Team Francks

Happy Hauntings...

I realize that Halloween is a distant memory at this point...  But for journaling sake I want to post our Halloween happenings.

Top Five Halloween events from 2011: (believe me... there are way more... but for your sake I'll keep it at five!)

1.  Some friends (that I've met through our music class and various community activities) invited us to a Halloween costume party at the park... it was so windy... and there were 20 kids running around in costume... it was a bit insane... but it was fun and we love any excuse to wear our costumes!! 

 

(I try not to post other peoples kids on my blog without asking... but since I didn't list any names or places I'm hoping its ok this time).

 

2.  We have a little friend who has a birthday the week of Halloween... this year she had a big family Peter Pan party and asked everyone to dress up as Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Pirates, etc. 

They went all out... they had a big pirate flag flying from the play equipment... they had a big dinner for everyone... Peter Pan showing on a big screen projector.

It was lots of fun.. it made me feel bad that Buddy hasn't had a friend bday party yet... not bad enough to actually have one for him... but bad nonetheless.

 

 

3. An evening at the Haunted House... I worked with this great group of women for several years in the Young Women program... we try to get together every couple of months... this outing was for a Haunted House in Ft. Worth (not sure why we went to one so far away... but we did). 

Seriously such a fun (late!) night out with dear friends!

4.  The day after the Witches Lunch I left for Utah for a few days and got to spend Halloween with my family... so so fun to be with cousins for Halloween.

While I was there I crashed my sister Emma's church Halloween carnival (since I was missing our church Halloween party)... at the party I ran in to my old boss... which is kind of awkward when you're dressed up and he's not... but fun to be with my sister!

And no... we didn't coordinate our costumes beforehand ... but I love that we matched!

5.  The big day.  Halloween.  So much fun with a three year old!

Little Man's first time trick or treating... he would get to the door and say "Happy Halloween!" and then walk away... he ended up with four pieces of candy for a whole evenings worth of work... thankfully Grandma filled his bucket.

Guess we'll work on his trick or treating skills next year!

 

And lest you wonder where I got my love for all things Halloween... its totally my mom's fault... this is what she asked for her birthday this year (her bday is the day before Halloween)...

she's taught me well.... and just in case you're wondering... I'd love a garden zombie in my yard!

Until next year... Happy Halloween memories! 

p.s. I already have both boys costumes for next year purchased and hanging in the closet (thank you consignment sale!)

on the night before Halloween...

on the eve of Halloween I'm sharing with you one of my favorite things ever... a Witches Lunch!! 

This year, because I'm insane and don't have enough going on right now... I decided to throw in a big witches luncheon the week before Halloween.

A couple of years ago I did a very small witches lunch with three of the women that I visit teach.  This year I decided to go big and invited seven friends...

I emailed out invitations (I was going to mail or hand deliver... neither of which happened... so email it was!)... asked everyone to come dressed up... made food assignments... and decorated fun and festive.

It was so much fun.  And with people helping with food its a fairly easy party to throw.

I looooved the decorations... they turned out so fun... the pictures don't really do it justice... but I went with black and purple and lots of candles and it really came together.

Other details:

I used mismatched crystal goblets which looked way better than matching crystal.

White china w/witches napkins that I bought on clearance last year (the napkins... not the china!)

A candelabra I got on clearance at hobby lobby

A food table that was way too small... but I couldn't carry the big long table by myself... so I had to settle for the smaller table.

A separate kids meal of mummys and spider eggs (tots)

I had a kids Halloween movie going... the kids luncheon was a little bit more chaotic than I had planned on... I feel bad about that... next time I'll plan to have an activity or something for the kids.

I had a little witches boot ornament for each guest... I'm going to hang mine from my mirror in my car.

Each guest left with a bottle of "witches brew"... my friend Liberty made the labels... and I wrapped them around bottles of soda pop... I'll have to ask her if she's sharing the labels... if so I'll link them.

