Recycled dryer sheet ghost garland

This time of year, when the leaves began to change and the thoughts if Halloween costumes start racking my son's brain, my creative nature takes over.  My son is always so creative with his Halloween costumes and make every single one of them, even his first Halloween, when he was a chili pepper.  I remember sitting and having my mom help stuff the hats with batting with a chop stick, just to get the right curve in the pepper stem.  This year my son wants to be a deer.  Not a reindeer, just a regular deer, so I am hard at work on that.  We have three more days to get this deer done, and it is coming together great!  

Along with the deer sewing and stuffing, I decided to make some Halloween decor of ghosts.  Dryer sheets are probably the most worthless creation ever once they come out of the dryer.  The serve their purpose and then they get thrown away, so I came up with an idea to use them in the "after-life." 

I used dryer sheets, cotton balls, thread, and rubber bands to achieve this garland across my fire place mantel.  

It seemed to bring the entire mantel together for my Halloween theme.

What you'll need:  Used dryer sheets (you could use new ones, but I don't think you will get the same "flowing" effect), cotton balls, and rubber bands.

Place three to four cotton balls in the center of your dryer sheet.

Bring the dryer sheet ends up around the cotton balls.

Place a rubber band around the end of the cotton balls.

And that's it!  A ghost comes alive, or comes dead, or something.

Once you have a lot made, which takes about five minutes to make 10 of them.  It goes really fast, so the more cotton balls and dryer sheets you have the more ghost you will have to string on the ghost garland.

I tossed them into the air, but my dogs were not amused.  

Oh well.  They are going to LOVE the costumes they are going to wear on Halloween night, for sure!  I hope.

Once you get all of your ghosts done, thread the heads through thread with a needle, or small twine.  Black would look awesome!

Then hang and enjoy.  Once the holiday is over, you can either add them to your decor box, or recycle them.  

Super fun, right?

Check out one of my other crafts for Halloween.  It's been pinned on Pinterest over 30,000 times and over 3,000 times in the last 30 days!

Learn how to make this Halloween craft here!

Happy Halloween!

What happened this time last year?

All Aboard! the Runaway Pumpkin Express Train

Last weekend we took advantage of the nice weather and hopped aboard Albany and Eastern's Runaway Pumpkin Express.  The Rick Franklin Corporation, that owns the tracks that run from Sweet Home, Oregon all the way to Albany, Oregon, runs a holiday express shuttle that will ride you from Lebanon to Sweet Home.  We hopped aboard the Pumpkin Express to see just how the ride was.

The view of the train passing by from our backyard.

Getting our genuine tickets to ride.

I fell in love with the vintage light fixtures in the train station.

The conductor was a very nice gentleman named Pat Patterson.

The lounge car was such a fun place to sit.  We imagined how many other train passengers had been in that very location when the train was operational back in 1950.

Skylar loved walking between the train cars, and the parlor car was very fascinating.  I was in vintage heaven through the entire trip. 

The private coach had private compartments, that weren't very big, but offered a long distance trip in privacy from the other passengers.

Each private, parlor car had it's own bench seat, and a personal toilet to each compartment. Of course, these parlor cars were only available to the well off that could afford them, at that time.

We passed by the Weldwood water tower.  This area was famous for it's logging and timber processing back in the late 40s and 50s.

Cheadle Lake

Cheadle Lake is home to this town's annual Strawberry Festival, and Fourth of July Celebration.

Skylar was loving that he could share his love of trains with other train enthusiast.

This post is dedicated in memory to Donald Lehman.

Pictured here on the right.

Such a great tour of the vintage train cars.  This company also provides a train that will run at Christmas time called, "Polar Express Train," of course!  

If you live in or around the Willamette Valley of Oregon, you can read more about this Santiam Excursion Train here!

This post is dedicated in memory to Donald Lehman.

What happened this time last year?

Airplane flying fun

Who would have thought that a Styrofoam airplane from the hobby store, would provide all day fun for us.  This thing is a blast!

.....and sometimes it landed on the roof.

Once it was rescued, it was back to flying!

You can get one of these fun planes through Amazon!

Sometimes I receive products/services compliments of companies that I have partnered with.  One-on-one partnering or through affiliate programs. This means if you purchase an item from a link I provide to those companies, I sometimes receive a commission. I only share products and services that I would personally use and that fit well with my family/blog.  Thank you for supporting the sponsors that help support our family.

What happened this time last year?

Time to break out fall nail colors

This is the best time of the year to switch out bright and shiny colors of the summer to fall, matte, and darker, earth-tone colors for fall and winter.  I prefer to bring out my darker earth-tone colors during the fall months, and save the silvers, whites, and dull golds for winter months, especially around Christmas.  Here are the colors I will be sporting this season for fall.

From top to bottom:

1.  Revlon Top Speed nail polish in Moss color.

Revlon honestly doesn't make this color anymore, but you can get a few being sold on eBay, or even Etsy sellers looking to lighten their stash of "supply" polishes for nail art.  Revlon does carry a lot of other colors in the Top Speed though, that are just as pretty.

  

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2. PRITI NYC Nontoxic Nail Polish in Mushroom color.

This polish came from Gaiam and was $13.  It's nontoxic, biodegradable and 100% vegan.  The colors vary from reds to darks and after two coats, it looks amazing.

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3. Color Club in Dark n Stormy Color

This one was actually part of a sample collection from Birchbox back in January of this year, but you can pick up this color for $8.50.  It was a nice surprise because I wasn't expecting any nail color in that sample box, but I LOVE this color.  It's perfect for this time of year and it glides on so nice and smooth.  Color Club is one of my favorite nail polish companies too.

4.  Orly in Purple Velvet Rope color.

This color was picked up at Sally's Beauty Supply, but you can also order it only directly from the Orly website for $10.  I love this color because dark purple just says fall colors.  

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5.  Avon Nailwear in Black color.

This polish is just your basic black shade for about $8.  I do have the same brand in a gray color, but like I said before, I like to save those lighter, more magical colors, for around the Christmas and winter season.  They feel more like a snowy shade when I save them for that time of year.  This color is a basic black, but one coat of this polish you get the great solid color.  

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There's so many great shades to compliment a fall outfit this season.  One place I love getting ideas from is Pinterest.  I recently came across this shade here. ↓▼↓

I'm loving the new matte nail colors this season too!  This gray is amazing!

What colors will you be wearing this fall?  Talk to me in the comments below!

 

Don't forget to try out some velvet colors, as well. These colors are from Nail Rock and come with a nail color and velvet powder to apply to the top of the nail. Check it out here!

What happened this time last year?