Joy

I'm feelin' a little... out of sorts tonight. It could be that it's late at night and I'm tired but I have some things on my mind that I want to get out sooo hope you don't mind me ranting. This weekend we went to Austin. I love Austin, it's always fun and leaves me feeling refreshed and relaxed but for some reason this time around it just.... didn't. I had some fun, don't get me wrong but it was kind of a spur of the moment thing and left me feeling a little more stressed and disappointed than refreshed and relaxed. Since it was Halloween I had to come up with some costumes for Brandon and I and somehow finish all the work and homework I needed to do, in a matter of three/four days. It was just way too much stress but Brandon really wanted to go so I made it happen. If I could do it over again, I would of just let him go alone. I'm trying to think of like the good things but it was just too much, too fast, and bad timing. I couldn't really relax all weekend and just enjoy being out of town and felt like I was at the will of others all weekend, not doing the things that I wanted to do. Plus, since it was Halloween, I had high expectations that, combined with the not being able to relax and enjoy things, didn't pan out and ended with a disappointed Sam. I also, forgot my camera and didn't even get to take pictures of the costumes I worked so hard on. I'm glad to be home but now I'm just in this funk and wish I could have my weekend back. Tomorrow is Halloween, I don't have a costume for Eliza, I don't feel like even doing Halloween and I feel bad for not being on top of everything. My house is a mess, I have a ton of work to catch up on and it's Monday already. Oh and did I mention I got a "citation" this weekend? Yeah, for jaywalking... FREAKING JAYWALKING?! Who gets those?! So that was my weekend. I didn't have time to blog about all my Halloween DIYs and for that, I'm really sorry. If you don't mind, I think I'll just forget about them and move on. I think a good night's sleep is much needed. Tomorrow, I'm going to clean up, carve some dang pumpkins, and make Eliza happy. So without further ado, here is the JOY of my weekend (trying to be positive here!): 

• I got to go thrifting and have a "coffee date" with my sister. It was so nice to spend some good ole' sister time together. 
• We checked out this thrift store called Savers that I had been hearing about and am in love! Definitely going back there again. 
• I FINALLY got to try a pumpkin spice latte and also got a salted caramel mocha (delish!) thanks to my sister. I'm officially a latter lover!
• I got to see some really awesome friends I haven't seen in a while over the weekend. I enjoyed the little time that we got to hang out and next to spending time with my sister was probably the highlight of my weekend. 
• The weather was cold and wonderful and not to mention MOSQUITO FREE! 
• I did A LOT of walking this weekend! My buns are sore but I enjoyed being able to walk to where I needed to be.
• As always, I had some pretty awesome food this weekend. If you're ever in Austin, and in the mood for sandwiches, I recommend Fricanos. 
• A test that I was anticipating all weekend, turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. 
• And last but not least, I came home to find that I sold a few things over the weekend. Pleasantly surprised and thankful.  

So that was the good parts of my weekend. How was yours? Better than mine I hope. Did you do anything fun for Halloween? 

DIY Ghost Decor

I just kind of realized that Halloween is only a few days away! So I'm going to try and get out all my halloween decor projects before we leave for the weekend. Starting with the ghosts Eliza and I made! Here's what you need: 

Glue 

Water 

Styrofoam balls (about 1.5" in diameter). 

Cheesecloth 

Googly Eyes 

Felt 

Floral wire 

Hot glue gun 

Scissors 

So, first I cut out a couple pieces of cheesecloth (square pieces). I made them different lengths (longest for daddy, middle for mommy, and short for eliza). 








Then, in a bowl, mix some glue and water together. 




Then, grab the center of your cheesecloth square and dip it into the glue/water mixture. 




Open it up and place over your styrofoam ball. 




Lay out to let dry a bit. Next, cut some 3" pieces of floral wire for each ghost (these are to hang them). 




Once they've dried a bit, your going to bend your wire in half and stick it in the top of your ghost. Kind of twist it at the bottom to make a little loop. 




Finish letting it dry. 




Now, pick out some googly eyes! We got colored ones and Eliza picked out these blue ones for the "daddy" ghost. 








The yellow ones for the "mommy" ghost and pink ones for the "Eliza" ghost. Use the hot glue gun to attach them. 




And last, cut out a piece of felt for the mouth. We used sparkly black felt. 




Then hang from wherever (we chose our DIY chandelier light thing). 



And here's a picture with all the lights off except the hanging lamp. 


 OoooooEEEeeeOOOoooooo

Buttons, buttons, buttons!

Just added some social network and follow me buttons on the sidebar over there. And thought I'd share a couple links on how to add them to your blog too! Follow this link for an easy tutorial. And this for a more customizeable one.

Tweet, tweet!

