~~~Trunk or Treat~~~ ~~~Oct 28,2009~~~  

Posted by: Julie

I wasn't going to post Halloween pictures until AFTER Halloween but...
these were just so cute I had to share:
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Here is Andrew in his homemade Mad Scientist costume


A lab coat from an uncle,
gloves and goggles from Papa,
spiky hair sprayed white and green =
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Cool costume for one cool kid!
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Jessica wanted to be a beauty queen for Halloween.
(another homemade costume)
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Personally I think she is a beauty EVERY day :)
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A princess crown sprayed black with added glitter
A borrowed dress from mom
An orange Miss Halloween Sash
The prettiest Halloween beauty queen EVER!
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Here is my special Super Girl, Kimberly!
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She picked this out herself and I think it fits her perfectly!
(this one is a store bought costume)
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Most lovely super girl in the world.
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All aboard the Daniel Express!
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This boy LOVES choo-choo trains.
(also store bought)
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A most perfect costume for a most perfect little boy :-)
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Even mom got in on the fun.
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This was my quick, cheap, last minute, homemade costume idea...
a basket of laundry.
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I bought a cheap laundry basket ($3) and cut out the bottom.
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I added (clean) laundry to fill in the basket and pined the items in so I wouldn't loose anything.
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I printed off a Tide label and taped it onto a small box.
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I added some straps to the basket to help it stay on .
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It was a HIT! All the moms loved it and everyone got a great big laugh out of it.
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Here is the best picture of all ...
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Oh yeah! The BEST part of Halloween is the
CANDY!!!!

3 comments

Trunk or Treat Tonight!!!  

Posted by: Julie


When: October 28, 2009

Time: 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Where: Forestville Baptist Church
2 Old McElhaney Road
Greenville, SC 29617



1 comments

Small Fall Project  

Posted by: Julie

As I was "blog-hoping" I saw this cutie idea for fall, but now I can't remember where I saw it!
I'd love to give credit to who came up with this idea, so if you know, please tell me so I can link up to them.


Now, on to the project.

First, I bought some small juice glasses from
Good Will for $0.30 each.

I already had bought some fall leaves from
Walmart for $1.00 a pack.

I used low temp hot glue to attach the leaves around the glass.






I surrounded the glass with fall leaves
then tied raffia around the glass.






I put an LED tea light in the glass and added them to my fall decor in the laundry room.

($1 for a 2-pack at the Dollar Store)



Sweet little "fillers" that add a nice glow for a tiny price
($1.05 for each)

Gotta love it!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today I'm linking up to:

15 comments

My Laundry Room Loves Me Again  

Posted by: Julie


Yesterday I spent the day freshening up my laundry room.

My neglected and forgotten space.

Making my home more welcoming.

It was past time to make her feel special ;)

BEFORE:
(I know, shameful)



AFTER:




BEFORE:
(she is SO embarrassed!)


AFTER:




I even added a small light to warm up the space.




Warm, cozy, welcoming, pretty...

Yes, I think my laundry room loves me again!

3 comments

What a Weekend!  

Posted by: Julie

Wow! What a long weekend we had!
Is it Tuesday already?
*
I totally forgot yesterday was Monday and I missed
"Dancing with the Stars".
*
Bummer :(
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Oh well.....
*
We spent the weekend shopping for a new (to us) van.
Our poor Windstar was on it's last leg.
I won't even try to tell you all that was wrong with it, but it really needs to be shot and put out of it's misery ;-)
*
So, after looking and talking and searching, dear hubby and I made the decision and bought this:

Posted by Picasa
A 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT
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Love it!
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As I was "resting" last night, I spent a little time in blog-land and I found these two great posts:
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A Soft Place to Land: Make your home more welcoming ~ Challenge #1
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The Nesting Place: 31 Days to a A Better Dressed Nest : Day 19 ~ Freshen a Forgotten Space
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My laundry room is the most used entry to my home.
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She has been neglected.
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She gets dumped on,
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trashed,
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un-appreciated.
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Today is the day I am going to make her feel loved!
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She is going to be "freshened" and then she will be ready to make my family (and guests) feel "welcome" as they enter .
*
If I get brave, maybe I'll post Before and After pictures tomorrow :)

3 comments

Another Kitchen Post  

Posted by: Julie

I'm still tinkering in my kitchen.

I'm REALLY trying for that "warm, cozy" feeling.

I have a rather large kitchen with LOTS of white cabinets
and tons of counter space.

Sounds nice until you realize that most of
the counter space is wasted.

(Okay, so maybe "wasted" is the wrong term. How about, the way my kitchen is designed, the counter space is not able to be used to it's potential?)

Here, take a look:


Photobucket
From "A" to "B" it's 41 inches

Then you have the sink.

From "C" to "D" it's 15 inches

Next comes the stove.

From "E" to "F" it's 28 inches.

That is my actual "work" space in the kitchen.
Chopped up, tiny bits of counter space.

Now look here:

Photobucket

The counter from "A" to "B" is 76 inches long and
it is lower than the rest of the counter space.

From "C" to "D" the counter moves back up
to regular counter height and it is 84 inches long.

With this space being behind my table and being so far away from the sink, stove and fridge it just turns into a space to catch junk.

My goal is to make it warm and inviting without being cluttered.

Do you know how difficult it is to make
all that WHITE "warm and inviting"?

I'd LOVE to paint those cabinets but it just ain't gonna happen lol!

Anyway, it's coming together s~l~o~w~l~y.

Here is my latest addition:

I just purchased that tray at Goodwill earlier this week for $2.
I was going to paint it, but I rather like the brown color it is.

