Happy Halloween!!

Wow. It feels like I have been MIA for a long time...but, for very good reason! I last posted after my wonderful weekend and the start of one of my larger, outdoor projects. Monday brought a new week and lots of catching up to do. Then, on Tuesday, I had a hair appointment and many errands to run.

On Wednesday, my brother and sister-in-law arrived and they came to help me with more of the "heavy lifting" outside. They were here for two days and I can't even begin to tell you how many BIG chores we accomplished! Most of them are things I can still do but they would have taken me three times longer without the extra hands. I will say that the extra heat we are experiencing this year really makes these projects miserable. Usually I am doing the really big weeding and mulching projects in the autumn and spring and the weather is much less extreme than it has been this year. That heat totally wipes me out!

Then, on Friday daughter #2 came down and daughter #3 joined us on Saturday. Almost everything that was on my very long list and not done is now done as well! I'm starting to believe that old adage..."it takes a village". Lol

And so, I am at the start of yet another week and almost at the end of the day. I figure I better get some of the Halloween decor posted before it is time to put up Thanksgiving.

I changed up the front a bit. My old orange and purple "icicle" lights were pretty faded and the little jack-o-lanterns didn't do much for me any more so they are now just a memory. I also got rid of a few signs and kept things pretty simple-just a black lighted garland over the front window, the witch hat door hanger and the eyeball doorbell. Then, of course, the sign that I made so many years ago with the Halloween arbor and tombstones.

Enter if you dare!

My plan had been to move this sign to the family room mantle this year and re-do this vignette. Unfortunately, it is so tall I couldn't find anywhere else it would fit so, back it came.

I still love looking at all of our family costume party pictures.

I changed up the garland and the lights I used to use here. I bought this garland many years ago from Grandin Road and I love the way it drapes and hangs down over the mirror...wish I had more.

So that is this year's entrance. I can't believe how quickly the month is going! I am trying to savor the orange and black as much as I can because I really love it so much. I'll be back soon. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Where Does the Time Go?

 Wow, it sure seems like a long time since I have posted. I have been having some of the fun that my favorite season affords...lots of time outside, visits from friends, visits from family, decorating, etc. We have had some beautiful cool weather to go along with all of the fun as well.

Those of you who have followed my blog for a long time know that almost every week in October brings another big event to my family. But, with the kids all getting older and living in other places...not to mention all of their other adult responsibilities-not to mention the complications of the virus-I was thinking about the most I could hope for this year would be to have my three youngest grands here for an abbreviated weekend. Did I forget to mention that we also have two football games every week to work around?

In any case...and to make a long story short...my grand children got together without my knowledge and planned to all surprise me on Saturday morning. They all arrived and we took some time to catch up with each other. The kids wanted to do things "like the old days" but, if you know me, you know that that would have taken MUCH pre-planning and shopping. And so, we talked about some things we could do and decided to just go with it and have fun.

That also meant not taking pictures at every turn or making things any more complicated than they needed to be. Luckily, I had the supplies for the ghosts, two of the girls went to the store for food while the other three stayed here and got busy baking some pumpkin donut holes. We decided to make dinner simple, enjoy each other, grab some fast witch pictures...just because the kids have been doing that forever and they just wouldn't give that tradition up. Of course, by the time we got to it it was dark outside and finding a place where we all fit inside is difficult these days...mostly because of lighting but also because of how big everyone is now. In any case, this is the best we could get and I am thankful!

Here is a quick look at the ghosts we made...

...and Caitlin and Presley surprised us with some graveyard pudding.

After pictures, everyone got in their pjs and we all settled in to watch Hocus Pocus. The boys had never seen it so it was fun watching their reactions. It was kind of hard to hear the movie because these seven kids talked to each other non-stop and most of the talking was reminiscing about all of the things we have done over the years. I think they looked at every one of the thousand ( at least it feels like that ) photos I have out and talked about everything they remember from each of those pictures. I have got to say that it did an old Nana's heart good to hear all of the laughter and love in that room that night...I wish it didn't have to end.

