Under a Blue Moon

Happy Halloween!

I wonder how long that poor guy has been waiting? He looks pretty patient.

I don't go all out with Halloween decoration but I do like to do a few tasteful (haha) vignettes around the house. I've never been an autumnal colors type of person so I keep my Halloween decorations pretty much in sync with the rest of decor.

In fact the pumpkins pretty much stay out until I swap them for Christmas decorations. I want to show you a clearer picture of those two crystal balls on the left.

This was a complete Pinterest win! Maybe for the first time ever. Pretty darn clever. And lucky for me Michael's had all of their Christmas crap out in July so I could easily find the clear ornaments.

White pumpkins sure were a thing this year, weren't they? They go with my white, silver and black leanings so it works for me.

Here is my one concession to orange. He was too cute pass up. He has a perpetually startled look that I find endearing.

We had our 29th Annual Halloween party on Saturday. Per usual the costumes were fabulous. We have a contest every year and the competition is tough! I made these award statuettes to give to the winners. We have five categories: Funniest, scariest, most effort, best group/couple and Best of Show (who ever has the most overall votes, regardless of category). You'll notice one of the statuettes has a crown. Best of Show gets that one.

Have a spooktacular Halloween!

Friday Favorites

Scotland-4511 ♦ Cane Hill Asylum ♦ chernobyl ♦ beware

Great Ikea hack. Bear with me here – I know there are boatloads of Ikea hacks out there but this is just pretty organization no matter what your wardrobe/closet situation is
Can we take a moment? This quilt. Isn't that beautiful? I want this in Christmas colors. I may have to dust of my meager quilting skills and make it happen
Pretty hoop earrings
And I'll leave you with a kind of funky home tour that is a little spooky in time for Halloween

This weekend we will be having our 29th annual Halloween Party. I took Thursday and Friday off to set up (party is at my Dad's house). One of my sisters flew in from Wisconsin today so my dad and I picked her up and one of my nieces and I started decorating for the party. Since we have been doing this for awhile we pretty much have the routine down but it is still time consuming. I'm back over there today (Friday) to finish.

I still have some finishing touches on my costume and if it all turns out I'll share pictures next week.

I always feel like the transition between Fall and Christmas happens after the Halloween party. And I may have jumped the gun a bit and have started my favorite part of Christmas shopping – the stocking stuffers! I have some great ideas I will share with you in the upcoming weeks.

But first – Halloween! I hope you all have a spooktacular weekend!

Bullet Journaling

I am a writer down of things. Lists, notes, ideas, more lists. My brain (and memory) work more efficiently if I actually take pen to paper. While I keep my meetings and appointments organized electronically (in Outlook), everything else gets written down.

I stumbled on bullet journaling when I was searching on Whole30 early last year and found a blog post Kara Benz (Boho Berry) had done on her Whole30 experience. Then I started poking around her blog and learned about bullet journalling. It instantly clicked with me. I tried the Franklin-Covey method back in the day when day planners were the thing but I never could get in the rhythm of it. I would start with good intentions but then gradually days would go by and I would realize that I hadn't even picked up my planner.

Then Erin Condren and her ilk showed up on the market and, again, appealed to me but I never could find a layout that suited me. I'm also not a sticker kind of girl – nothing wrong with them and anything that gets your creative mojo going is all good – just not my thing.

What I love about bullet journaling is how flexible it is. You follow a set of principles but other than that you can be as creative (or not) as you want to be and you can totally customize the layouts (or spreads) that work best for you.

There are plenty of YouTube videos and blogs dedicated to bullet journaling so I won't get into specifics. Here is a link to Ryder Carroll's blog. He is the originator of bullet journaling. I prefer his stripped down approach but there also some super creative bullet journalers out there that have taken it to another level.

I keep two journals. One is my calendar/to do list and the other has things I want to keep track of or reference (random spreads). Things like monthly expenses, accounts (logins to various websites), I even started a beauty log to keep track of hair appointments, manicures, facials – any sort of pampering type thing. I admit that didn't really work – I logged through to the beginning of March then lost interest in my upkeep I guess. Last year I had a section dedicated to home improvement projects. It was a list of things we wanted to do to the house and then I would have separate pages keeping track of individual projects. Here are some ideas I have for my random spreads:

Books to read
Books I have read
Household wish list (things we want for or want to do to the house)
Accounts (logins and password hints)
Monthly expenses
Weight loss tracker
Birthdays
Travel (another wish list)
Meal ideas
Gardening schedule
Housecleaning schedule
Movies (watched and to watch)

The calendar one is my most used journal. I tried several different layouts until I ended up with my current weekly layout. At first I had a separate journal for work and one for personal but I found I wasn't really using the personal one so I combined the two. The top of the two page spread was for work and the bottom was for personal. This worked better but I found that I was running out of room for work related tasks and appointments and not needing as much space for personal so I combined the two and this has been my preferred layout since February of this year.

One thing I realized early on was I need to see my week all in once glance which is why the two page weekly spread works the best for me.

Here is an example of an early weekly layout in my personal bullet journal. One thing I do like about this is the menu planning section for dinner and the shopping list. I may need to figure out how to bring that back in my current layout.

