Dressing up

I am on a dress kick lately...and if you followed me on Pinterest (love Pinterest, you HAVE to join:)) you would've seen this dress that I pinned.

Via Shabby Apple:

Originally I thought I would make this out of sweatshirt material but had NO CLUE that material was so hard to find. Like crazy hard. Well, I then just bought some fleece on super remnant clearance at Jo-Ann's and started cutting. I used existing shirts I had on hand and made a pattern. Then I would put it on inside out, re-pin, and adjust. Total trial and error. More error than trial, really, if I am going to be honest.

Here are the two dresses that I  came up with:

The pin on the collar is my Nana's. The bow on the other shoulder is a thought, not sure how I feel about it yet.

Following are my best attempts at a self portrait with the dress on. It's tough to get a decent shot of yourself while holding a heavy camera with a really heavy lens. Charlotte tried to take pictures of me, but not a good one out of the 50:).

Overall, I had a bunch of compliments on the dress and I am quite proud of myself. Which must have inspired Charlotte to start designing her own dresses and handbags...

 Which led me to make her a Halloween dress for her school party tomorrow.

Yes, the above picture is her in her Christmas pj's on under the Halloween dress. The girl is prepared!

A little look back

***Edit- This room was featured over at Cottage Instincts! Thanks Cindy:)***


My husband, Will, is busy building a little (big) surprise for Charlotte for Christmas. She knows what she is getting because our garage looks like "New Yankee Workshop" and Will has plans for this hung on the garage wall:

She started to ask questions about Santa as I already started using the "Santa is watching" line. Bad mama. The other night she was afraid to go to bed thinking that Santa was on the roof watching her. I had to tell her that he wasn't really real, just a nice little story that parents tell their kids, but that he is fun to believe in. Yes, I am the mom that crushed her 4 year olds childhood in order for her to not have nightmares about a bearded man on her roof. I felt pretty bad.

Of course immediately following this whole crushing she then asks me..."Mom, is God real?". Wow. I get it, it is kind of the same concept as Santa in many ways as told to children. I love how she just is so inquisitive, and I left her with a simple "yes, and he is always in your heart". She smiled and trotted back to bed.

Long story precluding to the fact that Charlotte is getting the above dollhouse bed and that means Matilda will be getting Charlotte's bed. The girls are growing up.

Which means that I am looking back at Matilda's baby room and wanting to hold onto it for as long as possible. It is pretty wonderful after all. Here are some pics of it when I just finished painting it:

"C" was for Charlotte that I just threw up there in the meantime for our yet unnamed baby girl.

 Every little forest needs its own set of mushrooms and gnomes.

 Papa Bird coming back to Mama Bird.

 A tree in the corner complete with birds, a caterpillar, an owl, and a gnome leaning up against the tree.

 The chandelier lit up at night.

 Hedgehog and squirrel on a switchplate.

Linked to Between Naps on The Porch's Metamorphosis Monday party and Cottage Instinct's Make it 4 Monday party!  

Black and white subtle Halloween

This year I wanted at least one room to not scream "little kid Halloween". You know what I mean, I am talking the dancing ghosts that shake their booooties. Please tell me I am not the only one who has one of those. It's for the kids, I swear, haha.

So I committed my family room to this. The room where I blog on the couch and watch tv. The place where I cuddle with my girls and my husband. A place that I enjoy hanging out in.

It started off with a little bit of Wordle that I printed off with our 2010 costumes and the girls names. The second was just a fun bunch of Halloween words I put together. They are a nice simple way to decorate for the season. Add to that some Dollar Tree crows, tombstone, and a hurricane full of skulls and I think I achieved a nice simple mantle.

The massive owl is there year round, and I love her.

Here are some other touches of Halloween around the house that are a bit more subdued... for me.

Why hello there Mr Owl with a monocle. Thank you for covering up the clock who's batteries needed replacing for the last 4 years. Ok ok, so it never had batteries! 

Our foyer.

Matilda's party

Last weekend we had Matilda's 2nd Halloween party and it was fabulous! Great friends, fun food, and cute kiddos in their costumes.

Started off the afternoon with a beer run for the dads. Matilda beer is so appropriate:)

Pumpkin cupcakes topped with chocolate cats and pumpkins.

I love these Dollar Tree bottle labels!

Seven layer spider dip!

Cannolis with tombstone sprinkles.

White chocolate covered Oreos!

Treat bags ala Martha Stewart!

Getting party time cuddles with the birthday girl!

She was cracking up at the Happy Birthday song!

Yes, this is how Matilda eats cake. Straight for the chocolate bats.

One of the take home treats was a Ball jar with frosting, cupcake, frosting. These were a hit!

I made this last year, and it made another appearance:).

Charlotte likes the witch!

Tilly gives that vampire baby from Twilight a run for her money.

Haha!

 Here are some of the cake recipes that I used:

Pumpkin Autumn cake via Country Living.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup(s) (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup(s) firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 cup(s) sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup(s) pumpkin purée
• 1/2 cup(s) buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract
• 2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) fresh-ground nutmeg

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Directions

1. Prepare cake pans: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat three 8-inch cake pans with softened butter. Cut three 8-inch circles out of parchment paper and fit them into the bottom of the cake pans. Lightly coat the paper circles with butter and set aside.
2. Make the batter: Cream butter until smooth in a large bowl with an electric mixer set on medium speed. Add the sugars and mix until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, until the mixture is smooth and light. Set aside. Combine the pumpkin purée, buttermilk, and vanilla in a medium bowl and set aside. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and nutmeg in a large bowl and set aside. In thirds, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to the butter mixture, blending well after each addition until smooth.
3. Bake the cake: Pour batter into the prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean -- 35 to 40 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pan on wire racks for 30 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and return to the wire racks until completely cool.

Honey and Spice Buttercream

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon(s) unflavored gelatin
• 1/2 cup(s) dark honey
• 1/2 cup(s) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
• 2 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon
• 3 1/2 stick(s) butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract

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Directions

1. Combine the gelatin and 2 tablespoons water and let sit for 10 minutes. Bring the honey, sugar, and 2 tablespoons water to a boil in a small saucepan, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 3 minutes. Stir 2 tablespoons of the honey mixture into the gelatin until dissolved. Whisk into the remaining honey syrup along with the salt and cinnamon. Strain into a medium-size bowl and beat, using a mixer set on high speed, until doubled in volume and completely cool -- about 10 minutes. Add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, while continuously beating. Stir in the vanilla and use immediately or keep chilled. 

Linked to Between Naps on the Porch's tablescape Thursday party!