Decorate Plain Craft Pumpkins Using Washi Tape ♥ Decora Calabazas Sencillas Con Cinta Washi

Last year I bought on clearance these plain little pumkins.  They were rather sad lookingI wanted to make them smile.

El año pasado compre en oferta estas sencillas calabazitas.  Se veían muy triste y quería hacerlas sonreír. 

I love how they turned out.  And if you look really close, I swear you can see them smile. 

Me encanta como me quedaron.  Y le juro que cuando las veo de cerca hasta las puedo ver sonreír.  

To make all you need is a craft pumpkin, washi tape, and some creativity.

Para hacerlas lo único que necesitas unas calabazitas sencillas, cinta tipo washi, y tu creatividad. 

Happy Spooky Crafting!

this weekend...

♥ our lovely canning of apple sauce and making of apple crumble pies continued and we aren't done yet.  (Note to self: Do not pick so many apples next year!)

 ♥ finally finished decorating the house.  Yey!  (Kind-a had too with a mini-Halloween party happening this past Sunday.  Ahem.) Some ideas I got from here and here. 

♥ had mentioned Halloween party with a lovely cowgirl, prima ballerina, iron man, super "A", and a very scary (not) ghost visiting.  Fun.  Ghost paper goody bag is very simple to make: I used a sharpy to draw the different faces and then tied it with some raffia.

♥ made that same morning the ghost costume and a skirt and belt for super "A".  (Did I mentioned that the kids were sick the week before?)

♥ baked some goodies for my nene's first school Halloween classroom party.  Helped out during mentioned party (I'm one of the room parents).

♥ Skipped trick-o-treating because of the rain.  Sigh.

♥ this morning I took a deep breath of relief and satisfaction for a lovely weekend- crazyness and all.

But that was only for a moment because now I am running around working on making goodies for my first craft show ever!  I am super excited, even nervous.   Wish me luck, will ya?

Time to make more felted flower hair clips and headbands, and paperclips, and bracelets, and...

halloween garland

Truth be told, I don't have many Halloween decorations.  You see, I've never really been into the whole gory, spooky part of Halloween, though I do love to dress up.  But now that the kids are getting older, they are noticing the plainness of, well, our decorations.  So this year in the spirit of childhood, I decided to spruce things up a bit.  I started by picking up some new black candles to replace the every day red ones around the living area.  Added some bats on the walls (will show later), painted some frames black (also later) and brought out some past Halloween photos of the family to display in mentioned frames.  Yup, that, and I made this lovely little garland.  

What da ya think?

It is really easy to make.  I hand cut each circle (that is whey they aren't perfect.  But believe me, just today I ordered myself this to ease my life a bit.) and then hand sewed it together with stitching floss.   I got the idea (and combined) from both Dana of Made and Elsie from A Beutiful Mess.  I figured why make a tutorial when they have some great ones.  Check them out they are both very simple to follow. 

What about you?  Do you prefer the cute and simple Halloween decorations? Or the scary and  gory ones?

Friday Favoritas

*Where I share with you some of my favorite photos.  Just because. No words.  Just photos.*

*Donde comparto contiguo algunas de mis fotos favoritas.  Por que si.  Sin palabras.  Solo fotos.*

You are more than welcome to join me.  Share your favorite photos every Friday.  Leave a comment with your link, so everyone can see it.

Anda y comparte con migo tu foto favorita cada viernes.  Deja un comentario con tu link para que los demás la vean.  

 

 

Happy Halloween!

 

Wishing you a fun Halloween day, filled "with lots of treats!"- say my little pumpkins. 

Que pasen un divertido día de Halloween, "¡y que reciban muchos dulces!"- dicen mis calabazitas.

more handmade gifts

Since my mother-in-law requested for some hand towels, I decided most of the family ladies would get handmade Christmas towels. And that is exactly what I made. They were a hit. Now I need to pick up a little more of that diaper fabric (what I used for the bottom part of the towels- nice and sturdy and it can really take lots of washes) and make my self a few.
Con eso de que mi suegra me pidió que le hiciera unas toallas navideñas para la cocina, decidí precisamente regalarles lo mismo a todas las demás mujeres de la familia. Les encantaron. Ahora solo falta comprar un poco mas de la tela para pañales que compre (pues es mas resistente) para poderme hacer unas cuantas para mi.

For my sweet friend Lucia who loves to write (and I am trying to convince to start her own blog), I made a journal cover with her initial embroidered. She loved it.
Para mi linda amiga Lucia a quien le gusta escribir mucho (y la cual estoy tratando de convencer de que escriba su propio blog), le hice un forro para sus diarios. Le encanto.

I realized I still have one more gift to make...a Jedi costume requested by my sweet nephew, who loved the one he borrowed from Ri this past Halloween. So, I still have a little more sewing to finish up and we are already on 2010! Ha! Here is a picture of the one I made Ri and A two Halloweens ago.
Me he dado cuenta que todavía tengo un regalo por hacer...un disfraz de Jedi para mi querido sobrino. Me pidió que le hiciera uno después de usar el de Ri este Halloween pasado. Es que todavía a trabajar, y ya es el 2010! Ja! Aquí les muestro unas cuantas fotos del que les hice a mis nenes hace dos años.

