Pattie's Place

Clothespin Crafting; Tealights from Tuna Cans

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How about a tealight holder made from clothespins and an empty tuna can!  These would look pretty in garden spots in the backyard wouldn’t they? And with a glue gun they would be so easy!

The idea came from Erma at Erma’s Herbs Facebook page.

 

I would probably use the larger, canned chicken or giant tuna cans so that I could use a larger light inside of it. But tuna cans are so easy to come by. And these might be really cute crafts for kids to make! Just clip the clothespins on with a little hot glue inside the clips. Then add a row outside with hot glue. 

Or use square cans for a different look! 
Larger chicken breast cans from Costco might make nice big planters too! 
      
I wouldn’t paint them, just leave them natural. I’m always looking for cute Christmas and Mother’s Day gifts for my classroom kiddles to make. This might be a perfect new one this year! 

End Table Redo

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END TABLE REDO LOOKS LIKE NIGHT AND DAY! 

Look at this old, ugly little end table thingy. I didn’t even know if it would be worth saving!

BEFORE PICTURE END TABLE 
AFTER PICTURE END TABLE 

I was using it in the basement and had topped it with some leftover granite that we had after
redoing our basement guest bathroom. It was so heavy we kept thinking it would fall over
and land on somebody’s foot! EEK!

Here is the granite table topper. It is way too heavy for this wobbly little table. Plus the edges were rough since it was a leftover piece. So last week I decided to paint it and see if I could improve on it.

So I sanded it and primed it….and then painted it with black RUSTOLEUM SPRAY PAINT.

I just sprayed it out in the backyard on the grass. Heck, when the hubs mows it again, you’ll
never know I was there! Well, maybe after 2 mowings….snicker…..

It took about 2 coats of paint before it looked about right.

Here’s my paint. I like this ULTRA COVER RUSTOLEUM PAINT in combination with the VALSPAR PRIMER underneath.

So here is my finished little table.  It looks a lot better than when I started! 

I got the top as a tray from HOBBY LOBBY and glued it on top with LIQUID NAILS.

 I used a coupon and got the tray for $11.00! What a steal! It’s a little dusty because we
just got done with these new wood floors and all the wood dust is everywhere in my house!

I’ll have to find a nice little spot for this repurposed little table,
 won’t I? 

END TABLE REDO

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END TABLE REDO LOOKS LIKE NIGHT AND DAY! 

Look at this old, ugly little end table thingy. I didn’t even know if it would be worth saving!

BEFORE PICTURE END TABLE 
AFTER PICTURE END TABLE 

I was using it in the basement and had topped it with some leftover granite that we had after
redoing our basement guest bathroom. It was so heavy we kept thinking it would fall over
and land on somebody’s foot! EEK!

Plus the edges were rough since it was a leftover piece. So last week I decided to paint it and see if I could do something with it.

So I sanded it and primed it….and then painted it with black RUSTOLEUM SPRAY PAINT.

I just sprayed it out in the backyard on the grass. Heck, when the hubs mows it again, you’ll
never know I was there! Well, maybe after 2 mowings….snicker…..

It took about 2 coats of paint before it looked about right.

Here’s my paint. I like this ULTRA COVER RUSTOLEUM PAINT in combination with the VALSPAR PRIMER underneath.

So here is my finished little table.  It looks a lot better than when I started! 

I got the top as a tray from HOBBY LOBBY and glued it on top with LIQUID NAILS.

 I used a coupon and got the tray for $11.00! What a steal! It’s a little dusty because we
just got done with these new wood floors and all the wood dust is everywhere in my house!

I’ll have to find a nice little spot for this repurposed little table, 
won’t I? 

Boo Your Neighbors

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 YOUR NEIGHBORS

This is a very cute idea to Ring and Run in your neighborhood on the NIGHT BEFORE HALLOWEEN!

Fill a brown or white lunch bag with candy for each of your neighbors (or the kids’ best friends homes) and drive around the night before Halloween as a family delivering your “BOO BAGS” filled with Halloween loot!

Here is a free download from Been Booed.com  of the poem and the decor for your bags. Or here is another that is shorter and cute too from My folsom.com.

Or you could just have your kids decorate the bags on the front with stickers, stamps, and drawings using the Halloween colors and themes of  ghosts, witches, skeletons, Frankies and candy corn and bats.

 It would make a Super Fun Family Night activity!

Broccoli and Bacon Salad

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This Studio 5 Salad has Broccoli, bacon, nuts and raisins in it. I’d use Cashews! 

Do you remember the first day of summer vacation when you had all these wonderful goals? I was going to spend a half hour in the “garden of weedin’, a half hour on my messy hoarder closets, and a half hour in my loosely termed “exercise” room/basement. And I lasted about a half hour on that plan. 

