Journaling

I'm blown away by the creativity of  Christie at Grace Is Overrated.  She has created the cutest journal pages!  I've been printing them out and look forward to filling in the blanks every morning.  Some days they really inspire me and get me thinking!  Here is just one of the pages:

She is so talented isn't she?!  Head on over and check out her blog.  I'm sure you'll be inspired too!

Where I'm linked up today:

Somewhat Simple

This Blessed Nest

Life As Lori

Paisley Passions

Beyond the Picket Fence

Simpsonized Crafts

Leave It to Martha

I get the Martha Stewart holiday newsletter emailed to me and today I saw the cutest idea (who am I kidding, they are all great ideas!).  But I really liked this one in particular.

(image courtesty of marthastewart.com)

Broomstick candy holders!!

Wouldn't this be so cute and easy to make for kids to take to school, or give to a teacher, or as a halloween party favor?!  I might have to think of a reason to make some of these.  Any suggestions? 

Recipe Time: Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com about 2 years ago and it has become my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe.  It's the best one I've found over the years.  They're soft in the center and crunchy around the edges...so delicious!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I only use about 1 1/2 cups because I don't like as many chips)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, sugar and brown sugar until well blended.  Beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla until light and creamy.  Mix in the sifted ingredients a 1/3 at a time until just blended.  Stir in the chocolate chips by  hand.  Drop about a tablespoon of cookie dough at a time onto the prepared cookie sheet about three inches apart.

Bake for about 12-16 minutes depending on oven or until edges are lightly browned.  Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

I bet you'll love 'em too  Enjoy!!

(image courtesy of gettyimages)

Pumpkin Update: Half and Half

The pumpkin is much more orange now (half orange/half green) and the tiny pumpkin is now about the size of a softball.  So, it looks like we really will get more than one!  Yay!!

Isn't is pretty?!

So happy to have another one!  I don't think it will get very big, but I like them little anyway.

I saw this little guy lurking around.  Kinda cute...

Countdown Calendar

I've been seeing to many great "countdown to candy" Halloween calendars in blogland and knew I just had to have one too.  And I have to say that I am in L-O-V-E with what I created!!

Here we go:
I started with this old, worn out dry erase board.  As you can see, we haven't used it since February, but I kept it thinking that I could turn it into something at some point.  However, you could use anything you want.

I gathered up all my supplies.  Mod Podge, paint brush, scissors, craft glue, Halloween scrapbook paper, black cardstock, and my heavy duty hole punch. 

I took the calendar out of the frame and Mod Podged 4 sheets of polka dot paper to it.  I made sure to line up the paper perfectly before I added the Mod Podge.

Here is the coat of Mod.  I accidentally added too much and had to scrape some off, and I still ended up with a few small wrinkles.

Here is how I folded it over the side of the board and then Mod Podged that as well.

Adding my first coat of Mod to the front.

Here it is back in the frame.

(you can see some wrinkles here, but they're undetectable now that it's finished)

Now I needed to add the numbers.  I had some small removable hooks on hand, so I decided to use those, but they were white and clashed with all the black.

So I traced them onto some black cardstock, cut it out and glued the paper to the front of the hooks.

I glued the hooks onto the board with craft glue and then I put a coat of Mod Podge over the black paper so that it would match.

Next step was to make the numbers.  All I did was use Word, drew squares, added numbers (be sure to make two copies of each 1,2, and 3) and printed.

Then cut them out with scissors and punched a hole to fit onto the hooks.  I made sure to punch all of the numbers at the same time so that the hole would be in the same spot on all of them.

Now it's time to reveal the finished "Countdown to Candy" Calendar!!!

Oh, I forgot that I also added a strip of black cardstock in the center to cover where the paper came together just to make it look more clean.

 Aren't the little trick-or-treaters so adorable?!

 And of course the little owl!

 Here are the finished numbers.

What do you think?  I'm so excited to start using it!!  I hope you like it!!

This project only cost $2.00 to make and that was for the scrapbook paper!  I love re-purposing old, worn out items!!

I'm linking up here today:

Craft-O-Maniac

 

Meaningful Memento=Artwork

My sweet hubby got a very meaningful fortune from his fortune cookie a few months ago.  Since then it's been hanging on our fridge, so we could see it everyday.  Well, since it's so important to him, I thought it should be framed and placed someplace he can see it all day long as inspiration.  Just another great idea from my favorite designer, Nate Berkus.  He always talks about how you should frame mementos that have special meaning or importance, and I couldn't agree more!