The tea cup and saucer is my every day china
I got when I got married.

The cross-stitch picture was made for me
by a dear friend several years ago.

I found the pitcher and the "Laugh" vase at TJ Max on Wednesday.



That little black lamp with the cranberry shade
adds some really nice, soft light.

Isn't it pretty with the dolled-up tray on the counter?

4 comments

A Little Halloween Fun  

Posted by: Julie

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

1 comments

Halloween Tiara  

Posted by: Julie

We've been busy getting ready for Halloween
and Trick or Treating.
This year we'll be participating in Truck or Treat at our church.






Do ya'll know what Trunk or Treat is?

It's when you line up cars in a church parking lot, open up the trunks and decorate your car and trunk for fall.

Then all the children from the neighborhood walk around in their cutie costumes and "Trick or Treat" or "Trunk or Treat" :-)



(the above is not a picture of my "trunk")

We've been going to these events for a while, but this will be our first year setting up a "trunk" to give out treats. Of course the kids (and maybe even me) will dress up to get into the spirit of things. Jessica decided she wanted to be "Miss America" so we started looking through my old formal dresses to see if we could find something that would work for her.

The dress that works best just happens to be black.
Very pretty, but not so much "Miss America".

Instead, she'll be going as "Miss Halloween".

Black dress, orange sash with "Miss Halloween" written in black and a few black spiders in her pretty red hair.

And what "Miss Halloween" would be complete without a tiara?

I bought her a pretty little silver plastic tiara similar to this one:
(I totally forgot to take a pic of the actual one we bought)




To make it more fitting for Halloween, I pulled out my trusty can of black spray paint and gave it a quick spritz. I let it dry then used a little white glue and glitter to add some orange sparkle to the tiara.


I really like how it turned out and she is thrilled with it!


Today I'm linking this post to:

Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Front Porch
DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land
Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog




8 comments

The Nester Said to Paint Something....  

Posted by: Julie

Day 5 of 31 Days to a Better Dressed Nest is to paint something.

Um...yeah...I've been doing quite a bit of that lately haven't I? ;-)

Kitchen Cabinet Knobs HERE

Old Christmas tins HERE

I've even painted my kitchen after years of wall paper HERE

Today I'm going to show you another little paint project I've done for the kitchen.

I'll admit it....
I'm a thief!
Yep....a true criminal!

I TOTALLY stole this idea from The Happy Homebody
and from Thrifty Decor Chick


Here is the plate I started with:



A little black spray paint and half of a faux apple and we've got this...



After the hung these on my wall, I felt like it needed something.
The apples just got lost....it just looked like a red blob on a plate on the wall.

I took some metallic bronze paint and brushed over the stem so it would stand out a bit.
Then I added a leaf to each apple to make it more "apple" like and less like a blob LOL!

I love it so much more now!
Funny how those little details make all the difference :~)


I've made 2 of these to add as wall art in my kitchen!

Totally Frugal Awesomeness!!
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This week I'm linking my post to:

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

DIY Day at A Soft Place To Land

Room a Month at The Shades of Pink

Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog


 Go check it out...it's so much fun and you will get totally inspired!

11 comments

Surprise Decor  

Posted by: Julie

The Nester is doing a series called
31 Days to a Better Dressed Nest.
She is currently on Day 4: Surprise

She says, "Call it whimsy, fun, quirky, unexpected, okay even dorky. But people are more relaxed around those who don't take themselves quite so seriously."

Here is my unexpected surprise:

What are my reasons for this quirky piece of decor?

1. We own an ice company
2. We are currently moving our company from it's current location to our home.
3. I've been in the process of re-decorating my kitchen.
4. My blog is called "The Ice House"

See, I have this really odd space in my kitchen and I never have found the right thing to go there. Turns out, it's the BEST EVER place for my husbands desk! (In the next few weeks I'll be painting it white so it matches the kitchen cabinets.)

Now that the desk is in place, the wall above it just called out for "ART". Enter dear husband with this Ice House neon sign we had in our store. PERFECT!!! Now, I've just got to get that sucker hung on the wall...it weighs a TON!

Unusual? Yep!
Quirky? Yep!
Unexpected? Yep!
And perfect for our little "ice house"!

3 comments

Thrift Store find  

Posted by: Julie

How cute is this?


Does it make it cuter when you find out it was $1.50?

1 comments

Hello October!  

Posted by: Julie

Since today is October 1, I thought I'd share how I've decorated a little for Halloween.

(click on the pictures to see them larger)
(blurry pictures courtesy of 3 yr old boy)

Here is my fire place all decked out.
(I'm going to add some more lights to the inside of the fireplace to light up my jack o lantern garland I have tucked in there)
I added a few Halloween touches and some white Christmas lights to my fall rag garland.


Here is my new "Boo" sign with a cute little witch and a great candy dish. I didn't make the "trick or treat" flower-pot candy dish, but it would be SO super simple to do, don't you think?


This year I printed out some pics of the children all decked out for Halloween and added them to my decor. I just printed them on regular copy paper and slipped them into some frames I all ready had. I'm thinking of getting some inexpensive frames and painting them black and adding some spooky touches so they will more Halloweenish.


A little display of Calico Kittens and Cherished Teddies I've had for AGES!


To make this center piece I spray painted a Christmas wreath black and tucked in some jack o lantern garland I already had. Added Mr. Pumpkin and voila!

I don't go "all out" for Halloween, but a few touches here and there makes it feel festive around the house. I've seen some GREAT ideas all around the web showing easy, inexpensive ideas for decorating for fall and Halloween and I may just get the bug to add more. We'll see.

Happy October, Ya'll!

1 comments
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