halloween party!

Head over to mamemima to check out our halloween party decor and details!

halloween decor {on a budget} – spider web art

Remember my Halloween wreath? Well, in all my excitement for finishing my first Halloween project I didn’t consider how it would hold up on our front door. We don’t have a covered porch, just an overhang. Silly me, I thought that’d be enough to protect it from the rain. Well, it wasn’t. Next day it was hung I looked at it and it was already a little wet. And it didn’t even rain that night!

Obviously it was not going to resist real rain. So I brought it inside the house and I was left with an empty front door again. I thought about making another wreath, this time of fabric, but wasn’t very convinced so I put aside the idea while I worked on L’s Halloween costume. I have to sew pants for his costume and I needed a tutorial. I’ve never sewn pants before {or any piece of clothing for that matter. Do bow ties count?} so I headed to Made, one of my favorite blogs to find sewing tutorials. While browsing I saw this spider web art project. I happened to have an empty frame that I already painted all white for another project. So this was perfect!

I didn’t have any yarn around so I used some white crochet thread  that my mom left last year {she knitted some really cute sweaters for G}. I really should have used orange twine for a little bit of color though.

I really took me about 20 minutes to make the web. I added the rest of the glitter spiders I used for the wreath. After seeing the finished product I wanted to paint the frame orange since I think the contrast would have looked nicer but never got to it. To hang the frame I added a piece of grey ribbon I had but, now looking at the pictures I don’t like it much. Maybe some orange ribbon?

This was another easy, simple and very budget-friendly Halloween craft. I still have a couple more DIY Halloween projects to share so come back soon.

Linking up with: eighteen25, somewhat simple, skip to my lou and momnivores dilema.

halloween decor {on a budget} – free striped candles

This project couldn’t be simpler. I had white candles. I had black electrical tape.

I like how the candles look a little more sophisticated. And they can stay like that all year round, not just for Halloween. Orange candles will work better for Halloween, but I only had white candles {I forgot to take pictures of the candles in the dining room}. I’m not planning on lighting the candles so this is more just a decorative thing.

Materials: white candles and black electrical tape {use orange candles, purple or green, depending on your Halloween decor}

Next project: quick Halloween Spider Web Art. Stat tuned. Happy Friday!

Linking up with: eighteen25, somewhat simple, and momnivores dilema.

halloween decor {on a budget} – free halloween printables

I collect frames. I have many in different sizes and colors. And I wanted to use some of them with some Halloween related prints.

I printed a couple of images, a skull and a spider, I found on the web. And I edited a school drawing L did last year. I just changed the blue background for an orange one. I wrapped some of my decor books with newspaper so they can be more in tune with the decor. But as you can see I haven’t finished.

I still wanted to add something more typographic, so inspired by this print  from Jess LC {love her blog!}, I created my Halloween versions. They are not perfect but they look nice.

I also printed a couple of pictures of last year’s Halloween {the boys in their costumes}. I think this will be a nice tradition every year.

It was a simple, easy and cheap way to add some Halloween spirit to the house, in addition to my other Halloween DIY projects.

Materials: white cardstock and various frames.

You can download the prints here and here. Enjoy!

Coming up: free striped Halloween candles.

Linking up with: eighteen25, somewhat simple, momnivores dilema, and polkadots on parade.

halloween decor {on a budget} – free halloween pillows

Somehow this didn’t post last Friday. I thought I scheduled it but I guess I didn’t do it correctly. Anyway, here is another DIY Halloween project. This is an easy one!

Our couch in the living room was one of the spots I wanted to decorate for Halloween. Updating the pillow covers according to the occasion was the easiest way to go.

I thought about getting black and white fabric to sew pillow covers and {freezer paper} stenciling them with a Halloween design. But while looking into my stash of fabrics, I found two old pillowcases, one white and one orange, that I was saving to repurpose. Well, they were perfect for this project. I choose a spider silhouette I found on the internet and was ready to stencil the next day.

Before that I needed to stop by at Michael’s to get a hot gun pistol {I used regular glue to attach the crepe paper florets to my Halloween wreath and it was a little pain} and there I saw this Martha Stewart spider silhouettes kit on sale. I grabbed it thinking I could use them for a streamer or to decorate the walls.They were cut on hard cardstock, so instead of {freezer paper} stenciling, I had the idea to use them as templates. I placed them in my pillowcases the way I wanted them and traced around with a sharpie.  Once I had my silhouettes traced all I had to do is fill them in with my sharpie.

I put my new Halloween pillow covers on my chevron pillows and I like the way you can slighty see the chevron as a background. I borrowed the black pillows from the playroom and the black mesh is from the Dollar Store. This pillow covers are simple, and definitely not the finest, but I think they’re good enough for Halloween.

Materials: old pillowcases, Martha Stewart Spider silhouettes – $2.99 {Michaels. They were used just as templates.You really don’t need special templates. You can get any image you want from the web, trace it on cardstock and use it as a template.}

Next, free Halloween printables. Stay tuned!