I  wasted so much time this past summer playing and just dinkin’ around, watching those decorating shows and the gardening shows, and those shows that teach you all about hoarders and trying to organize your “stuff” that I thought maybe I was just organizing vicariously through all those guests on the makeover shows! Maybe I could learn to organize in my sleep! (that would be awesome) 

Funny Friendship Ecard: You're one stack of shit away from an episode of Hoarders.
Even though I don’t really like the sh– word, I had to laugh at this e-card…..Its so me! 

Well, I’m very proud to say this week I have spent almost a half hour in my garden weeding. And one flower bed is looking much less like its gone haywire. I really hate to weed. It’s probably my least favorite household chore of all,  Yuck. But look at my garden now! I can actually see progress! 

My hydrangeas are doing so so, not as good as last year…but surviving!  

You can’t kill an onion plant, believe me, I’ve ignored mine!  And look at my crappy soil! It is amazing anything grows!  

Broccoli and Bacon salad is a great fall dish to make…one of my favorite salads too! 

This Broccoli and Bacon Salad has nuts added, cashews would be so delish added! It’s from Grocery Cart Challenge.

 If only I can only keep up my goal of weekly weeding in the garden instead watching THE CHEW or watching Nate do his decorating thang, or watching my favorite cooking shows on my DVR! 

I have 3 colors of Hydrangea bushes in my backyard…I love the blue ones the best.
We got a few tomatoes in September….and here’s our haul this week….just a few left now…..
This Broccoli, Bacon and Raisin Salad  is from The Southern Lady Cooks.

Anyways,  here is a veggie salad recipe that is so great for a get together pot luck dish or any side dish. It’s fresh and crunchy and I always get compliments on it when I bring it to anything. 

bacon is meat candy shirt
Meat Candy…hahaha…..Love it! Bacon makes everything taste better! 
FRESH BROCCOLI AND BACON SALAD
This Broccoli and Bacon Salad added blue cheese. My hubs would like this one….It’s from Yogi Butter.

Ingredients for Broccoli, Bacon and Craisin Salad

  • 2-3 heads (or 4 cups) fresh broccoli, cut into florets 
  • 1/4 cup diced red onion
  • 7-8 slices of bacon, cooked and diced
  • 3/4 cup Craisins (dried cranberries)
  • 3/4 cup slivered almonds or cashews 

Dressing: 
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/3 cup white sugar 
  • 2  tablespoons red wine vinegar

I love this salad for fall. I’m going to gobble up a whole bowl! 

Halloween Table Decoration

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I got some fun new stuff for my house for my favorite holiday…Halloween! 

And I spread it all over the place decorating for Halloween!  Here is my front entry table… Trick or Treat! 

The skeleton dish and candle are new, and the glass Happy Halloween plate are new too… I love this purple and black decor! 

And who can resist Helga the Witch? She keeps the candy safe till Halloween….

she is relegated to the corner of my living room for now! 


I LOVE this cute candy corn decoration made from yarn and an inverted snow cone paper. You could also make it with just cardstock twirled into a cone shape. I love it with the wiggly eyes and mouth! This was from Craft Passion.

pumpkinballoons.jpg
Mix mingle glow had this cute pumpkin decoration made completely of balloons! I LOVE balloon decorations. They always make such a statement!  

halloween-science-jars.jpg
Mason jars with colored water with toy insects added….I have TONS of toy insects! Go get ’em from the dollar store. This would be inexpensive and easy to do. Kids would love it at a Halloween Party! Thanks to Mix Mingle and Glow.
My daughter did a simple table decoration with candy corn. She placed a long, thin, glass inside the canister then filled the outside edges with candy corn. 

Then she added these cute pumpkin chair backs for Halloween decor…..

Here is my table decor. I got black plates last year.  The centerpiece was a birthday present from my daughter…she has good taste. Thanks Tiffany! 

I think I’ll take this Halloween centerpiece to school so my little second graders can enjoy it!  

Cute salt and pepper shakers from Pier 1 Imports….I love them so much! 
Well the kitchen is done….now on to the other rooms….Halloween Decorating is so much fun!  

I got a set of these glass orange beads, glass black bats and glass white ghosts to sprinkle around my Halloween Table Decor….isn’t it sweet?  That was Pier 1 again.  This would be a fun fall gift I think too. Everybody who sees them thinks they are so cute!  I think so too! 

Halloween Table Decorating

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I got some fun new stuff for my house for my favorite holiday…Halloween! 

And I spread it all over the place decorating for Halloween!  Here is my front entry table… Trick or Treat! 