So, I found a small black frame that I had shoved in a drawer, you know, one of those $.99 frames from Michael's.  Then I grabbed some appropriate scrapbook paper to use as a backdrop and some double sided tape.

The frame

The scrapbook paper, scissors and the insert from the frame so I could use it a a guide to cut the paper.  Once the paper was cut, all I did was stick some double sided tape to the back of the fortune and center it on the paper.

And here it is all put together!

If you can't see it, it says "You will soon embark on a business venture".  It's perfect for him because he is hoping/planning to start a new business in January.  Now he can be reminded and inspired all day long once he puts this on his desk at work! 

A meaningful and completely free piece of artwork...if you don't count the Chinese food we had to eat to get the fortune!

P.S.  He loved it!

Welcome Again

Welcome to the "new" Home Inspired Bliss!!  I'm so excited to finally have my blog looking the way I've been imagining it!  I hope you like it as much as I do!  If you're already a follower, thank you, and if you're not, please join the fun!  I love making new friends!  

A huge thank you to my sweet hubby for helping (and doing all the work) with the new design!!

So, what do you think?!

Changin' It Up

A while ago I posted about my custom "word cloud"  artwork from http://www.wordle.net/ that you can see here.  Well, I thought it would be fun to change it up for Halloween.  All I did was put in a bunch of Halloween words, picked the colors and font and then let the program do the work for me.  I think it turned out to be pretty cute!  I plan on doing the same for Thanksgiving and Christmas now too!

Here it is!

It's up on a shelf in our living room.

I love that I can change it out so easily and have custom artwork for any occasion!  And it's FREE!!

Where I'm linking up today:

Remodelaholic

Sassy Sites

The Shabby Nest

Sawdust and Paper Scraps

Fingerprints On The Fridge

Chic on a Shoestring Budget

Glam with Glitter

For the past couple of years I've wanted to make my own glittered acorns mostly, because I've never been able to find them in a store.  Well, I finally did it!  They turned out great!!  It was a messy process...imagine glitter all over my house and my little man, but so worth it. 

I've been collecting acorns while on walks with Hudson, but I ended up only making 15.  I'm not completely sure what I'm going to do with them yet, but I'm sure I can come up with something fun.

Supplies:
Acorns-I used real, but you could use fake too. (free if you use real like me)
Martha Stewart woodland glitter from Hobby Lobby ($3.99 for 3 colors and I have a ton left)
Any type of craft glue-I used the glue that came with the glitter
Hot glue or super glue to attach the tops back on the acorns (free, I already had some on hand)
Paint brush-to apply the glue

Martha Stewart glitter

In the process.

Here they are all glittered.

This is the best close-up I could get with my stinkin' camera.

For right now they're on display in a fancy little bowl.

I didn't cover the entire top...mostly because I had a little boy standing next to me crying the entire time, and it got a little hairy with all the glue and glitter everywhere!  You can't really tell as much in person as you can in the picture.

Total cost for this project:  $3.99

Not too shabby!

This is where I'm linking up today:

Somewhat Simple

This Blessed Nest

Curly Q Crafts

Life As Lori

Paisley Passions

Date DIY

Last year I saw a company online that sells framed dates and thought it was a great idea...however, I couldn't afford to buy one from them, so I started searching the Internet looking for numbers to make my own.  That's when I stumbled upon Leo Reynold's photography on Flickr.  He has thousands of amazing, beautiful pictures of numbers and letters.  Now I could make my own!!  I decided to make one displaying the hubby's and my very first date.  We have so many things with our wedding date already that I wanted something different. 

I am so happy with the way it turned out. 

Sorry about the light reflection in the pics!

I even ended up making one for my sister for Christmas last year!  Thanks for the beautiful photography and inspiration Leo!!

Love These!

Now I know you've all seen these great ads from Sherwin Williams (print and tv).  Well, I found this one in the new Parents magazine and I just adore it!  I think these ads are brilliant. Many of them would even make cool artwork for a kids room.   They're so colorful and creative! 

Before & After: Bad to Better

My mother-in-law gave us an old ceramic pumpkin a couple years ago and I always thought the color was a little too loud, so I've never used it.  While digging through my Halloween decorations this weekend I came across it and decided all it really needed to look better was a little bit of white spray paint (semi-gloss), which I had on hand.  So I grabbed my spray paint and got to work.

Here is what it looked like before:

I put some painter's tape on the stem because I didn't want that to be white. 

These pictures don't really portray just how orange this pumpkin actually was!

Here it is in progress.

Here it is after:

A little plain, so I think I may add our last initial in black to the front.

It definitely matches my room better now.