Mint Melange

Rotten Socks Halloween Poison Bottle

Before I could start this project, I had to reward myself with a bottle of ( more or less) good wine.

Part 1- Making Houses
Part 2 - The Christmas Village

I did not decorate the haunted houses - they are cute enough already. But i added the haunted tree and fence.

Unfortunately , i ran out of black cardstock, but that's nothing good old acrylic paint can't fix. Actually, the brush strokes make it look even more realistic.

Welcome to Part 2 of putz house making. Whew, what an adventure!

Yesterday, i played contractor and built the houses ( click here for Part 1), and today i want to show you how to make some cute details to decorate the houses. My inital plan was to decorate both villages, Christmas and Halloween, and for each house i have a story in mind of who lives there and whatnot.
But man! Making the christmas details took forever, and I'm extremely exhausted. So for now, i'll just leave the Halloween houses the way they are.

However, decorating is fun! Making mini doors, and window frames and shutters and wreaths and bows is fun! Adding snow and glitter is fun, of course!

This is a project i've been wanting to make for a while now, for like two or three years, but somehow i never did and moved on to ( tons of) other ideas ideas instead.
But with Halloween and Christmas right around the corner, this is the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: create something that can be used for both hoildays, and get rid of paper scraps.

To be honest, there was a good reason i skipped this project for such a long time. Was it some mighty power from above? Destiny? Instinctive knowledge that i am in no way able to think dimensionally?
Ain't it funny how i am able to make flowers and all kinds of paper crafts literally within minutes, but then i struggle hard with those little houses? This is supposed to be a kids craft, isn't it? I don't think so...

Nonetheless, let me show you how i spent two ( 2!) full days making my paper putz houses.
Part 1 is dedicated to my battle with the buildings, and Part 2 is dedicated to the actual fun: decorating.

This is my first Halloween project. A tea light holder cut from black cardstock with my Silhouette Cameo, using this shape by one of my favorite designers: Patricia Zapata of "A little Hut".

One of MisterT's co-workers was lucky enough to celebrate his retirement last week. He threw a big party, and what could be a better gift than a distressed photo canvas?

Happy Sunday

Life is quite eventless lately, nothing but work, work and even more work. The usual stuff.
But here are a few highlights from the past weeks.

My beautiful Millie Teal camera bag that i won in the Jo Totes Instagram contest arrived, and it is absolutely gorgeous!

The new Ikea catalogue arrived too, and they have some great new items.

My DIY clothespin bucket was picked as one of the winning contributions in Stampington's Green Craft Challenge

And i was picked as the winner of "Monday Makes" by the british craft magazine "Making". Their magazines are fabulous!

This book is fabulous, too!
And best of all, i ordered it for free from Amazon. Thanks MisterT, for the coupon code :)

Did you play the Google pinata game? Such a super cute idea!

8000 followers on Pinterest. WOW!

Happy Sunday!

DIY: Scarecrow Wreath

Hey Blogland, i've got news for you: it is NOT halloween yet!

How come last week everyone posted photos of their pedicured feet in front of a blue pool and a drink in their hands, and this week we see their pictures of perfectly decorated Halloween mantles. Blogland, you’re crazy, or what??

Why don't we all run to the next grocery store right now and buy christmas chocolate already. But let's not forget to bring a cooling bag to prevent the chocolate from melting on our way home...

*sigh*

Sure, the really hot days are over, but, and this is a big BUT ( and i cannot lie): it is still summer after all, and we're right in the middle of a season so beautiful, that it deserves to be a season of its own. I'm talking about what i call the "Golden Season": the transition from the last late summer days into early fall, with a color palette more striking than any other all through the year.

The heat has gone, but it is still warm. The sun is not as bright and glaring as it used to be, and when it sets down in the late afternoon hours, it says "goodnight" to us with stunning orange and golden reflections everywhere. The leaves are slowly turning yellow and light brown, and again in the late afternoon hours, the trees seem to be surrounded by a heavenly golden glow.

DIY: Clothespin Bucket

We air-dry our laundry on a foldout drying rack in our bedroom. During summer, we take that rack outside, but there's often some heavy wind on our balcony, and clothespins are necessary to prevent the clothes from getting blown away.

We used to have a cute vintage clothespin bag, you know the ones that look like a little dress, but sadly we tossed it when we moved into this apartment, and use a simple cardboard box instead to store the pins. However, the box is really impractical.

Happy Sunday

Oh, these beautiful colorful flowers make me so, so happy

The carrots are growing bigger and bigger. Can't wait to eat them!

And the millet is finally growing, too. Red millet, white millet and silver millet. Not for us, of course. Why would we eat millet? But the screechy birds do. It's their "chocolate".

The 200th sale in my shop! And sale number 201 happened only three or four minutes later

Say "Hi" to Kermit :)

Happy Sunday!

DIY: Dress Form Makeover

Idon't have much to blog about lately. I am working all day, and once i'm home, i work on orders and my shop. There is hardly any time to even think about projects for myself and our home.
But here's a quick one:

Plain white dress form + Washi Tape = Makeover