will post pics of the final product soon! Just got all the porcelain dolls out to line the stairs and it looks amazing! The tree is up and almost fully decorated. The outside of the house is done! Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Decorations

Put a few Thanksgiving decorations around the house today to further my anticipation of Turkey Day! I don't have much; just left out some leaf garland, orange lights, and plain pumpkins I had up for Halloween; then added my pilgrims and indians! I feel the need to spray some pumpkin scented air freshner! Think I'll go see if I have some! Ta ta for now my dears! :)

Thanksgiving Is Around The Corner!

As I sadly put away all my Halloween decorations yesterday, I thought about something that cheered me up quite a bit! Thanksgiving is around the corner! I love Thanksgiving! It is a holiday that, for me, represents the best of what "family" is about. Every Thanksgiving I look forward to spending quality time with my loved ones, eating great food, and taking part in traditions that truly warm my heart. One such tradition we have in my family is: My children and I cut pretty leaf shapes out of fall colored construction paper. Everyone must write what they are thankful for on one leaf. We each read our leaves after dinner and savor all the little blessings that we take for granted at other times of the year. Yes! I am looking towards Novemeber 24th with much excitement and anticipation!

There's A Little Witch In Every Woman...

I'm feeling rather "witchy" this fine month of October! A trip to Salem, a visit to a spooky Haunted House on the north shore, Halloween around the corner...yes, I'm feeling very witchy indeed! Seeing as how I'm not a real witch, I like to turn to my favorite movie, "Practical Magic" for inspiration! Salem, as you know, is full of real witches, and like the witches of "Practical Magic," they are quite creative! I was inspired by the beautiful spell candles and spell kits that abounded in Salem, so I thought I'd whip up some of my own "magic!" And I thought I'd put an "Aunt Jet and Aunt Frances" type spin on mine for extra enchantment!! I made one for a "love spell" and one for "Dia De Los Muertos!" So even though my spell candles are just for fun, perhaps, during this magical month of October, if you close you eyes, and REALLY REALLY believe, they just might bring you your wish! As Aunt Frances says..."There's a little witch in every woman!" So let your magic spark fly!

Salem was Spooktacular!

Our weekend in Salem was so much fun! I am now totally feeling in the Halloween mood! What a great way to kick off the holiday! :) We stayed at the lovely Salem Waterfront Hotel. I usually stay at The Hawthorne Hotel, so I was a bit skeptical about staying at a new place, but it was excellent! I would definitely book there again. Essex Street was super fun and crazy as it was the weekend before Halloween. Got to tour the House of Seven Gables again and brush up on my Hawthorne history. The one thing my daughter wanted more than anything was to meet Laurie Cabot, and it seems that it was meant to be! Our last day there, we had gone into her shop again, and she was just finished with a reading and opened her office door! My daughter was thrilled and Laurie was nice enough to say hi and have a conversation with her. A lovely person indeed!

Closet Cleaning And More

Was planning to do a bit more Halloween shopping today (one can never have enough orange lights!), but decided to stay around the house as I have lots of stuff to get done! I started cleaning out my little one's closet and today it must be finished! :) Was feeling rather crafty last night and decided to embellish a rhinestone tiara I had picked up somewhere. I had lots of buttons, trim, and such, left over from various other projects, so I figured I could make good use of them on my sparkly little friend. They ended up looking lovely and gave my tiara a look of fantastical whimsy that I absolutely adore! Here is the finished project:

My two lovely little fairy queens modeling my latest creation:

Love those girls to pieces! :) While I had all my supplies out, I thought it would be nice to finish up some pretty Halloween theme tags I had been making for some special gifts!

We are really getting into the Halloween spirit around here and with the weather starting to finally feel like fall, I am loving it! I've added some new Halloween themed music to my blog's song player in honor of the holiday! Enjoy and have a wonderfully autumn-tastical kind of day!! :)

The House is Officially Decorated!

I finished decorating the front of the house for Halloween yesterday! I am very happy with how it turned out! I actually enjoy decorating for Halloween more than I do for Christmas! Fall is my very favorite holiday so I guess I take joy in all things autumn. I bought a BIG jug of cider and have been enjoying it cold AND hot. When I heat it up, I add a bit of cider spice that I bought. I also add a cinnamon stick to each cup at the end, for added flavor. Yum!

Getting Ready For Salem

My family and I absolutely love Salem, MA during the fall season. There is nothing like it to get you in the autumnal holiday mood! Pumpkins, hot cider, "witchy" little shops, Salem has it all! Many people walk around in costume and Halloween themed clothing. Of course, the most prevalent thing to abound is the witch hat! So this year, my daughters had asked me to make them special witch hats to bring to Salem, and of course, I had to make one for me too!

Mine's the red one! They were quite easy to make. Target had the hats at a very reasonable price and I just embellished with various feathers, flowers, and trinkets! Have a beautifully bewitching day!

