Wednesday, October 26, 2011

DIY Halloween Treat Bucket

For the past five years we’ve lived in a condo building which meant no trick or treaters at Halloween. Boo! Which in my opinion is the best part of Halloween! So you can imagine my excitement when we moved to a townhouse in the middle of a great neighborhood. I’m so excited to have an actual real Halloween this year complete with trick or treaters. I hope we see lots of kiddos, Lord knows I bought about 15 bags of candy so I hope they don’t disappoint and force the hubs and I to eat all the candy ourselves.

Anyways, I started searching back in August for the perfect treat bucket to use to pass out Halloween goodies. I came across this one but then I saw the $32 price tag I did a double take.
Any other year I’d pay that in a heartbeat, but this year we have way too many furniture/home decor purchases to justify that price for a bucket I’ll use once a year. So I headed over to Pinterest confident I could find something just as cute that I could make for half the price.

Of course, Pinterest had no problem providing me with more than enough inspiration.
source

I ended up using this picture to recreate my own.
And came up with this.
Quick, easy and best of all cheap. The entire project cost $16 and was completed, start to finish in under 30 minutes. If you have a Cricut and can make your own decal, you'll save a few extra dineros.

Here’s what you need:
Ribbon – I bought one 3-yard spool from JoAnn’s at 50% for $2.00
Bucket – I found the perfect sized plastic one in the Halloween section at Target for $6.00

Decal – Ordered a custom decal from an Etsy shop for $8 (two parts: pumpkin & text)

Drill – borrowed the hubs’

The only real effort was drilling the holes in the bucket for the ribbon. This actually took real muscles so I had the hubs drill the holes with the biggest bit (about a 1/2 inch) that he had.


Choose how far or close apart to drill the holes; I drilled mine about 2 inches apart. Weave the ribbon through the holes and then tie a big ‘ole bow. Place the decal on the bucket.

And voila! Fill with candy and you’re ready to greet trick or treaters.
So far I haven't given in to the chocolately goodness, but the hubs has!
CVB
 
P.S. - I ordered the boots I mentioned here in both Cognac and Brown so I'll be sure to give you a full report when they arrive later this week.








Friday, October 21, 2011

Frugal Fashion: Frye Boots

I am head over heels, gaga over the Frye Melissa Button boots.  But I'm not so in love with their price tag. 

So I started searching for a more wallet-friendly alternative to the droolworthy Frye and stumbled upon this lovely.

Enter the Merona Kasia Boot at Target.
It comes in Cognac, Dark Brown AND Black.
It's leather.
And the best part? 
It's only $69.99.
With free shipping.

Too good to be true?  Quite possibly -- the reviews are mixed on Target's website.  But with free shipping and easy in-store returns what's a girl got to lose?!

Has anyone purchased these?  If so, what's your take?

Happy Friday!
CVB

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Why Hello! Catch Up in Pics

Let's just forget I've been MIA for the last 8 months or so and get on with it, shall we?  Here's a brief recap of the goings on before I dive back into regularly scheduled blogging. 
April - we visited Seattle and Vancouver, BC for almost a week.  It is by far one of our favorite cities, right behind Nahsville of course.  And if you are a seafood, sushi or mac n' cheese lover like myself, Seattle is a must! 
Grouse Mountain - Vancouver, BC
Beecher's Famous Mac n' Cheese
May
  • Annual family vacation to Duck, NC (in the Outer Banks), hubs and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with one heck of a celebration at the Washington Monument(!), and we put the final touches on our condo in preparation for putting it on the market.
June
  • Weddings, birthdays, summer fun and putting our teeny, tiny, under 700 sq. ft., condo on the market FSBO!
July
  • Under contract on our condo and a surprise birthday trip to the beloved city of Nashville complete with a scavenger hunt around town to reveal surprise visitors
My little sis
The. best.bananas.foster.french.toast.period.
The big 2-8 at one of our Nashville favorites, the Stock Yard
August
  • Hubs' last birthday before the big 3-0, closed on our condo (!), found a new, much bigger, home, moved our stuff to storage, wedding

September
  • Football season!  Pumpkin spice lattes, lots of home/furniture purchases, winery visits, and best of all the arrival of our 2nd nephew!

I'm excited to get back into the swing of things and document our life! Happy fall y'all!
CVB