My Halloween Girls

I snapped this photo of my girls this morning. My son Alex is 15 years old and dressing up for Halloween is a thing of the past, unfortunately. So I'll enjoy my little girls who still get a kick out of dressing up and trick or treating! They wore their costumes to school today, Claire a little pumpkin cutie and Annie will join her 7 other Crayon friends at school.
Have a great weekend and a safe and Happy Halloween!

Vintage Halloween

Love these vintage Halloween images that I found at Sweet as a Candy.

Diorama Pumpkin

I never thought of a diorama pumpkin before...I love it! Thanks Sweet Paul!

Cute DIY Headboards

Here are a few cute ideas for DIY headboards that I found at diyideas.com.

Top: "Read All About It"

Middle: "Stylish Stencil"

Bottom: "Seashore Shabby Chic"

Last minute costume ideas

I just love these adorable do-it-yourself costume ideas from Country Living and Parents Magazines.

Keeping It Simple

Loving these simple things...

La Dolce Vita Party Cup:

L'heure de L'apero:

Nice Package Shop:

Easy Dip

This is a recipe that I've made for years. It's so easy and is always popular. It's best if you can make it the night before you are serving it:

2 (4.25 oz) cans chopped black olives, drained
2 (4.25 oz) cans mild green chiles, chopped and drained
1 (10 oz) can Rotel tomatoes, chopped and drained
1 bunch scallions, diced small
3 large tomatoes, chopped
1½ lbs. grated Mexican blend cheese
1 (8 oz) bottle Italian dressing

Mix all of this together in a large bowl. Cover and refridgerate overnite. Serve with fritos or tostitos. Enjoy!

Easy No-Carve Pumpkins

Okay, it's halloween week and your pumpkin needs a little personality. Here are a few easy ideas from bhg.com.

MollaSpace.com

MollaSpace is an L.A. based design collective with very cool items that you won't find just anywhere. Check out some of their great featured items...

This "Paper Pot" toilet paper and tissue holder was named a winner of 2008 Japan Good Design Award. There are lots of fun colors to choose from, and I love the simplicity of the design. Good-bye boring tissue boxes!

Here is the "Pin-up Frame" that can be pinned, taped or hung on almost any type of surface you can imagine. What a cute idea for displaying your kids' artwork!

The "Color Vase" is a great conversation piece...just pop it over a wine bottle and voilà!...you have yourself an instant snazzy vase!

Swiss-Miss.com

Check out these fun items I recently spied at the wonderful SwissMiss blog recently.

These "lunchskins" from 3GreenMoms.com are reusable, colorful cloth pouches are made from a high quality, moisture-proof German fabric used worldwide in the food industry. These bags are food safe, extremely durable, grease-proof and can even be thrown in the dishwasher. Their design is so innovative and unique that they even have a patent pending! What a great idea!

These are the cutest felt phone and camera cases ever!

Tree Bookshelf from designer Shawn Soh.


How fun...can you imagine happening upon this headed in for your morning commute? There's no way you could have a bad day after that!

Cold Weather Wraps

I just LOVE it when the weather starts getting cooler and the smell of Fall is in the air. There's just something about being outside that makes you feel good this time of year. I also love that there is finally an excuse to start breaking out the scarves and wraps. Not only do they keep you toasty, but they are an accessory that can pull an outfit together quickly and add a little extra style to an otherwise simple look. I love what Anthropologie has to offer this season, and here are a few of my favorites...

The Perfect Pear

Can you even imagine going to a luncheon or dinner party and someone setting this in front of you? This is one of the most beautiful presentations I have ever seen. It seems incredibly simple and looks delicious!

Jennifer's Vision

I found these images on the wonderful Daisy Pink Cupcake blog and I couldn't believe my eyes. Jennifer (fellow blogger and designer extraordinaire) from The Old Painted Cottage blog has clearly poured her heart and soul into her restored cottage, and was gracious enough to allow me to share the photos of the transformation with you all. Wow...can we say night and day difference here? Oh my goodness...Jennifer, you are so talented and I am in awe at what you've done with your home. It is amazing and so are you!

Check out Jennifer's blog for more photos!

My Shopping Endorphins

I am not an exercising king of gal. I know that I should take the time to do it. I know that it's important... yada yada yada. When I hear people talk about exercise and the wonderful feeling that they have when their endorphins 'kick in' and all... it sounds good, but I'm convinced that I was born without them. Mine never seemed to kick in on the rare occassion that I have tried to run, walk or exercise. I was born with an amazing set of shopping endorphins, however, that I just know would kick right in if I made it to this fantastic ribbonry shop in Atlanta, Georgia. Doesn't this place look like a dream? It's designer Nicholas Kniel's enchanting place and I need to make the 2 hour road trip to see it in person. I'm sure that my shopping endorphins will come to life as I hyperventilate my way through his lovely shop. Featured in Victoria Magazine's November/December issue... this charming shop has captured my attention and I can't wait to take a little trip to Atlanta. The shop looks magical, doesn't it?

Girls sing National Anthem

I found this video at one of my favorite blog sites "This Blessed Nest". This group of young girls sing the national anthem before a basketball game. Two of the girls are 6 years old and the others are 7. WOW! I am just amazed...this is extremely moving...I even teared up.

The Proposal

The movie "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock is out on video this week...just in time for the weekend. It is such a great movie and I can't wait to see it again after seeing in the theater (one of the only movies I've been to in years). Betty White is precious as always! We're having cool weather over the weekend, and I plan to hop into my jammies with a cup of hot cocoa and smile my way all through this movie! ;)

Sweet Paul Friday

Leave it to Sweet Paul to come up with a sweet idea to add a little charm to any bare wall. He claims that it's not hard, so here you go...add a lil' cuteness to your space!

Here's what Paul has to say about it:
This is a craft idea I made for Country Living. Its a tree cut out of vintage wallpapers and glued directly on the wall. Great in any kids room. Looks hard, but its not. Make a template on a roll of finger painting paper. Cut it out and tape it to your wall. Then its easy to see if it needs to be bigger or smaller. Cut out the tree in a wallpaper and glue it to your wall using wallpaper paste. Cut out leaves in at least 3 different wallpaper patterns. You will need about 60-80 of them. Glue them on the tree with the same paste. Sing a little song and maybe the birds will come and sit in your new tree.
Photo by Philip Friedman.

Styling by Yvonne Bakker

I ran across the work of stylist Yvonne Bakker on one of my favorite blogs decor8. Here are a few of my favorite shots.