My 1st Church Activity

I've recently been put in charge of our church's activities.  I'm really into it!  My first one to plan was our Trunk Or Treat.  I went to my trusty notebook full of pulled out magazine ideas and chose a couple to try.  Martha Stewart is always a good place to start as well.  She had the idea below of the hanging decorations.

I will warn you that the directions that come with some of her projects are not great.  This one had no suggestion of what kind of paper to use so I chose scrap booking paper.  After folding my first 12x12 paper into a fan my hands felt arthritic.  This project just did not work.  My back up plan was to use newspaper which was free and much easier to work with.  I chose not to add the faces, it didn't look good with the newspaper. 
My next  project idea was also by Martha Stewart, candy corn pom poms.  Aren't they cute?!!

Again, the directions to these could have been better.  My outcome wasn't near as pretty but good enough.
Here are my homemade decorations all together.

I did not have a beautiful backdrop for my hard work but I'm happy with the overall effect.

On the food tables I crafted some arrangements with sticks, more newspaper pinwheels, and some dollar store black birds.  I also used purchased Spanish moss.  I could have used some out of our tree but I didn't want to risk bugs getting into the food.

I learned all kinds of things working on this party.  I am considering doing another blog especially for these events.  I was hoping one already existed but if it does I haven't found it.

Face Painting

Katherine had her face painted at Disney and really enjoyed growling, hissing, and climbing like a cat the rest of the day.  I could have spent hours watching them paint faces.  I tried to watch and learn so I could replicate it at home.  I found these cool pics on-line of face painting for some inspiration.

Halloween is about over for this year but maybe next year!

A Color Personality Quiz

I've been following a blog called How About Orange, that is full of fun "time wasters".  I just took one her quizs called "What's Your Color Personality".  My results said I'm yellow.  I like that.  It said kind things about me.  What's your color?!

Very Busy Two Weeks

I've neglected my poor blog for two weeks!  I'm trying to remember what we've been up to and it's been a lot.  I spent several days getting ready for our first trip to Disney World, then we went and had a great time.  Came home and tried to get back on our schedule but didn't because of Katherine's birthday.  Then we've had company for a few days.  My poor children haven't been to bed on time all week.
Here are some highlights of our trip:

As we are on the tram the first day to the Magic Kingdom, I discover that I have used the wrong plug again to charge the 2 lb. camera and it is dead.  Therefore I had to carry it all day without a single photo taken.  I thought I was packing lightly when I left the cable at home so we had only our phone cameras to use the entire time. 
Chuck took all of the pics our first day on his phone and he is not feeling helpful at the moment so I must move on to our 2nd day.

Our 2nd day was spent at Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure.  We were very excited to see the "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" so we rushed to the back of the park only to discover that everyone else had the same idea.  It was very impressive to walk into "Diagon Alley".

Here is Katherine posing with a $6.50 bottle of pumpkin juice and her newly acquired hippogriff.  The juice was good, but not near as good as the "Butter Beer" which tasted like Cream Soda with ice cream.  We have no idea what is sold in the super cool looking shops because of the longest line I've ever witnessed to get into them.  We chose to move on.

It turns out that Katherine is an awesome climber.  She saw the rock wall and convinced me to spend $5 to let her climb it.  I'm so glad we did.  I was bursting with pride when she climbed the Expert side.  The rest of our day was spent standing in very long lines. 

Day 3 of our trip was spent at Universal Studios and whizzing past the long lines because we purchased the fast passes.  It was worth every dollar (if you're interested it's $20 extra dollars per person).  One of our favorite attractions was The Mummy.  This guy was hanging out in front of the ride.  Cool.

We had a great trip and are planning on going again when Charlie is older.  He got to stay home with his Marmie and Grandad. 

I posted this as "Product Review" so I could share my opinion about the parks.  The Magic Kingdom was by far the best for families.  Disney is just awesome to their guests. 
Islands of Adventure is good for children ages 7 and up.  Katherine just turned 7 and was able to ride everything but "The Hulk". 
Universal Studios was our least favorite, once in a lifetime was enough.  Katherine could ride just about everything but none of the attractions were as cool as the other two parks.  Their biggest and only coaster looked great but was closed for service. 

Yard Sale Finds

I've missed two weeks in a row of yard sales but I did go this past weekend.  It was a great morning with lots of sales and some good treasures.  My favorite things, Ginger found first.  The mercury glass candlestick was $.75!  And I only paid $2.50 for the three vintage flower pins.  I can't wait to wear them on my jean jacket.

I found some cute books for Charlie that looked like they'd never been opened.  They'll be good for Christmas presents.  And the "NOEL" blocks were so cute I couldn't leave them. 

A Cupcake Secret

I was watching "Antonio Treatment" on HGTV and learned from a food stylist how to top a cupcake with the perfect swirl.  I used to start swirling the icing on the outside of the cupcake and end in the middle but it always seemed kind of "flat" looking.  I was using the right tip, it's an extra large one from Wilton # 1M.
The secret is to squirt a pile onto the center of the cake first. 

Then starting on the outside of the cake swirl the icing around onto the top of the original squirt to make a nice high pile of icing.  It'll look perfect every time!

New Shirts for October

I found this t-shirt idea on Brassy Apple several months ago and have been saving it for Fall weather!  I knew my daughter would love it, she really likes Halloween and dressing up.  I couldn't resist making one for Charlie as well.  He doesn't give a hill of beans for Halloween but he was running around in Katherine's kitty cat tail yesterday. 

I used scraps of material I already had but had to buy the t-shirts and some Wonder Under.  As usual any sewing project gives me fits.  I had to learn the hard way to follow the Wonder Under instructions because I burned it the first time.  And it was difficult zigzagging around the ribs especially on the smallest shirt.  But I persevered and have two cute shirts. 

My children were hard pressed to stop for a second to pose for me, these were the best shots I could get.