Christmas Galore Link Party

Thanksgiving is over and it's time to start pulling out the Christmas decor and getting serious about the upcoming holiday. I thought it would be fun to host a Christmas link party so that we could all share ideas about decor, holiday goodies, gifts, and everything else that comes with this wonderful holiday.

*Cue Holiday music*

There are 2 categories to add your links to: Christmas Gift Ideas (for gift ideas - handmade or otherwise) and Christmas Galore (for everything else - decor, yumminess, parties, etc). Please be sure to link up to the appropriate category.

Just a few suggestions before joining the party...

1. We'd love it if you would be a LITM follower. You can join us through GFC, Facebook, Feedburner, or Pinterest!
2. We'd also really appreciate it if you would link back to us so that others can join the fun too. If you really loved us, you'd grab one of the awesome buttons from the sidebar :)
3. Remember to link to your specific post and not just to your blog. And please, no etsy shops or giveaways. However, Pinterest boards are permitted :)

Now, it's party time. Go on and get down with your bad self. (Could I be any whiter??)


Christmas Gift Ideas

Christmas Galore

An Awesome CHRIST{mas} Book

I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I found a spectacular idea that I wanted to share with you all - and you might need some time to prepare it. A couple months ago I was surfing around on Pinterest and found this really neat book to help us put Christ back in Christmas. You've got to head over to Sew Dang Cute to check it out for yourself!

It's an awesome project called "The Christ Book"  that is meant to use in the days leading up to Christmas. The songs are more Christmassy, but you could use the topics and different songs for Easter or anytime you think your family needs to become a little closer to Christ.

This book is complete with pictures, songs, scriptures, etc. Everything you need to help your family have a more peaceful, Christ-centered Christmas. Go check it out!

Harvest Party Link Up

Halloween is over we just don't want the party to end. So of course, we need a new party! We knew you'd agree! How's about a Thanksgiving/Fall themed party?

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Just a few suggestions before joining the party...

1. We'd love it if you would be a LITM follower. You can join us through GFC, Facebook, Feedburner, and we're even both are on Pinterest!
2. We'd also really appreciate it if you would link back to us so that others can join the fun too. If you really loved us, you'd grab one of our awesome buttons (either the Harvest Party button above or the LITM button from the sidebar) :)
3. Remember to link to your specific post and not just to your blog. And please, no Etsy shops or giveaways. However, Pinterest boards are permitted :)
4. There's no limit to how many posts you can link up - we'd love to see everything you've got! Just make sure they're Fall or Thanksgiving related. Also, if you shared something in our Halloween party that could also be "fallish," feel free to link it up again!

Let the feasting begin!

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Halloween Extravagaza: Party Invites

The most important part of throwing a great party is sending out a great invitation. I'm sure you've all heard this before. It's true! I've had friends tell me the main reason they started coming to our parties was because of the invitation they received in the mail.

For our Halloween party we always try to choose a good date. I do not recommend the 31st because of trick or treating and other festivities that day. I recommend a week before Halloween or the Friday before. Send your invites out the first of the month. I always made sure to call Miranda about our party date because she would be coming from out of town and her hubby needed to request work off.




For the rest of the wording on the invite you can be as simple as you like or dress it up. I've made up a little poem on past invites. If you're not great at coming up with your own just google Halloween invites and click on images. You will see a load of ideas for little poems to put on your invites. I used the invite above as an example. The more creative your invite the better response you will get as far as guests wanting to come to your party. :)
Some ideas in the past that I've used are melting wax and dripping it over the invitation edges. The above invitation is basically what I did. I've used black and red. We even bought an 'H' stamp to seal our envelopes one year.




Another idea you can bounce off of is sending your guests 'something' in their invite. Last year I bought Martha Stewart invitations and put my own twist on them(yes I'm guilty for not always doing the whole invitation myself). The original came with white shredded paper. I bought moss and just used the fingers and stick on RSVP part of the invite. Miranda had to help me put the bows on the fingers and get the back off the stickers because sometimes I can be craft challenged LOL! Above is the picture of how the invitations were supposed to look. Sadly I don't have a pic of my own with the moss.