The next day, we had one of their favorite remembered breakfasts before two of the girls had to head back to Tallahassee, one to St. Augustine and one to Gainesville. The three youngest spent the better part of the day here and my two grandsons and I went out and made a dent in the work needed behind my fence. What a beautiful family-filled weekend it turned out to be and I love them all so much for giving up their weekends to come visit me. I can't wait until we can do it again!

And, the weekend wouldn't be complete without a football update. It is hard to get pictures with my grandson at his home games because they hustle the kids straight into the field house after the games and don't let anyone down on the field because of the virus but, we were able to get some pictures at their first away game in Gainesville as the boys were heading to the buses and had to walk right past us. Also, since a lot of the family lives in Gainesville we were able to have lots of extra support.

So, that has been my foray into my favorite season so far. I did get my house decorated for Halloween but I still need to finish up the outside. As soon as I get that done, I will start sharing. I changed a few things up this year to make it a bit fresher but, I will admit, I still have a LOT! All four of my oldest grand daughters told me this weekend that they have inherited my holiday decorating gene. They said their friends think they're nuts but they can't help themselves. Like our favorite Mr. Monk would say. "it's a blessing...and a curse". Lol

I no longer have the option of using the old Blogger format so I am limping through this post as I try to figure out the new one and hope that when I hit the "publish" button, it will look something like I plan. We shall see. Stay safe and stay tuned.

 

 

Taking the Easy Way Out!

In my last post I stated that when I made my Halloween tags, I was going to cut it down to two tags to see if they wouldn't hang better. But when I started to plan the designs, I wasn't getting excited about any of the normal Halloween images...for example, bats, witches, brooms, BOO, etc. And, since I am always drawn to letters and numbers, I decided to just go with the path of least resistance - the number 31 and Oct. And, since that would all fit on one tag, I kind of took care of the hanging problem at the same time. I got the inspiration for this tag from chalkcreekboutique.square.site.

Again, I headed to my Cricut machine and cut the numbers. I wanted them to be a bit more gothic than any I would draw myself. I painted the tag with black chalk painted and this time I simply traced the numbers on the tag and free handed the letters.

I had to use the tiniest brush to get those curves so the paint didn't flow quite as I would have liked but, I just went with it.

My plan had been to use my orange and white paint pens for the letters and the web but, when I opened the orange pen I found that it had not been capped tightly enough and it was dry. The white worked just fine and made those thin lines so simple...the orange, not so much. I had to use the thinnest brush ever and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get those lines both thin and straight. Each time I would try to go back, a few bristles would pop out and it would need even more tending to. I finally cried "uncle" and left it where it is! Don't look too closely! Lol

I tied it with a piece of black cording and some Halloween butcher's twine.

And, since my house is not yet decorated for Halloween, I don't know exactly where it will end up so this is the best I could do for now for a photo op.

My plan had been to make some tags for every holiday...and I might still do that...but for now, I'm going to wait and see how this gets used in a few weeks when all of the house is ready for the holiday and I know if it is something I want to do with the kids for them to give as gifts. If not, I'll make plans to whip out some for Thanksgiving and Christmas...we shall see. Until then, stay safe and stay tuned.

Another Fun and Fast Week

This past week was another one of those weeks that I don't think I'm going to enjoy...but then I do. You all know that I like big projects so, when a week opens where I don't really have anything on the calendar, I'm a bit unsettled. But, with the virus and all of its restrictions, I'm actually learning to embrace the absence of plans and "just go with it".

That is how this last week went. I did what I wanted and, somehow, one thing always leads to another for me and, before I knew it, the week was gone. Even though our temperatures are still really high and we have rain off and on every day, I managed to get lots of yard work accomplished, I am always surprised at this time of year how much things have grown and gotten out of hand. This is usually when I start out trimming and end up taking things almost down to the ground! All of the branches get so thick and the new growth is not pretty so I just decide it is time to give them all a new start!

