Happy Halloween!

Well I cheated a little and we had our Halloween party yesterday. It went really well and I am pretty sure all the kids had a great time!

The food was all gone at the end so I'm hoping it was enjoyed by the kids and parents.

Here is a little sneak peak at the stars {inspired by Bakerella} of the Halloween Buffet - more to come when we've finished cleaning up and had our trick or treaters turn up tonight!

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ghost bouquet

This little Halloween craft turned out super cute. And it was so easy to do.

What you will need:

Lollypops

White crepe paper {it's a little easier than tissue paper} or you can also use paper towel

Ribbon

Black pen

Vase

Black tissue or crepe paper

Styrofoam block, florist foam or pebbles

Let get started!

Make your little ghosts by wrapping some crepe paper over the top and tying a ribbon around the base of the lollipop, making a 'neck'. Draw a face with black marker. 

Place tissue or crepe paper in your vase. Organise it so it is almost coming out the top. Place styrofoam or pebbles into the vase to the height required. {You want it high enough so that your ghosts will stick out the top and be seen as shown in the photos}. 

With more crepe or tissue paper, cover up the styrofoam or pebbles and fold over the lip of the vase. 

Using the lollipop ghost sticks, punch holes through the paper into the styrofoam. 

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get the party started : gorgeous halloween printables by Shindig Parties

I mentioned sometime last month that we were undecided on having a Halloween party. Well, we are certainly having one and I have been really enjoying all the bits and pieces involved in getting ready for a whole - lot - of - fun!

I bought these gorgeous party printables from Shindig Parties TO GO! a couple of weeks ago and they really are too cute. Amanda has done such a fabulous job with these and they were just perfect as I was looking for a not too scary, very kid friendly design with your must have pumpkins and spiders.

I printed the invitations and handed them out like this after I filled them in {except a few that had to be put in envelopes, they didn't have the attached spiders}

Amanda so kindly gave me the name of the font she used and I printed out the kids' names in matching font and colour. I used a cute Miss Tiina font to get the little pumpkin {I just coloured him in}.

Included in the complete printable party pack are miniature chocolate wrappers, but I just trimmed them that extra bit, punched a couple of holes and ta-dah! Decorated straws. 

The included napkin wraps are shown below and they really jazz up the napkin and cutlery. They are all going to look gorgeous on the table. 

So that is what I've done so far.

I can't wait to use the cupcake toppers and the table cards and will be putting one of the signs up on the front door on the day of the party.

I'll be completing a Ghost Bouquet {more on this soon} as well as getting other things ready over the rest of the week. Next week is dedicated to baking for the party!

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{image of printable party pack from here}

point & shoot : a spring harvest

We have a little veggie patch growing in our back yard.

Master 3 has been so excited about it, diligently watering the brocollini, carrots, tomato, spring onion and his favourite herb, oregano. 

We pulled the carrots out a couple of weeks ago. I had the camera ready to capture Master 3's face as he viewed his tenderly cared for vegetable, only for us all to be surprised that it was a teeny, tiny carrot. "Not ready" his daddy said, as they pushed it back into the patch. 

The tomatos were ripening on the vine and turning a lovely red, but they were also tiny. Some looked like cherry tomatoes, which would be good, if they were supposed to be cherry tomatoes.

 I told Master 3 to leave them be as they would probably get bigger before they were ready to be picked. 

He couldn't help it.

So we went ahead and pulled out some carrots too, thinking surely they should be bigger by now!

Nope.

In all my disappointment at how teeny tiny all our home grown vegetables are, I almost missed his pure excitement. He didn't care they were tiny. He didn't care that they weren't perfect. I guess this is a lesson in being thankful for what you get. For not expecting too much. For enjoying life's little quirks.

I am thankful my 3 year old reminded me to live and enjoy the moment. 

He is thankful that his "Buddy" gets to eat all of this.

Overall we had a lovely and productive weekend.
I did some more Halloween prep which I will share later.

For more point & shoot fun head over to Fat Mum Slim's.

