BFF Open House Link Party #23: Wrap Up and Features!

This is up a little later than usual. Darn real life and work for interrupting blogging! This was the BEST party ever! The most links ever, and you all are just amazing creative geniuses. Seriously!  OK look for yourselves:
Christine, from Christine and Co, linked up this awesome menswear fabric wreath ( made even more awesome by the fact that her husband found the fabric for her!)

Definitely want to check with the guys in your life before chopping up their clothes (especially if they’re still in them!)  but I just love the look of this!
I have seen so many glamtacular Halloween ideas this year. This gorgeous Witch Hat from Maggie at Midwestern Sewing Girl makes me want to dress up all year long:

And ombre is everywhere! I was at the mall this weekend and it is definitely a sizzling hot trend. Check out this amazing take on ombre from Pike Family  using ombre AND specimen art AND paint chips! Trifecta of awesome:

If you need a little pick me up to continue on this fantastic tour, then stop by Brandy’s blog Gluesticks for some homemade Butterfingers! YUM. You’re going to have to go to learn the secret ingredient!

OK wipe off your fingers because these are too elegant to get chocolate fingerprints on. Black. Velvet. Pumpkins. Oh yeah. From Carolyn, at homework:

These so need to go with Maggie’s hat!
Finally, since October is Halloween month and Breast Cancer Awareness month, why not combine the two? That’s exactly what the aptly named Project Queen did:

Breast Cancer Awareness Pumpkin! Thanks so much everyone for the incredible inspiration. Don’t forget I have a little giveaway to support Breast Cancer research going on through the 16th. Details here. Have a great and creative week and see you all again on Friday! 

Breast Cancer Awareness, Pizza, and A Giveaway!

Odd combination? Stay with me.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I think it’s a rare person these days who hasn’t been touched in some way by this disease. Whether directly, through a family member, or a friend, it seems that all of us know someone who has fought this battle. This month marks the 2nd Anniversary of losing a dear friend who fought valiantly.
I’m part of FRESCHETTA pizza’s blogger connection and am very excited that they are doing their part to support research to find a cure for breast cancer. Between now and October 31st when you purchase specially marked packages of FRESCHETTA pizza, they will donate $1 to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The goal is to raise $50,000 and you can read more about it here: http://www.proudtosupportpink.com/
There’s also a place for people to share their own breast cancer journey or the journey of a friend or family member. In addition to their monetary donation , FRESCHETTA is also donating 50 pink iPod Shuffle players ( especially poignant given the passing of Steve Jobs this week) to four cancer centers around America to be used by breast cancer patients during treatment.
To help get the word out, FRESCHETTA sent me a coupon for a free pizza ( we had the Classic Supreme) which came in handy after an especially hectic day and no clue what was for dinner! They also sent two pair of PROUD TO SUPPORT PINK earphones, one for me to keep and one to share with a friend.

But the best part is that they’re also giving me the opportunity to give one of my readers the same kit.

• A coupon for a FREE FRESCHETTA pizza of your choice (12 oz or larger)
• One pair of PROUD TO SUPPORT PINK earphones for you
• One pair to share with a BFF or family member

You can enter to win as follows (leave a comment for each thing you do) :

• Be or become a follower of The Answer Is Chocolate blog
• Share this giveaway on Twitter
• Share this giveaway on Facebook

The giveaway will run through Sunday October 23. I also designed this printable which is yours for the downloading:

And ladies, if you’re of an age where mammograms are a part of your life, DON’T put them off! All of us, self exams regularly!
While this is a sponsored giveaway, all opinions expressed are mine.

BFF Open House Link Party #23 and BFF Kissed By A Frog!

First Friday in October! YOWZA! Halloween, Harvest, and Fall ideas are in abundance in the blogosphere. Can’t wait to see what you’ve all been up to since last Friday!

This week, I’d like to introduce you to Jenni from Kissed By A Frog! Isn’t that a cute blog name? Jenni is one of the sweetest most supportive bloggers around. And creative too! The first project of hers I remember, and which is still one of my faves is this adorable hooded shark towel:

Trust me, this pic doesn’t do it justice. You have to see the whole tutorial to appreciate the detail.
Recently, Jenni’s been busy on a multi-post mega craft room makeover. I have asked her when she’ll be over to do mine! You can see the whole room here but here’s a peek:

And you’ve got to see the most adorable baby shower! Bumble bee themed and so cute! Mmmmmm cupcakes!

Onesie Garland!

How cute is this?

Diaper Wreath! 

Jenni also hosts a weekly link party every Thursday.And she’s got a whole section of her blog devoted to her love of Rustoleum! You will have a fun time visiting Jenni I promise!

OK now for this week’s party! The only rules are, if you made it yourself link it. Please link to your specific post and not your main page and while not a rule rule, won’t you go visit a couple other BFFs?

