Weekend Update - Cute Halloween Pets!

Happy Almost Halloween!!!!  

This is a quick cute ode to Pets on Halloween.  These images could be really fun framed up in fantastically colored frames on Halloween, so go go ahead and print these spooktakular fur babies for your decor or just enjoy these images today.

I wish you a Pulled Together day and a Happy Halloween weekend!

Top Picks - Halloween Door Decor!

Today's Top Picks are focused on HALLOWEEN!!!  I LoVe the holiday so much because there is no gift giving expected and no need to rush around stressing over the things that some other winter holidays can bring.  When else can you dress up and be whatever or whoever you want to be and not be  locked away in a padded room??  Besides, the color combinations for Halloween are just so fun and playful and so is the decorating and DIY craft opportunities!  YAY Halloweeeeeeeen! Ok, enough with my love for the holiday and on to the top picks.

Halloween Wreaths are starting to pop up more and more every year but this year I have found a whole collection of AMAZING wreaths that people have made for Halloween.  I think it would be a really cute idea to print out these pictures of the wreaths and pop them in a bunch of similar frames hanging around your door.  It's one of those fun play on decor ideas that you can Pull Together for free with these printable images!

These are the TOP 10 Halloween DIY wreaths.  It was a VERY hard job to pick only 10!

I hope you enjoyed these wreaths and feel inspired to Pull Together some of your own DIY Halloween wreaths!


I didn't want to be bias so I eliminated my DIY Halloween wreath from the running but I still wanted to share my project with you.  I have to say that it is one of my favorite decorations when Pulling Together my own Haunted Halloween, just because it was so fun to make!

To recreate my Ghost & Ghoul wreath, you will need: 

• 12 tennis balls
• Marker or pen
• 1 package of googly eyes
• 1 leftover cardboard box- one side must be at least as large as the diameter of your tennis balls in a circle. 
• Strong scissors or box cutting knife
• 1 glue gun
• 1 package of glue sticks for glue gun
• scrap fabric in white - no more than 3 quilting squares big
• skinny ribbon (any color or pattern) for accents
• yarn (the amount of colors are up to you, I used only purple yarn. black hair = pipe cleaners)
• 1 small package of pipe cleaners (optional) if you decide to use this in place of yarn for hair
• Acrylic paint in white, purple, orange, green, black
• Paint brush - tiny to small in size
• 1 sheet of each color felt; green, orange, black

Building the wreath:

1. Cut the cardboard box to create a flat surface without any folds or corners in the flat surface.  This is going to be the back of the wreath, providing stability for the wreath so it is important not to have folds in this one piece.    
2. On top of the flat cardboard backing, lay out the 12 tennis balls in a circle so that each ball is snug against the others. 
3. Carefully use a pen or marker to trace the circle inside and outside of the tennis ball circle 
4. Remove the tennis balls and cut the cardboard inside your traced lines so that the cut wreath shaped backing is skinnier than the balls are thick, you want as much stability as possible without the cardboard backing showing through.  You could always cover it or paint it in case it does show through, but honestly it isn't that necessary.  
5. Paint the background color of the tennis balls, use the image above to inspire and guide you. set aside to let dry.  you may need to paint a second coat.

1. Pumpkin: Cut the green felt into 6 strips about an inch wide. From short end, roll 1" x 8" green felt tightly for stem; glue side closed with fabric glue. Glue end to pumpkin. 

• 3 of these green rolls will be jack-o-lantern stems and 3 will be ghoul noses.

1. Witch: Draw a witch’s hat peak shape. Paint any colored circles for background of eye area (like eye shadow).  Glue googly eyes on eye paint area.  Cut and glue small (1/2" x 3/4") triangular orange-felt nose to green ball. Draw various shaped mouth with black paint and your small paint brush. Cut pieces of yarn for witches hair about 3 inches long, but no need to measure exact lengths since witches should look a little disheveled.  Glue on your hair yarn (no need to glue to back since it will be attached and blocked by the cardboard. Cut 3 black felt half circles (for pointy hat peak) which are about 2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter and 3 inch circumference black-felt circle for brim; roll and glue peak; glue to brim. Glue to head. Add any patterned ribbon if you chose to add this accent piece. 

1.  Ghoul: Get the 3 green felt rolls you set aside earlier for nose.  Paint the background of the eyes on the purple ball and glue googly eyes on.  Paint the funny or scary shaped mouths on the  purple ball. Glue yarn hair. For stovepipe hat; cut the orange felt into 1 inch strips length wise across the 11 inch sheet of felt. Roll the orange felt pieces into tight rolls, think cinnamon roll looking.  Glue side closed; glue bottom to center of a 2 inch diam orange felt circle for brim.

