How to: Jack o'lantern Luminaries

I stumbled across this at Crafts by Amanda and I can't wait to try this out myself.  I love to carve pumpkins every year but they never last as long as you would like no matter how much you take care of them (for more information on this stay turned for an upcoming post!).  These luminaries can last years and add instant flair to a porch or doorway.  No carving or mess...just add candles!

This project is inexpensive or free depending on how many mason jars you already have hanging around the house (and lets me honest...most of us do!)  But don't limit yourself to just mason jars.  Do you already collect empty pickle or sauce jars to hold used cooking oil?  Random thought:  If you don't already do this, you should.  Collecting the oil in jars and later disposing of it is more environmentally friendly.  We have enough things falling down our sinks as it is.

So...what do you need?

Glass jars
acrylic paint (black and various colors)
permanent marker (sharpies are cheap and effective)
clear acrylic glaze

For a full tutorial check out Amanda's post here.

Halloween Goodies

I have now listed all my Halloween Items up on Etsy for your viewing and purchasing pleasure!  Here are just a few of the goodies available!

To find more goodies or to purchase these, go to the Lonely Paper shop on Etsy

Weekend in San Antonio

One of the best parts of my job is that I sometimes get to take trips that I would not normally get to take due to finances or time.  But working as a chaperone to adult students on trips is not only free but easy and fun!  This weekend we went to San Antonio, Texas.  Never having been to San Antonio before, I wasn't sure what to expect other than to be hot the whole time….really….really…hot!   But it was a blast!  

On the Riverwalk

Outside of the Alamo

The alamo

On a the riverboat tour

The trees were MASSIVE

Stone faces seen on the riverboat tour

At Six Flags (We are getting married in the spring.  You're all invited!)

At Six Flags with my students

Ready to drop 20 stories with Ana

Jack and His Lantern

Those closest to me know about my deep love for Halloween.  And those that love me don't make fun of me for it...well not much at least.

I know it's still September, but like those people that start playing Christmas music the first of November (we'll discuss those people another time), I think that Halloween should be enjoyed for longer than a few days at the end of October.

This is just a teaser of some inspiration I've found on the web.  I will actually be testing out several of these ideas and posting the results here...so..stay tuned!

pantyhose pumpkins @ Green Eyed Monster

Classy pumpkins @ busymommy.com

Lantern pumpkins @ Inspiration for Home

polkadot pumpkins @ marthastewart.com

witch o'lantern @ Season of Shadows

Vintage Modern: Wines Crates

I recently moved and the best way to describe our storage situation is:  strange.  We have an over abundance in the bathroom and not enough in the kitchen, with a strange cabinet on the other side of the bar where we store our pots and pans.  In the process of moving, I forgot to remove my shelves from the old apartment.  It was a sad sad day when I realized that I had no place to put all my do-dad's and foo-fa's.

So imagine my excitement when I found three wooden crates at an estate sale.  I had seen pictures of this while stumbling online and thought, "Hey what an great idea....I can do that!"  So I did....

I've also fell in love with peacock blue and basically covered everything that would stand still in the color.  I tried to paint Yoda but he was having none of it!  I slapped paint all over the crates like a 3 year old and the result was nothing short of imperfect....or perfectly rustic as some would say.

Here are some other great wine crate storage ideas!

French By Design

Heart of Light

Poetic Home

Stacey Sheppard

Someone like you.... :(

2011 VMA - Music - Adele

I'm definitely gonna need some chocolate ice cream after this.

Yoda Loves Borders

We all have our vices and guilty pleasures. Mine is buying books...in bulk. Much like potato chips....I can never have just one. Yoda is obsessed with licking plastic shopping bags....and sometimes it gets him into trouble.

Clothespins! Who Knew?!

When David M. Smith invented the two-prong clothes pin in 1854, I bet he never imagined that they would be such a big hit with crafters in 2011. I was recently inspired by a post I saw on nobiggie about hanging multiple clipboards on the wall to organize your home office or craft nook. Living in a tiny apartment means you have to use every single space available, which means all vertical spaces too!

I modified this idea a bit by using clothes pins instead. Here's

what you'll need:

Clothespins (find these are Walmart, Target, or any craft store)

Command strips (these are a must if you rent! I use them EVERYWHERE and for EVERYTHING)

Scissors

If you want, you can personalize your clothes pins. Paint, decoupage, go crazy! Start by cutting the Command strips down the center so they fit the clothespin better.

Press and hold for 30 second to make sure they bond. Next, do the same to the wall. Press and hold the clothespin with command strip to the wall for a good 30 seconds to make sure they really bond. Wait about 24 hours before hanging anything from the clothespins. Sometimes the weight can cause the command strip not to adhere to the wall.

Are you there friends? Its me Audrey

In case you were wondering....yes I'm still alive! Our move was very successful and I'm happy to be getting back to work on the blog and new website! I have been in a decorating/organizational frenzy and now that most everything is in its place, I can have a little fun here!

Since I can't sleep tonight, I've been doing a little surfing with stumbleupon and found a tutorial on photo printing onto fabric.

In the tutorial they printed on a hair ribbon but this technique can be used on other fabrics as well. I'm also curious to see how well it works on paper! Click here for the full tutorial from upcraft.it