Easy SPOOKY Banner…

See, I already had to make one more Halloween decoration. Who am I kidding? Like it will be the last one!

I generated the letters using my PrintShop Deluxe program, printed on cream cardstock, cut out and then went around the edges with black ink.

Mounted each letter onto glittered gold cardstock and then added these cute squiggle brads (also glittered) from Recollections @ Michaels.

Time to embellish! Remember this glittery stuff I used on my repurposed dress wreath?

I got that out again and embellished each letter:

using this awesome double sided Elmer’s glue pen. I love this thing!

Cut out the banner shapes from DCWV’s “Ghosts and Goblins” stack using my Cricut .  I also used it to cut out the circle and sunburst shaped pieces from the scrap cardstock. Inked the edges of the circles ( I was going for a grungy look so I wasn’t especially careful) and then finished off with glittered pumpkins! These are also from Recollections @ Michaels…a package of 12 ( I still have orange and brown) that were 2 packs for $3.

Linking Up At:

Reverse Trick or Treat: Mid-Term Survival Kit

It didn’t take long to learn that college kids are different from high school kids in that silly fun things are not embarrassing ( within reason!) and are appreciated.  Away from home, they  love to receive packages!  I always had fun making stuff for either class parties or as he got older, friend parties,  but what to do this year with him not home?
Thus “Reverse Trick or Treat” was conceived! And, since October is mid-term time for him and a few of his best friends, I combined the two.
You might remember the altered candles I did for graduation party favors. I had some supplies left over and found the cutest self adhesive metal “Monster Head” stickers by Jolee’s Boutique.

The instructions on how to make these are in the graduation post. I printed “Trick or Treat” on the candle wrappers and adhered the stickers. Then wrapped each one in a clear cello bag:

Then when I was at the grocery store one day I saw a pack of kids bubbles. I thought this would be a good way to represent “blowing off steam”. But these bottles just screamed to be altered!

Wrapped each bottle with Canvas Corp’s black and white harlequin paper and went over it with “Smash” tape. Then used “Poison” labels  from Recollections at Michaels. These definitely needed to be wrapped in case of leakage.

Of course college kids need sugar! I found this cute idea on Pinterest which is from The Idea Room: Mummy Candy Bars!

Super easy ! Giant candy bars ( they were 2 for $3 @ Target); googly eyes and white crepe paper streamer from Dollar Tree. Go to The Idea Room for the full tute! Also included a bag of Halloween mini-candies ( chocolate of course!)
Still with me?

These are some of the miscellaneous things I included in the kits. Stretchy skeletons and pumpkin noise makers ( Michaels). Halloween Pez dispenser. And see those cute Whisker Graphics bags?! I actually did one set of full “kits” for son and 4 friends, but his school has this thing called sponsor groups where they put kids together in a dorm like a built in family in groups of 10-12, so I did a box of goodies (minus the bubbles, and candles) for them.
Used the Whisker Graphics bags for those , sealed with these:

One bag / tag for each of the 12 “spiblings” (yes that’s what they really call each other!) and their two sponsors ( upper classmen who show them the ropes).
The final individual kits:

And here’s the cheesy sign I included in each of the 5 kit boxes:

“Zombie Apocalypse and Mid Term Survival Kit”

Several college campuses have recently been playing a campus wide game of Zombies vs Humans so I thought I’d play on that. Plus, after mid terms, they may feel like zombies!

Linking Up At: 

 

I Think I’m Finished Decorating!

For Halloween. At least I think so. I mean people keep coming up with such inspiring ideas and there are some great link parties like this one at A Fish Who likes Flowers

Or this one at Midwestern Sewing Girl:

So Mr. Chocolate, if you read this….NO PROMISES! But for now, I’ve got my halls decked…er haunted. Last year I started muting my color palette which I continued this year:

Mantel:

Mr. Chocolate knows me well and got me the the WIcked Witch ornament from The Wizard of Oz collection early enough for Halloween  

Powder Room:

My Spider Web Glass block now lit up!

An eerily realistic looking skull (sun made for a bad pic) I picked up at Big Lots for $2, He’s wearing the hat that yes, thank you very much, I did wear all around Disneyland!

Where else do you keep glow in the dark skulls if not in an apothecary jar?

Coffee Table

“I’m dreaming of a White…..Halloween” Mr. C. strikes again surprising me after Christmas last year with these cute ceramic luminaries he found at a store that was closing.

Blown glass pumpkins we found out of season on a trip somewhere. A wooden pumpkin cut out that I painted and lettered years ago.

Bears

My husband’s dad gave us this antique piece which came from my late mother-in-law’s family. My mother in law loved Starbucks, and these are some of the Harvest / Halloween bears they’ve had over the years. Thought it was the perfect place for them !

Thanks for coming on my little tour! Off to check off some other things I might have to add!