1. Ghost:  Paint black bean shaped blobs for eye backgrounds (or any shape you want) and then glue the googly eyes onto the white balls. Paint what you want for the rest of the face.  Cut the scrap white fabric so that it goes around the center of the widest part of the white balls and then cut the bottom of that piece in wavy lines so that it looks like the bottom of the Pac-Man ghosts.  Using the glue gun along the "waist line" of that fabric you just cut, and then attach the fabric to the fullest part of the ghost ball.  

1. Build the wreath
2. Line up the completed tennis balls along the cut cardboard circle backing of the wreath.  Make sure you have decided where the top of the wreath is and straighten the faces so that they all are positioned the way you want them to be once the wreath is in hanging position.
3. Pick a ball to start with and glue the back of that ball to the cardboard backing.  
4. Remove the ball next to the previously glued ball and this time glue a dime sized blob on the back of the ball as well as put a small dot of glue gun glue on the attached ball's side which will connect to the ball in your hand.  ex: If I start with the witch in the top of the wreath picture, I have glued her to the wreath backing.  I would then move to the ghost to the right in the image and glue a dime size blob to the back of the ghost and then a small glue dot to the side of the witches head (from my view of the picture it would be to the right of the witch, from the witch's perspective it would be around her left ear.)and then attach the ghost ball to the side of the witch's head and then press it to the cardboard backing. 
5. Continue gluing the character tennis balls to each other and to the backing of the wreath, using instructions from step 4.
6. Wrap a ribbon around the cardboard between two of the characters, creating a loop to hang the wreath, and tie a nice bow to finish off the hanging wreath.

I love that all my faces are just a little different from the other characters, like they all have their own personality. 

I hope you enjoyed this Halloween's top picks for DIY seasonal wreaths along with my own little DIY creation for Halloween Door Decor!

DIY Holiday - Halloween Light Up Ghosts

It's almost Halloween (YAY!) and soon you will have little trick or treaters walking up to your door.  This amazingly simple DIY project is the perfect accent to decorate and create a safe glowing walkway leading people exactly where you want them to walk. Disney's Family Fun website published this Light up Ghost project and I can't say enough how cute these lights are!

I can't wait to try Pulling Together some of these ghosty lights, I may have to rig up some other containers since there isn't enough time to drink all this extra milk.

Materials

• Clean plastic gallon milk jugs
• Black permanent marker

• Craft knife
• String of 50 clear low-wattage holiday lights

Instructions

1. Draw ghost eyes and mouths on the jugs.
               Tip: Leave the caps on while you do this, so the jugs don't dent.
   
2. Use the craft knife to cut a half-dollar-size hole in the back of each jug (a parent's job).
   
3. Arrange the ghosts near each other and string the lights between them, stuffing several bulbs into each of the jugs.
   

Makeover - Fall Outfits Under $250 (Part 3)

This is the 3rd part of a 3 part series based off of Redbook Magazine's Fall Outfits Under $250.  In Part 1, I posted the various pieces that make up the Fall wardrobe that were mixed and matched to create the outfits in parts 2 & 3.  I want to remind you that these clothing pieces were selected by American women who were surveyed by Yahoo and Redbook.  I may not love all the pieces, the hideous oxford shoes mostly, but I can't argue with the masses so I did include some outfits with these pieces anyway.  I hope this 3 post series and the Redbook article inspire you to really minimize your closet as a whole while mixing and matching to expand your available wardrobe.

Don't get me wrong, I will never be able to give up my extensive shoe collection, but after reading the article and writing this series of posts, I do feel like I can experiment with mixing and matching pieces I would not normally consider.  I was particularly inspired by the creativity of the last look!  I would have never taken a scarf and turned it into a belt one day and then a top the next.  That is SO out of my box!!

***I challenge you to reach outside of your comfort zone to Pull Together a mixed outfit from existing pieces in your closet!

Anyway, here is the final installment of the "Makeover - Fall Outfits Under $250" series.  If you want to see more outfits created using these pieces, check out the Redbook Magazine article.  

Makeover - Fall Outfits Under $250 (Part 2)

Yesterday I posted part 1of this "Makeover  - Fall Outfits Under $250" series, presenting the Fall/Winter wardrobe pieces selected by regular American women surveyed by Yahoo and Redbook Magazine.  This is a continuation of that article, providing you with 11 outfits created by mixing and matching all of the clothes.  The Redbook Magaine offers about 30 different combos helping us mix and match this fall.  If you're interested in seeing more combos, I am doing a part 3 to this "Makeover - Fall Outfits Under $250" series so keep a look out for tomorrows mix and match looks.

I challenge you to take the inspiration from this posting set and create new and different outfits that extend your wardrobe without stretching your wallet.  Send me some of your ideas so we can share them among all our readers and help each other Pull Together the best looks we can with a limited number of individual pieces.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 4

Day 3

Day 5

Day 7

Day 6

Day 8

Day 10

Day 9

Day 11     

Take a look at part 3 of the "Makeover - Fall Outfits Under $250" post set for more outfit combinations from Redbook Magazine.

