I don't usually post on jewelry because I don't wear alot of it, but I came across these things and even I like them.

I love the stuff at HeadlessTessDIY on etsy.





Devil and Mouse has some great macabre jewelry that is perfect for Halloween. Of course, I'd wear them anytime.

I've been pretty busy lately but I haven't forgotten you. Here's my latest finds:

ISLY has all kinds of cool stuff, but I was especially drawn to this table. Unfortunately, I would have the same problem she's apparently having--kids!

Thanks to Toni at Design Dazzle for posting on bookshelves made from rain gutters (below). What a great idea. I could see something like this going up in my basement. She does have link to a tutorial on how to make them yourself.







Toni also has a great post on these Wallpaper Silhouettes -Personally, I have an aversion to wallpaper, but I do like these.


Here's a video on how to make invisible shelf. I highly suggest checking it out. It's really quite interesting.

Don't have too much time to post, but had to share some things I've been finding around the net:
No-Stop Halter Top -this just looked easy and different.




Smarmy Clothes...Wow! That's all I have to say.

Now if I only had the body to pull these things off.

Mezzi from Craftster has a good tutorial on making hoodies out of T-shirts.


Leah Felicity did these shirt designs using bleach. I've made some bleach designs myself, mind you they were by complete accident and without any pattern. Maybe now I've found a way to salvage those things.

I'm a big fan of altered clothing by Maraleopard:






Generation-t has a great book on altered Tees, but also a great website out there.

After my Harry Potter party, I find I can't wait until my next event. So, with Halloween approaching, I've been looking up fun stuff. Here's a few ideas and freebies to help my fellow party planners:


Instructions for this "Bewitching Invitation" can be found at BHG.





Going along with my Harry Potter labels I recently made, You can get Halloween Potion labels here. She also has coloring pages, puppets, masks, all FREE!

There's a small tutorial on these "Treat Tubes" on 365Halloween's site.




I found this bloody tablecloth on Crib Candy, but it doesn't look like the Oriental Trading Company is carrying them anymore. Of course, that doesn't mean you couldn't do it yourself!

I recently read Complete Party Planner by Annabel Karmel and was happy to see she also has a web site with fun and nutritious recipes for kids.

I thought I'd include a couple of my favorites with Halloween in mind:

Eyeball Cupcakes- Of course there are so many things you can do with cupcakes but I found these to be great inspiration.

Brain Cakes -How fun are these? I love, love, love them!

Yes, It's a Scrapbook! by Donna Downey. I read a lot of craft books, especially on the subject of scrapbooking and I'm not always compelled to post on them, but I love this book! Typically, rather than buying a book, I get it at the library and scan any ideas I like. Well, there are just too many things I like to scan, I'd have to scan the whole book.

Basically, the book shows you different ways of presenting your layouts, different book bindings, etc. It isn't so much that the ideas are ones I haven't seen before, but the book takes all of those ideas and gives you one reference point.

The ideas are displayed well and it gives step by step instruction, making this the best comprehensive guide on the subject, in my opinion.

I found these Cup & Saucer Lights on Apartment Therapy. I like their tips on making it yourself...of course.



The Standard Grill's Tiled Penny Floor. True this isn't in a home, but it could be if a person were daring enough.



Hopscotch Carpet by A/R Studio

Reupholstering an office chair goes in my "why didn't I think of that?" file.

Thanks to Curbly for those finds

Beaded cables -Now that's crafty thinking at it's best

I found this on Good Housekeeping. It's another, "why didn't I think of that?" things.

The PotLifter ($25) makes it a cinch to move large planters and rocks, branch-filled trash cans, and big cubes of peat moss or mulch. While it requires two people, testers found it extremely easy to use and small to store.

I found some free Gifts to Grow codes for Pampers points at Deal Seeking Mom. here's the ones that worked for me:

WELCOME2GTG0809 (1 pt.)
THRIFTYMOMMYGTG (1 pt.)
HAPPYFATHERSDAY (1 pt.)

WELCOME2GTG0809 (1 pt.)
OHAMANDAAWGTG08 (1 pt.)
WELCOMEBONUS089 (1 pt.)
STARTEARNINGNOW (1 pt.)

Hey, I'll take what I can get. I've already used points to get a free magnet toy for my son that he uses all of the time.

Here are some good money saving articles I found here and there:

75 Painless Money-Saving Tips from Dough Roller

1,019 Different Ways To Save Money from My Two Dollars

I don't typically enter a lot of sweepstakes, but occasionally I come across some trusted sources and I thought I'd share. Redbook Magazine has tons of sweepstakes from kids stuff to kitchen stuff to trips.

Parenting Mag also has some good giveaways for parents. They also have an extensive list of coupon sites.

Aside from the blog, I also have a blog about my quest to go green called "Green Alert". This is something that's becoming more and more important to me now that I have a child.

Anyway, I thought my frugal friends out there might want to know that if you join Seventh Generation's web site, they have some pretty decent coupons on their stuff.

Also, a little tip, supposedly, if you forget your Target coupons, you can print them at the customer service desk at no charge.

When looking for party ideas, I came across a lot of cool HP things that I didn't have time for or weren't right for what I was doing.

For one thing, it's important to know the house colors. MuggleNet explains why the colors are what they are. They pretty much have anything else you'd want to know as well. Their media section is definitely worth checking out for downloads and recipes.

