Happy Halloween! DIY Decor

Happy Halloween!  Free time has been scarce around here.  I can't believe my little one is almost two months old already!  I love Halloween so did take the time to set up this little decorated desk area in the kitchen.

Most of this is DIY- one painted pumpkin and 8 files from the Silhouette online store!

Top shelf- garland from Michael's.  Pumpkin from Michael's, glittered by me.

Middle shelf- tombstone and spooky tree frame from Silhouette store.  Glass pumpkin from Walmart and filled with a cheap tinsel Halloween garland.  Bat Wing Juice and Poison cartons from Silhouette store.

Bottom shelf- BOO boxes, fruit basket, 3D pumpkins, and paper flowers from Silhouette store.  Birdhouse is from Tuesday Morning.  Terra Cotta pumpkin is from HomeGoods.

Special mention- the weird looking pumpkin thing with green vines in that little nook shelf was made by me in elementary school!  The skull mug in the nook is from the dollar store.

The 3D pumpkins in the fruit crate are probably my favorite, though the Bat Wing and Poison cartons have inspired me to make a whole apothecary shelf for next year- maybe the mantle?  Eyeballs in mason jars and lots of creepy files from the Silhouette store should make it easy!

Homestyler

Since we have been shopping for a new house I have spent a lot of time looking around at things like paint colors, new countertops, closet organizational systems, new furniture...etc.  I was really excited to try out this free app called Homestyler on my iPad today.  Every so often I just search the top charts and this looked interesting, so I downloaded it.

You can take a photo or upload a photo and then totally redecorate the room, from new windows to wall colors to furniture to cabinets & appliances.  Everything looks pretty realistic and can be resized and rotated until perfect.  The paint colors are from Sherwin Williams and probably my favorite part, since sometimes visualizing a whole new wall color can be hard.

I took this photo of the eat-in kitchen of a house that made our short list...

And even though my husband hates white kitchens, I had fun designing what might have been :)

The cabinets aren't perfect, I should have made the table a smidge taller, and the old lighting fixture wasn't totally hidden, but it gave a very realistic idea of what to expect, should I redo this kitchen with white beadboard cabinets and a dandelion light fixture (and a prettier window).

My biggest pet peeve with the app is that the selection of furniture and cabinets and other things to modify is someone limited.  I think there were only 6 dining room tables.  On the plus side, there are ways to do a top down view of your floor plan or totally build a house & then decorate it.  How fun is that?

Cardstock Christmas Village

First off I apologize for the silence lately.  In 2008 I received my Bachelors degree, got married a week later, and haven't really worked since.  I decided to go back to school for a different degree and started earlier this week.  I love school but I forgot how much homework is involved!  In fact, I have 2 more case briefs to read for this week, so I have to make this quick.

This took me 3 days since that pesky school work kept getting in the way.  I bet it would have taken me even longer had I not be introduced to the wonder that is glue dots.  I wish I had tried them sooner!

I believe these three are all different designers.  The pinkish house is a simple print and cut, as is the small gingerbread house (although the cut/fold lines of that house are a little off...).  The large gingerbread house was cut from card stock but the details were done with print & cut.

If you didn't print the holiday details and printed the roof out of something (anything) else this could easily work as just a simple little house, not a gingerbread house!

These three are all from the same designer and I wish they would release more!  I added the wreaths for a holiday touch.  The window frames, brown detailing on the cottage, etc, are all card stock are the walls & roofs.  

The church's white & black parts are card stock and then I used a holiday pattern and print & cut to give the illusion that it was a holiday stained glass within the window frames.

Normally 3D projects drive me nuts, but I really think the glue dots made a BIG difference.  Huge.  I'll never go back.  I can't wait for more 3D houses to be released in the Silhouette Store!