Holiday Snob

9.23.2011

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead! (or smooshed witched legs on my front porch for Halloween!)

My front porch is officially looking pretty spooky! Eek! Is that a ghost??!!

Okay, okay, I know I'm a dork and I had a little too much fun with the editing this morning! But I do want to show you the "Wicked Witch of the East" legs and sign I made for my Halloween porch decorations.

It all started with a bit of inspiration. First of all, the movie, duh. But mostly the ubiquity of cute witch leg crafts I started seeing last fall and have lasted through many a Wizard of Oz themed party blog post. Like this one:

credit: Diary of a Crafty Lady

And then I heard Krylon had this new amazing glitter spray and I had to try it! (It's that compulsive craft addiction! Do they have rehab for this???)

I had a pair of pointy patent leather black heels that were getting too hammered to keep wearing so they found a new use:

disclaimer: patent leather is NOT a good vehicle for this spray. It works, but it bubbles and slips and looks very amateurish. Good enough for one side to show on my porch, mostly in dusky light. I would choose spray adhesive and straight up glitter next time if I was using patent leather.

Then I stuffed striped tights (children's from after Halloween clearance last year) with polyfill and hot-glued the feet into the heels. And I used glue dots to shove the top of the tights into the wedge of patio/wall. We'll see how well that holds through the season...

There they are on the right side! I wanted you to see the full effect minus the special effects:

I made this sign to hang with it on picnik:

If you want to use it, you can. I just saved the image onto my computer, then inserted it into a word document and printed it on scrapbook paper so I wouldn't use up tons of ink:

I was putting the legs near my doorbell and thought I just could not pass up the pun!

Here they are again: I love them!!!

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9.15.2011

Halloween Advent Calendar

Oh friends, can you believe it's taken us half of September for the HOLIDAY SNOBS to do a Halloween post? Well, I can tell you that Halloween has been pretty much been in the back of my mind for about a month! The only thing that gets me through the end of pool season is thinking about getting ready for it! It's time to start projects and shopping to be ready to decorate!

I saw a cute Christmas advent idea on pinterest that was originally from Katherine Marie Photography. (Her image is copyrighted so you really need to head over to her blog to see it!) But I thought Halloween really warranted this idea as well! I had a few books already but needed a few more to even have 12 for a countdown. I found more at a used bookstore, and I'm sure there's still some at thrift stores. So hopefully this post is in time for you to score some at a deal!

I wrapped each Halloween book in wrapping paper and a bow. I made tags for each present with numbers 1 thru 12.

Another cute idea to start prepping for now? Head here to see it!

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9.09.2011

September Craft Night Sneak Peek

For all our local friends, here's a quick look at our project for September's Craft Night.

It's a wood pennant banner that says "BOO" on one side and "JOY" on the other. I made mine for another project and painted it orange before I decided to use it for this! So the one for craft night will probably white so that it goes with both Halloween and Christmas themed papers. We'll post a full tutorial later, and we've got some good tips! For one, this wood is SO light and SO cheap...

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9.05.2011

An awesome giveaway from Blue Prints Photography!

So we've been seriously MIA lately and we apologize, but we've got some good stuff coming up! To start, we have an awesome giveaway to tell you about from one our favorite people: Melissa from Blue Prints Photography!

*THE FOLLOWING IS FROM BLUE PRINTS PHOTOGRAPHY AND YOU MUST GO TO HER BLOG TO ENTER THE DRAWING*
I am so excited to announce the re-launch of my photography blog! To celebrate, I am inviting YOU to become a follower! This is what you’ll get in return! 1. Everyone who becomes a follower will automatically be entered to win a $50 gift card from Amazon.com!

2. When you become a follower, you will also receive a set of three adorable baby ballerina cards that you can print yourself! These are 5x7 cards, and you can either print flat cards or folded cards using your favorite photo lab (like Costco). Make sure to leave your e-mail address in a comment on my blog so I know where to send them! (Scroll down to see images of the cards).

3. My new blog is not just about photography! I’ll also post my favorite recipes, have fun quizzes, and talk about interesting subjects such as personality profiling and little-known movies I think you'll love.

4. Yes, it is still mostly about photography, and that means you can send me your photography questions, and I’ll answer them on the blog! I’ll also be posting really embarrassing, horrible pictures I took when I first started, and you get to tell me what’s wrong with them!

When you join the blog, you get one entry for the $50 gift card. When you go to Facebook and like Blue Prints Photography, you get another entry! (Link below). When you post about this to your friends on your blog or Facebook, you get another entry! Just be sure to leave a separate comment on this post for every action you take. (So if you "Like" me on Facebook, leave a comment. If you post about this with a link back to my blog on Facebook, leave another comment. If you post about this on your own blog with a link back, leave another comment. I think you get the picture :) That will give you three entries in addition to the one you already got for joining this blog!)

Here is the link to the Blue Prints Photography Blog: http://blueprintsphotography.blogspot.com/

Here is the link to my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/BluePrintsPhotography

Thanks so much for joining in my excitement! I look forward to sharing so much with you all! The drawing for the $50 gift card will be held on Monday, September 12th if I have reached my goal of 500 followers! (If I haven't reached my goal by then, the drawing will be delayed until I do, so tell all your friends to join the blog as soon as possible!)

