No budget? No Problem.

Happy Halloween everybody! This weekend we had a little Fall Festival at our church. Cory and I are both assigned to be on the activities committee, which means we get to help plan fun stuff to do! Our budget was a little tight, so we were going to dispose of the decorations portion...but for some reason, that just killed a little part of my soul. So, the hunt was on for some easy, fun, fall decorations, that would also cost zero dollars.

This is what we came up with: (I didn't have time/the foresight to take pictures at the festival Friday night, so this is my super glam backyard. Try not to be jealous)

FSU gives away free campus newspapers! So, we put those to work. Freya at The Creative Outlet found the idea for some super cute newspaper pinwheels. They were really easy to make! She also inspired me with her post about a print out pennant banner, which I basically ripped off. Thats how we roll.

Just glued on some letters to the pinwheels: Instant banner!

Here's our Welcome Sign. I can't wait to make a ton more of these for every holiday. All you need is cardstock, a printer, hole punch and some ribbon.

You'd like a better view? Here you go:

And, just a little bit more Halloween goodness:

I babysit a super sweet 8 year old girl after school 3 days a week. To get into the spirit of things this week we decided to mod podge a little pumpkin. If you look closely, you can see that the devil is frowning...

Happy Halloween!!!

Lindy


Don't forget to check out the "Party Central" tab to see what linky parties this project has been linked up with.

Card of the Week- It's your 30th?!?! birthday

Time flies when you are having fun. A good friend turns 30 this weekend and I wanted to post a quick "card of the week" post for his birthday card. He's a no nonsense, stick to the basics, laid back and funny guy, so I thought I'd do polka dots. Then I thought, I just did polka dots on every card I made last week. So, I went sleek and modern (at least this is what I'll call it). It's simple, but classic. And I like classic, I mean sleek and modern.





Don't be disappointed I didn't edit the pictures. It's a "well I'm posting, aren't I?" kinda day.

Lindy taught me how to play a new game!!

Seriously? Seriously? HOW did I not know about this fun (and free) way to edit pictures? Lindy has told me about it in the past, the free-finding genius that she is, and I always mean to edit my pictures before posting and then tell myself how good I'm doing just to be posting. Well, not anymore folks! Go to www.picnik.com to start your fun, free picture editing today!


BEFORE:

AFTER:

What a good looking couple. I even added lipstick to my lips (okay, I caved and paid the $24.95/yr for the premium package, 'put that sass back in your mouth!' as Lindy would say).

I'm redoing a bench for the entryway and just decorated above the kitchen cabinets, so be looking for those posts soon!

Easy Peasy Pumpkin Muffins

So, the seasons are changing. In honor of this, and the fact that the giant can of pumpkin puree in my pantry expires next month, I decided to make some muffins.

A few years ago I had a boss who brought in some pumpkin muffins to share. She said that she made them by mixing a can of pumpkin, a cake mix, and a cup of water. They were super de duper moist, and sounded easy enough. I pulled from this vague memory to bring you:

Ingredients:

1 yellow cake mix

1 can pumpkin puree (about 2 cups)

1 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup water

3 dashes cinamon

3 dashes pumpkin pie spices

Mix together thouroughly, fill greased/lined tins up to the brim, and bake for about 20 minutes on 350 degrees. Makes 12 billowing muffins. You could probably make 24 muffins, if you only fill the tins up halfway. But then their not as cute. Just sayin'.

The oatmeal added more texture to the muffins, and I found less water to be more appealing. You could also substitute spice cake mix, or any cake mix for that matter. My options were yellow and funfetti. I opted for yellow. But really, the sky is the limit here. They make your whole house smell delicious and autumn-y.

I made these two days ago, and just barely managed to snap this picture today of the last lonely little muffin. Between two people, thats pretty impressive. They are THAT good.

Try it, you won't be disappointed.

Lindy

I'm going to link up to the CSI project. It's a new blog I just discovered--they schedule themed challenges so everyone brings their A game.  This week is the holiday baking challenge....does it count as baking if the majority of the ingredients are included with the words "Yellow Cake Mix"? Sure...

<a href="http://thecsiproject.com" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://thecsiproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/thecsiproject.com-logo-150.png" alt="Visit thecsiproject.com" ></a>

As always, check out the Party Central tab to see what weekly parties we love to link up to!

I dare Jack to jump these.

 I've been seriously lusting after some huge candlesticks. I want some nice tall ones to balance out the TV on top of the "entertainment center." I've seen a few in stores, but for the type I want I've never seen one for less than $50.00. And I wanted three. Ummm....right. Not going to happen.

I've seen table leg/fence post/wooden lamp-to-candle-stick tutorials floating around the blogs, but my search for a large pieces of affordable wood was not going well. I found some fence posts, but at $25.00 per post, the price was not right for me. But then Home Depot came to the rescue. One long table leg for $8.50! A coffee table leg for $4.50! I decided I wanted to make three, so I had them cut 7 inches off of a full length leg.
I found some wooden circles for the bases at Joanns for about .60 cents apiece.

Here are the supplies:

I decided to return the tallest leg--it seemed like too much to me, and I like the effect with just two. I glued the pieces together and stained them with a dark mahogany stain.

Ahem...yes. That is the dining area of our apartment. That's where I decided to do this. It was late. The chemical stain smell has since dissipated.

I glued some glass candle coasters to the top to finish them off. Tuesday Morning provided those for us at the low price of $1.99.

The final product. This isn't exactly the spot their intended for, but this works for now. The total cost for my two solid wood candlesticks was about $20.00! Can't beat that. Well...maybe you can. Consider that a challenge. :)

Lindy

I'll be linking up the parties under the Party Central tab--be sure to check them out!

Sour cream container cuteness!

A near & dear friend found this awesome tutorial on how to make sour cream container favors for a party:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCo3rvYV2og

We loved the idea and got down to business. We didn't have an upcoming party to plan for, so she came up with the brilliant idea to hand them out to people she visits on a regular basis (yes, any LDS person knows what I'm talking about), along with a short message or card. I loved the idea so much, I copied her! These are EASY and look like a professional hammered them out. Invest in the paper crimper if possible, really gives it the "done" look.

Fall is in the air!

Yay for Fall! Living in Utah, I actually get to experience a true Fall. Leaves changing colors, crisp Autumn air, fruit trees ripening, pumpkin fields ablaze with color. One thing that also gets me excited about this time of year is being able to make warm, comforting food. I am in love with this Sweet Potato and Black Bean chili recipe. It truly is the essence of all things wonderful and Fall-ish. Also, it ranks as one of my super food recipes and takes less than an hour to make from start to finish (much of that is simmer time). Can't get much much better than that!

I hope you enjoy this fall dish as much as my family does! It's great with corn bread or warm homemade bread from the oven. Drained leftovers (if you have enough) can also be put in tortillas and topped with cheese and enchilada sauce for something totally different another day.

ETA: The black beans are already a wonderful source of low-fat protein, but for an extra special twist, try adding some cooked shredded chicken or sliced sausage to the pot when adding the beans and corn. My family also is not big on diced tomatoes, so I just add a can of tomato sauce instead.