Linking up with: eighteen25, somewhat simple, momnivores dilema and skip to my lou.

halloween decor {on a budget} – easy $4 halloween wreath

This year I wanted to make a Halloween wreath for our front door. First thing to do was check Pinterest to be inspired. I got many ideas but I was still undecided about what to do. With a vague idea of what I wanted, I headed to the Dollar store and bought some Halloween stuff I thought I could use. There I picked a wood wreath and orange, black and white crepe paper streamers.

One night while watching Dexter with the mister, I started. I first wrapped the wreath with white crepe paper {I considered using masking tape, but I didn’t like the yellowish color, and I didn’t have white duct tape in hand}. Right before I wrapped it all, I made a little loop out of scraps of orange fabric, tied it to the wreath and covered it with the crepe paper. After that, I wasn’t sure how to fill the wreath. I tried wrapping a frilly streamer around the wreath but it didn’t look fully enough. After a quick google search I found this great tutorial for a crepe paper wreath.

Once done, I felt it needed some color {orange} and something else to complete it. I looked into our Halloween bin {we have one with old costumes and random Halloween stuff} and found a “BOO” sign I got at the dollar bins at Target last year in my attempt to decorate {You can see it here, lonely and sad, hanging at our front door knob. I should be ashamed}.

The sign happened to fit inside the wreath, and although I didn’t like it very much, I used it anyway. I added a couple of glitter spiders I got at Michael’s and done.

I was {am still} not crazy about it, but I had one million other projects to do.  And comparing to last year, this is definitely better!

Materials: wood wreath – $1 {Dollar Store}, black and white crepe paper streamers $1 {Dollar Store}, glitter spiders $1 {Michaels, the package of six was $2.49, so about 50 cents each}, Boo sign – {Target, last year}.

Coming up {free} Halloween pillow covers!

Linking up with: eighteen25, somewhat simple, momnivores dilema, skip to my lou, and polkadots on parade.

chic halloween decor {on a budget}

I think I had too much fun decorating our home for Halloween this past week. And I’m not done yet! Being the first time decorating for Halloween, I wanted to keep it simple and budget-friendly. I didn’t want to spend too much time, either shopping for decor, supplies nor crafting and putting everything up. And I wanted to use mostly things I have around the house.

I was not going to decorate all the house {although the idea is tempting} so I chose a spot in some rooms on the first floor. My list included the front entrance and door, the console table on the entry hall, the console table in the dining room, the couch and sofa table in the living room and since we have a fireplace but not a mantle, the TV. I may add a little something to the powder room later.

Here are a few sneak peaks of my Halloween Decor extravaganza! I still have to finish some details but it’s pretty much done.This week I’ll be sharing more pictures and some of my budget-friendly crafts. Stay around!

black & white halloween

In three years I’ve never decorated our house for Halloween. You see, back in my country, Halloween is not that big of a deal. I mean, yes, kids dress-up in costumes and they go out trick or treating, and even some adults attend Halloween parties. But houses decorated? No. Being in the States for almost 7 years now {wow!} I’ve seen how special Halloween can be for the little ones here. They love wearing their costumes, trick or treating, going to Halloween parties, making Halloween crafts and more. So I wanted to add to the excitement of this Holiday this year throwing a Halloween party for the kids. And of course decorating the house, a little, according to the occasion.

G is still to little to understand, but L does, and Halloween is one of his favorite Holidays. So starting tomorrow I’ll {try to} have some type of Halloween decor up by the time he comes home from school. I decided on simple decorations. Nothing fancy, and if possible, made not bought. Black and white with little touches of orange. I already finished {well, almost} my first Halloween wreath!

Here is some of inspiration around the web.

{image via the decorated house}

{image via apartment therapy}

{image via diynetwork}

{image via that’s smart deco}

{image via craft-o-maniac}

{image via etsy}

{image via a pumpkin and a princess}

Stay tuned for my $4 wreath! Happy Wednesday!

free printable {& sneak peek} – laundry room art

One day while at Home Goods I came across a canvas art that I immediately thought will be perfect for the laundry room. However I didn’t like the colors and overall look of it. It was not my style. As soon as I came home I designed my version. Since our laundry room has yellow accents it made sense to have a yellow background with white letters.

Once again I used Vistaprint and order a poster size print. This time I chose their regular paper. To be completely honest I’m not 100% satisfied. Their regular paper is way too thin. Once framed you can’t really see the difference, though. But I liked the thicker cardstock better. We’ll see how it holds up. For now I like how it looks in there.

You can see we finally did some work in this room. We painted white and yellow stripes {what can I do, I’m obsessed} and added some hanging bars I got from Ikea. We also had someone add wall-to-wall wood shelving on one side of the room {which was not a very pleasant experience}, covered some visible pipes with curtains, added long white curtains on the other side and placed a rug. I still have some details to finish and I’m waiting for a moment when the laundry room looks decent to snap some pictures.

If you like it, you can download it here {yellow} and here {black}. Enjoy!

Happy Friday!

Update: I’m linking up with Tatertos & Jello. Hope over there to check out other amazing DIY projects!

G’s 1st birthday party in hostess with the mostess

Giacomo’s first birthday party was featured in Hostess with the Mostess last week. I know, I’m so bad at keeping up with all these things. You can still head over there to check out all the details about this party that was planned with much love and joy. All for my little man. We love you G!