candy corn frozen yogurt

this year i feel like i've not paid attention to the fact that halloween is like in two days. um normally i'm chomping at the bit to get my hands on pumpkins by like sept 30th...and yet here we sit on oct 29th and i've still not bought one single pumpkin to carve.
i have in fact done christmas shopping and have already done a mock up trial run of thanksgiving dinner (while my mom was here so she could taste my dinner since we both always end up not at eachother's houses for that holiday) but halloween? totally has flown under the radar. i'm just lucky that the boys are going to be clone troopers again and katie wants to be a black cat...so totally do-able.
but i wanted to make something fun. last years version of fun was not a hit...sooo this year:

i decided on nutritional frozen yogurt candy corn looking Popsicles
all you need is regular yoplait yogurt some in these flavors:
*orange
*vanilla (french if they have it...it has a more yellow-y color)
*and lemon (for the white. i know i bought it for the yellow but it turned out more white than the french vanilla)

*Popsicle sticks broken in half
*and Dixie cups

i started with a small dab of lemon at the bottom of the cup.
then i put a hefty amount of orange for the middle
and finally finished it off with the french vanilla.

i think i did too much orange and not enough of the yellow the first batch...but the batch that is freezing right now has a better yellow section.


but the kids don't care. they seem to think it was pretty cool and so much better than pumpkin soup like last year.


something i did bring back from last year is the witch fingers.
every one loves witch fingers.
and it's especially funny to flip off the only other adult in the room without the kids seeing.
not that i've done that...i just think it would be funny.
have a great almost halloween!
comments closed

before and somewhat after

this last week was spent in chaos as the house kept unraveling a little more with each box being opened. but i have an end in sight now. at least all boxes except for 5 have been unpacked and done something with two of the other boxes are books that need to go in the book shelf that will not be put in place till the husband (aka the super anal one that has to have this next thing mentioned done before i can put the books in the book case away) paints the baseboard so he never has to move it again to finish painting the baseboards (even if they look totally okay and i'm not that worried about them but whatever).
i can't believe it's been less than two weeks since we moved the first box actually inside the house. most things are done. but nothing has been put up on the walls. okay lie a few smaller sized things here put up...but the rest of it still leans against the wall where eventually it will make it up someday...hopefully soon.

here's a before of the master bedroom:

the after:
with a light shade of blue called some thing along the lines of "cloudy day or something or other"

you can't see it in the picture but there's a poison control sticker on my side table and writing in pen that says "nathan's lizard" and "do not feed" with a picture of a hand being bitten by a lizard and a slash through it. and i racked my brain and then searched for this post and you probably come up with the same assumptions that this was the time that those warnings were written.
before the living room:


now still in progress living room:
but still an end in sight.

winners of the vintage pearl giveaway

2 winners were selected via random generator each will recieve a $75 gift certificate to go towards anything they would like at the vintage pearl:

#12 the meador family who said:
I love the dainty names necklace! I have wanted this necklace for so long!! Come on random number generator....PICK ME!!!!!!

and #389 debbie who said:
Oh.My.Goodness. Love it! There are about four things I'd love to get--the layered mama's nest, the family tree, the "love you to the moon and back", and the "you are all worth it" necklaces are my faves! Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!

apparently there are was a lot of "pick me!" s out there. good stuff well your email addresses have already been sent to erin. she will contact you to give you your winnings.

thanks for all who played.
till the next giveaway!

giveaway: the vintage pearl

the vintage pearl is our sponsored giveaway this month.
you need to check out what erin is offering 2 V and Co readers. seriously you don't want to miss out.
click here to read more and enter to win.

confession

i sewed today. yeah i did. even though to get to my material and to get to my cutting board i had to climb boxes and i had to shove on more than one occasion "mount stuff of junk" from one side of the room to the other just to get something accomplished.
and you know what?
it felt good.

then to procrastinate the whole process even i more...i've baked cookies have popped popcorn and have done it on more than one occasion...yes the kiddos are now thinking that it's a new tradition to have fresh baked cookies coming out of the oven or freshly popped popcorn ready to be devoured as the walk in the door from school.

but even with all my procrastinating and trying to avoid the house...alas we are still making a little bit of progress here and there.
but not in my office...that's still a mess and with the added fabric confetti everywhere...it doesn't look like it's going to get much cleaner any time soon.
oh well.

hey pssst monday we're having a giveaway!

sneek peek: office slash sewing room

well, it's official.
i have my very own first EVER bonafide sewing slash office slash lets see how much sewing and crafting crap i can cram into a room all to myself.