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tickled pink & project life

I entered a small photo challenge hosted by Becky Higgins over the weekend. 

I was tickled pink this morning to find that I had won!

It was great to see the photos that made it to the top 13. Check them out here. Some absolutely gorgeous ideas about capturing those special moments in our lives and the lives of our children. I particularly love the gorgeous baby bump photo, submitted by another Aussie!

Becky's fun photo challenges are designed to help us think outside the square a little, to step aside {or here, up} to find a different angle to take that photo from.

I stood on the step I keep in the kitchen for my son so he can reach the tap {ok, and for me to reach the top shelf of the cupboard} to take this photo of our little girl in her cot. She absolutely adores her butterflies and spends quite a few bursts through the day lying here staring at them.

I have started a couple of posts that never end up making it onto here about Project Life by Becky Higgins.  Mostly because I really want to add photos of my album but never get around to taking them, and so the post never gets published. I am so thankful for my beautiful friend for recommending Project Life to me! She knew it would be right up my alley and had a family member of hers bring it over for me when they were in town.

Project Life has changed the way I take photos and try and capture our memories. I have always been an avid photographer and take a lot of photos. Now a days though I attempt to take one every day and write a sentence or two about the moment in the photo or the day in general to keep in my Project Life album. I love it because it's like a walk down memory lane. And it is filled with special photos that would otherwise be stuck on my laptop's hard drive. Most of the photos aren't quite wall frame material if that makes sense, but they are often more meaningful than the beautiful images that make it to my walls. 

Becky has been so generous and has given me a Digital Project Life kit to try out. {Thank you Becky!} I can't wait to see how I go and am thinking the digital might suit me better than the real life paper version as although I am 'up to date' I have about a month and a half worth of photos that haven't actually been printed yet! 

Anyone else doing Project Life?

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halloween printables

It's no secret I love Halloween.

Halloween is all over the net right now. Lucky for me I don't get sick of seeing all the amazing and innovative ideas and crafts that are out there.

I have been scouring the web for some adorable free printables and this is what I've found!

These oh so cute mini chocolate bar wrappers and a Boo! Treat bag are available after signing up to HowDoesShe?.com's newsletter. Too cute!

Jessica from Craftily Ever After whipped Halloween version of "Keep Calm and Carry On" for her Halloween decorating. I am printing this out as we speak!

I used some of Paper Glitter's Father's Day printables for our Father's Day table this year and so was happy to find some oh so cute Halloween printables. The pencil topper is adorable!

More cuteness from Paper Glitter! These Halloween labels can be used for anything you can think of! Bag toppers, food buffet cards, thank you notes, you name it!

AlphaMom have these easy-peasy jack-o-lantern faces available to download and print to use for cupcake toppers, food picks or even just as little stickers on candy bags!

And these Halloween tags are available at Eighteen 25. This is a fab blog for your inner crafty. I've been stalking it all evening!

How are you preparing for Halloween? I've started to get things ready here. I'll share what I'm up to after I take some photos!

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{Images: 1. HowDoesShe.com, 2. Craftily Ever After, 3. Paper Glitter, 4, Paper Glitter, 5. AlphaMom, 6. Eighteen 25}

i lost september

{image from here}

We're still getting better.

It's been a little rough and I've gone a little crazy.

When my kids are sick I stay at home for a couple of reasons. 1, so they can rest and recuperate. 2, so we don't infect other people and 3, because they sleep so badly when they're sick I am too pooped to go anywhere anyhow. I lost September in all of that.

For about 6 weeks I have been cooped up at home with only a couple of trips out here and there over the entire period (I don't count the twice weekly doctors appointments as trips out!). 

I have to say, thank goodness for the Internet. I grocery shopped online. I Halloween shopped online. I window shopped online. I trawled Etsy for just about everything. Did all my uni homework that was due (ok, maybe not all of it). Kept up with reading blogs. Found new blogs. Neglected my blog. 

I'm hoping to be here more often. 

It is October already!

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