The skeleton dish and candle are new, and the glass Happy Halloween plate are new too… I love this purple and black decor! 
And who can resist Helga the Witch? She keeps the candy safe till Halloween….(well not really since I am a candy freak I swipe what I can get! nothing is safe around me…..) 
Witch Helga is relegated to the corner of my living room for now! 

Here are my 3 little pumpkins last year at Gardner Village Witch Scavenger Hunt.

Dried apple witch head dolls are an easy and fun crafty decoration for any room in the house. But mostly little kids love them. Check them out with a tutorial I made HERE.


I LOVE this cute candy corn decoration made from yarn and an inverted snow cone paper. You could also make it with just cardstock twirled into a cone shape. I love it with the wiggly eyes and mouth! This was from Craft Passion.

My daughter did a simple table decoration with candy corn. She placed a long, thin, glass inside the canister then filled the outside edges with candy corn. 

Then she added these cute pumpkin chair backs for Halloween decor…..

Here is my table decor. I got black plates last year.  The centerpiece was a birthday present from my daughter…she has good taste. Thanks Tiffany! 

I think I’ll take this Halloween centerpiece to school so my little second graders can enjoy it!  

Cute salt and pepper shakers from Pier 1 Imports….I love them so much! 
Well the kitchen is done….now on to the other rooms….Halloween Decorating is so much fun!  

I got a set of these glass orange beads, glass black bats and glass white ghosts to sprinkle around my Halloween Table Decor….isn’t it sweet?  That was Pier 1 again.  This would be a fun fall gift I think too. Everybody who sees them thinks they are so cute!  I think so too! 

My Birthday Party

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I had a birthday on Monday and my daughter Tiffany hosted a birthday party for me Monday night. I went to lunch with the hubs so it was fun to not worry about anything food for an entire day!

Halloween decorations on the table were so cute….Tiff put a glass inside of this jar and then surrounded it with the candy corn. She didn’t really buy 100 pounds of candy. 
She is a master at these delicious bread bowls. The recipe is at Jamie Cooks it up HERE.

She made these wonderful, homemade bread bowls and some delicious creamy soup. Then she had my all time favorite spinach salad with strawberries and avocados and candied pecans. Can you spell Y-U-M-M-Y?

Gotta love the chairs all decorated like Halloween pumpkins….
Yummy spinach salad is one of my favorites…

My birthday cake was a strawberry cheesecake. It was so pretty and delish! My little granddaughter had cheesecake face. :O

Strawberry cheesecake…..Yes those are 4 CANDLES…..Yeah…I’m only turning 40 now. Woo Hoo! 
Yum, I like that cheesecake stuff grandma! Marisa has cheesecake face….

It was so fun to be spoiled. And my son-in-law likes Halloween like I like Halloween.

He’s going to add lots of spiderwebs and scary dudes hanging from ropes and stuff….

Here is the beginnings of his graveyard….the spooks are even coming out of the window wells to a strobe light. He still has to hang a few ghouls from a noose and a few more tombstones.

Marisa and Meg hung the little ghosties in the tree…so cute! 

 It’s gonna be the neighborhood fun stop for sure.  I better go get all my stuff out too!

Halloween Decorating Outdoors

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My ront entry table. The poor jackie at the bottom got sat on by somebody and his eye is messed up! But it just makes him look creepier! Don’t it?
Here is my boring little front yard this Halloween. I really need to spice it up a little bit, don’t I? So I went on an internet hunt…..da dum…..da dum….(jaws music in the background as I hunt…) 
Here I am in my cool costume as Jessie from Toy Story. I made the costume myself! Aren’t I the crafty one with a glue gun! LOL. 
Here’s a picture of my daughter’s family I took this past October. Argh! Mateys! It was a fun Halloween. I love decorating for Halloween. Here are some fun ideas I found to try this year!

Cute end table all decorated in Halloween fun. 
How easy would these milk cartons be to line your walkway for Halloween?  Inspiring Pretty  had lots of other ideas too….so Get started saving milk cartons NOW!  
Real Moms real views had a cute idea with black crows and orange pumpkins to Halloweeny up your front porch with the Halloween colors. Very cute!

These guys look even more fun than mine. My neighbor goes all out on Halloween. She’s even
got a movie showing up on her garage door. Too fun!  
These funky skeletons on Celebrate Halloween.com’s website were so simple yet so cute lining the path. 


I love shepherd’s hooks in my yard. I have them everywhere. And for this reason; I can change the thing I hand on them with the seasons. I use a giant red jingle bell at Christmas, a Turkey at Thanksgiving, a Pumpkin or two at Halloween.  Check out dofaso’s website. for more ideas.