we signed papers on wednesday and we officially recorded as sellers of our last home and as owners of our new home on friday at 1:34 pm.
all hell broke loose when we got word that this domino effect of selling and buying homes was really going to happen... everyone was approved and well on their way in playing musical homes. i had no idea that when i decided to put our home on the market at the end of august...less than two months later i would be freaking out trying to figure out how we were going to do everything in fast forward motion.
but here we are.

and well, welcome to my own little space in our new home.
i even got new to me but real retro furniture (for FREE) to go it:



a friend was showing me her basement and when she opened a door to one of the bedrooms i nearly fell over in envy when i saw the dresser and desk in this room. i told her i hated her for having such a cool dresser. she stared at me like i was smoking crack. the words "you can have it if you want it" came out of her mouth and i started jumping up and down ecstatic. then she added "you can have that desk too." i immediately stopped jumping and stared at her. i swore i must of heard her wrong. "you don't want them?" disbelieving i kept staring at her. she started laughing and said "are you kidding me? you're helping me by taking it." i continued to jump up and down and up and down. she was re-assured at that point that yes in fact i had to of been on crack due to my response and uber excitement of my new digs for my office.
the desk will be my sewing and computer desk. i will move the screen off the desk while sewing.
the dresser will be where i will keep a lot of my fabric but lets be completely honest, it wont even touch a fraction of what i call my fabric stash. so the closet will we used for organizing fabric as well.
i love it all.


and well i think someone else does too.
but please don't let this optical illusion of a super organized no clutter area fool you...

the other side of the room still looks like this.
and well, lets be honest, so does the rest of the house.
oh heaven help me.

sneek peek

my old dining slash kitchen area looking a lot more "moving organized" in this picture
than what it really looks like right now

well i really can't write much as i am in a time warp continuum of this black hole called "moving just down the street." but here's a snip-it of my new kitchen slash dining area that i have yet to fully move into:
hopefully by this weekend more of my things will be inside the house so i can go back to blogging and sewing and organizing and fall decorating.
you know all the important things in life.

(keep a look out for someone elses cute fall tutorial to show up in the next little bit. as my sanity and priorities have been taken over with this whole fiasco i put upon myself.)

i would say we'll talk soon...but this black hole time warp thing doesn't let me know when i'll get to computer next. soooooo.
hopefully we'll talk soon.
;)

guest post: yo yo pumpkin by praiseworthy

Thanks, Vanessa, for hosting us today! We're excited to share this stuffed yo-yo pumpkin tutorial from our Praiseworthy blog to all of you. Enjoy!

So this is a continuation of my post last week, since I already professed my favoritism of pumpkins. For some background, a couple of years ago, I took a ferry ride with my sister and good friend to Bainbridge Island to do a little shopping around town and, by design, spent most of our time at Esther's. Seriously a jewel of a fabric shop with mostly quilting cotton but a surprising amount of wide-width fashion, exotic and home decor fabrics. And, they display quilts on. the. ceiling. I love that.

.

Anyhoo, I saw some cute little pumpkins scattered around the shop, and when I asked if there was a pattern, the woman working there said, "Easy! If you know how to make a yo-yo, you already know how to make a pumpkin!" The shop owner, Jennifer (don't you love her beautiful name?? :-) ), was gracious and enthusiastic about serving as the inspiration for this tutorial. If you're ever in the Seattle area, make it a point to take a scenic ferry ride to Esther's, and be prepared to be inspired yourself.
So, without further adieu, as promised, here's the tutorial for a super easy, cute pumpkin...it's addicting. "No one can [make] just one!"

Here are the supplies you'll need:

• fabric of your choice
• scissors
• poly-fill stuffing
• green floral wire
• silk leaves (yes, I know mine are maple leaves, but with a stuffed pumpkin, I'm not exactly going for horticulture accuracy!)
• glue gun
• needle and thread
• small tree branch picked up from your yard (not shown above)

1. Trace around a circular object. Keep in mind your finished pumpkin will be roughly 1/2 the size you are tracing. So, this 14" pizza pan I'm using yields a pumpkin 6-7" in diameter. Like my "helper?" Cut out your circle after you've traced it.

2. Sew around the edge of your yo-yo. Fold over approximately 1/4" to the wrong side of the fabric and sew a large running stitch all the way around. I used quilting thread because it's stronger and you'll be pulling it tight later. If you don't have quilting thread, just double your regular thread.

3. When you get all the way around, pull up on your thread to create kind of a bowl. Hold off on knotting your thread until you've stuffed the pumpkin.

