Halloween Hat Cookies

Earlier this month I hosted a costume swap for our local MOMS Club. I decided to provide some Halloween treats, but did not go overboard since all of the attending children were toddlers or babies. Let's be serious, the cookies were for the Moms :)

All I had to buy for the cookies was a pack of fudge stripe cookies and a pack of Hershey's Kisses. You also need honey and "writing" frosting, but I had both of those.

As you can see, the stripe side of the cookie will be face down on your plate/tray. Put a small dollop (I like that word) of honey on the bottom of the Hershey Kiss and then push onto the cookie, covering the hole. I let them sit overnight to "stick" better.

The next morning I used a small tube of yellow writing frosting to make a ring around the edge, where the cookie joined the kiss.

Then I added little buckles to the witch's hats.

The cookies were yummy and people thought they were so cute! :)

Hoppy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER! Because I wanted to share this post on Easter morning to show you how much a year can change a child, I don't have an actual Easter morning picture to share (yet) since we left early for church and I am publishing this post via autopost :).

But, look at my sweet newborn boy on his first Easter last year. I was thrilled to purchase his outfit with a little tie from Zulily and I did it within a few days of his birth since we didn't know his gender beforehand, I couldn't purchase an Easter outfit. Lucky for me, Easter was at the end of April in 2011. When I look at this picture I still see the same little face.

Here we are one year later and William wasn't so easy to sit with the Easter bunny, so we went with him :). Tomorrow he will be excited to see finger paints, crayons and construction paper in his Easter basket. Since we have breakfast at church, church and then family brunch, he will probably play with his basket in the afternoon so we can actually do some artwork!

I hope you have a wonderfully blessed day!

It's Almost Easter!

Since next week is Easter (already!) I wanted to share my Easter "mantle" which is a table in our entryway since we don't have a mantle. You can see my springtime bunting hanging from the stair railing to the picture frame. Then there is a modge podge of different Easter decorations...

This is an Easter subway art that I designed, cut and created with my Silhouette, love the colors. I am a fan of the "oops" paint at Home Depot and this was a golden yellow color that I used as a base with some thinned out white paint over it.

The metal tin with the eggs was from last year and the three little bunnies are courtesy of my mom. So are the letter cutout blocks. When she moved in they appeared on the table. 

Happy Easter!

Valentine's Day Projects {Silhouette}

I'm about to start sharing more crafts, I promise. I have been using my Silhouette Cameo practically everyday to create birthday banners, cards, invitations or create with vinyl. Earlier this month I did a few Valentine's Day projects (all available for sale with personalization via Facebook and Etsy).

First is my Valentine's Day subway art. The Silhouette Studio offers some ready-made files to use for this, but I wanted mine to be unique, I didn't want to visit another blog and see the same exact item in different (or the same!) colors. I decided what words I wanted to use, adjusted the fonts and layout in Studio and used red and pink vinyl mounted on a 12x12 piece of painted white wood.

For my second project, my favorite apprentice (check out Halloween and Christmas) was needed. I found some cute frames with heart cutouts and got to work painting and personalizing. Someone ordered one for a friend too and the friend loved it!

The Wonder of Christmas

I know two weeks have gone by, but I had to share pictures of William's first Christmas with you! Really, we had a multi-day celebration. 

We were at my in-laws for Christmas Eve for gifts, church and lobster. Unfortunately, William missed dinner because he crashed on a bedroom floor right after getting sick from his dinner (not lobster). Sad he wasn't at the table with us, but that meant we all got to eat at the same time! We all got some fun and thoughtful gifts including books, a ride-on zebra and a play farm. Those were William's of course ;).

Santa came to our house that night and my in-laws came over to see William open all of his presents at home. He got an airplane, Baby Einstein octopus, books, Melissa & Doug band-in-a-box (a hit, no pun intended), a drum and some other great toys. He just wanted to eat the paper. Figures. I got my Silhouette Cameo and a romantic night in Annapolis with my hubby which is very sweet. I got his marathon "stuff" framed from his first marathon that was in 2010 and a few small gifts.

After a delicious made by my husband the chef, we drove about an hour to Brad's cousins house which is where we celebrate Christmas with my mother-in-laws family. Its a big group, but not overwhelming (at least not after 5 years) since we see everyone pretty frequently. William was given even more toys. Oh boy.