You get the idea. Make sure your invite has some flare to it and will be talked about and remembered. Something they'll want to keep on the counter or hang on the fridge to remind them of their upcoming party. Don't forget to make costumes mandatory!!! Have fun with your invites!! :)

Thanks to all the fabulous bloggers out there who take the time and effort to host these spectacular parties!! We're linking up here:


Mondays:
Just Something I Whipped Up, Craftastic Monday, Turquoise Lovin', Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Mondays Marvelous, Creative Me Mondays, Made By You Mondays, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Made with Love, More the Merrier


Tuesdays:
Get You Craft On, Tuesday Confessional, Who's Got Glam, Ta-Da Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesdays, Take a Look Tuesdays, Show Me What You Got, Tuesday Tutorials, Too Cute Tuesdays, Craft & Tell, Tutorials & Tips Tuesday


Wednesdays:
Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednesday, What I Made Wednesday, DIY Under $5, Woot Woot Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna Link Party, Hoo's Got Talent, We Can Do it Cheaper, Look What I Made, What I Whipped up Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday


Thursdays:
Strut Your Stuff, DIY Diva Thursdays, Hookin' Up With House of Hepworths, Get Your Brag On


Fridays:
Frugal Friday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, PityParty, Look At Me, Show & Share, Fantabulous Friday, Tickled Pink Fridays, I'm Lovin' It


Saturdays/Sundays:
Lovely Little Linkup, Weekend Wander, Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase Party, Think Pink Sundays, Anything Goes, Whatcha Got Weekend, Free For All

More Faves from the Halloween Link Up!!!

It's time for another round of features from our Great Halloween Link Up! If you haven't already, be sure to hop on over and submit your own awesome projects and get some inspiration from the amazing projects that have already been linked up! We'd especially love to see some more costume ideas added to the party!


One of my favorites is the Halloween Spell Book from Design DNA. I love, love, love that it uses common crafting supplies. I know I have everything on hand and might just have to give it a try!

Check out the Cowboy and Indian Princess Costumes that Joy in the Jumble created for less than $10! That's my kind of project! And so cute too!

I've seen all sorts of bat collages around blogland lately, but I love that Lorie from Reading Confetti used handprints to make bats! You have to go see the picture of her son's expression when he first saw the bats. Priceless! And Lorie - I'm in LOVE with your kitchen, by the way!!

If we featured your idea, be sure to grab our featured buttons! Thanks for linking up!

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Halloween Extravagaza: Throw An Amazing Party!

I LOVE Halloween!!! Every year my husband and I throw our Annual Harris Halloween Party. It's an adult only party and is super fun getting into the spirit of Halloween with all our closest friends. I take this holiday very serious....okay mostly I take throwing this party very serious....and I usually expect the same from all our guests. All in good fun of course! Over the years we've had amazing costumes, extreme competitive edge over our games (with injuries! Haha), delicious fun food, awesome invites, and best of all....great self-esteem enhancing compliments on everything. :)

I'm going to show you all how to throw an amazing Halloween party for adults or kids. The next few days will cover my basics:

1. Invites
2. Decor
3. Costumes
4. Food & Drink
5. Games, prizes, and the little extras

I'll show you how to do each basic with a little something extra to make your guests talk about your party for years to come! You just might be named the Halloween Queen!

Framed Fall Letters

Part of the reason I wanted the entryway shelf that I posted about last week is because I want something to decorate. I don't have a mantle or a porch and our entertainment center is just too crowded with the stereo system and the overflowing DVDs.

So now that my shelf is up, I decided it needs to be a little more festive.

It's not a very big shelf, so there isn't a lot of room, but I still think it's cute! And those framed letters were super easy to make. Or at least they would have been if I weren't so indecisive!