I took individual pictures of each guest... I won't post those here... but I love all the individual pictures of everyone.

It was so fun to have everyone come... and enjoy of fun Halloween activity with good friends!

(and remember it really did look better than the pictures show!)

(I didn't know my camera was on portrait mode for the group shot and and the people in the back came out blurry... boo!)

 

It was such a fun event... and sadly Halloween is almost over... but tomorrow is trick or treating with a very excited three year old... which is totally going to be the highlight of the whole season... costume pictures coming soon!

Check out my Halloween board on Pinterest for more fun Halloween ideas!

on the second night before Halloween...

On the second night before Halloween I share with you a Halloween Book Basket!

I soooo love this idea!  We love reading.  We love Halloween.  Perfect combination!

I originally saw the idea on one of my favorite blogs Brown Paper Packages.

The concept is to count down the 31 days to Halloween--starting with October 1st.  Read a FUN (not gory or gross) Halloween book every night until Halloween.

The original Halloween Book Basket is so so so cute.  I TOTALLY recognize that mine is not nearly as cute (and my terrible picture does nothing to help my cause!)

BUT

I ran in to several problems when I went to make mine... I couldn't find the big black tub she used for hers (even though I've seen them at Target for the last million Halloweens)... AND I didn't have nearly the collection of Halloween books.  And since I was limited on time and funds this year I decided to improvise. 

Here's my version of our Halloween Book Basket:

 

I got the "basket" for $1 in the Halloween section at Albertson's (it alreaady had the ghosts on it)... and I filled it with the Halloween books that we already had.  I added two new small books this year and thought it would be fun to buy a few new ones over the year and then supplement each year with Library books... (I did score a few new-to-us Halloween books at a consignment sale after this picture was already taken).

The basket has been a hit and every night Buddy brings me a few Halloween books and we read together.  Makes this mama very happy!

Another fun and easy project!  Thanks Kierste @ Brown Paper Packages!

And maybe next year I'll be able to find the cute Target bucket!

Here's the original posters list of 31 books: (most of these books are targeted for ages 3-8)

1. Too Many Pumpkins, Linda White
2. Pumpkin Soup, Helen Cooper
3. The Biggest Pumpkin Ever, Steven Kroll
4. Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden, George Levenson
5. How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?, Margaret McNamara
6. Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Jeanne Titherington
7. In the Haunted House, Eve Bunting
8. Room on the Broom, Julie Donaldson
9. The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything, Linda Williams
10. The Night Before Halloween, Natasha Wing
11. The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat, Stan & Jan Berenstain
12. The Big Pumpkin, Erica Silverman
13. The Vanishing Pumpkin, Tomie dePaola
14. Humbug Witch, Lorna Balian
15. Bug That Go Bump in the Night, David A. Carter
16. Five Little Pumpkins, Iris Van Rynbach
17. Scary, Scary, Halloween, Eve Bunting
18. Peek-A-Booooo!, Marie Torres Cimarusti
19. Mrs. McMurphy’s Pumpkin, Rick Walton
20. It’s Halloween!, Jack Prelutsky
21. Thirteen Nights of Halloween, Rebecca Dickinson
22. Miss Fiona’s Stupendous Pumpkin Pies, Mark Kimball Moulton
23. Ten Timid Ghosts, Jennifer O’ Connell
24. The Bumpy Little Pumpkin, Margery Cuyler
25. Halloween Night, Arden Druce
26. Haunted Castle on Hallows’ Eve, Mary Pope Osborne
27. All Hallow’s Eve – The Story of the Halloween Fairy, Lisa S. Johnson
28. Pumpkin Hill, Elizabeth Spurr
29. Skeleton Hiccups, Margery Cuyler
30. The Ugly Pumpkin, Dave Horowitz
31. Trick or Treat Countdown, Patricia Hubbard

 

I'd love to hear if you have any favorite Halloween books!

on the third night before Halloween...

On the third night before Halloween I share with you Mummy jars.

