Thanksgiving Centerpiece

What do you do with all those little pumpkins you had as decorations for Halloween now that Halloween is over? Decorate them and use them as Thanksgiving centerpieces, of course!


I came across this idea over at Living Life Creatively. She used funkins for her project. I used a real pumpkin. I had spray painted mine white before Halloween to create a "ghost" pumpkin. Anyway, I used various pieces of ribbon I had in my collection to decorate the pumpkin. I think it turned out pretty well.


Here's the view from above!

Wander over to WanderCRAFT

We interrupt the regularly scheduled (insert laugh here!) blog programming to bring you a special announcement (aka shameless plug for my sister-in-law's new ETSY store)!

I don't know about you but sometimes I get way behind and can't keep up with my crafting projects. Whether it's kid activities, choir practices or just plain life that gets in my way, I find there isn't always enough time in the day to get everything done. Well, now that WanderCRAFT designs is open, I don't have to worry about how to scrap those random travel photos! I know that I'm biased, but I think that Sara's stuff is fabulous! She's got a fresh and inspiring way of putting things together - check out her blog and her inspiration wall, then be sure to stop by her ETSY store. These photojournals would be terrific stocking stuffers!

Happy Halloween!

We hope you have a very happy Halloween!

Love,
The Peter Pan crew

Tinkerbell & Peter Pan

(Tink's dress was a gift given to Boo a few years ago. It never fit her so we saved it for Ebabe to use. You can read about my costume here!)

Captain Hook's assistant Captain Fancypants
(Everything except the boots that she is wearing came from various garage sales over the summer. It was a fun scavenger hunt for the various pirate costume pieces)

Wendy

(After searching for about a month, I got her dress at a local Salvation Army store and added the contrasting ribbon to the pre-existing sash. I made the hairbow with the same ribbon.)


Tick-tock Crocodile (and a tired Tink)
(I ordered the hat on ebay and the green shirt at Goodwill. What you can't see is that in his pocket Chip had an mp3 player that played a ticking sound, just like the croc in Peter Pan.)

Easy Halloween Costume

I priced some costumes on ebay that would fit into our family theme of Peter Pan. I couldn't believe how expensive some of them are. I bid on a few but didn't win so I decided to create my own. I bought 1 yard of green felt off the bolt at JoAnn. I used one of my tshirts to judge sizing and trimmed the fabric to the length and width I needed. I stitched the sides and shoulders and trimmed the arms and bottom with shears.

I used the leftover material to create my hat but wrapping the material around my head to judge size. I then cut it in the shape of a slight triangle and stitched up the side. Once right side out, I folded up the lower edge and added the feather I had grabbed Hobby Lobby.

I decided I should have something on my belt and after finding it on Make It and Love It, using extra material I had, created the dagger.

Jar-o-lanterns

I enjoy decorating for the holidays but I don't like spending ridiculous amounts of money for silly decor that seems to break within a few days. That being said, I have a ridiculous amount of craft stuff around my house so I didn't have to purchase anything for this activity!

To make a jar-o-lantern, you will need:

a jar (I used canning jars, a jelly jar and a peanut butter jar)

tissue paper or festive napkins

modge-podge (or some other decoupage material)

a strand of white lights (I used a 50 light count)

a hack saw

Make sure you clean your jars very well. There should be no residue on them when you begin the project.

For the Boo's mummy jar, she tore long strips of white tissue paper and used gray chalk to darken the edges. She coated the jar with a layer of modge-podge and wrapped the tissue paper around the jar multiple times to give her mummy the layered effect. She used black paper to make the eyes.

For Bug's Green Monster jar, she tore medium pieces of tissue paper for the green part. She probably put the tissue on about 4 or 5 layers thick - it made it darker and less likely to light up. She created the face of the monster with various colors of tissue. The purple monster was created in the same manner.

Ebabe tore the orange tissue into whatever sized pieces she wanted (she's only 2!) and with my help glued them on the jar with modge-podge. I cut out the face and she arranged it how she wanted.

