My Halloween Stash

I love holiday napkins, and I love being thrifty. Combine those two things and you end up with the stack of Halloween napkins pictured above.
Would you like to see exactly what I have in my stash?

 

I love this witch. Doesn't she seem to enjoy dancing by the light of the full moon? She's even enticed the serious owl to kick up his heels talons.

I'm sure I bought these for the happy jack-o-lantern.

Can you tell I love pumpkins?

There are a lot of happy faces on this set of napkins. I may have named each of the characters in my mind when I picked these up. Which one is your favorite?

Here's a friendly ghost who wants to get his message across.

I think these are so pretty for fall, not just for Halloween. These were free at my local Salvation Army thrift store.

I bought the others for $0.35-$0.55 since last Halloween. Why did I buy so many? Well, read the first sentence. They were on clearance. Even at Dollar Tree, those napkins would cost a dollar a package.

Obviously, I didn't realize I had so many when I bought each package. There's 20 napkins in each, and I have 6. Let's practice our math skills by multiplying 20 times 6 - which gives me 120 napkins.

There are only 31 days in October. Hubby and I would have to eat 4 meals a day to use all of those. There is no way that will happen. What was I thinking?

This is a problem I have when thrifting. I buy things because they're a good buy, forgetting that I might not need them.

I guess I could take a package or two to my folks so they can have a festive table, too. Do you think they will like the dancing witch and friendly jack-o-lantern?

I think I've seen others mod podge napkins on things, but I can't think of anything. I don't want to buy something for that idea because that would defeat my purpose of being thrifty.

By the way, I can't share them with my daughter. They don't use napkins at their house, only paper towels. Personally, I think Cate, my granddaughter, would like the napkins with the ghost on them. And, she could practice her letter recognition!

Do you use napkins or paper towels at your house? Anyone use cloth napkins? 

Do you "fall" for items on clearance?

A Hokie Flower

See the label? I'm Aunt Patti. Maddie and Abbie are my two great-nieces. They live in NY, so I don't get to see them very often. Their mom and dad met at Va Tech and married after they graduated from that wonderful school - so dear to my heart. hehehe

 

They made this for me. Can you tell what it is?

How about now? Did you guess that it was a pen? Well, it's not just any pen. It's a very special pen.

It's a Hokie pen, made from orange and maroon duct tape.

Have you made anything out of duct tape?

I'm linking up here: http://acreativeprincess.blogspot.com/2011/09/its-party-21.html

Bare Naked Legs

No, that's not the name of a new band - but it does kind of sound like one. It's actually the name of my latest fashion dilemma. Depending on your age, this next picture could be meaningless or it could incite dread. For me, it's dread.

This tote is filled with pantyhose, tights, torture for the legs, camouflage, stuff to struggle into and cover my legs. Have
you noticed that young women today don't wear anything on their legs? Although I did hear a rumor after the royal wedding that Kate Middleton was bringing back hose - can it be true?

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/kate-middleton-brings-back-pantyhose-bare-legs-are-so-2010-2510160#photoViewer=1

I have a few skirts/dresses that I mostly wear to church. Here are my choices for covering my legs as the weather turns cooler.

 

There are 2 nude, 2 cream, and 4 black pantyhose, 1 pair of maroon tights, 2 pair of brown tights, and 1 pair of black tights in that pile.

 

But look what else I have. Here are fourteen pairs of new pantyhose.

 

I have 5 pair of tights that have never been opened. Did you notice the cream pair? I pitched donated them to Goodwill after I read a fashion article that said those were definitely out of style. (I'm glad I found out before I wore them this fall/winter.)

 

This is a pair of knee socks - are they still called that? - that I bought when we went to Paris 4 years ago. Notice that I have never worn them. I think I only bought them for the Eiffel Towers! I wonder if I can incorporate them into my "European-theme" craft room?

What will you wear on your legs when the weather turns cooler?

I'm a winner again.

I must be getting luckier in my old age. I won another giveaway. Check it out:
http://crazywego.blogspot.com/2011/09/many-thanks-to-everyone-who-entered.html

With cold and flu season, this prize will certainly come in handy. Thanks, Kelly.

Cheap Wreath

I've been putting off decorating for fall. I don't know why. I knew I had stuff to use, but I just couldn't get motivated. Finally, I decided to start by making a wreath for the inside of my front door.

I bought this wreath at Goodwill.

Look closer. Do you see those holes?

I could have ripped off the plastic to use the "natural" straw look, but those holes would have really bothered me. I decided I could cover the wreath with ribbon.

 

I bought this roll of ribbon because I liked the colors. Before I could use it, I found this ribbon.

 

I had used it before to make a bow. I decided to save the new ribbon for another project. 