Sincerely, Melissa Blue Howell

Here are the three adorable cards you'll get when you become a follower!

*THIS IS FROM BLUE PRINTS PHOTOGRAPHY AND YOU MUST GO TO HER BLOG TO ENTER THE DRAWING*Pin It

8.09.2011

Summer Drinks to cool you down

I know summer is almost over, but my obsession with summer drinks is still in full swing! Check out these amazing (virgin) beauties:

Nancy's Fruit Water recipe here

Oopsey Daisy's yummy easy recipe here

Watermelon Straight up here

Citrus Daquiri

Watermelon Frosty recipe here

The Miller Family's homemade icees here

Now this homemade icee recipe has my mind going crazy with possibilities like trying this:

TIGER'S BLOOD Strawberry 60% and Coconut 40%

Snow Cone Syrup2 cups granulated sugar3/4 cup water
1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid®

Bring sugar and water to a full boil. Remove from heat and stir in Kool-Aid®. Chill. It's now ready for the crushed ice.

Or I've tried a lime slushy with just lime juice, sugar, club soda and ice. It was DELISH! And there's tons of lo-cal options, like diet Kool-Aid packets and Splenda. Or diet coke...

lemonade icees recipe here

8.07.2011

Back to School Wreath over at Ducks in a Row!

Hey! We're showing you to make this festive back to school sign (along with faux chalkboard):

over at Ducks in a Row! Head over and check it out!!!

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8.04.2011

Back to School Printable(s)!!!

Well, my friends. It has been awhile since we did a printable (like a whopping month) and when I hear twice in one day (once from Glitta, once from SIL) that I need to do a back to school printable. Well, I take that as a message from the heavens! A direct command! something to do while I'm watching a lame-o romantic comedy. Rachel Bilson! That stalker is not boyfriend material! He's homeless and DOES NOT HAVE A JOB!

Wow. Got away from myself there! So if you are ready to get a classroom in order, get kids excited for school, treat a teacher friend, or just psyche yourself up for fall, then I have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR printables for you! Two are jokes, but I just thought they were funny and the kinds of things I pin on pinterest so I went ahead and made them. They are all sized as 8x10s but should be able to work for smaller or bigger with the right editing. So without further ado:

Again, these are FREE!!! But if you do use them, will you tell me? And maybe follow our little blog?

8.02.2011

Birthday Gift Basket

Glitta and I have birthdays very close together. If you are an avid reader of this blog (as I assume everyone is) then you'll know that Glitta surprised me with an amazing pedi party.

What you don't know is that we had planned on throwing a joint party a week after mine, a week before her's TOGETHER. We were thinking watermelon theme, since there's a bazillion cute treats for watermelons circulating the web right now, and we had a cute watermelon wreath and it's the summer, blah blah blah.

So then that sneaky Glitta throws me an amazing surprise party with all of our friends invited and smugly tells me that she likes throwing a party better than being the recipient of a party. I left my birthday pedi party thinking, "That was so fun. Such a good idea. Now w-t-h am I going to do for Glitta's birthday???!!!"

I couldn't compete. But I did make a pretty cute little present. So in case you need an idea of how a holiday snob gives a girlfriend a present, here it is:

I wrapped a cardboard box in purple fabric, hot-glueing to secure. Then embellished it with ruffled ribbon and a bejeweled cupcake. I made a pennant bday banner glued to twine to come up from bamboo skewers stuck into the sides. And then filled with goodies.

I themed the basket with, "On her birthday, a girl needs to:____________"

"A girl needs to relax" was with a cupcake bath bombe.

"A girl needs to bling" was with a cute pair of rhinestone bow earrings from Forever 21.

"A girl needs to shop" was with a J. Crew gift certificate for a thousand dollars. Because I'm super rich and just a really good friend. (hahahahahahaha - that's why I'm selling crafts on etsy, because I'm super rich!) So maybe it wasn't a thousand dollars but it had some dough, ok? Glitta is a J. Crew girl all the way.

close up of the stamped banner

Cute, right? Hopefully a good comparison to a surprise party. Hmmm maybe not, but whadda do? I did surprise her with yummy Lara's Donuts early for breakfast that day. Still not? Well, I'll tell ya what, I am NOT planning a joint party next year!

Linking here:

Sunday:

http://iheartnaptime.blogspot.com/, http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/

Monday:

http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/, http://makingtheworldcuter.blogspot.com/, http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/, http://www.skiptomylou.org/, http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/, http://marvelouslymessy.blogspot.com/

Tuesday:

http://todayscreativeblog.net/, http://ladybug-blessings.com/, http://tipjunkie.com/, http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/,

Wednesday:

http://eisymorgan.blogspot.com/, http://www.paisleypassions.blogspot.com/, http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/, http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/, http://www.mybackyardeden.com/, http://reasonstoskipthehousework.blogspot.com/

Thursday:

http://www.momnivores-dilemma.com/, http://www.houseofhepworths.com/, http://nightowlcrafting.blogspot.com/

Friday:

http://www.whipperberry.com/, http://www.thegirlcreative.com/,http://tidymom.net/, http://sassysites.blogspot.com/, http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/, http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/, http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/

Saturday:

http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com

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7.31.2011

Low Key Pool Party Ideas

I'm getting a few friends together tomorrow for a low-key pool party. I hate to even call it a "party" because then my psycho snobby brain starts thinking I need favors, labels, a dessert buffet... you get the jist! But, "pool get-together" doesn't have the same ring. I think I'm calling it a pool play-date. Ooo-kay, this is turning into a tangent that needs to end!

