Did you miss anything in August?

It's that time again! Time for me to recap everything that happened this month so you can get all caught up in the world of The Creek Line House!

OK, you caught me. It's not really for you, I started doing these posts mostly just to make myself feel all good and productive about all the things I've done during the month.

But hey, it works!

Before we get into it, do you want to know something crazy? I wrote a whole long post for this, complete with fun and witty commentary (OK, witty for me) and then I lost it. Just closed the tab by accident. Good job, me. (said with sarcasm)

There were a lot of posts this month too. Good job, me! (said with less sarcasm)

Just had to tell you that. OK, let's do this again!

Outdoor posts this month:

Lovely by Chance

A Fern, an Old Flower Pot, and Some Magic

Potential, Sweet Potential

Chris totally ruined my blog post.

A Friendlier Front Door

Easy Fixes

How to Paint Your Fan

Might as well paint that too...

In Kennedy's Room

World's Slowest Gallery Wall

Paper Door Labels

What's so strange about ironing your walls?

Back to School Posts

An Easy Back to School Fantel

What's on my giant kitchen chalkboard right now

Halloween...in August posts

Pottery Barn Kids Inspired Countdown Calendar

Quick and Easy Haunted House Pillow Cover

Pinterest Inspired Halloween Party

I did something a little different this time, did you notice?

Instead of going all chronological and rambling with my recounting of my posts, I organized them into neat little categories. Doesn't that make me seem more like a real grown up? Organization makes me look so much less like a self-serving lunatic and more like I'm just trying to help you navigate and find which posts suit you (my lovely reader) best.

Maybe I'll stick with this format. Or maybe I'll go back to that other way next month. Only time will tell! Oh the suspense!

No?

Anyway, rambling lunatic or not, it was a great month. Hope you found something in there that was fun for you too!





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A Pinterest Inspired Halloween Party... in August

Last week we decided to throw together a little "party" for Kennedy and a couple of her friends. It was a good way to keep them occupied and happy for an afternoon, and since her friends agree that Halloween is the most exciting thing ever and it's totally appropriate to do Halloween crafts 2 and a half month early. That's exactly what we did.

Straight to Pinterest I went! Suddenly I looked like the funnest mom ever. Ha! Got them fooled!

Do you recognize which ideas are the popular Pinterest ideas?

Right. All the good ones.

The soda bottle Jack O Lantern is originally from here.

The fruit cup Jack O Lantern idea is originally from here.

The cute marshmallow ghost bowl is from here.

Gummy bears on a stick. Ooooo. Scary!

We decorated up the dining room to set the mood, but honestly it turned out pretty terrible other than this crepe paper in the arches. A good test run for the real deal. Now I know what not to do.

Of course the whole point of the afternoon was to do some Halloween crafts with the kids.

More Pinterest favorites were done of course. Maybe we'll save that Halloween overload for another day, closer to the actual holiday.

I think three Halloween posts in a row in August are probably enough, don't you?

P.S. If you don't think three Halloween posts in a row in August are enough, you can check out my Halloween Pinterest board to hold you over!







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Quick and Easy Haunted House Pillow Cover

Yup. Another Halloween post comin' at ya! Are you ready for it?

I don't know why I felt like I needed a Halloween themed pillow this year, but I was craving one. I guess this is my new go-to quick-fix easy-peasy solution for those times when you just gotta have an oddly themed silhouette pillow and you gotta have it now. 

Is this normal? Why don't I just crave ice cream or chocolate or something?

I used basically the same technique as I used on Kennedy's Horsey Pillow from a few months ago. 

Flour sack, ribbons, hot glue, old pillow, free image off the net.

Since I chose a little bit of a more complicated silhouette this time, I printed it out onto wax paper and then pressed that (still wet) onto the fabric, rather than attempting to trace it and ruining all my hard(ish) work that I did making the cover.

The color was a bit light, so I still had to go over it with a Sharpie. I didn't screw it up too bad though.

So I got my Halloween pillow! It's possible that I may be considering putting a turkey on the other side too.

If Halloween gets its own themed pillow, we don't want Thanksgiving feeling left out, now do we?


Who would have known this would turn out to be my favorite project this month? Well, it is! I'll be sharing it at Traci's Best of the Month party!







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Pottery Barn Kids-Inspired Halloween Countdown Calendar

OK, so first of all: Yes, this is a Halloween Post. Yes, I know what month it is. Yes, I have a calendar. (That last one was for Chris. His favorite joke lately is "Kennedy, go buy your mom a calendar. So funny, right?)

I'm doing this for you! After you see this, you may possibly get the inkling to make one yourself and now you'll have plenty of time to assemble your materials.

See how nice I am?

 Plus Kennedy and I have been in full-on Halloween gear-up mode for about three weeks now and I couldn't wait any longer!

Now, this is not going to be a post bashing Pottery Barn Kids and their prices. I really love Pottery Barn and would buy everything from them if I could. I often order gifts for others from their website, but when I saw this idea in their latest catalogue, I thought I could make a decent version of their idea with Kennedy and it would be a fun way for us to spend some time together. Plus it cost me like $11 in materials.

This was such a fun project. We picked up some felt in orange, black and white.

The "body" of the haunted house is made up of full-sized felt pieces spaced out with smaller black rectangles. All pieces were attached with hot glue.

The "real" version has a few details that ours doesn't, so we tried to add in a few easy details, like the scalloped edging there, to make it feel a little more special.

Cutting out the pockets was pretty simple, especially since the "inspiration" model had slightly imperfect looking pockets too. It just makes it look more "haunted"!

We cut out a few ghosts, pumpkins, and (the piece de resistance!) a little spider, stuck em' on, and had some instant Halloween fun to hang up anywhere we wanted.

To mimic the different fonts and types of letting and numbering in the inspiration version, we used a mixture of scrap booking stickers and hand-drawn numbers.

Overall, the effect is not too bad!

The time commitment overall was probably about 2 hours spread out over a few days.

Well worth it I'd say to start a new tradition that just may last for years!

Go ahead and start your own new tradition this year too!









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World's Slowest Gallery Wall

I just can't stop fiddling with Kennedy's room. I can't.

I know I said it makes me crazy because of the weird yellow carpet making everything look wrong even when it should like right, but I guess I just love to torture myself.

I guess on the plus side of the matter is that when we actually get all the carpet ripped out of there and the flooring replaced, it will all be pretty much done. Or it will change everything and I'll have to start over.

Oops, there go the heart palpitations again!

I'm kidding. Sorta.

So here's where we're at now.

I added a few more gold frames to the gallery wall over the bed. This time they're empty because that's the cool thing to do now. Or it was the cool thing two years ago and now I'm just getting there. Either way, I like where it's going! It only took me, oh, 5 months to figure out that that's what it needed.

I'm going to add more, kind of like this, to outline and emphasize the ceiling line in the room. And then I may just keep going from there. Who knows! This is a crazy place people, anything could happen! I know you're on the edge of your seat right now. Yes you are.

I also changed up the monogram over the bed a little bit by sticking it on this frame with some burlap in it. It was a little bit because I wanted a cleaner look, but mostly because the letters kept falling off the wall and taking paint with them and it usually just said "mg". Those are actually Kennedy's uncle's initials and, believe it or not, this room just wouldn't suit him.

So Kennedy's full monogram was restored.

 Bonus: They've actually stayed up for three consecutive days now! I love you, hot glue.

OK, a girl can only resist this kind of cozy bed corner design mastery for so long. It's OK, Kennedy, I forgive you for messing up your perfectly made bed right in the middle of my photo shoot. But only cause you're so cute!













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