I've never been afraid of mixing different decor ideas for one party. Our wedding was a little bit Spring and a little bit Summer with yellow calla lilies, hydrangea and lemon centerpieces, and a beach themed cake! 

My pumpkin craft night is next week and I wanted to have fun with the same idea and mix fall and Halloween decor ideas together for the party.  The inspiration for my party decor started with this incredibly awesome spiderweb garland Jen of 100 Directions created for the Cricut Design Space Star Challenge.

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Jen made a downloadable SVG file of the spiderweb and since my boss Monica of East Coast Creative blog is part of the Cricut Design Space Star challenge as well, I already knew how to use the new Cricut Design Space. 

However, that's when I found out the hard way that my Cricut Expression is not compatible with the new technology that the new Cricut Explore machine uses. Therefore I was unable to download and use Jen's awesome spiderweb in the design space. 

So I went through the cartridges I had on hand and luckily I found a few fall images, like the pumpkin seen below, that I could work with.   

I have a lot of scrapbook paper in my craft collection and found the perfect colors for this project. 

Items Needed for DIY Pumpkin Garland: 

Cricut Cutting Machine

Cricut Mat

Cricut Cartridge: Stretch Your Imagination 

Scrapbook Paper

String, Ribbon, or Tape 

Hole Punch

Zots (glue dots)

Step 1: Lay your paper on the Cricut Mat and load it into the Cricut machine. Determine what size you would like your pumpkins, mine are 4'', then on the Cricut Expression machine you will hit the "blackout" button then the pumpkin symbol, and hit cut.

Step 2: Once you have enough pumpkins cut, I printed 24 of them, punch out a hole on the edge of each pumpkin. Next string them onto your ribbon. (Note: If you don't have a hole punch or ribbon you can just use glue to hang them up in a line like Jen did with her spiderweb garland, easy peasy!)

Step 3: You can leave it as is and tie the ends of the string so the pumpkins hang with space between them. Or if you want your garland to look like mine, use zots or craft glue to connect each pumpkin together. I overlapped mine so the hole from the punch wouldn't show. 

Step 4: Hang your garland and enjoy the beauty of your work! 

After I hung my garland I stood back and felt like I needed more decor on the wall (the garland came first then the owls and leaves!). I went back to my craft room/office and grabbed my Hoot 'n' Holler cartridge to look for an owl image to cut. 

I just couldn't host a fall party without a few owls on the wall! Look how cute this little owl family is. Why haven't I been using my Cricut machine more?! 

I now had the fall decor look I was going for, but still needed more Halloween decorations to go with the spooky signs I had. 

So I went back to look through my cartridges for a third time and couldn't believe the Halloween images I discovered on the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge. There was a witch hat, a bat, a mummy and a skeleton, a ghost, and wait for it....a spiderweb! Can you believe that I found a spiderweb image right in my own cartridge collection, who knew it would be hiding among the paper dolls?!  

I used tape instead of stringing them together since the web was so delicate, a few of them actually ripped as I was trying to hang them up!

The paper doll cartridge was hiding these awesome skulls as well! 

Have you started decorating for Halloween yet? Or do you keep your October decor strictly fall themed? 

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day! 

Linking up with Sarah at Sarah Halstead for her new link party...

Friday Favorites: High Five for Friday!

Wow, it's Friday already, where has this week gone...where has September gone?! This morning I saw a tweet from a new blog friend Ricci at Imperfectly Ricci about a High Five for Friday link up from Lauren Elizabeth and thought it would be fun to join in and wrap up my favorite things about this week. I had a pretty good one so why not share it...

1. You know the week is going to be great when you start things off with a rainbow...

2. Although I still can't believe it's October, I love the changing of the leaves, the cool night air, and can't wait to get together with my girls for pumpkin craft night! 

3. I have the sweetest friends and family members in the world who still continue to surprise me with little owl gifts. This adorable fall owl flew all the way to Pennsylvania from Florida via my awesome friend Casie! She has such a big heart. Right now she is trying to raise funds for her local St. Baldrick's Foundation chapter to help kids who are battling childhood cancer. Stop by her personal page for more info on how you can help #whipchildhoodcancer.

4. Halloween is in 28 days! Even if we don't get the chance to dress up this year, I still love the thought of just giving out candy and seeing the costumes of the trick o' treaters. Do you give out candy in your neighborhood? 

5. I have a feeling it's going to be a crafty weekend! I'm in the mood to get back to my Project Life scrapbook, make a few cards, or maybe even spray paint something! 

Oh and one more thing, if you haven't heard about the #IAmBraveandBeautiful movement then you need to head on over to Brassy Apple and join in!

That's it for how my week went, how was yours? 

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend! 

#IAmBraveandBeautiful

We all have those days when we just don't feel brave and beautiful. We don't feel like getting out of bed, showering, doing our hair, and putting ourselves together.  There are days when I think, "Heck I work from home and don't need to go any where today, why should I bother!" However, those are the days when I feel less energized and less motivated. So, why bother? Because it makes me feel good inside. It doesn't matter if no one else knows that I'm having a great hair day or can see the awesome new color I painted my nails, I can see it. I'm doing this for my soul, because if I can't make myself happy, no one else ever will. When you start your day off right and have a happy heart you can accomplish and conquer anything. 

Today I am putting myself out there thanks to blogger Megan at Brassy Apple and 101+ other bloggers who shared their #IAmBraveandBeautiful story. Megan was inspired by Colbie Caillat's new song and video Try....

Colbie and the women in her video take their makeup off, let their hair down and show us who they are beyond what everyone sees every day. 

These women are being Brave and Beautiful and that's what Megan, and her friend Cobi of Peace from 6 Pieces want every woman to feel, makeup or not. So together with a few other bloggers and with the help of Robbins Creative they created this beautiful and inspiring video to keep Colbie's message and movement going....

A lyric and powerful message from Colbie Caillat's Try:

 "Take your make-up off. Let your hair down. Take a breath. Look into the mirror, at yourself. Don't you like you? Cause I like you..."

I didn't always like myself, because others didn't like me. 

I was never trendy and wore clothes that no other kid or teen would be caught wearing to school. I was taller than everyone in my class, and even a few of my teachers. My deep voice makes me sound like a man, and more often than not I was overweight. These are the insecurities I carry with me because other kids and teens didn't like these things about me. 

It wasn't until I met my husband that I finally started to believe someone could love me for me. I actually thought I would end up a scary cat lady! Yes, I knew my parents loved me, but the hurt and pain was already there and will always be there. However, I have come to learn that it's not about how someone else feels about me and whether or not someone else likes me, it's about who I see when I look in the mirror. 

Do I like me?

My wedding day was probably one of the few days where I actually wore makeup on my entire face. But it wasn't about the makeup, it was about me loving myself makeup or not. It was also about the man I met who loved everything about me and wanted me to love everything about me too. 

Give yourself the power to be brave and beautiful, don't give that power to someone else. Stand up for yourself and be kind to others. This movement is not only about how we see ourselves, but how we see others as well. There are too many young girls and women out there who hate on each other and bully because they have their own insecurities. But it's time to let it go, it's time to inspire one another and reach out to the women who don't feel brave and beautiful. 

Join the movement and help us inspire the world...

#IAmBraveandBeautiful makeup or not.