Halloween Goodness

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Halloween celebration!  The boyfriend and I handed out candy in his neighborhood   Believe it or not, this was my very first time handing out candy to trick-or-treaters.  Growing up, I was always out and about on Halloween.

In addition to the candy I consumed, we also made these mummies.  The mustard eyes got a little out of hand, but they were still a big hit at the party we attended.

Here are the full-sized mummies that inspired my mini mummies:

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I also had to share these costumes, because they were just too cute.  I saw many girls tonight decked out in tutus. Being the girly girl that I am, I have a soft spot for tutus.

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Happy Halloween!

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A Spoon Full of Sugar = Halloween Delight

This year, the boyfriend and I dressed as Mary Poppins and Bert. We had a great time being such beloved characters.  We pieced together our costumes from items we found in our parents and grandparents' closets.  I spent a total of $4.50 on my costume... What, a win! 

This is a photo taken at work on Friday.  Everyone in the office dressed up.

This one was taken at Ben's parents' surprise 30th anniversary party on Saturday.  They were married on Halloween so a costume party was fitting. 

A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down. With the help of Elmer's glue, I was able to keep sugar on my spoon all evening.

I found inspiration for our costumes on Pinterest.com. Here are a couple other great costumes I came across:

Where's Waldo?

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Shark Attack

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(How cute!)

Toy Soldier

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Rock, Paper Scissors

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I'm going to see about convincing my friends to do the "Rock, Paper, Scissors" concept next year. I love this.

Happy Halloween, my friends! I hope you have wonderful trick-or-treating adventures tomorrow. 

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My Top Girl Room Projects

I hope you enjoyed my previous post on Pretty Rooms for Little Girls.  To follow up, I thought I would share some project ideas to enhance a little girl's room.  

Ribbon Accents for Curtain Decor

Hanging Storage

Spray Painted Trinkets 

Framed Name

DIY Spray Painted and Embellished Chandelier

Hair Bow Holder Tutorial

Have any DIY projects perfect for a little girl's room?  Let me know by leaving a comment below. I would  love to hear from you.

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Pretty Rooms for Little Girls

My coworker is redecorating her daughter's room and I was thrilled to help with design ideas.  Her daughter is four and half years old and is looking forward to transforming her room from yellow to pink.  While scouring my favorite site, pinterest.com, and Google, I found the following fabulous inspiration photos:

Painted stripes? Yes, please!  Especially painted stripes on the ceiling. How hot!

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I love the chalk board feature in this room.  Great for a girl's imagination!

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This room has a modern twist featuring a hint of zebra print. I see this as a room a little girl can grow into without quickly becoming obsolete. 

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The use of ribbon strips had a dynamic element to the room.  Easy and affordable design. I love it!

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Hanging letters... how adorable!  This would be such an easy project.  Just purchase ribbon and letters from Hobby Lobby. Then decorate with the material or scrapbook paper of your choice. Hang the letters from the ceiling using small push pins. 

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I love the polka dots in this room!  I always had a weakness for dots. They have such high impact on this bring pink wall.  This polka dot patern could easily be replicated with white vinyl wall decals. I bet you could find white vinyl circles on etsy.com in a heart beat.

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Stay tuned for the next post.  I'm gathering DIY ideas for a little girl room makeover. I can't wait to share them with you!

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Animal Decor Can Be Cool

Lately, I have noticed animal decor being incorporated in rooms and love the way it adds a hint of nature and unexpected interest.  Here are a couple samples:

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Julia's Wine Tasting Wedding Shower

As I previously mentioned, I teamed up with some girls to host a bridal shower for one my oldest, dearest friends, Julia.  Julia and I have been friends since preschool so I am thrilled to be a part of her wedding festivities 23 years later.  

I first blogged about the favors, decor and gift ideas found on Etsy.com that would go along with the wine tasting share as seen here.  We would have liked to book the shower at a vineyard, but because of scheduling conflicts decided to host it in-house. 

We provided guests with samples of three red wines, three white wines and a Halloween-themed wine (just in time for the fall season). We also had sparkling white and red grape juice available for the underage crowd.  

{before the tasting}

{after - the big reveal}

We served a wide spread of yummy goodness... particularly, cheese, bread and lots of grapes to compliment the wine.

{eat, drink & be married}

I am a lover all things monogrammed, so of course, I had to purchase personalized wedding gifts for Julia.