On December 26th William and I drove to Connecticut to see my mom and sister. My brother would have been there too, but he took a job with the NBA in New Orleans so we didn't see him this trip. So on Monday afternoon he got to tear open more gifts! A wagon full of mega-blocks and the ride-on fire engine were his favorite along with a rainstick, cell phone, etc.

Everyone who told me Christmas is fun as a parent, you were right! I was up one hour before William on Christmas morning, anxious for him to wake up and see his presents. I know next year he will understand more since he will be 21 months old, so we also have to make sure he knows that Christmas isn't just a time for presents.

Holiday Craft #3: Christmas Scrapbook

For my third holiday craft I'm going to share with you an idea that I thought of last year but didn't get around to making until this year. Last year I focused on organizing our Christmas cards and made my Christmas Card Saver. This year, I made a simple scrapbook with one photo from each Christmas past. There are definitely holes in our childhood years since I have to rely on our parents for the photos, so I worked with what I have. Since each year is its own 8x8 page, it is easy to add and move the pages around.

I bought an 8x8 red scrapbook from Michael's on Black Friday and made a basic (I know its boring and needs to be jazzed up) "title."

I had stacks of Christmas paper from a few years back when I literally made Christmas cards. I also bought a few sheets of black number stickers at Michael's to make it look uniform. I printed the pictures at home and got started. I didn't do anything fancy with different scissors or embellishments, just kept it focused on the picture.

This is a great project that is fun to add to year after year.

Holiday Home Tour

Since Christmas is quickly approaching (at the end of this week!) I wanted to give you a tour of our home during this time of year. Every year I decorate differently and this year presented a new challenge by the name of William. From folding up the ends of my tablecloth to not pulling out the Spode or Christmas village at all ( :( ) I wanted to keep it as kid friendly and easy to assemble/disassemble as possible. Next year he will be more "into" the lights, etc so I'm sure we will have fun!

As usual, I didn't do much outdoors except hang my handmade wreath on the door. Once inside, our foyer really gets into the Christmas spirit.

William's handprint tree and our Christmas Traditions book - DIY post on Tuesday!

This lovely painting was made for me by a dear friend

In our living room we of course have our tree and also our stockings hung along the staircase with red ribbon since we do not have a mantle.

I kept things really simple this year and used a Christmas plaid tablecloth, the same runner I used in 2010 and put out different glass votives I have. I also added a gingerbread house that my friends and I made in the middle.

I really decorated a little at a time this year and like how everything looks, but wish everyone at our house wasn't sick so we could have more Christmas fun!

Holiday Craft #1: Handprint Tree

I have decided to make December craft month at Enjoy Life & Love because I already have some cute and festive ideas up my sleeve. I will share at least one holiday craft project per week. There are two children's projects, a fabric-related home decor project and a paper craft. So please make sure to come back each week (I'm going to try and post on Tuesdays) and get some ideas, share your ideas, and let me know what you think!

This week's craft was made with my favorite sidekick: William. This is not the first or the last time his Momma will be dipping his hands in paint for the sake of craftiness, but soon he will not mind! I will admit that I found this idea on Pinterest, it is not an original idea of mine.

I purchased a 9x12 canvas at Michael's on Thanksgiving night when I decided I wasn't ready for bed and not in the mood to watch football. All stretched canvas was 50% off and then I had a 30% off total purchase coupon which made everything an even better deal. I also purchased dark green paint since I already had the other colors at home.

I buckled the little guy into his high chair,

painted his right hand with green paint and then did my best to get a fingers spread flat handprint

….six times!

I added details later -- the red edges, brown metallic tree trunk and gold star. I love it!

Cyber Monday - Did You Buy Anything?

Hello World - today is Cyber Monday, as if you didn't already know! I went ahead and purchased our personalized stockings from Pottery Barn (be on the lookout for them in a future post) and the last of William's Christmas presents:

Baby Einstein OctoPlush

Peek-A-Zoom

Band in a Box

Yesterday at Costco my husband found a toy William "had" to have so we bought that and it will be his big (cost and size) gift. I'm proud to say that I did stay under my $100 limit for him. I know that may still be alot for an 8 month old baby, but considering I have only purchased one real toy for him (his music table back in August), I don't feel bad. He might be getting bored with the same toys anyway, right? Haha, maybe not.

Just don't tell him what he will be opening Christmas morning!!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!

Since William is only 7 months old (today actually!) we are not doing any real trick-or-treating this year. But, that does not mean we haven't gotten dressed up in costume a few times with some friends!!

Check out some of our costumed playdates: