Happy Halloween!

I'm perfectly aware that today is November 3rd and not October 31st, but since Halloween is up there with Christmas for me I've decided to extend the spirit a bit, and even though it might look weird I'm going to keep my decorations up for another week or two at least.  The reason behind this is that I was late in decorating for Halloween because I was throwing a bridal shower at my house mid-October and so I didn't want to put my decoration up as early as I normally do because I didn't want to have to take them down for the shower.  And then after the shower I was so busy with Oktoberfest that I didn't get around to decorating until October 30th, and that was only because we were throwing a Halloween party at the house that night and I had to.

Luckily for me though I woke up on the 30th with a huge urge to decorate, and so after quick stops at the 99cent store and Goodwill store I was able to decorate my house like this:

Spider web: from Goodwill: $9, Spider: from the 99cent store 

 Zombie head door knocker: from the 99cent store

Spider web: left over from last Halloween, Cinnamon broom: left over from Oktoberfest

Skull: from the 99cent store, Bottles: from Goodwill, $4 and $2

Bats: cut out by me from black paper

Trick or Treat sign: left over from last Halloween

Spooky House picture: I cut the house image out using my Cricut machine and glued it to Halloween paper, then put it in front of the normal picture that hangs in my dining room

 Frankenstein head: left over from last Halloween. Spider web: from Goodwill, $2

Rubber cockroaches: from the 99cent store. Gauze table runner: 2 yards mummy gauze from Joanns, $3 a yard

 Bats over bar: cut out by me

Haunted house cookie jar, mummy salt and pepper shakers: left over from last Halloween. Skeleton and witch candles: Cost Plus World Market, left over from last Halloween.

Dracula Halloween count down sign: left over from last Halloween

Spooky wedding photo (that shakes and goes "WooOooOoh" when you walk by it): From Goodwill, $6

So once again.... Happy Halloween!!!

Birthday Weekend!!!

This weekend we celebrated my love's 28th birthday with a small family party at our house.  The guest list was small, just my love and I and some of his family, but that didn't stop me from trying to make it a beautiful birthday.

A few days before the party I was inspired by a paper banner I saw on the Joyful website and decided to make one for Granite's birthday as well.  I have a stack of paper I bought at the craft store over a year ago that was perfect for the job, and armed with my scissors, paper, and cricut machine I set about to make a birthday surprise.

I was very pleased with the way it came out, and because I used push pins to hang it it was very easy for me to take it down and wait until the last minute to re-hang it so it was indeed a surprise.

Another thing I did for the party that was inspired by the joyful website party was I wrapped all the utensil sets with napkins and secured them with a band of the paper to tie it in.  I had also wanted to make the little toothpick flags that was on the website but nothing on the menu for the day required toothpicks.

Speaking of the menu, for his special day my love had:

Grilled salmon with mustard dill sauce

Blue cheese with candied walnuts and raspberries salad

Mushroom rissotto

Waldorf salad

Dill biscuits

Fresh squeezed lemonade with mint leaves

Sun tea

And for dessert I made him a vegan fresh fruit tart:

 

I did a few other little things to freshen the house up a bit.  One of them was that I stopped by Trader Joes and picked up a bunch of irises to have on the table.  I also covered the lid of our tea dispenser with a square of linen and secured it with a ribbon.  Not only did it look pretty, but it disguised the fact that the lid of our tea dispenser is a bright purple plastic, and not very pretty.

 

All in all the party was very fun and I had a great time with the family.  But probably the best thing about the party?  It was relatively stress-free! (though I do have to admit, I have yet to wash the dishes)