Last Minute Kid's Dessert for Thanksgiving

Cornucopia Cupcake!

If your kids (or grandkids) are anything like mine, they won't touch a pecan pie or a pumpkin pie with a ten-foot pole. ( I still won't taste a pumpkin pie!) As I was trying to decide what type of kid-friendly dessert to have for Thanksgiving, I remembered a cupcake that I had when I was little. I honestly don't think I've seen one on over 20 years.

The "cornucopia" is actually a Bugle. Hint: These are hard to find! In my grocery store, they are not sold by the chips. They are sold by the roasted peanuts and other nuts. The "fruit and veg tables" are Runts candy. These can be hard to find, too. If you can't find them at your grocery store, try a gas station/convenient store. I have even seen them sold out of a bubblegum type dispenser for 25 cents a handful.

Happy Turkey Day!!

Easy Christmas Countdown

Here's a quick and easy (and very cheap!) Christmas countdown:

I used the webbing (I really don't know what it's called) that is used for reupholstering furniture. You can find it at Hobby Lobby or at the fabric section in Wal-Mart. It comes on a roll and is sold by the yard (under $1.00 per yard).

I then hot-glued 25 strips of ribbon to the burlap strip. I found this ribbon at Hobby Lobby for half off (so that's 10 yards for $1.50. Wow!)

Then I tied the ribbon around the peppermints. I was trying to think of what else you could use instead of peppermint. You could use candy canes or lollipops, or even sticks of gum.

I attached 25 pieces of candy. On December 1st, we will begin counting down the days to Christmas by untying one piece of candy.

Hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season!!



I'm linking to Today's Creative Blog ,

A Soft Place to Land, Reinvented, and Tackle it Tuesday, and The DIY Showoff and Between Naps on the Porch.

Fun Thanksgiving Kid's Table

This was such a fun table to assemble!! The placemats are actually chalkboards that I made from 1/4" plywood. Don't let that scare you! This was EZ and cheap!! Buy a piece of finsihed 1/4" plywood from Lowes or HomeDepot and have them cut it for you (for free) before you leave. Two coats of chalkboard paint, and you're ready to go! I tied a pice of chalk to the little bag that holds their napkin and utensils. Hopefully this will keep the little turkeys busy while Mommy and Daddy enjoy some adult conversation!



I wrote their names on the placemat in chalk, as well. I used paper plates from Wal-MArt. The brown paper bags were free from the local gas station. I noticed them on the counter and asked the attendant if I could have a few.

I couldn't come up with a clever centerpice, so I just propped one of the chalkboards on an easel and wrote a fun message on it. I used the Turkey Moon Pies from this post to add a little fun to the place setting. I tried to coordiate the table around the ribbon that I tied onto the lollipop stick of the Turkey Moon Pie.

I hot glued a coordianting grosgrain ribbon onto the Gatorade bottle. I had some sunflower trim, so I added that, as well.

The kids were really excited when they walked in the kitchen tonight! Maybe I'll let them start using the chalkboard placemats tomorrow. Maybe.

I'm linking to Between Naps on the Porch and The Shabby Nest. Enjoy!

Turkey Moon Pies (yes,you read that correctly)

How fun are these turkey Moon Pies!?

My sister shared a picture with me a few weeks ago of Moon Pies made to look like owls. Which got me thinking...how can I make them look like turkeys for Thanksgiving?!

It was actually really simple! Cracker Barrel sells a box of Moon Pies (12) for $4.99. I used leftover Halloween candy corn for the tail feathers. I dipped the ends in white icing (just regular Duncan Hines) to act as glue. I inserted them into the marshmallow part of the Moon Pie. Then I spread a little white icing on the back of a Nutter Butter cookie. I used white icing to attach mini M&M's as eyes, and a red Jelly Belly as the gobbler-thingy.

I think they'd be cute with a name card attached to the stick (lollipop sticks from Hobby Lobby or Michael's), then just set on a plate on the "kid's table" at your Thanksgiving feast!

Some weekend eye candy

Now that the chaos of the Holidays is almost among us, sit back and enjoy the simplicity of this house. This is my younger sister's house. Her style is a mix of modern and fine antiques. The entire house is painted the same shade of white. Her furnishings really "pop" against her white background.

When you first open the front door, this is what you see straight ahead. The mirror is actually a door to the powder room. So rather than being greeted by a bathroom door when you first walk in, you are greeted with a n antiqued full-length mirror. Cool, huh?!

This is actually her dining room. The round table in the center of the room has 6 leaves that convert this small table into a substantial-sized dining room table. When it's not functioning as a dining room, it's looking good as a sitting room.

LOVE the antique screens against the back wall. She hung them rather than keeping them ion the floor.

This little area is one end of her breakfast nook. The adjacent wall looks the very same.

Take a look at this room!

Here's a close up of the chandelier hanging above the pool table. Notice the white beams, as well.

Here's a picture of the pool table that they had bleached so that would fit into their neutral color scheme. They had the green felt replaced with a taupe colored felt.

She loves her angel painting!

The following pics are of the angel staues that she has placed in her courtyard.

Hope you enjoyed!

Have a lovely weekend!

Pegboard Advent Calendar

I found a frame a few weeks ago at the local thrift store. It was dirty and brown and the glass front was missing. In other words...it was perfect!! :). I spray painted it a fresh green. I took the frame to Lowe's, purchased a half sheet of pegboard for about $6.oo and asked them to cut it for me. I brought it home and inserted the board into the frames opening and it was that easy!
I've been using it my laundry room to organize things like paintbrushes, masking tape, etc. But in the back of my mind, I kept thinking...that would make a great Advent calendar! So here we go...

And another:

I made a quick trip (no, really) to Michael's where I purchased these tiny paper bags and some Christmas stickers. The bags come 25 to a pack for $1.99 - perfect!

Then I used the handy-dandy hole puncher to make a hole in the top of each little bag. I then adhered the stickers to the front of each bag.

I used these pegboard hooks from Lowe's. They come in assorted sizes, so I had to buy three packs (at $2.59/pack) so that I'd have enough of the same size hooks. I could've used assorted sizes, but I wanted this to be a little neater than that.

After placing the pegs in the board and sliding the bags onto the hooks, I tied a little red ribbon to each hook. If I had neat handwriting, I'd probably write a number on each bag, but I was scared I'd mess up my "neat" look, so I left them alone.

You can imagine the possibilities with this. You can use fun stickers, fun ribbon, fun colors. You could even spray paint your peg board to coordinate! If you make one cuter than this, let me know. I'd love to see it. Another idea I had but couldn't fin what I was looking for - I really wanted the tiny galvanized buckets to hang from the hooks instead of the bags, but I settled for bags when I couldn't find the buckets.

Have fun!!

Some playful eye candy...

I'm a bit busy this week but I leave you with these pictures from my ten year old nephew's bedroom. The theme is "lodge" - he's all about hunting, fishing, and "exploring". Enjoy!

This picture below is one of my favorite things in her entire house! It's all of his cowboy boots arranged by size, from his very first pair to his latest pair. How cute is that?!

This is in the nook in her hallway between her kids' rooms. I just love the bright, colorful art created by her kiddos.