Halloween Cones (yes...another Halloween project!)

I know, you're thinking I'm crazy by now - I am the most inconsistent blogger of all time, but over the past few days I've been posting like crazy, and they're ALL Halloween projects!  Well, two things - one, I'm trying to post more regularly, and two - we're crazy about Halloween!  I had this idea in my head, ever since I read this post over at Skip to My Lou (SUCH a cute blog!  You must check it out!).  Well, once I get an idea in my head, I can't help but get get it done!  I was so inspired by the cute little paper cones in this post, I just had to make some for the girls (Carter isn't really in a "things made out of paper" place right now, so he didn't get one.  I know, I'm a mean mom, but really he didn't care).

Anyway - here is what I made for Lindsey and Emily - I think they turned out SUPER cute!!!  The only supplies I needed for this were:  scrapbook paper (already had), ribbon (already had), crepe paper (purchased at Party City for $1.50) and all the little goodies inside (less than $3 for each cone).

Hmmm...I think they liked them!  Inside were some candies, Halloween Silly Bandz, pencils, and a few other little inexpensive trinkets.  It's not about how much things cost, but how you present them!

I didn't do a tutorial since I didn't take step by step pictures, but if you have any questions please feel fre to post here or email me!  I'd love to see any of your creations.

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Halloween Napkin Rings - Tutorial

I am busy planning my older daughter Lindsey's 12th (sob!) birthday party.  She chose a Halloween theme this year, and we sure do love Halloween, so this one is easy to plan!  I have so many fun ideas running through my head.....wait, what?  What's that?  BUDGET?  Our budget is almost ZERO?  Hmmmm....gotta get creative here.

Inspired by a FABULOUS magazine I got last year from Better Homes and Gardens (it's their Halloween issue), I decided to make some inexpensive napkin rings.  I bet you have what you need to make them RIGHT now!  If not, they are very quick and cheap to make, so let's get started!

What you will need: 

• Thin cardboard (I used a popcorn box that was going in the recycling bin)
• Fabric
• Ricrac, or other embellishment of your choice
• Hot glue gun

First cut your thin cardboard into strips.  Mine measured 7 inches by 1.5 inches.  Next, you will lay the cardboard on your fabric, and cut around the cardboard, leaving about a half inch on each side so that you can glue the fabric down.

Make sure your fabric is facing the right way!  The front of your fabric should be facing out, and your cardboard should be lying on the wrong side of the fabric.  My cardboard had the printed side of the popcorn box showing through the fabric at first, so I had to flip it over.

Next, carefully glue the sides of the fabric to your carboard.  Hot glue hurts, so watch your fingers!  I glued the two long sides, then folded the ends down like I was wrapping a present.  As you can see, the inside looks pretty messy, but that didn't really matter to me.  If it matters to you, you might want to cover the inside with some felt or something.



Now, flip your cardboard over so that you can add your ricrac or other embellishment of your choice.  I used hot glue to attach mine, but you could also use fabric glue.  I don't have patience for fabric glue, so I take my chances with finger burns.

Now, you are ready to form the napkin ring.  Coat one end of your fabric-covered cardboard with glue, and bring the other end around to attach it.  Easy!

Now, for the fun part - what to put inside?  We found these cute little skeleton pens at Party City (.49 each), so I stuck that down inside with my plasticware.

He's pretty cute, in a sorta scary way, right?

So there you have it!  A cute (and VERY inexpensive) napkin ring for your party table!  I can see these being used for years to come, and I think I'm going to make some Christmas ones as well.  You can make these for events year round, using different fabrics and trims.  Let me know if you have any questions!

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Halloween Cupcakes (a cute way to wrap a gift!)

***EDITED***These were featured on One Pretty Thing's Halloween roundup on September 22!  So exciting!!!!

I have had these weird little white plastic containers for a long time - years maybe - and I never knew what to do with them.  I bought them on clearance at Michael's because I thought they looked like cupcake liners (and goodness knows I love anything cupcake-related).  Well, I finally figured out something to do with them.  Every year I get the girls (and now Carter!) a Halloween tshirt of some kind.  It used to be a cute custom boutique shirt, but budgets and girls getting older have changed that, so this year the shirts came from Target.  I also got them some Halloween socks and panties.  I wanted to wrap them up really cute, and then I remembered the little plastic containers.  I rolled everything together, messed around with them for a little bit, and came up with this:

Lindsey's - outer layer is a tshirt, inner layers are socks (all from Target).  Candy corn and flower came from my hairbow-making stash =)

Emily's - outer layer is a tshirt, middle layer is a pair of Halloween undies from Gymboree, top layer is a pair of socks from Target's dollar spot.

Here they are waiting for the girls to find them, along with Carter's little bucket of treats:

Real life confession (gotta keep it real here!):  Emily was SUPER jealous of Carter's bucket (from the Target dollar spot) and barely paid the cupcake any attention (she later "negotiated" with Carter and ended up taking the bucket into her room to use as a decoration).  Oh well - I LOVE these and think they are too cute!  I'm now thinking that I need to do a Christmas version as well =)

PS - does anyone know what these plastic things are called?  I'd like to get more, but I don't know how to search for them.

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Signs of Fall....

You can't tell from the (((HOT))) weather here in Georgia, but Fall is definitely on its way!  Around our house, we couldn't be more excited - we have LOTS of fun in the fall!  Fall is definitely my very favorite time of year, and we have started decorating a little here and there.  Here are some signs that Fall is coming in our home...

Hurry up, Fall!!!!

PS - My pictures look very grainy now that I've uploaded them to Blogger - is there some setting I need to change to allow better quality pictures?  Any help would be appreciated!

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What I've Been Working On....

I've been a bad blogger lately!  My time has been taken up with the busy-ness of back to school, dance, and chasing Carter around all day.  What little free time I've had has found me working on some cute hair bows!  Some of you know that I have a hair accessory business called Lulu and Junebug.  When my girls were little, I made TONS of bows for them, and then started listing some on Ebay.  I eventually opened my own website and I couldn't believe how busy I got!  It was a big blessing at the time, but it soon got overwhelming as I was doing lots of custom orders.  I was staying up until 2 or 3am working on bows, then getting up in the morning to take the girls to school.  I felt like I wasn't doing a very good job at my MOST important job (being a mom!).  Needless to say, I got burnt out and eventually closed my site (actually, it is still open but very outdated!).  I have sold occasionally on Ebay since then (you can find my ME page here and see some samples of bows I've done in the past), and always enjoy that since I'm in a great hair bow group (the Bowbetties).  However, lately, we have really needed some extra money to help pay for dance classes, braces (coming soon) and lots of other expenses, so I have dusted off my glue gun and have been working on some fun new bows.  I've decided to open an Etsy shop and offer only ready-made items since that's easiest for me to keep up with.  I will still sell on Ebay as well.  The most exciting thing that has happened recently is that I am now selling my bows in a local shop called Anklebiters, Inc.  Here are a few pictures of the bows I took there last week - all Halloween and fall! 

I also just finished up an auction donation for Lindsey's dance group.  She is dancing in a charity fundraiser called Dancers Responding to AIDS next weekend.  This hair bow bouquet will be auctioned off and will hopefully raise some money for this great charity.  I hope it will make some little girl VERY happy!

I have to say that it has been alot of fun working with all of my pretty ribbons again!  I will let everyone know when my Etsy site opens so you can check it out =)

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