Another project I saw on Pinterest... I have to admit this is one of my very favorite projects... I absolutely love them! 

A friend invited me over for an afternoon to make these... and despite all the distractions (kids) we knocked out a ton of these in two hours.

sooooooooo easy!!!  seriously.  and so cheap.
i could have made 100 of them!
just old canning jars
or whatever you have on hand
and sterile medical gauze
that you can buy at walmart (in the pharmacy section)
and then you paint modge podge
all over the bottle
start at the top
and start wrapping
you'll need to put
modge podge between the layers of gauze
you only do one layer of gauze
but slightly overlap each layer
and then when its all how you like it
you paint a layer of modge podge on top of the whole thing really quick
and then glue on googly eyes with even more modge podged.

that's it. 

easy peasy.

we liked the really really big googly eyes for the big bottles (i think the really big eyes come in a pack of 12)... but the other size works great too... these would be super cute with baby food jars too.

p.s. If my instructions don't make any sense... just google mummy jars and I'm sure there are more detailed tutorials out there!

p.p.s.  outside I just put regular tealight candles in them... inside I'm using battery operated candles.

Oh, and they make fun neighbor gifts too... not the best picture... but you get the idea.

Happy Halloween!!!

on the fourth night before Halloween...

On the fourth night before Halloween I share with you vinyl spiders.

Saw this pin on Pinterest and knew they would be so fun... lucky for me I have a Silhouette machine gathering dust in my craft closet.

Downloaded the spider from Silhouette and got busy cutting... little sspiders hanging in the kitchen and dining room.  My little man LOVES them!  Every day he points out all the "piders" to me. 

Cute and so easy!

 

over the front door.

over the door way in to the kitchen... I know you're jealous of my 1970's cabinets and trim. awesome.

 

Hanging from the cabinets in the kitchen

 

hanging from the holiday shelf.

You can buy vinyl spiders at craft stores... on Silhouettes site... or if you have the cricut cartridge... fun fun!

on the fifth night before Halloween...

As I've shared many times before... I loooooove Halloween. Loooooooooooooooove.

And Halloween wouldn't be complete with a little crafty... and despite an insanely busy month I managed to squeeze in a tiny bit of crafting... mostly at two in the morning... but a little bit of crafting nonetheless.

Thanks to Pinterest my holiday crafting has taken on a whole new level!

Over the next five days I'm going to count down to Halloween with a few favorite projects this Halloween season! 

On the fifth night before Halloween I share with you my Googly Eye Frame:

I loved the original project on Pinterest... but I didn't have a square frame... and I wanted to use what I had on hand...  so I just improvised.

I love googly eyes. Love.  And I usually have a large stash on hand.  I found non-adhesive worked best on this project.

 

Spread modge podge... I found it was easiest to work on one side at a time... otherwise the modge podge starts drying and gets too hard to work with.

place googly eyes in wet modge podge... no rhyme or reason... just whatever you like.

move on to the next section of the frame... spread w/modge podge.  place googly eyes.  repeat.

 

I promise it looks much better in real life without the glare of the camera flash... in real life you can't see all the flash induced flaws.

 

I like some areas better than others... but thats what happens when you go willy nilly with modge podge and googly eye.

Super fun.  Super cheap.  Super easy. 

Cuter than the Cullen's

Ok... so I know I'm a major dork but I looooove Halloween (but you already knew that, right??)... I saw this idea somewhere out in blogland and totally wanted to do it this year.  We stuck in some teeth (except for buddy who try as he might couldnt' get the teeth to stay in house mouth) and took some vampire pictures.  With my very limited photoshop skills changed the eyes to red and our skin to antique-ish.

I changed out our regular family pictures and they'll sit on our photo shelf until Halloween is over.  They're by no means perfect but they'll be fun for the month.  Hip hip hoooray for Halloween!! 

 

p.s. Is the shelf display too plain?  I put a crow on there but everything else I have is too cutesy...  Is it ok as is or should I stick something else on there?