Sunday, October 28, 2012

Happy Halloween!

I can't believe October is almost over already! It flew by! (and P.S. I failed my fitness challenge miserably the last half of this month...boo!) The kiddos have their costumes, and thankfully I only had to by one costume and a few cheap accessories for the other! Yay! I love Halloween, but I hate how expensive it can get.

While the hubs was off hunting this weekend, a couple of friends who are also "Hunting Widows", brought their girls over and we had a fun sleepover! We started by murdering cleaning out our pumpkins. My dining table looked like a gigantic pumpkin puked all over it.

The carnage...
We saved some of the seeds and baked them later. They turned out pretty tasty! Next up- carving. The kids picked their designs and we got to work. We wound up with a headless horseman, a vampire, and two jack-o-lantern faces (one kinda scary and one like a clown).


The turned out pretty good! Did you notice the drill in the first picture? That nifty attachment helps hollow out your pumpkin after you get all the goop and stringy gunk out. It shaves the meat (for lack of a better word) of the walls of your pumpkin to make it easier to carve. Pretty awesome, right? (My friend bought it last year at Hades Walmart.)

Next, we let the kids attempt a fun treat, but it didn't turn out quite as planned. I bought some marshmallows and chocolate chips so the girls could make 'spiders'. I couldn't find those little crunchy noodle thingies for the legs (and I was too lazy to go back to the candy aisle for licorice) so I substituted (very poorly, I might add) some Pocky instead. Ummm, not exactly the look we were going for. I also just realized the only picture I got of the "spiders" was on my cell phone and I can't get it big enough to post here and you be able to see it. Ugh! Crazy girls + melted chocolate= no good pics for blog post! 

The idea was to melt some chocolate, dip the marshmallows in it, then give them some legs and sprinkles for deocration. Even though they were just big, blobs of goo, some with Pocky sticking out of them and some not, the girls thought they were great. I mean, chocolate and marshmallow- what's not to like??

That is all the "Halloween" I have for you, but I also got a pumpkin recipe and a quick, cheap, fall decoration project done this weekend too. That will be the next post.

I also wanted to share that for breakfast I tried making the canned cinnamon rolls in my waffle maker (I saw the idea on Pinterest of course). Super fast, super easy, and super delish!! You should definitely try it!




What have you been up to?? I love comments, so please share! Also, don't forget to follow me! Just click the button at the side or sign up for email!





Saturday, October 6, 2012

My New Toy!

It's here!!! Finally! I am so freakin' frackin' excited that I am just beside myself!! I finally got my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine!! I only started playing with it last night, so my first project was small, since I was learning the ins and outs of the machine and software. I made a personalized cell phone cover. I cut out a monogram and background for it. I used some patterned scrapbook paper for the background, glittered cardstock for the background shape, and foil cardstock for the monogram letters. I purchased the clear phone cover from Amazon for a less than $4. I made the zebra background by using the fake "phone" paper insert that came in the phone cover as a template for my zebra background to get the right size and cutouts for the camera, kickstand and speaker holes. I used glitter Mod Podge for the "glue".


Now, I plan on making some more (since the covers are so inexpensive), but I need to figure out something different for the glue. I could skip trying to glue it to the cover, and it would probably stay in there just fine. Maybe just regular Mod Podge or some other adhesive would be better? I am not crazy about the streaky look of the Mod Podge, however this could be my fault for not using the right applicator or technique in applying it....just not sure. Overall I am tickled with the outcome! Next up- vinyl decal for my stand mixer!!! I am thinking copying some subway art for it that I found online. 

What projects are you working on? What is your favorite "toy" for crafting? Please share, and don't forget to become a follower of my lil' blog! Just click the "join" button at the side! 

 Happy crafting!!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

The One Where I Joined A Fitness Challenge






Ok, so I am a huge stalker fan of the 'amazeballs' hookstar, Mama Laughlin.(I totally hijacked those terms from her- I am not that cool.) She is so awesome and I want to be her BFF! Anywho, I also joined the Mama Laughlin Fit Camp. Through this group I have found some cool blogs and joined a fitness challenge called  "31 Days of Being Jillian Michaels' Biotch!" Awesome, right?


The info for the challenge is here at Fitness Unscripted. You should totally check it out. And Mama Laughlin. And the ML Fit Camp page on FB. I am soooo excited to be doing this!

I finished day 2 of the challenge today, and holy-crap-on-a-cracker, am I sore!! Jillian is the devil! (Not really- I heart you Jillian!) I have formed quite the love-hate relationship with Ms. Michaels. I am super proud that I have gotten up before the butt-crack of dawn to get my workouts in. And I am NOT a morning person! I also haven't had my creamer coffee in two days, because after getting all sweaty, coffee just doesn't excite me, ya know??

The really amazing thing about this whole challenge is how many great women are members, and going through the same weight struggles that I am facing. Everyone is sooooo supportive of each other. If you are having a tough time or just want to bitch- these gals are there for ya!! I really hope to get to meet some of these ladies (including ML herself) this spring!!! And we will all be looking hot!!

The calendar link can be found at Fitness Unscripted. And any Jillian DVDs will work! Just get off your butt and get moving!! (Sorry, I can be a little bossy!!) But seriously, if you are looking for some motivation, these blogs and this Fb group are the best! And I guess Jillian is pretty awful cool too!

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