The bat eye jar was made using one Halloween themed beverage napkin, trimmed to fit the jar. It was difficult to get it to lay evenly but I think the wrinkles help it look more sinister!

Each jar was given a final coat of modge-podge to ensure that everything was stuck on well!

Then Chip used his hacksaw to cut away small areas of the lids so that the light strand could feed through without the lights showing. I lost the lid for the jack-o-lantern jar so just use your imagination!

I plan on putting these outside along with our jack-o-lanterns on Halloween to add to the festiveness of the porch.

Teacher Meet and Greet Gifts

After a good reception last spring, I decided to send some supplies to the teachers at meet and greet. This time around we used colored pencils and markers to decorate the cans holding our flowers. Both girls' teachers thought it was cool... one even had the flowers on her desk 2 weeks later!

FYI: we used frozen juice containers this time around. It took almost 2 packs of markers and about 50 pencils to go around each one.

I know this post is a bit late for back to school this year but remember that you could do this for teacher appreciation, holidays or just because!

Where did August Go?!

Well, apparently I took a leave of blogging absence for the month of August. It was a busy month - we took a vacation, started school, and my grandfather had a stroke and passed away. I did a few crafts which I may or may not be posting soon. I've got a to-do list of projects at least a mile long and with two kids in school all day, I *should* have more time to work on them. Again, we'll see!
Bear with me :)

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Tonight was our last t-ball game of the season. Chip is on a camping trip so I thought I'd try to make it a special night by making some home-made ice cream sandwiches for dessert before the game.


I used some refrigerated mint chocolate chip cookie dough to make 6 cookies and some vanilla ice cream for the filling. Success! The kids loved them!


Little did I know that the snack after the game would be ice cream sandwiches! Oh well.

Bookshelf Rehab

I have a tendency to buy things at garage sales and then let them sit around in the garage waiting for me to find the time to fix them up somehow. Usually the thing I buy is something we need but still...

Anyway, I purchased a bookshelf at our church garage sale for about $8 in April. Then school let out and potty training took over and, although I was pestered by Boo, I just didn't get to refinishing it. Finally, Chip decided he would like to have his garage space back, so I started stripping the old stain off. Well, Chip did a second application of stain removal and then sanded off what was left. He also trimmed up the decorative wood that was on the top and cut some scrap wood to create a better looking front siding.
Then he applied the new stain and finishing coat. I'm grateful that he took over the project because, at the rate I was going, it would have been done shortly before Boo graduated from high school! Here's the finished product. It took the place of the smaller bookshelf that my grandfather made (which I refinished all by myself a few years ago!).

Here's the older bookshelf, now in Boo's room. It took almost no time for it to be completely full of her chapter/series books!

Sloppy Joe Turnovers

About a week ago, we tried our hand at sloppy joe turnovers. I found a recipe on Little Birdie Secrets and decided it was a great time to try them. I ended up not liking them as much as I thought I would. The kids ate them and were much less messy than usual! Next time we will use a sloppy joe seasoning mix or Mamwich instead of making it from scratch. It just didn't have the zesty flavor of our usual sloppy joes.


To make the from scratch version of sloppy joe turnovers, you need:
1 lb. ground beef
10 oz. can refrigerated flaky biscuits
1/4 c. onion
1/2 c. ketchup
1/4 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

-Heat oven to 375 degrees. Brown ground beef and onion in a skillet. Add ketchup, sour cream, salt and garlic powder. Simmer for 2 minutes. Roll out biscuits (just stretch them out a bit with your hands). Place a heaping spoonful of meat mixture in the center of each biscuit. Fold over the biscuit to cover meat and seal the edges with a fork. Cut a slit on the top of biscuit. Bake turnovers on a cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.


If you want to do it the way we are going to next time, you need:
1 lb hamburger
1 can mamwich/pkg of sloppy joe seasoning
10 oz. can refrigerated flaky biscuits

- Prepare the biscuits the same way as above. Brown burger and add seasoning (follow directions on can or bag). Spoon meat mixture onto biscuit and fold over, pressing the edges together with a fork. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden on top.