Anyway, here's a few ideas that are inspiring me:

I am thinking of giving the girls this cute free printable in 4x6 from Vintage Marigolds:

I don't have a source, but I have this on my pinterest board and it looks easy enough:

This one is like the pool party in my dreams! The Joys of Home Educating has the cutest idea for serving food at a pool party, I might end up with a version of this if my friends are lucky!!!

And MMMmmmm, I think I must make these pina colada cupcakes from Keri at Pressed Down, Shaken Together:

*update!! Of all my fun ideas, I actually only did the pina colada cupcakes, here's mine:

They were sooooo good! But they seemed slightly more pineapple upside down cake that straight pina colada. I did use the pineapple juice I had leftover from the can to add to the buttercream instead of as much milk. I liked it better than I was feeling about the buttercream. So just FYI :) But head over to her site and try this recipe out!

And I saw a recipe in the latest issue of Family Fun, but there isn't a picture. It's for a "pool noodle" salad. You use ziti pasta so that it looks like pool noodle toys, cucumber rings, and watermelon cut into balls. And it doesn't have mayo so it should outlast the heat. I know it needs a picture, but here's the recipe anyway from Family Fun's website:

Hands-on Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 4

Pool noodles, swim rings, and beach balls -- this splashy pasta salad has it all. Plus, it's mayo-free for easy, delicious picnicking.

Ingredients

1/2 pound ziti pasta
3 pickling cucumbers
juice and grated zest from 1 large lime
1/2 cup vegetable or light olive oil
1 tablespoon suger, 1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons slivered fresh mint
1/2 cup crumbled feta
2 cups balls cut from a seedless watermelon

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, cook the pasta until just tender, and drain.
Cut the ends off the cucumbers, then use an apple corer or run a wide drinking straw through the center to core them. Slice them into rings. Whisk together the lime juice and zest, oil, sugar, salt, and garlic.
Toss the still-warm pasta with half of the dressing, then add the cukes, mint, and feta, toss again, and taste. Add more dressing and salt to taste, then fold in the melon.

7.26.2011

Dinosaur Birthday Party- Rawr! Part 2

I know, I know, you've been waiting with bated breath for part 2 of my son's Dinosaur Birthday Party. You have been in endless agony waiting to see what the snobby food choices were, and how we spent the 2 hours from 11am to 1pm. Well, wait no longer! The best part of the party!

I made tags for each section of Dinosaur dietary concerns: carnivores, herbivores, and sweetivores. Sure, I could have just said done one that said "omnivore" but where's the fun in that??? I got the idea from a party I saw here.

Since it was a party for a two year old, there's some turkey sandwiches on white bread, back in the corner of the carnivore section. Then dinosaur boiled eggs, and for the Mommy dinosaurs: Chicken Teriyaki Spinach salad. MMMMMmmm, that salad is good! The herbivores were given a selection of fresh fruit and salad. The sweetivores also had a selection of cupcakes, chocolate covered marshmallow dinos on popsicle sticks, and chocolate dinosaur eggs (or leftover Cadbury eggs....)

These eggs weren't exactly delicious, but they looked cool! I saw them at Our Best Bites, go check out their tutorial here.

The kids also got to slurp some juice right out of Gatorade swamp. Hey, it's a fun color! Reminds me of dinosaurs. That works, right?

Saw the idea for these "Dino Bites" here at My House of Giggles. They're chocolate covered marshmallow pops. I used starburst cut into triangles for the spikes. I was debating whether I wanted to make these, and then saw those candy eyes at Michaels and couldn't help myself!

I used the same green melting chocolate to pipe polka dots onto these Cadbury chocolate eggs.

For activities we had a dinosaur egg hunt, for these redone Easter eggs.

There was a plastic dinosaur figurine inside each egg, making these a hot commodity for the little dinosaur hunters.

And there was a "dino dig" as well. We made our own salt dough a few days before, cut into bone shapes and let them dry out. (I'll do a post next week with the recipe and pictures) We buried those and more plastic dinosaur toys in four buckets. There were about 2 kids to each bucket.

This was a surprising popular activity that went on for a long hot while!

I made cupcake wrappers to go around the cupcakes from regular bright cardstock. I have a Cricut Lite cartridge that just does wrappers and these were the "grass" choice but looked wild enough for dinosaurs. Then I made toppers with stamps on the same colors of paper.

This face made it all worth the effort:

And if any of all ya' all want to recreate this party, feel free to use these tags I made. Just let me know! (That's right, my only payment is in flattery! And we wouldn't mind if you decided to follow our blog!)