Here is an example of my combined weekly layout. Again nothing wrong with this layout but the bottom half just wasn't getting utilized.

And this is my current layout. It is mostly work related and I just have small section at the bottom of each day for personal appointments and reminders. I don't really use the Ad Hoc section or the Waiting On all that much so maybe I can throw meal planning and the shopping list back on in their place.

My journal of choice is the Kyokuto F.O.B. Coop W Ring Expedient Notebook in size B5 with dot grid. Ooof that is a mouthful. The size is right for me and I like the ring binding rather than the more popular hardbound Leuchtturm1917 bullet journal. I like my journal to open fully flat.

The pen I use and will have to fling myself off a cliff if they ever discontinue is the Pentel EnerGel Euro Needle-Point Gel Pen in black. I have stockpiled them.

I also use a clear ruler for creating each week's layout.

Not pictured is White-Out. I went through buckets of it when I was first doing my layouts. Now I have my system down and rarely goof when I'm drawing out my week's spread. I generally draw out the weekly spread first thing Monday morning.

I hope you enjoyed this peak into how I keep organized. At least on paper….

Friday Favorites

vintage clocks. ◊ Hilos y carreteles ◊ my last affair ◊ IMG_0423

Okay my fellow fairy light loving friends – be prepared to be blown away. I have them and can tell you they are even more fabulous in person. They are a warm light, they have a remote, you can pick how ever subtle or Las Vegas you want to go. And the price! Seriously go get some right now. I'll wait…
Lovely Instagram feed I just discovered: @tracey_hiebert
Interesting (and humorous) bathtub cleaning tip
I am loving the velvet trend this season. Pretty way to do trendy without breaking the bank. Pretty embroidered purse. Gorgeous, wearable (so many look like bathrobes) kimono. Another bag in a beautiful teal. And pretty flats with bows – here and here

How did Friday get here so fast? This week just whipped by. We have a very uneventful weekend planned (or unplanned, as the case may be) and I intend to focus on finishing (okay – starting) my Halloween costume. I know what I want to be I just have to pull the elements all together.

The fires here in California are still burning but we are (as I am typing this) expecting rain so that will help. There is a fire burning too close for comfort to my son and his family's house in the Santa Cruz mountains but for now they appear to be out of any immediate danger. So many in our area are not so lucky.

It makes me realize how much I love my home and how devastating it would be to lose it. I know that it isn't so much the actual spot but what we have made of it and we could certainly make any place just as comforting and homey. But the thought of just losing everything is so unfathomable to me. And yet when you hear the interviews and read the stories of people that have lost their homes and everything they owned – they all are so grateful just to be alive. The human spirit truly is indomitable.

Take care my friends.

Cabinet of Curiosities

I love Halloween. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I really do enjoy it. Our family has an annual Halloween party and I'm in charge of designing and sending out the invitations every year. I have been using Etsy for pre-designed invitations and then I mount and, perhaps, beglitter them.

I also love decorating for Halloween.

I made this shadow box a couple of years ago when I needed a good distraction. It is very easy to get completely absorbed in miniatures.

Some of the pieces were purchases but I did make a good number of them. The shadow box itself is a Tim Holtz Configurations set. I assembled the components into the configuration I wanted then papered it.

The rest of the bits and pieces came from Etsy, craft stores and my imagination. I printed off teeny labels for the apothecary jars. I made books. Even the hypodermic needle is hand made (using jewelry making bits, part of a ball point pen and straight pin). I made playing cards, tarot cards, a Ouija board and a carefully tied up bundle of ancient spells.

I was going for a cabinet of curiosities, apothecary shop kind of a look. Throw in a little Edgar Allen Poe and witchcraft and that pretty much is my Halloween decorating style.

Bead shops have a lot of things you can use when making miniatures. The little amber bottle (in the toad compartment) is made entirely of beads and jewelry findings. Many of the other pieces have elements that came from bead shops. Etsy is great for miniatures like the cauldron and mouse.

It's fun to bring it out each year and look at all the little details. It was even more fun to come up with ideas and put it all together. This is really what started my interest in getting a dollhouse and decorating it. I promise to show you that one of these days. It is very much a work in progress and maybe instead of waiting for it to be complete I can share the process with you. I bought a pre-loved dollhouse that needs a major renovation. It's about midway in the reno process but I've already started collecting furnishings.

Less than two weeks before the Halloween party! I better get cracking on my costume!

Friday Favorites

1. ______, 2. precious things, 3. Autumnal Leaves, 4. the wall through the hassie

Move over Marie Kondo – Swedish Death Cleaning is the next big thing
I need to figure out how to do this to our street so people slow down
We were totally captivated by the Crown. Here is the season two trailer. I am so happy that Netflix has signed up for six seasons but was disappointed to hear the show will be entirely recast for season three
I have a couple of these seed pearl bracelets and just love them. You can personalize them with little charms and the seller was lovely to work with

If you have spare good vibes, positive energy, or prayers can you please send them California's way? We are on fire and it is so completely horrific and sad and scary. So many people have lost completely everything. The devastation is just tragic and the fires are still raging out of control. We are 70 miles away and can smell the smoke so strongly I actually thought our house was on fire in the middle of the night on Sunday. We need some kind of miracle.

Have a lovely weekend and stay safe.

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