Trash to Treat: Candy Corn Pumpkin Stands

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love candy. Halloween is a tempting time for me because it ends up being such an all out treat fest. I decided this year that I wasn't buying candy for trick or treaters until the morning of Halloween because if it's in the house, I'm eating it.

So it's no surprise that when I looked at this black Ikea FNISS trash can, I saw an upside candy corn. Can you see it?

Trash bin upside down plus orange, white, and yellow paint, equals candy corn!

The trash cans were already being used for plant stands so my candy obsession is only partially to blame. Over the summer I bought two for $1.49 each and used them as stands for ferns on either side of the front door. They're just the right height for our entry and much cheaper than any other planter or stand available.

I knew they could double as pumpkin stands for our carved jack-o-lanterns and again as stands for our fall mums.

Because the can is a series of rings that act as a guide, painting the three sections was easy and I rolled it on without taping. 

I'm already planning my red and white striped candy cane Christmas tree bases!

Picasso Pumpkin Portraits: Inspired by Creative Galaxy on Amazon Prime Instant Video

For most of my son's first two years, he didn't watch much t.v. or play with the IPAD. I believe in many cases, screen time ends up 'thinking' for children rather than inspiring them to think creatively. Like it or not, as he got older and a baby sister shared my attention, more shows and apps found their way onto our screens. That's why I jumped at the opportunity to review the Creative Galaxy series from Out of the Blue Enterprises, produced by Angela Santomero (Blue's Clues and Super Why) and offered via Amazon Prime Instant Video.

Creative Galaxy is a create along, interactive art adventure series for preschoolers following Arty and Epiphany as they travel through the galaxy solving problems with art. The episodes are designed to inspire children to use their imaginations and instill an awareness of how art is all around us. At the end of each segment, there is a live action piece with children creating their own projects based on the art created in the show.

My three year old son enjoyed the characters, storylines, and the 'problem to solve' style plot that he's very into. It's common for him to act out the scenarios that he watches on a show. We often have 'rescues' for trains trapped in a mine or need to tow an engine that has derailed. 

After watching only one episode, I saw him make a circle in the air with his finger and when I asked what he was doing, he said he was drawing the spaceship that Arty flies in. What makes Creative Galaxy unique and valuable as a learning tool is that seeing characters create on the screen made him imagine he was creating, rather than just miming what he saw. 

In one of my favorite episodes, Arty paints a portrait of his friend Annie but is frustrated when the crooked features on his canvas don't look at all like her. The episode conveys the message "If you like it, it's not a mistake" and goes into a lesson about Pablo Picasso's style of painting and surrealism, making Arty realize that his portrait was perfect just the way it was because he liked it.

We decided to paint our own Picasso-esque portraits of baby sister on some foam pumpkins. After he showed me where he wanted to glue the eyes, my son chose to use red and blue to paint her features on the pumpkins while she 'posed' in her chair watching his every move. 

I asked him to paint her eyebrows, nose, and mouth and he understood that I wanted him to look at her and try to paint her face because he had just watched Arty and Annie in that same scenario.

Watching episodes of Creative Galaxy followed up with an art project is a great addition to the art class my son gets in preschool. With many schools cutting art classes, I could also see this helping parents that may not have an art background, give their young children a lesson at home! Parents that are versed in art history will get a kick out of seeing artists like Seurat, Pollock, or Picasso referenced in the series. (Because I was a fan, I also just have to mention that any parents who were fans of 90210 will recognize the voice of 'Sketch' the pencil as Jason Priestley.)

Teaching young children that it's fine to paint trees that are purple or draw a dog with five tails if that's what makes them happy isn't always easy but so important for building on their creative ability and Creative Galaxy did a great job getting that point across. It's a good lesson for anyone to take away- focusing too much on perfection or little details can cause you to miss more important parts of an experience; in this case, the creating. I know these pumpkin portraits mean the world to me because of who created them!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Fast Fall Foyer

It's cold enough in Georgia for a jacket today! To mark this occasion, I decided to take down this forsythia that has been hanging above our front door since April.

The grapevine that hangs around our giant letter 'G' makes for an easy to change with the seasons wreath. Using seasonal garlands, it's super fast and simple to change the look.

I used an orange and green leaves garland that I've had for a few years and just wove and wrapped it through the sticks in the grapevine wreath to make the spring/summer G more season appropriate. The autumn leaves look great with the orange and brown flowers on the corner table and it's a nice change from the bright yellow!

I could shape and move the leaves around for an hour until I was satisfied with their arrangement but obviously that's not possible so for now, I'm happy with it just the way it is.

Entryway Wall Inspiration {Hometalk Curated Board}

Have you ever considered your entryway a table of contents? Just as you skim through to see what's inside a book, an entryway can be designed to show guests what to expect inside the rest of your home or better yet, encourage them to take a look around. I don't know about you but if the first thing I see when entering a home is leopard spots, I want to see the rest!

Are you a member of Hometalk? If not, let me tell you why I love it. It's a great place to search for and share home and garden inspiration and clip photos to boards you've created, all without the distraction of luscious looking food photos finding their way into your feed! So it's somewhat like using Pinterest but won't make you crave cake and brownies all day.

I love finding inspiration and sharing our DIY projects via Hometalk and having recently finished and shared this entryway wall of our own, I was happy to oblige when they asked me to curate an Entryway Wall Inspiration Board!

It was so much fun searching through all of the beautiful posts shared by Hometalk members and I think you'll agree these are amazing! Along with the examples shown below there are some great ideas for small spaces for those that don't have a defined 'entryway' wall.


