200 POSTS! & Sunshine On A Cloudy Day!

SURPRISE!

Here we are! The first of six and maybe some more!

Happy, joyful sunflowers! So worth waiting for! And in the same garden, we added something else special!

This lovely VERY HEAVY metal bird bath! Added to the garden by my wonderful and ALERT son who always has his eyes open for good stuff! He was walking to our nearby playground and saw this on the curb for trash! (Yes, another curbside treasure). Amazingly someone else hadn't scooped it up for use or for recycling. He carried it home for four blocks and we placed it in the garden of roses that has the backdrop of sunflowers. Perfect spot! Another one of Billy's amazing finds!

I have now hit 200 posts! Thanks to my cousin Jo who introduced me to this incredible pastime, I have made the nicest friends, been influenced and inspired by countless others and learned so many incredible things! I always loved cooking and crafting and housekeeping and just being a Mom and Wife in general but all the wonderful bloggers who love what I do have taken it to the next level for me! I thank you all for all that! Thinking of a giveaway! Not yet...but soon to be announced!

Yesterday I had a few inquiries as to the directions as to how to  make the Martha Stewart Witch candy bags. I was having a difficult time copying the link but I will tell you this: go to the Martha Stewart Living webpage, click on Halloween and at #26 is "Halloween candy bags" and just flip through that. It comes up after a few. The website shows them with green cellophane bags for the face. Back when I started doing them when she first showed us how on her tv show many moons ago, she used a regular printed cellophane candy bag (as I use). She also used thin ribbon for the bow through the hat. I have found using twine rips the hole you make in the card stock. I purchase the little spool of ribbon from AC Moore for .59.

I have made tons of Martha Stewart crafts for my Halloween parties and to me the best ones have been the Halloween Party Crackers, the Witch's Broom gift bags (with the brown paper bag and the twig), the crepe paper pumpkins and I'm not sure if these were hers or not, but I make mummy cups too with wrapping the gauze around a can and adding the eyes. Make it a creative Halloween! You'll enjoy your party or your holiday so much more! Even if you don't have a party, make some special things even one or two for yourself or for someone special to you! I started having a Halloween party for kids the year after I was married in 1989. I didn't even have kids till 1999! but still had my party every year. It started with nieces and nephews. Then a couple of neighbor's  kids. Then a few children of close cousins. It has gotten really big and then small as some got older, moved away or moved on. For the last 12 years or so, it has been family and friends and friends of my children and my Brownie troop. We usually have about 20. There are some things I make year after year too...besides the witch's hats I make the lollipop spider. My neighbor's daughters told me last year "It wouldn't be Halloween without them." So sweet! A simple thing like that means Halloween to someone.

Last year I made these fruit roll up bats which were a big hit. Just a fruit roll up with a hole punched at one end, a bat I cut out of card stock or heavy black construction paper, added some eyes of course and black tulle to tie it together. I had them hanging from various parts of the house for the kids to pull down and take cause bats need to hang from somewhere, right?  

I remember my party last year was a Saturday and two days later we were hit with Hurricane Sandy! Then two days after Sandy we had a snowstorm!! There was no trick or treating last year! No power for 17 days! It was awful. This year I think it's gonna be okay! 

It's almost Friday...have a great day and keep thinking of the Fall!