I've had a personal twitter for a while but haven't been too, too active on it. I've been kind of skeptical about getting another one for the store and stuff until I read this article. And now, I can't believe I've been missing out on all the fun! So I started up an account (and will probably just use that one from now on)! You can visit it here, so go and follow me! Please and thank you (:

Also, I added (or kind of edited) a new page up there ^^^^. It's called Stay Connected and it links to all the social websites I participate in for you guys to... well, stay connected! What about you guys? Are you apart of any cool websites? Do you have a twitter for me to follow?! Link it up!

That's all for today, I'll do a real post tomorrow.

Halloween Sneak Peek!

Eliza and I made some pretty awesome Halloween Crafts about a week ago, here's a little sneak peek.

(yaa, just ignore the tape behind the bats. haaaaa)

Also! My sister, Heather, came down recently to see Brandon's show. I don't get to see her often because she lives kind of far away but the time before that, we got to go thrift shopping together and she asked me to make her some plate stands! Remember those?! So here are the plates she picked out and the final results.

I think they turned out pretty cute, they even kinda look like her! Is that weird?

So, about the halloween decorations! I will be posting tutorials for everything in the next week, so keep your eyes peeled.

And in case you didn't notice, I changed up the layout a bit! The header is a little different (had to add some floral!) and now there are sidebars on both sides. The right sidebar has been dedicated to supporting some of my favorite blogs! I know some of you have blogs that you'd like to promote, so if you'd like me to add yours to the list than contact me: samwish3@gmail.com. I won't bite, promise (:

Today was kind of a slow day but hey, that's monday for you, right? And we might have a trip to Austin coming in the near future! It's been way too long since we've been. Austin is kind of like our second home, it's where we want to end up (hopefully!) if and when everything plays out. I'm not sure if I shared this with ya'll but Brandon recently got promoted, which is awesome but that means we have to stay where we are for a couple more years. I was upset at first but now am thinking it's for the best. We really just need to finish school and down here in good ole' Houston is the best place for that where we don't have distractions... like friends... haaaa. But ya, and Austin is only 3 hours away so we can visit when we need a little break, which is great.... Anyways, how was your Monday?? Have you done any Halloween decorating yet?!

Girlish Garb

This isn't necessarily a new feature on the blog but I wanted to define it! I like fashion (obviously) and dressing up. I've done some daily outfits here and there but "daily outfits" is kind of a lame term so I came up with a new one! Dun duh, duh dunnn, introducing Girlish Garb!

     

So every Sunday from now on, I'm going to try to post atleast one outfit from my week. Here's one from this week:

Outfit Details:

Dress: Gift from Brandon

Shirt: Thrifted

Necklace: Sam Wish

Star clip: DIY 

Belt: Thrifted

I wore this to work one day. I thrifted this cute top recently and really wanted to wear it! And this is my new haircut. It's not really that big of a change but I think it's a little edgier? I dunno, it's just a little more styled, thinned out a bit, and easier to manage. Plus I think I look better with shorter hair. This isn't really the greatest picture of it but you get the point! I really like this necklace, I made it for the store but have been wearing it around everyday! So I'll get to making some more to put in the store. What do you think?

Glitter Star Hair Clip

I originally wanted to make a glitter star head band buuuuuut then opted for just a hair clip and I think that was the right choice! I've worn them like 4 days in a row and had to stop myself so it wouldn't get too old, ya know? So here's my tutorial in pictures.

What You Need:

Cardstock paper

Glitter (color of your choice)

Mod podge (you could probably just use regular clear drying glue)

An alligator clip (or a regular hair clip)

Glue Gun

Cut out a star, about 2-3" from point to point.

Spread some glue on your star.

And coat with glitter.

Another coat of glue and glitter.

(as I said, I was planning to make a headband so I made a buncha glitter stars!)

And then one last coat of glue to seal the glitter in (so it won't fall off!).

Use some hot glue and glue your hair clip to the glitter star.

Easy and super cute! This is probably one of my favorite accessory I've ever made. I wish I could wear it everyday. It makes me feel kind of fanciful but doesn't overdo it with the glitz and glam. Just a special little accessory to add some magic to your ensemble. Are you more into flowers? Check out my Flower Headband Tutorial.

This weekend has been very eventful thus far and is only going to get more fun! Hope everyone else is having a good one, I'm off to play some Mario on Wii! Don't forget to enter my contest here for a $25 gift card to my store.

Oh, also! Did you like the video? It's weird watching it over and over but I think I really like how it turned out. And I originally wanted to add a colore effect but didn't because I couldn't figure out how until I uploaded it to Youtube and they had the option! So that worked out good. I can't wait to make another one and next time there will be more clothes involved (: