Photo Jewelry Making is the world’s largest online photo jewelry store.  For the holidays they have a fun unique gift (and decorating!) idea: photo ornaments!

I received a set of six square photo jewelry ornaments and a CD with photo editing software.  We didn’t need their software so I did not use it.  We were able to select the size needed for the ornaments in our own program.  It is best to print the pictures you want to use on regular paper.  Photo paper is thick and can make sliding into the ornament difficult.
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What’s Halloween without pumpkin carving?  It’s probably one of the most common traditions families have around Halloween.  I remember us doing it a few times when I was little but I usually was given a small squash to draw faces on.  My dad never liked me playing with sharp objects.  It has been years since either Brian or I have carved a pumpkin, but we are going to be doing it every year now!

Being pumpkin carving noobs, we actually had to think about how to start.  Thankfully the kit I received said you could cut a whole on the top or bottom.  We went with the top.

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I’ve been putting off buying our pumpkins because I don’t want them to rot before the big day.  I’m itchin’ to do some creative things with them and work them into other Halloween decorations.  I’m not so good with carving, so we’ll see what I come up with!  Here’s some inspiration for all of us from fancy carved jack-o-lantern’s to painted pumpkins, there’s something any of us can do!

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We’ve seen a bunch of Halloween food ideas, now let’s look at some decorating!  Since I need to get moving on putting out decor up, I’m using these for inspiration (mostly for future inspiration since I’m done buying for this year… I think).

House on Witch

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You all know I love Halloween, right?  Costumes, candy, pumpkins, and scary movies!  While I don’t like being scared half to death in a haunted house, I do enjoy them and everything spooky about October 31st.  While having a Halloween baby is exciting, I don’t see a need to lay off the spook.  I know some people feel differently and that’s ok!  There’s plenty of cute and fun Halloween goodness to go around as well.

For years, it was a tradition for me to dress up and hand out candy.  This started when I became “too old” to trick or treat.  I still wanted to dress up and usually could for school.  Then I’d hand out candy while in costume.  I didn’t need to go door-to-door – I had access to candy anyway!
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After painting my daughter’s nursery, I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to put on the walls.  Thankfully I found vinyl wall decals!  They are a perfect option because they are easy to apply and remove.  This helps making decorating your child’s room as they grow more affordable.  Decals are definitely the new trend.  They range from small phrases to transforming entire walls!

EvgieNev (Evgie and Ev) have enjoyed drawing since childhood and have turned this into their livelihood.  They offer handmade vinyl stickers (large and small).  Their designs and ideas are for kid’s and grown-up’s rooms.  They start with an idea, draw it out with pencil and blank paper, and then render the designs digitally for vinyl cutting.  They have a lot of very cute decals!
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Have you heard about Hayneedle’s Your Backyard Escape contest yet?  You could win a $10,000 shopping spree just for letting them know about your dream backyard using their app on Facebook to design it!

We have a small backyard, but we could still use new chairs, a picnic table, a grill… ooh and a small clothesline for sunning our cloth diapers.  Not to mention some outside toys for Rissa next year.  Oh, I could spend the contest money in a heartbeat at Hayneedle!
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One of my bloggy friends, Leilani, now has a nice Etsy shop – Soleil Selene Creations – for her yarn wreaths as well as hair bands, clips, necklaces and more!  When she’s not crafting, she’s spending time with her girls, her husband, her dog, tweeting or blogging!  Whew.  Busy mama.  She’s also going to BlogHer in August, but needs help with expenses.  You can sponsor her directly, or buy her creations to help out!

I bought this lovely yarn wreath shortly after I was made aware of her shop.  It is very pretty!  The yarn is wound good and tight and the felt flowers are secured very well with glue (hot glue gun, if I’m not mistaken).  The flowers are varied with provides a pleasing visual texture.
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