They both liked them, but truly the happiest of all was my hubby. He's the one that insisted I dressed both kids as Jedi, he especially insisted for A to dress as one. (According to him, A will never be a princess. Nope. She will be a hard-butt-kicking Jedi. Ahem!) How could I resist.
A los dos les gusto, pero en verdad el que quedo encantado fue mi maridin. Pues el fue el que insistió en que disfrazara a los nenes de Jedis, en especial a A (pues según el, A nunca sera un princesa, no ella sera una gran Jedi. Hijole!) Como resistir.

two

Saturday my baby girl turned two. Two. Two. Two. It seems like just yesterday we were rushing to the hospital to have her. To see her, to meet her. To feel her, smell her and love her. And love I did, and love I do. Boy, do I love that little munchkin full of energy. She is bright as can be, determined and fearless. I admire her. Love her (did I mention that already?). Her smile brightens my day and her pout can melt my heart (but I don't give in- strong mami here- most of the time). She is my preciosa (precious).
El sábado pasado mi pequeña nena cumplió 2 años. Dos. Dos. Dos. Parece como si solo fue ayer cuando manejamos con prisa para llegar al hospital para tenerla. Verla, conocerla. Para tocarla, disfrutar de su olor de recien nacida y amarla. Como quiero a esa chiquitina llena de energía. Es super inteligente, determinada y no le tiene miedo a nada. La admiro. Lo amo con todo mi corazón (creo estarme repitiendo.) Su sonrisa me alumbra y su "pout" (cara de sentida) me derrite el corazón. Es mi preciosa.

And to celebrate her birthday we had a small party at home surrounded by friends and R's family (how I wish my family could have joined us. That has always been one of the hardest things about living so far away from them. But they called and wished my sweet A a happy day. She loves her Ita and Ito, so that made her day).
Y para celebrar su cumple le hicimos una fiestesita en casa. Nos acompañaron parte de la familia de R (como me hubiera gustado que mi familia celebrara con nosotros. Ni modo, es lo difícil de vivir tan lejos. Pero lo bonito es que mis papas y hermana le hablaron para felicitarla y A estaba super feliz. Como quiere a su Ita e Ito!)

From days in advance I began to prepare for her little party. I bought fabric to make a cute little jumper for her. Bought the paper goods (I only do this during parties- the rest of the time at home we use cloth napkins), stamps, clay, food. Made the invites, stamped every single napkin and cup. Cut out decorations, prepared party favors and molded little shapes out of soft clay for the top of her cake (that I baked for her). Decorated the house. And then...we celebrated!
Desde días antes empece todos los preparativos para su fiestesita. Compre tela para coser le un vestidito estilo jumper. Compre los platos, vasos, etc (esto solo lo hago para las fiestas- el resto del tiempo usamos servilletas de tela), estampas, plastilina y comida. Hice todas las invitaciones y las mande, estampe cada cervilleta y vaso. Corte decoraciones, prepare todos los recuerdos, y molde hongitos y un pajarito para decorar su pastel (que cocine para ella). Decore la casa. Y luego...celebramos!


Can you guess what the theme was?
Puedes adivinar cual fue el tema de la fiesta?

***

I know this is a bit late, but I really wanted to share with you some photos of their Halloween costume this year. They are the costumes I had talked to you about in my previous post. I love that both my hubby wore it when he was little and now sweet little Ri. Aren't they adorable? By the way that is the apron I made for A's dress. Remember?
Se que esto es un poco tarde, pero queira compartir con ustedes fotos de los disfraces de Halloween de mis dulce nenes. Son de los que les conte en el post anterior. Me encata que mi esposo lo uso de chico y ahora mi lindo Ri tambien. Apoco no estan adorables? Ah, si este es el mandil que le cosi a mi nena A para su vestidito. Te acuerdas?



I don't know if this ever happens to any of you but, everyday I have all these great ideas and words I want to share with you and then somehow I rarely manage the time to sit and write, let alone upload all the photos to the blog. And so days pass and all those wonderful things I wanted to share with you seem so out of place or dated. I really admire all those mami bloggers out there that find the time each day to share with us a little of their lives, crafts, ideas or what ever it might be. Really, I do. I want to be one of those blogers, but I have no idea how. Where does my time go? I think that even if my days had 28 hours I would find a way to fill every minute of it! Seriously.
No se si a ti te pase, pero cada día tengo grandes ideas de lo que quiero compartir con ustedes, y por alguna razón u otra no encuentro el tiempo para sentarme y escribir, menos subir fotos al blog. Y pues los días pasan y todas esas cosas maravillosas que planeaba compartir suelen perder su fecha. La verdad que admiro a todas esas blogeras que comparten un post nuevo cada día. La verdad que si. Como quisiera ser una de ellas, pero no tengo ni idea de como. Pues con todas las responsabilidades de casa, hijos, esposo mi tiempo suele deslizarse de mis manos como agua. A donde se me va el tiempo? Creo que aunque mis días fuesen de 28 horas, encontraría la manera de llenar cada minuto! Enserio!

How do you do it?
Como le haces tu?