Here's a sneak peek at a few of the posts I clipped:

Stunning planked wall by Lovely Etc. 

on Hometalk on Entryway Wall Inspiration

Not everyone has a large defined entryway but can 
show their style in a small space like this example

by The Blissful Bee on Hometalk on Entryway Wall Inspiration

Such a fun collected gallery wall entry 

by Funky Junk Interiors on Hometalk on Entryway Wall Inspiration

As unique as these examples are, they all show how an entryway can be used to define a home's style. When you walk into the spaces featured above, the style and personality of the owners is obvious and makes you want to see the rest! 

To find ideas in all shapes and sizes for your entryway walls, be sure to check out the rest because this was just a peek at the gorgeous ideas. Click on the graphic below or here to see my entire Entryway Inspiration Board and be sure to take a look around at the rest of my boards on Hometalk.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks to Hometalk for the fun opportunity!

Atlanta Country Living Fair Weekend Passes Giveaway

I'm very excited to be teaming up with Explore Gwinnett to offer a lucky reader two weekend passes to the Atlanta Country Living Fair, October 24-26, 2014 at Stone Mountain Park!

In addition to amazing shopping, there will be seminars, demos, antique appraising, and the opportunity to meet HGTV's Cari Cuksey and the editors of Country Living.  

How does a weekend of shopping, great food, and finding fall inspiration sound!? 

Enter to win by following the instructions in the Rafflecopter widget below. Giveaway ends Monday, October 13 at midnight EST.  Good luck and hope to see you there!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Explore Gwinnett is the official tourism office for Gwinnett County, Georgia. The first 100 people to stop by the Explore Gwinnett booth and sign up for their e-newsletter each day of the fair will receive a free jumbo shopping bag!

Last Minute Gift Idea: Housewarming Style

I know the blog name paints a pretty clear picture of my time management situation and no one really wants to hear me talk about how I can't find time for things like picking up last minute gifts for friends. But.. I'm going to say it anyway.

'Hopping' in the car for me includes but is not limited to feeding the baby right before leaving so she won't scream in the car seat she hates (often while walking through the house using my free arm to herd older child), packing snacks and the rest of the diaper bag, managing diaper and last minute potty stops, etc. then dressing and hauling two kids to the car who might otherwise still be in pajamas. All this to drag them to a store to shop for a gift for someone where they'll sit in a cart or stroller waiting for me to amuse them while I try to find the perfect item as fast as possible. Sound like fun? If it sounds familiar we both know the answer to that question!

Instead of the fun time described above, I chose to make a housewarming gift for a friend this morning and I think it's cuter than what I could've just picked up at the store!

I used a 5x7 frame without its matte, cut flower patterned scrapbook paper to fit, and applied a 'Home Sweet Home' sticker from the same package of stickers that I've been using for the projects around our house that I showed you here and here.

I made this framed Home Sweet Home 'print' very last minute using items I had on hand while the babes were still sleeping. Although it might seem like it should be easier to run out and pick up a gift last minute, making something from what I had at home actually saved me time and the results are (hopefully) a gift that stands out from others.

There may be days where all I can manage for a last minute gift is a bouquet of flowers but until then, I'm crafting one!

Striped Skeleton Halloween Wreath: Using Spray Paint on Styrofoam

Over the summer I bought a styrofoam ring to make a life preserver style wreath for the door but just never got around to it so after a coat of orange spray paint it was ready to use for Halloween.

Last year I had a wooden skeleton hanging on our door but it blew around in the wind and banged into the door so loudly that there's no way it was going back on there this year.  I decided a 'quiet' wreath out of styrofoam would be better. Black and orange spray paint with polka dots can be considered quiet, right?

After the coat of orange spray paint dried, I taped off stripes. When I had them lined up how I wanted, I went around and really pressed the tape edges down because I thought there might be a lot of bleed through with painted foam.

Here's the painted wreath. It looked like Tigger! (Anyone need an idea for a Tigger party?)
To finish the painted wreath I went through my stash of Halloween gear and found skeletons and bats.

Because they open down the middle and never seemed practical as boxes that would hold anything I decided to split these cardboard skeleton boxes and use them for accents on the wreath. I covered them with a couple of coats of black spray paint.

I topped the wreath with a paper bat and tied a polka dot ribbon on the bottom.

Corsage pins served double duty and both fasten my spooky flare onto the wreath and give the bat and skeletons eyes to glare at the trick-or-treaters coming to the door.

Now I'm ready to start the rest of our Halloween crafting and decorating!

Words to Wake Up To: Houndstooth Nursery Sign

When I found out that we were having a girl I started pinning nursery ideas and was sure I was going to avoid pink in favor of a beige/gray room. My entire pregnancy I managed to avoid doing a single thing to her room other than hang white curtains but after she was born I kept finding myself buying things that were pink. 

The idea of a neutral room was pretty much abandoned when I bought the flower painting and things started to get out of hand when I came home with this:

I like to decorate kids' spaces with homemade items and artwork so as I started to gather these store bought wall hangings for the nursery I felt like I needed to balance out the 'cute' with something a little more meaningful. I made this wall hanging with a houndstooth stencil and a sticker quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

"Be Silly. Be Honest. Be Kind." I love the idea of our little girl waking up in a room with this sentiment. 

I mixed a shade of pink paint and coated a canvas with it.

Then I mixed a green that ended up almost too preppy in combination with the pink and stenciled the houndstooth pattern on. This photo was taken while the paint was still wet.

I had to paint a white background for the clear sticker because the background pattern showed through too much when I tried to put it on.

I coated the painted canvas with varnish and added the sticker.

Finally, I framed the sticker with pieces of eyelet fabric trim.

After the trim I went from liking to loving the sign even though it's quite the combo of colors and patterns!

Now I need to find some words to wake up to for our bedroom. Right now the first word that comes to mind in the morning is COFFEE.


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