{round party tub stand with monogrammed lid}

{personalized, insulated market tote} 

Everyone received a polka dot wine glass as their party favor. 

We wrapped things up with cake made by Brittany's mother-in-law.

Congrats Julia!

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A Halloween Treat: Boo Chew

A coworker shared this recipe with me and now has started an addiction among everyone who devours this.  I see Boo Chew as a desert snack mix similar to the Chex holiday mix. This was super easy to create and made a great little gift to share with friends and family.

{Ingredients}

 4 cups  - Corn Chex Cereal

2 cups - Pretzels

1 cup - Candy Corn

1/2 cup - Raisins 

8 oz - White Chocolate (bars or chips will work)

1/4 cup - Halloween Sprinkles

1. In a large microwave bowl, melt the chocolate according to the directions on the package.  Stir until  smooth.
2. Gently stir in cereal, pretzels and raisins until evenly covered. 
3. Stir in candy corn and sprinkles.
4. Spread on waxed paper or foil until cooled. Break into chunks.

I packaged my Boo Chow in cellophane bags, topped with bows and tags. The snack packs were a big hit. 

Enjoy! 

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Filling my craving for style, DIY and yummy goodness all in one spot: PINTERST.com

If you a regular reader of Simply Sarah Style, you know that this is a lifestyle blog. Unlike other bloggers who focus on one topic such as daily outfits, DIY projects or recipes, I blog about it all.  Anything that inspires me is fair game.  Simply Sarah Style has truly become a catalog of the ideas I come across while surfing the web or projects or parties I have crafted. Blogging was the perfect way for me to keep track of fabulous findings.  

THE PURPOSE OF PINTEREST.COM

Now I have a new addiction: Pinterest.com.  This website basically serves my need to preserve ideas and record accomplished projects. I do have to admit... I was a little late getting on the Pinterest bandwagon.  I had heard about this website for quite awhile before I decided to fully explore it after hearing reviews from a colleague and a friend.  Since joining about a month ago, I can't stop "pinning."

WHAT PINTEREST IS LIKE

Pinterest.com provides you with an electronic space to preserve photos that are accompanied with links to the website the photos came from.  Whether it is a project idea you like, a shirt you would like to buy, a painting you love or a recipe you would like to make, you can choose to "pin" the graphic to one of your electronic boards.  You create what I think of as "bulletin boards" based on your personal interests.  For example, I have boards on the following topics:

• Wedding and Event Inspiration
• Holidays
• Food
• Gift Ideas
• My Style 
• For the Home
• Photography
• Household Tips 
• Etc....

HOW PINTEREST WORKS

To explain how "pinning" on Pinterest works, I ask you to think of your Facebook account. When you first log in, you see a "news feed" of information from people you are following (similar to "friends").  This news feed outlines photos of items people that you follow have recently "pinned."  By scrolling through this live feed, you can decide what items you would like to pin to your personal boards. When you like an item and choose to click on the "pin" button, you will get a box that pops up listing  your boards for selection like this: 

You can also find items to pin by typing key words into the search box. For example, I recently typed in "thank you gift" to get some ideas.  In return, 209,496 photos of items with "thank you gift" in the caption showed up. 

Pinterest also allows you to install a pinning button into your browser bar.  By clicking on this button, you can pin any photo that appears on a webpage to one of your boards without even leaving the webpage to log into Pinterest.  What an amazing feature!  This allows for saved time and further sharing of great ideas. Here is what the screen looks like click on the button in your browser bar to "pin" a graphic from an outside site:

The Pinterest website also allows you to share boards with your friends.  For example, my friend, Lindsey, provided me access to her "Brooklyn" board in order to allow me to pin  great little girl ideas.

Overall, I LOVE Pinterest. It is addicting and a wonderful tool for organizing your ideas visually.  In closing,  here are a few interesting Halloween ideas I've found using Pinterest. 

SAMPLES OF HALLOWEEN IDEAS I FOUND ON PINTEREST

Decorating a pumpkin with "puffy" paint

Front Porch Halloween Decor

Halloween Candy Skewers

Pumpkin Drink Tub - How inventive!  

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

If you are already on Pinterest and love posts on style, DIY project, party planning and recipes, follow me by clicking here.  If you haven't joined Pinterest yet, I'm going to apologize in advance for starting an addiction, but please feel free to jump on Pinterest bandwagon and follow me too.

Happy pinning!

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