Halloween Wreath

Just a quick post today to show off my Halloween wreath I made over the weekend. It was super easy, super quick and super cheap. Just how I like it! First I started with a piece of pipe insulation. Yep, the stuff you put around your pipes so they don't freeze. We have quite a bit around our house. When Miss A was learning how to walk Mr. CC, being the worry wart that he is, put the stuff on a few of the corners of our walls. You know, just in case she walked into them. I have to admit, they have saved a few bumps and bruises over the years. Anyway, I took one, cut off about 8 to 10 inches, wrapped it into a wreath shape and taped it together. Like this.

Of course I forgot to take pictures of the actual assembly of the wreath, so you get the pic I pinned. Easy, huh? After that I took the 6 ft. garland I got at the Dollarama and wrapped it around. To secure the garland to the wreath I used a dollop of hot glue on each end. At the top I left about three inches exposed. That part I wrapped with some cute Halloween ribbon, added a bow and some extra to hang it with. Last year I bought a "Happy Halloween" sign for the door, I hot glued it to the bottom of the wreath. Now it's all one piece. Here's how she turned out.

This is how it looks at night with the porch light on. It's soo sparkly!! 

How do ya like my $2 wreath? The only things I bought were the garland and ribbon, both a buck each. I think it's soo cute and love the little black bats against the purple. Saturday the girls and I put up our Halloween decorations. We don't have very many, so it didn't take long. Have you started decorating for Halloween?

Here in Canada Thanksgiving is this weekend. We don't do a turkey. Me being American, I do Thanksgiving in November. Some years we go to friend's or family for turkey dinner. But I find it's not as big a holiday here as it is in the States and not as many people celebrate it. Don't know why? Personally, it's my favorite holiday. It's all about be thankful, good food, good company and none of the pressure or greed of presents. That's my kind of holiday!!

Sharing With:

A Pretty Life in the Suburbs

Thrifty Decor Chick

Centsational Girl 

The DIY Show Off

The Gunny Sack

Homemaker on a Dime

Savvy Southern Style

Debbiedoos

DIY by Design

Delightful Order

At The Picket Fence

The Shabby Nest

Serenity Now

After the Storm...

Summer in Calgary and thunderstorms go hand in hand. We can have a beautiful , warm sunny day and by the evening, we're paying for it in the form of a thunderstorm. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE them, but they sure do give the plants a beating. Earlier this month our peonies that run along about 25 ft of our driveway were in full bloom. The weather had been rainy when they first opened and I never got a chance to get out and take pictures of them. Two days after they bloomed, we had a MASSIVE hail storm and they were completely destroyed. It was pretty sad actually. Half of them were laying down on the driveway, petals all over the place. What ones weren't completely beaten up, were bruised and tattered looking. So my idea of doing a post about our gorgeous flowers was washed down the sewer drain that day.

This happened last week, minutes after I'd finished the first coat of paint on the shelf I was painting for the sunroom. Before this was taken it was warm and sunny. The storm took about 40 minutes to pass over and after that it was warm and sunny again. Crazy!! 

Not only do our flowers get beaten up, but our weeping birch out front does too. After every storm you can look outside and see a sea of twigs and small branches blanketing the lawn. Most times I just go about picking them up and throwing them with the rest of the kindling for our fire pit. Today however, I looked out there and got an idea. Bring some inside and put 'em in a vase. Hmm... would that look ok? Let's find out.  : )  

I started with a vase I recently picked up at a thrift store for a couple bucks. This was just 

a little experiment to see if I liked the look enough to follow through. Me likey so far! 

Then I grabbed some twigs from the yard, got out some floral foam and dried moss. 

First I cut a piece of the floral foam and pushed it into the bottom of the vase. Then I started shoving 

the twigs into the foam, it holds really well. As I went along I began adding the moss. 

Here's a shot of the moss. I love the texture of it all! You'll notice the plant next to it 

magically disappears in the reveal picture. It just wasn't doing it for me. 

Ta da!! 

Ms. A declared that it was beautiful when I set it on the table. She's was also making sure I was taking pictures for my blog while I was putting it together.  : )  Such a cutie. Anyway, what do you think? I'm liking it for the now. We'll see how long it stays there. I just wanted something with a bit of height for the corner. There had been a couple of antique crates stacked there with a tall plant on top. Ever since I moved them and put this side table there it's felt empty in that corner. So the twigs will stay until I start moving things around, again. 

Have you made anything from twigs for your space? If so, please share. I'd love to see it!

Sharing with: 

Funky Junk Interiors 

From a Paper Towel to a Butterfly

* I don't know what's up with this post, but it's experiencing technical difficulties. There are big gaps in between the pictures and text. I've tried to edit and repost twice and it's still doing it. I'm hoping it'll correct itself.  Sorry!  : ) *

Happy Monday! Last week I came across the cutest kids craft while I was browsing Pinterest. If you still haven't joined Pinterest do it right after you finish reading this post! Anyhoo, as soon as I saw this

cutesy little craft I thought, I must do this! Thanks to Make It & Love It for the great idea!

Here's how you make them. 

1. Fill as many bowls as you like with a bit of water and add a few drops of food coloring.

We did one red (pink), one yellow, one green and one purple. 

2. Fold paper towels into to small squares. 

3. Dip each corner into whatever colors you like. 

4. Squeeze excess water into sink and lay out to dry. 

Once the paper towels have dried you'll need pipe cleaners for the body and antenna. Take two pieces if you used choose-a-size like I did, or one for regular size, then gather in the middle and wrap a pipe cleaner around and curl the ends for the antennas. It's that easy!

Here's how they turned out.  

Of course Ms. A, loving all things butterfly, had to have them in her window immediately.

This was a great craft to do with the kids. Ms. A is 5 and her friend, who's close to 3, both had lots of fun making them, and were both able to do the dipping themselves. We'll definitely do this again. Next time though I'd encourage them to just dip a tiny bit of the corner into the dye so it makes more of a polka dot effect than all over color. Give this a try. Your kids will love it!

Linking to:
Young House Love - Pinterest Challenge
Bower Power - Pinterest Challenge