There are just a ton of cool HP crafts at The Leaky Cauldron and I do mean TONS!!! Everything from how to make Death Eater's Masks to Cornish Pixie dolls. I especially wish I'd had more time to look over these for my party. I think you have to register to see them though.

Wizard Store has some cool stuff but my favorite idea is a monster book.

Potter Parties has a bunch of ideas, but not enough pictures for my liking. With just a little more work, this site could be great.

For potion/ingredient lists, I liked HP Encyclopedia the best. They have a big header section, but scroll down for the info.

For food ideas, try Harry Potter Lexicon. It doesn't have recipes, but it has all the info you need to plan complete HP meals, with snacks and drinks.

Scholastic has some good downloadable posters and bookmarks, etc.

Here's a pretty good tutorial on how to make a golden snitch. I was going to use gold x-mas bells as an easy alternative, but decided against it. I also thought of hanging a old key for use in scrapbooks with wings.

At Harry Potter Wall Art, there are a lot of clear images of all things Harry Potter.

Beads and Beading has some tutorials on making HP Polymer Clay charms along with Luna Lovegood's Radish Earrings.

For us bloggers, Icon Archive has some HP icons that are worth checking out.

If you were planning for a younger kids party or even just for fun, here are some links for printables:

HP Teacher's Edition -has printables sorted by movie

House Badges and whole party plans at Amazing Moms

Now, if I'd had more time, I would have loved to have followed Photo JoJo's tutorial on how to make moving pictures like in HP. That, and I even looked up how to make holograms to possibly hang on the walls. I still might do this because that's just awesome.

I recently had a Harry Potter party for my husband's b-day. I know, it sounds corny, but I tried to make it as age appropriate as possible; and no, there weren't any costumes. We're dorks, but we have our limits. We'll save that for Halloween.

It actually all started when I was trying to find Harry Potter candy on the net. We tried 4 different stores and no one had any, not even Bernie Bott's. Finally, I found them at Toys R Us; but before that, I came across a site Little Ant Design. On it, there were great ideas for a Harry Potter party and the thing is, we're both huge fans, his B-day was coming up and I thought "why not?".

Turns out there were some reasons why it wasn't a great idea. One, our anniversary was 5 days before and I was so busy preparing for that, I only gave myself 4 days to focus on the party. Given that, however, I think I did pretty well.

Here are some of the highlights:

Yes, I made a leather sorting hat. I got the idea here and had to have one. Mind you, mine looks a little evil, but I'm just glad I finished it in time. I then went on to make labels for the candy, including:

Bloodworms
Butterscotch Pastilles
Cockroach clusters
Drooble's Cotton Candy
Licorice Wands

My niece made signs for Three Broomsticks, HoneyDukes and The Leaky Cauldron that are in the windows. My mother-in-law brought the glasses because she thought they resembled Harry's.

I made my own version of Little Ant Design's Hogwarts Express Tickets. Included with mine was the Marauder's Maps found here with folding instructions. Instead of a wax seal, I just heat embossed with gold powder that I already had and it worked really well.

My niece made Daily Prophets on tea stained paper. She also brought her time turner... seriously, it's in the brown box.

Finally the table is finished off with house certificates. I had printed them on paper with the house colors on back and had planned to roll them like scrolls with ribbon. I just ran out of time.

I then made a die with the house letters on it and people rolled to see which house they were in.

On top of candy labels, I also made ButterBeer (Root Beer), Blood Mead (Strawberry) and Pumpkin Juice (Orange) labels. No, there's no such thing as Blood Mead, but I had to improvise some. You can get the labels here, though I had to manipulate them to fit my needs.


I used edible glitter on the rims of mugs like I saw at Heather Bailey's site. She has instructions on how to make the brooms we used on the Three Broomsticks sign, only she used them in the drinks.


My niece made the house banner above. We then threw the Hogwarts Express sign together in a matter of minutes because I desperately wanted it but had totally forgotten it. Luckily I had painted an old canvas ahead of time. Then it was just a matter of printing out the letters and circle emblem and attaching.

One of the more time consuming things I took on, besides the hat, was individual labels for potion bottles. I have had these bottles for over 10 years, knowing one day I would use them and this was perfect.

If I'd had more time I would have aged the labels too but it was a minor detail.


I came up with some pretty creative ingredients if I do say so myself. My favorites were cereal straws as Unicorn Horns, chewed gum as Doxy brains, fruit bar as frog hearts. I did everything from weeds with baby oil for gilly weed to muddy water for polyjuice potion, to honey, dish soap, tea, and glue.

Of course, we had things like HP music playing, HP books along with spell books were displayed. Don't ask why we just have spell books, we're just kooky like that. Gosh, maybe we are dorks.

I realize it's a little early, but if you're like me, you have to get a head start on fall projects if you want them in time to actually use them. Here are some good ones I found:

Tied Quilt- As I've mentioned before, I don't sew, or at least not well. Thus, this project is right down my alley.


How awesome are these slippers? Found them on Etsy. Of course I wouldn't buy them but they are inspiring.



Equally cute, this monster hat is a must project for me. Of course I might just find a brown hat and embellish. That's more my style.





Bunny hat and paw mittens -Are you kidding me? These are darling. Keep in mind, Halloween is just around the corner.