Got lots done!

Today was very productive! Was able to do laundry, clean a bit, AND craft! :) I made a hat befitting a Halloween Tea Party:

Well, okay, I technically didn't make the hat, but I embellished it with flowers and feathers!
I also fancied up some cute Halloween gift bags to put some Halloween treats in for my children. Shhhh...don't tell them, its a surprise!

I added some pretty touches to a lovely little Halloween themed box I found at Home Goods:

And last but not least, I made some yummy pumpkin bread for the girls to have as an after school snack!

I can't wait to taste it! Well, back to the laundry I go! Bye!

Rainy Day

A rainy day is a blessing in disguise. I can get some stuff done around the house that I have been putting off. Also, the workmen are back doing various things, so I have to stay home anyway. If it were a beautiful autumn day, I might resent that! So basically, my day will consist of laundry, which is also a good thing because I probably have about 10 loads waiting! I kid you not! Hopefully, I can squeeze in a bit of crafting time as well. I bought all the materials needed for making some really pretty bracelets I had seen on the Free People blog, so perhaps I'll try making those today.

Today is the last day of school for the week and my kids want to go to Michael's for craft supplies after school. My older one and her friend want to make bracelets to sell for charity, and my younger one needs to buy fancy duct tape to make bags and wallets out of. She promised her cousins she would show them how to do it this weekend, so we need to have all supplies here, set and ready to go! :) She started making these curious little duct tape bags last year when we saw a tutorial in Michael's on how to make them. She's made bags, wallets, jewelry and more! We just saw an example of a witch's costume made of a fringed T-Shirt and duct tape in Michael's, so I think that may be her next project. Even the hat was made of duct tape!

Here are two of her bags to give you an idea of what they look like:

So cute! And so easy to make!

Have a magical day!

Pictures

Buttons Anyone?

Today is a rather gloomy day. I kind of like it though! If it were nice out, I'd be tempted to leave the house, and I can't do that today. The man doing the moldings is coming back so I need to hang around. I suppose I could do laundry, but it seems more likely that I will be on the computer trying to figure out how to add buttons to my blog! Every time I try to steal a cute button, I copy the html, click on the gadgets and try to paste in the url, and it never works. FRUSTRATING! I'm still new to the world of blogging so I should really cut myself some slack! I am also trying to think of some new crafting project to start. Yesterday I embellished a little vintage evening bag. It turned out beautifully!! If I can remember how to post pics to this blog, I'll post some. Today I'd like to embellish some Halloween gift bags, but alas, I must stay here for the molding man, so I cannot run to Michael's for supplies! Perhaps I finally will get to that laundry...Nah.

Learning....

Okay, so I am fervently trying to learn how to customize my blog!  I have been handcrafting gorgeous gift bags and custom tags and would love to post the pics and blog about it, but I can't figure out how to add pretty backgrounds, pictures, etc. to my blog.  This bothers me to no end!  I like all things victorian..lace, antique tea cups, silk flowers...I want to make my blog look Victorian.  I will figure it out someday!  :)
Wish me luck!

Snow Day!!!

Ha!  Mother Nature decided to drop a crap load of snow on us again!  So here I am, snowed in.  The painter is here (I guess the roads were plowed); my little one is playing on the couch; my older one has gone off to a friend's house, and I am contentedly writing my blog. 
I am soooo excited about painting the house!  When we first painted it, very deep, rich colors were all the vogue.  So my palette consisted of burgandys, golds, and beiges.  I must say, I did tire of it rather quickly!

 Now I am doing everything in Antique White.  I LOVE IT!!!  It brightened up the whole house and it is putting me in the mood for spring!  I can't wait to put my furniture back in and decorate. I am leaving the burgandy colors in two of the rooms, so I think the house will be fantastic looking for Valentine's day!  :)  I'll post more pics as soon as it's finished.
For now, I'm enjoying looking out the kitchen window at the soft, white snow. :)

Thoughts on winter, weight loss, and more

This is my first blog.  Being new to the world of blogs, I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing.  So I suppose I'll just write some personal thoughts and a few tidbits about what's been going on in my life.  I can't wait for January to be over!  Too much stress!  My daughter is in tech week for her play and needs to be at the theater every night this week from 6-9.  Also needs to fit in studying for her SATS that she'll be taking in two weeks.  I think at this point I need to let go, and let whatever happens, happen.  I've been overeating as a result of the stress, I guess.  So I have begun a new "eating system" today.  It's called "I Can Make You Thin" and it deals more with hypnotic suggestion, then actually going on a "diet."  I will let you know after two weeks whether or not it is working.  The diet advice is pretty basic, and much like how I used to eat when I was thin.  The rules are to eat what you want, savor the food, and stop when you first feel full.  Sounds easy, right?  Not so much....  I hope the hypnosis CD works!!!