Photo from Gardnervilla.com

I thought this was the most appropriate idea to craft about today: bookshelves made from rain gutters! Thanks to Yavonda of Baby and the Beasts for the very timely project link.

I hope to see you guys out at Boo at the Zoothis weekend! Come visit us at our table near the carousel where we will be sponsoring free rides. Hope to see you there!

Halloween night 2007; poor guy had an ear infection.

For more Wordless Wednesdays, go on over to Arkie Mama.

Remember the posts I did a while back on potato stamps and Kleenex ghosts? Well, for the kiddo’s treat bags at school I decided to combine the two to make a candy-free Halloween craft!

Kleenex ghosts parts

All lined up and ready for stuffing!

Each bag got a pocket pack of Kleenex, handful of cotton balls and several feet of white yarn. I also made a sheet of instructions for how to make the ghosts, which I’ve got right here for you too:

kleenex ghosts

We’ve got to make more treat bags for his friends in his other class and tags to attach to them, but it was a very easy project and can be done quickly. And it keeps some candy out of their baskets, which is a good thing!

Photo from Better Homes and Gardens

Cindy at Skip to my Lou has searched to web to compile a list of links to totally yummy and super, SUPER creative Halloween cupcakes. Also, don’t forget to check out our own Will They Eat It? for recipes for Orange Pumpkin Cupcakes and Pumpkin Cupcake Cake.

Photo from Howaboutorange.blogspot.com

Again, my love of How about orange knows no bounds…Jessica has a short and sweet/spooky tutorial on making image transfers using a laser printer, paper and packing tape. OH! LOVE IT!

Photo from the Craftzine.com blog

Marie LeBaron with the Craftzine.com blog posted a super easy and kid friendly tutorial for cute little paper bag luminariesfor you to use to line your sidewalk and driveway on Halloween night! You don’t have to use scissors, just have your kids decorate the bags with clear stickers for a ghoulish glow.

Marie is a mama herself and also has her own blog called Make and Takes, with great tips and projects for you and your kids.

My son has an overwhelming collection of markers, crayons and pencils, as I’m sure most children do. We had finally painted his table for the back room (more on that later) and I wanted him to have his colors on the table; easily accessible but presentable. And organized. You know me and my love of organization. So I started thinking…

Ready to organize!

I had been collecting empty oatmeal canisters (I’m big on oatmeal in the a.m.) so I pulled them out for the project. Yes, I have a closet where I keep random things into which I will breathe new life one day. My husband will just laugh and shakehis head every time I add TP rolls or spice jars. He’ll see….he’ll see….

Lining up the marker to get an idea of where to cut.

Anyway, I knew I’d want to separate the pencils, crayons and markers into different containers, so I lined up a marker to the bottom of the canister and cut down the seam to bottom of the cap.

Cutting around the canister.

Then you just have to cut around the canister to remove the top part.

Nice, huh?

I got a hot chocolate canister out of the closet for the pencils, and had a finished set of containers for $0. Isn’t that great!

The goodies

Here’s the goodies on his desk. Notice the muffin-tin crayonsin the white basket? Those are still a hit. I guess we could paint the containers or decorate them, but I kinda like having them in their naked repurposed glory. It’s like a reminder that they are on their 2nd life. And that’s a good thing to be reminded about!

Carving pumpkins with Dad

A pirate, a pirate, a pirate says ARGH!!! (Backyardigans) Boo at the Zoo

At Schaefer's Pumpkin Patch outside Mayflower.

On Papa and Mamoo's front porch

For more Wordless Wednesdays, go over to Arkie Mama.

Here is a great Halloween project for kids young and younger from 4CrazyKings, a fellow mama crafter. She posted a simple tutorial for lumniaries made from cereal boxes showing the ones her oldest and youngest daughters made, and they look super cute! I can imagine my sidewalk lined with them.

Tomorrow is the day for pink power, for warm fuzzies, hugs and tears. For the sound of over 45,000 pairs of female feet pounding the pavement through downtown LR and NLR. High school bands will play and firemen will strip. The yoga studios will set up shop in their parking lot while the belly dancers shake, shake, giggle. Bad-ass motorcycle clubs and smokin’ hot drum dudes will spice it up along Broadway. And I’ll be there, in the middle of the energy and the love. It’s my favorite thing to do at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning in October.

This will be my sixth Race for the Cure, and my fourth to do with the kiddo. I started walking with a group from my Bath and Body Works days, waddled when I was eight months pregnant, strolled with the baby when he was 10 months old, and have carried him on my shoulders or in my arms for the past three years.

We walk with my cousin Becca’s team the Zephyrs. No, we are not called that for our speediness…it’s her soccer team’s name. It has morphed from a group of 10 people to almost 25 this year. I love these ladies! We meet up for breakfast snacks before the race and have begun to meet up after for brunch after. Becca designs our awesome team shirts and this year’s is the best one yet. Can’t wait to show it off.

I really do just eat up the energy of the morning. It’s all for an important cause and inspiring to watch.

Here’s some pics from years past (I can’t find any from the BBW years, but I’m still looking):

Zephyrs circa 2007

Tara, Becca and the babies in utero...this year they will stroll with us!

Breean hoisting the kiddo around.

Zephyrs circa 2008

This year's shirt front

The back of this year's shirt