And then, as if in the blink of an eye, all of the gardens that were just weed free are now covered with weeds. So, I did a lot of that as well. I still have more to go but at least I put a dent in it.

This was also the week of things breaking down. Some of them I could goggle and fix...others, I wasn't so lucky with and will probably be spending some money as it gets closer to Black Friday sales.

And, of course, I always try to find a craft...and lately the new ideas have been few and far between. I had seen an idea on Pinterest and so, I gave it a try...it came from The Unpolished Barn.

I also think this might be something I could do with the kids, so while I was buying the wood, I bought a bunch. Then I got out my trusty chop saw and cut some tag shapes. I also drilled a pretty big hole in each because I really wasn't sure at this point what I was going to use to hang them.

I decided to start by making a set of three autumn themed tags. I knew I wanted the word "FALL" on one of them so I cut the letters from cardstock, lightly sprayed them with adhesive and put them on the wood.

Then, I painted the tag with white chalk paint and peeled off the letters.

I painted in the letters with a brown paint and then found some old felt leaves that I had from a long time ago. They were the perfect size to trace onto the others tags. Then, it was a simple matter of painting the leaves, adding a bit of detail and "grunging" up the tags with a brown wax stain.

I ended up using jute and then some colored butcher's twine I found that just so happened to be in the exact same three colors as the paint on the tags.

Of course, once I got to this point, I finally realized the problem with these tags. Everywhere I had seen them, they had been photographed laying down...not hanging off of something as I had envisioned. Once you try to hang them, they all slip in behind each other. I tried altering the length of the cords, but that didn't work so I set out to find the place they could best be displayed now that I had them made...and the wood to make many more as well! Lol 

This is what I came up with. Not the best solution but the best at the moment.

My next set was going to be for Halloween so, I am thinking I will only do two tags and see if I can maybe get those to hang more the way I had wanted. We shall see and I will let you know.

My weeks won't be quite as empty from here on out as football has returned. My youngest grand son (and his head coach dad) had their first game this past weekend - albeit between raindrops and wind gusts - and my oldest grand son's H.S. team starts this week...barring any more outbreaks of the virus now that school has started again.

Life is definitely different these days but, some routine has started to return and we are all getting used to our new normal. I was surprised on Grandparent's Day with a delivery of dinner, flowers and a lovely bottle of wine as well as many messages from my grand children, so the weekend definitely ended on a high. We'll see what this week brings...by the looks of the sky, at least the weather will bring no new surprises...rain with a chance of rain. Lol And, I'm guessing, followed by weeds and more weeds. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Finishing Up

I just realized that I never showed you the guest bath dressed up for autumn. It's really not enough to do a whole blog about but, since I like to have these things documented for me for next year, I thought I'd go ahead and throw it in. On to the guest bath...

And, just for the heck of it, I'll throw in a quick picture of the master bath. I don't over-decorate in there because that room needs to be less cluttered and functional but, I always have to have a bit of a nod to the season or holiday to make me happy.

Well, that was short and sweet. I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend. I got a lot of yard work done and also got to dog sit my grand dog Parker. He is a huge black labradoodle who belongs to daughter #3 and her family. They were heading off for another day of boating and taking their golden doodle, Hazel, along. Hazel absolutely loves the water...Parker, not so much. But, they felt bad leaving Parker home alone as they all drove off so he came to spend the day with me. He is pretty low maintenance and we had a fun visit. Of course, as the day wore on we had our routine afternoon thunder storm and I had a very large dog practically all the way up on my lap with the first clap of thunder...he is definitely not a fan of storms! Lol

So far it's looking like a pretty quiet week. Hopefully that means that I will have time to do the rest of the end-of-summer yard work and start  a new craft project or two. We shall see where the road leads. Stay safe and stay tuned.