4. Stuff it! Fill opening with fiber fill stuffing. It doesn't need to be stiff like you would stuff a pillow. Just fill it to your desired squishiness.

5. Tie it off. Pull up on your thread until there's just a small hole in the top. For a pumpkin this size, the hole was about 1". For smaller pumpkins it would obviously be a smaller hole. You don't want to completely close it up so you have room for the finishing touches.

6. Time for finishing and embellishing. Wrap your green floral wire around a pencil to make a curly pumpkin vine tendril. Leave a straight tail on the end to put into the hole in the top.

7. Using your hot glue gun, apply a generous amount of glue to the bottom inch or so of the tree branch. Poke it down through the hole and twist it a bit to make sure it's secure inside the stuffing. Snip off a couple of silk leaves, leaving some of the stem on the bottom. Apply glue the same way as before and place them right around the stem so they'll cover up the hole and batting. Glue the straight tail end of the green tendril the same way as the branch, and tie a ribbon or fabric strip around the stem for a final decorative touch.

Have fun making tons of these little cuties in any and all sizes!

Have a great day!
Jen

hello, goodbye

this month is one big huge month of hello goodbyes. i didn't realize how many things have been creeping up on me that are about to change or have already changed. and then add selling a house and moving into another one.
well here's a few of my hello goodbyes:

*hello to a new bed! (bed frame from my favorite store IKEA)
goodbye to the queen size bed that usually has at least one child's feet in my face or in the husband's back every single morning. oh and that had broken over the years like 10 times and no not because of what you are thinking but because it was really soft wood. dirty minds.

*hello to all three boys being in school and katie in pre-school.
goodbye to little hands always needing me at every single waking moment of the day. :(

*hello to no more national guard every single month.
goodbye to weekends that are sometimes stressful.

*hello to a new house.
goodbye to our old one that we've worked on for 3 and half years to get it to where we have it today.

*hello to a larger house.
goodbye to only having 3 bedrooms.

*hello to new neighbors. (and no not moving from our little town.)
goodbye to the gorgeous views we had from our back yard.


*hello to smaller lawns.
goodbye to the husband complaining that we have too much lawn and we need a riding mower.

*hello to my own office.
goodbye to working in my kitchen and being spread out all over my kitchen table only to have kids move things over when they come home from school and me having to put everything away till i can put it back out only to have it happen again the next day.

*hello to the husband getting his own office slash guest room.
goodbye to the husband having to request that the kids keep it down so he can get something done and then only getting more frustrated so he goes back to work to work on his other job.

*hello to the husband being home more.
goodbye to my not being able to get a hold of the husband all the time.

*hello to a really pretty landscaped front yard.
goodbye to my trips to the nursery and being baffled of what will actually grow in 7000 feet and what can withstand negative temps for our long winters.

*hello to a basement.
goodbye to all of us being on top of each other trying to do whatever it is that we do and actually liking being near each other because we want to be not because we have to be.


okay there's more but i have to take care of a bazillion things before i get little people coming home. one of them is to keep packing.
sometime in the next two weeks we will be in the other house. i've already taken some pictures of the befores...but i think you might want to see some durings and afters as well. it's a different layout so things will be moved around and re arranged till i get things right. it may take a little changing of things and style so we shall see how it all goes.

we'll talk soon!
;)

a little spill-age

one of my next projects is made out of this line.
i'm super excited about it, i can't wait to see if it turns out as cute in real life as it did in my head and in my sketch book.
i've been working on it...sloooooowly...everything over here creative has been put on the "slow track".

why you ask.
well because i'm, going through every single drawer, cabinet, closet, nook and cranny and putting things in piles to keep, give away, sell or throw out.

why you ask?

well...ahem i sold my house.

ohhh yeah i kind of didn't mention that i had put my house up for sale did i...does my shotty blogging make a little more sense now?

yeah well, we sold it.

had sellers remorse for like a day...emotionally ate anything that wasn't nailed down in my house and grocery store.
then went and bought another house.
went back to the grocery store and emotionally ate myself into another stupor.

so for right now we're still living in this house, all paper work should be done and through with in the next two weeks on both houses.
the people wanting to move into my, oh sorry, this house are probably going to close hours before we close on our new one.

so yeah are you ready to decorate a new house with me?
i'm a little nervous.
and excited.
and probably going to have to buy all new wardrobe after all this is said and done.
now if you excuse me, i need to go get more chocolate and carbohydrates into my system.
we'll talk soon.