Makeover - Fall Outfits Under $250 (Part 1)

REDBOOK and Yahoo surveyed American women and discovered that more than 50 percent of you already have these fall staples in your closet. Missing one? Consider these… 

1. Black tank: Forever 21, $3.50; forever21.com.

2. White button-down: The Shirt by Rochelle Behrens, $88; the-shirt.com.

3. Long-sleeved solid-color tee: Three Dots, $46; shopthreedots.com.

4. Knee-high boots: Banana Republic, $225; bananarepublic.com.

5. Black leather belt: Lauren by Ralph Lauren, $48; macys.com.

6. Sexy black heels: Charles David, $230; charlesdavid.com.

7. Lace-trimmed cami: Josie Natori, $150; natori.com.

8. Solid-color cardigan: Tory Burch, $325; toryburch.com.

9. Black pants: Gap, $60; gap.com.

10. Black skirt: Talbots, $80; talbots.com.

11. Skinny jeans: Ann Taylor, $88; anntaylor.com.

12. Patterned scarf: Echo Design, $85; echodesign.com.

Read more: Cute Outfit Ideas - Cute Fall Outfits 2011 - Redbook

These pieces have the sort of fun shapes and details that will make your staples feel 100 percent cooler — and you can get them all for less than $250!

1. A jacket with utilitarian chic: UK Style by French Connection, $72; sears.com.

2. An elegant blouse in a smile-inducing print: Missoni for Target, $39.99; target.com.

3. Slim, go-anywhere cargos: Basic Editions, $21.99; kmart.com.

4. Sexy-bright booties: Payless, $49.99; payless.com.

5. Hipsterish (and comfy!) oxfords: Make Me Chic, $19; makemechic.com.

6. A great, hyper-versatile dress: Mark, $38; meetmark.com.

No offense to ANY of you fashionistas out there who may disagree, but I personally do NOT like the look of the #5 oxford shoes in the 2nd group of pieces, but who am I to stop the masses from wearing unflattering "newsies" looking shoes.  They seem to be popular since these pieces were picked by regular women, so I didn't want to delete them or ignore them in the posts. In Part 2 and 3 of the "Makeover - Fall Outfits Under $250" posting series, I am going to add outfits that Redbook Magazine put together, mixing and matching from the pieces above. I hope you enjoy and feel inspired to Pull Together other looks using these or similar pieces. 

To read more about these looks or this article, check out this link: Cute Outfit Ideas - Cute Fall Outfits 2011 - Redbook

Weekend DIY - Graphic Halloween Wreath

I was on TatertotsAndJello when I ran across the super fun combination of graphic pattern and Halloween decor all in an easy DIY project so I had to share with you! I hope you are as inspired as I am to Pull Together some Halloween glam DIY projects in your home! BTW - how much do you LOVE the color of the door in the background of the the wreath???  I feel like there may be an interior door painting project in my future... ah, but the ideas far out weigh the time to complete them.  I will be sure to post when I get to that project way down on my to-DIY list.

Please send me images of how your DIY turned out and maybe we can post some of our own Spooky Halloween project turnouts. 

{{Happy Halloween}}

lol – I know it’s a little early but I just can’t help myself!
I think I’ve ordered every chevron color that is in existence. 

Yes, I
may have a problem. 

But I thought — how cute would it be to make a
Halloween wreath out of THREE of my favorite things — CHEVRON, BAKERS
TWINE and GLITTER???

So that’s what I did. And let me tell you — this is a fast and easy project. And the end result is a whimsical tribute to one of my favorite holidays!!

Here’s how to make one:

  

 1. Supplies — Wreath Form. Fabric cut into 3 inch wide strip, black cardstock, bakers twine, black glitter and coordinating fabric to hang the wreath.

2. Wrap the wreath form with the chevron fabric.

3. Hot glue bakers twine onto the wreath. I get my baker’s twine from Twisted Sugar Twine. Pull the twine tight.

4. Cut out bats. I made mine with my Silhouette. But you could punch them out with a punch too.

5. Glitter the bats. I Mod Podged them and then sprinkled the glitter over the top.

6. Hot glue the bats to the twine.

7.Hang the wreath with some ribbon, or I hung mine with a couple strips of black and white chevron.

8. Hang up the wreath. I used 3M Command Hooks. That way if I want to take it down later, there is no hole or damage to my Aqua Pantry Door!

So tell me — have you started making Halloween projects? What are YOU making?? I would love to know. I made ANOTHER Halloween Wreath today — with materials all from the Dollar Store. I’ll be sharing that one next week It’s kind of a Gothic/Glam Halloween Wreath!