The frames are just a 4x6 size - each of them are different and from the D.I. You can't beat $0.50 for a frame, especially since I just painted over them.

I picked 4 fall colors (I used a brown, green, cream, and wine), picked some paper (the hardest part) and them cut out the letters with my Silhouette (the most frustrating part). I think I changed my mind 10 times about the paper I was going to use. Even now, I'm not completely in love with it. I'm sure if I were to scour the racks at the craft store I could find something I LOVED. But I'm trying to be cheap and just use what I have on hand. It's growing on me though.

The inspiration for these letters came from this picture which I found through pinterest and then posted about here a couple weeks ago.

I think I'm going to do something a little more Halloweeny, or at least pumpkinish for the entertainment center. Be sure to check back and see what I come up with!




Thanks to all the fabulous bloggers out there who take the time and effort to host these spectacular parties!! We're linking up here:


Mondays:
Just Something I Whipped Up, Craftastic Monday, Turquoise Lovin', Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Mondays Marvelous, Creative Me Mondays

Tuesdays:
Get Your Craft On, Tuesday Confessional, Who's Got Glam, Ta-Da Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesdays, Take a Look Tuesdays, Show Me What You Got

Wednesdays:
Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednesday, What I Made Wednesday, DIY Under $5, Woot Woot Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna Link Party, Hoo's Got Talent

Thursdays:
Strut Your Stuff, DIY Diva Thursdays, Hookin' Up With House of Hepworths, Get Your Brag On

Fridays:
Frugal Friday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, Pity Party, Look At Me

Saturdays/Sundays:
Lovely Little Linkup, Weekend Wander

Categorically Crafting

The Great Halloween Link Up!!

Here at Life in the Motherhood, we're big Halloween fans, especially Heather! Before she moved to Hawaii, she and her husband would throw the best Halloween parties. Costumes were mandatory, prizes were given, and kids were left at home! And man. The costume contest got pretty intense.

With Halloween right around the corner (less than 40 days!), we thought it would be fun to host our own Halloween party! We'd love to see your costume ideas, Halloween decor, and shindig swag!

There are two different categories - Halloween Costumes and Halloween Decor/Parties. Make sure to link up in the appropriate section. Feel free to link up any Halloween related posts you may have! It doesn't matter how old or new they are - we'd love to see them!

We'd love for you to help us spread the word and let your friends join in on the fun too! We'd love it if you could link back to Life in the Motherhood or even grab our Halloween party button! And we'd be especially thrilled if you would considering following us too!

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Let the party begin!!!

Halloween Decor & Party Ideas

Halloween Costume Parade

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Halloween Subway Art + Free Printable

As part of my Halloween decor, I created this cute little subway art printable!

Want one too? Click here to download your copy! Remember that this is only for personal use, please. If you'd like to share it with others, please be sure to link back to this post.

Also, this is a PDF download. I made the image small enough so that you could frame it as an 8.5x11 or also trim it down to put in an 8x10 frame (which is what mine is in). If you go for the 8x10 size, you'll probably need to trim it down by about 1/4" on each side, but that will vary based on the frame you're using.

Enjoy!



Thanks to all the fabulous bloggers out there who take the time and effort to host these spectacular parties!! We're linking up here:


Mondays:
Just Something I Whipped Up, Craftastic Monday, Turquoise Lovin', Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Mondays Marvelous, Creative Me Mondays

Tuesdays:
Get You Craft On, Tuesday Confessional, Who's Got Glam, Ta-Da Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesdays, Take a Look Tuesdays, Show Me What You Got

Wednesdays:
Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednesday, What I Made Wednesday, DIY Under $5, Woot Woot Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna Link Party, Hoo's Got Talent

Thursdays:
Strut Your Stuff, DIY Diva Thursdays, Hookin' Up With House of Hepworths, Get Your Brag On

Fridays:
Frugal Friday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, PityParty, Look At Me

Saturdays/Sundays:
Lovely Little Linkup, Weekend Wander