Halloween Ghost Lights Decorations
Craft Passion had this cute tutorial on making ghost outdoor lights from ping pong balls and a string of white lights…SUPER CUTE!  My grandkids would LOVE these! 
At Float Project.org they did a great front porch all decked out for Halloween. I love the simple wreath on the door! 
I better get my stuff out and get busy decorating. October is right around the corner! And I want to be all ready since Halloween is my favorite holiday! 

My Son’s “Old Goat” Turning 30 Birthday Party

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 It was my oldest son Jeff’s 30th birthday a few days ago. I wanted to do something cool for
 the BIG 30.  He keeps posting goats bleating and running around on Youtube to his Facebook page.  It is hilarious. So I put two and two together. Let’s have a GOAT PARTY!

Here I am playing my Pin the Tail on the Goat game with my granddaughters……Marisa thought it was fun. I don’t know if the adults had fun…but hey, life is what you make of it, right? 

 I made a nice roast beef and mashed potatoes and gravy dinner with homemade rolls.

Yummy dinner rolls….the recipe is on my cooking blog The Weekday Chef. HERE is the link.  Check them out. They are deeeelish! 
Here’s the goat I made for the game….and here are all the tails. 
Tiff getting spun around before she pins her tail on the goat…..lol…
I think everybody played…..
Gary’s always a good sport….he gets into competition. And he won! I had a big package of tools for a prize. 
Meg and Marisa getting ready to take their turns…aren’t they so cute? 
The 3 munchkins. 

All the little girls loved playing Pin the Tail on the Goat!  I think Meg won while admitting she could see through the blindfold. We gave her a big bubble wand for a prize anyway.

My daughter Tiff made him a Goat Bundtcake. It was delicious! Loved the goat decoration too. 😀  
The kids raided one of their farm toys to get this goat for the cake…..
Old Goat cake…..with chocolate chips inside. Oh yummy! 
Jeff blowing out his “candle” since I forgot to buy birthday candles….oops….

Here is Jeff’s big box of crackers to go with his goat cheese, and I got him some car wash tools and a hand sprayer for carwashing too. He just got a new little red car so that will help him keep it in pristine shape. It’s a little red hot rod.

Have YOU ever had a goat party with your own goat cake? Well then you haven’t been really living, have you? 
Here was my goat  Clipart from Squidoo for doing a Pin the Tail on the Goat Game…..hehehe…

With the goat cheese I made an onion dip for our chips and added the goat cheese to the dip. It’s just okay. I’m not a super fan of goat cheese. But it was funny. And nobody noticed a weird flavor in the onion dip or anything.

This is something you CAN do with goat cheese that tastes okay…onion dip for potato chips. 
Nobody really loved the goat cheese…..must be an acquired taste…
Goat cheese and onion soup dip mix…it was pretty good…

So I printed the goat up Funny One at Picgifs, and I made the Pin the Tail on the Goat game by looking at the picture while I drew.  After we ate dinner and played the goat game, we went out and blew Megan’s prize bubbles, we  played Loaded Questions, (my favorite game) and then we opened presents.

We got him a shirt from our trip to Yellowstone….

 I remember when I turned 30. I had 4 kids already, my youngest, Danny was only 6 months old. I think my hubs got me a motorcycle, and one of the boys got me a blue metal baseball bat…It may have been Jeff. He was really into baseball at the time…..snicker……

And I remember my 47th birthday, 17 years later when we all went to Marie Callendars and had lunch and pie in a hurry so my youngest son, Danny could get to his job at the movie theaters on time. So much has changed in 7 years. But birthdays, I’m glad, have not. We honor and celebrate every single one in our family. I think it is important to make memories.

Jeff’s shirt, car wash doo dads, big bag of crackers and a bunch of goat cheese for fun. He didn’t like the goat cheese. But he did take the crackers home. Funny boy. He is very hard to buy for. Unless it is some kind of gun or ammunition. 😀 Sometimes I get it right.  Most of the time not. :O
Prizes for the Pin the Tail on the Goat Game….everybody got candy, and the winners got cool prizes. 

 This year we got Jeff a reservation to The Homestead for this winter time, to take his family on a little trip. It’s a place where he likes to go swim in the underground hot pot crater, the natural spring there. It’s a cool place.

If you’ve never visited THE CRATER, it’s one of the greatest pools in America….I love it there.
The Homestead will be a fun outing for their family. 

Little Miss Josie was so cute singing Happy Birthday to her daddy. I had to record
 it. She is such a little doll. 

Josie singing happy birthday to daddy. So cute!

And Megan got in on the singing too. She loves birthday parties. 

We have always made birthdays a HUGE deal in our family. I wonder if they are all getting too old for birthday parties? I don’t know. I just know it is fun for me, the mom, to celebrate my kids and their special days. I hope it is always a good memory for them. And lets them know how much I love them. 😀 Just like they love their own kids.