After ironing the ribbon, I wrapped it around the wreath form.

I could tell that I wasn't going to have enough ribbon, so I started over.

Hmmm, still not enough ribbon. What's a girl to do?

I thought I would add this wooden hanging thing to the completed wreath.

It magically covered the bare space on the wreath. But then, it made the wreath really heavy to hang. I also just didn't like the wooden piece.

So, I tried to stretch the ribbon some more.

 

See how much closer I was getting. But I really couldn't stretch it any more.

At thar point, I needed to stop. I was too lazy to look for wreath pins or the glue gun, so I improvised.

 

I taped it! Now at this point, I should have turned the wreath, but I was fixated on it just as it was hanging.

I started looking for something to cover the bare spot. I found this fall sprig that seemed just right.

 

Unfortunately, I only had one. So - more looking. Then I remembered this tin basket that I got for less than a dollar at my favorite Goodwill store.

I liked it and it covered the spot perfectly.

I thought about adding that raffia ribbon from a gift, but I decided it was too fussy.

I still didn't want to look for my glue gun, so I used this Gorilla Glue that I won from a giveaway sponsored by My Repurposed Life.
http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/

Finally I was satisfied. I hung it on my lovely, seasonally- appropriate orange door.

Here's one last closeup.

Now - my door opens from the side where the basket is and also the uncovered part of the wreath. If I ever open my front door - which is rare as we come in through the garage - then the bare spot shows. All I had to do was turn the wreath before I glued that bucket and the bare spot would have been against the wall. I think that's called foresight. I don't have it.

Oh, well. I'm happy with it for now.

Have you ever cheated on a project and taken shortcuts like I did?

I'm linking up here: http://creatingahouseofgrace.blogspot.com/2011/09/twice-owned-tuesday-party.html

http://southernhospitalityblog.com/door-decor-fall-linky-party 

Hokie Highlights - Marshall Game

This is my cousin who invited us to tailgate with them. Her entire family went to Marshall. She is showing off the cookies that she bought especially for us. We were surprised that Walmart made cookies for the opposing team!

She told us not to bring anything, but I had to take something. This is a football tray from Dollar Tree that I filled with green candy for Marshall and orange (circus peanuts) and maroon candy (strawberry licorice) for Tech.

This is another cousin. She told me she played tennis while she was at Marshall. (Notice that my Dad likes to get in the pictures.)

This is my third cousin, their brother, who was at the tailgate. It was great to see all of them.

Their parking spot was right beside where the cheerleaders and team enter.

Marshall is the Thundering Herd. (I think he's a buffalo.)

I like that the team is dressed up. At Tech, they wear sweatsuits/jogging pants.

This is my uncle, Mom's brother. He is an usher at the games.

See the motorcycle. It's dressed up like the buffalo.

The cheerleaders came up in the stands. I was disappointed that my favorite cheerleader didn't come to this game. I guess they have to take turns.


We were so impressed at how friendly and welcoming the Marshall fans were - really a class act. They were anxious to tell us we wouldn't be treated the way fans were treated in Morgantown. (That's another post I could do, but I won't.) After the game, they congratulated us on our win and wished us a safe trip home. Go HERD, as long as they aren't playing my HOKIES.

Happy Hokie Fall

 

If God's not a Hokie, then why do the leaves turn 

orange and maroon in the fall?

That sentiment is my favorite bumper sticker. For those of you who might not know, a Hokie is a Virginia Tech fan. 

Thanks to Brynn Cody, a fellow Hokie, for this picture.

It's Greek to me.

I stopped by the thrift store in Blacksburg last week while I was visiting my parents. Blogland has been filled with people using pages from French books. I figured a college town would be a good place to find one of those.

Would you believe the day I was there the books were 70% off? I couldn't believe my good luck.  As you can see, I bought 4 books. Yes, one of them is indeed in French.

But that's not the one I want to show you today.

 

This one caught my eye first as I couldn't read the title at all.

By the way, look at the price. That one dollar was before the 70% off. Yes, I paid 30 cents for this gem.

 

After I opened it, I still couldn't read it.

 

Well, I still couldn't read it, but at least I knew it was a math book. I optimistically thought I might be able to figure out some of the problems, but, alas. No. I couldn't.

I also don't know if this book is written in Greek, but I thought it made a catchy title.

Can any of you tell me if this is indeed Greek?

Note to readers: I tried to post about fall trees but my picture wouldn't show up. This is a substitute until I can get another copy of the picture.

Flyover, Part 2

I hope you saw my earlier post about the flyover at Va Tech last Saturday. I couldn't get blogger to post this picture of the actual flyover. I'm hoping that it will show it now.