A Crisp Autumn Day

Our family recently went on a day trip to Apple Hill in Placerville, California.  It was a wonderful time to enjoy the beautiful scenery painted by God.  The leaves were falling in a beautiful array of colors-coppers, golds, reds, and oranges.  It was a perfect time to enjoy being together.

Before arriving in Apple Hill, we stopped at Sutter’s Mill.  This historical site is the location where gold was first discovered.  This discovery of gold led to the biggest migration of people in American history.  It is amazing how one little action changed the landscape of our country.  Some of the original buildings and equipment still stand.

I wish we could have spent more time enjoying this site, but we had to move on to Apple Hill to meet friends.  I’m sure it will be a place we return to again soon.

This girl was meant to ride horses! We might have to think about getting her lessons in the future.

I wish I could have gotten her to smile, but that’s kids, right?

It was a wonderful day, good food, good friends, and beautiful scenery.

Thanks for stopping by!

Erin

DIY Halloween Cemetery Sign

To go along with all of my skulls this Halloween season, I wanted a sign for the front porch.  I found some cheap cemetery signs around town, but wanted something that would last longer than one season.  I grabbed a wooden plaque at Michaels and my handy Silhouette.

I didn’t have any grey paint so I mixed up my own.  I wanted it to look more like stone and have an older feel to it, so I wasn’t careful with painting.  I put a couple layers on it and messed it up a bit so it wouldn’t have such a smooth look.  After the layers of grey were dried, I streaked it with black paint.  The wording is cut out of black vinyl and I believe the font is Black Widow.  I felt that it needed more, so I hot glued some Spanish moss and spider webs to it.

Right now, it is just sitting on a stand outside.  I’m trying to figure out how I want to display it best.  I’m afraid if I hang it on the door, the wind will blow most of the moss and spider web off.

These are some light up shrieking skulls that my kids just love!  My husband found them on clearance after Halloween last year.  They are sound activated and I can always tell when its windy out because I can hear them shrieking with each gust. 

This project took about an hour with drying time—Can’t beat that!

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Erin

Craft Night!

My friends and I spend a lot of time pinning craft ideas on Pinterest, so we decided it was time to actually make some crafts.  We got together with some wine, desserts, and crafts.  It was a blast and I can’t wait to do it again for some Christmas crafts.

Everyone had their own personalized spot with some treats to boot! I found this roll of brown paper in my garage.  I have no clue where I got it or when but it worked perfectly to cover my table and was fun to decorate!

It was so much fun seeing how different each girl’s project turned out.  They all had the same supplies and each piece was unique.

Some of the girls made their monogram an indoor item and some attached ribbon to use on their front doors.  I actually had three projects planned for the night, but we only had enough time for two.  An excuse to get together again soon!

I highly recommend getting some girlfriends together and having a craft night!

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Erin

More Halloween Decor

I’m back with more of my inexpensive Halloween décor!

This skeleton hand came from Michael’s for under $5.

I found this picture online and printed it on regular computer paper.  I used Modge Podge to apply it to this wooden plaque I painted black.  I distressed the edges with distressing ink.

 

Some dollar skulls and river rocks from my yard!  Easy, breezy!

I love Halloween!  More to come!

 

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Erin

Easy and Inexpensive Halloween Decor

I love the fall, when the leaves start to change and there is that fresh, crisp breeze in the air. Halloween is another thing I love about the fall.  I love to decorate and to be a kid again.  I am slowly building up on my Halloween décor and I am always looking for inexpensive crafts to add.  In September, I was walking around my local Michaels, when I spotted these little bottles.  I believe they were around $1.19 each.  I thought they were fun and immediately thought of potion bottles for Halloween. 

 

I have seen plenty of free printable Halloween potion labels on Pinterest this season. I wanted to keep it simple and get it done sooner rather than later, so I found these little labels in the Halloween scrapbook section.

I believe they were around $3.99.  I took them home and decided which label would look best on each bottle and then I distressed them up a bit.  They were a little to crisp and clean for the look I was going for.  They are made of cardstock, so I just bent them to give them a more aged and wrinkled look.  I took some distressing ink to them as well.  I used Modge Podge to attach them to the glass bottles.  The finishing touch was some food colored water. 

 

Its hard to see the food coloring in this picture.  I think they are super cute and worked perfectly in my Halloween display. 

The wine bottles were projects from last year, using Print and Cut labels by Silhouette.  I’ll post more of my Halloween display later.

I hope you find this a quick and easy project you can complete today!

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Erin