To Do Tuesday-Fall Bucket List

Welcome to another new feature called "To Do Tuesday."  I thought every so often I would bring you some FUN "to do" lists!  We get so bogged down with the not so fun stuff of holidays that we often forget to do the fun stuff!

Today I am bringing you a Fall Bucket List.  When I made plans to write this blog back in late October, we had temps in the low 80's.  But today our temps dipped 40 degrees and it feels more like winter.  Oh well, that's Texas for you!  Since it is technically not winter yet, I will carry on with my fall list of fun things to do!  We just might need to bundle up a bit more.

After Halloween, it feels like everyone goes into Christmas overdrive.  Stores have the Christmas decor up and pushing their black Friday sales already!!  But what about the rest of fall?  What about Thanksgiving? This is the time of year to really enjoy the things around you...little things around you.  Leaves changing color, cooler temps that allow for a night around the fire pit, and "awesomely" ( yes I may have made that word up) cozy sweaters are just a few of those things.  The list I made contains things you could do AFTER Halloween has passed.  It will help pass the time for those that go into Christmas mode on November 1st.  Sorry it is not in a cute download but you could easily type this up or write it out on a chalkboard!

FALL BUCKET LIST:

1. Make homemade apple cider

2.  Make a pumpkin dessert-pie, fudge, french toast, bread, etc.

3.  Buy (or make) a new cozy sweater.  If you can knit, more power to you!!

4.  Go on a leaf hunt with the kids.  Bring the leaves you find home and make a craft.  Talk about the different shapes, what trees they came from and the colors.

5.  Pick pecans!!! Then make a yummy dessert!

6.  Go on a hayride.

7.  Builld a fire outside-either a bonfire or in your small fire pit.  Then roast marshmellows for s'mores!

8. TAILGATE!!  Hello, this is prime football weather!!

9.  Clean out toys, clothes, etc now and donate to a shelter.

10.  Make a grateful jar.  Each day add something you are grateful for.  (Tomorrow's blog will have ours.)

Our family has already checked off a few of these.  Last  Friday, the kiddos spent the afternoon at Nana's picking AND cracking pecans.  I might try to steal some before my mom uses them all!

                 

I was hoping to make this list family oriented and kid friendly for the most part.  We get so busy (and I use that term loosely because we are not that "busy" to spend time with family) and don't appreciate the little things in life.  This list is meant to slow you down and make you appreciate little things.

Happy Fall Y'all!

Hugs y'all,
LSG

Make It Monday-Well, Hello Fall!!

Welcome to the very first Make It Monday on the blog!!  At least one Monday a month, I plan on bringing a completely easy and fun DIY project.

Today I wanted to share my DIY fall wreath. I sadly had to take down my Halloween wreath November 1st.  My door just looked plain and that just can't happen.  Unacceptable!  I "shopped" my house first to find "wreath making materials."  I found an empty 8x10 frame in my daughter's room (she wasn't using it!).  It was pink so I got out my handy dandy gold spray paint.  Our  french doors are painted "heartthrob red" so the gold complimented nicely.  I found some small pumpkins at the dollar store (which was one buy 1 get one 50%-after Halloween sale score!).  I got 3 but only used 2 for the wreath.  One came in a metallic  orange color which was not bad.  The other was a metallic lime green...not the look I was going for...yes, it got gold spray paint too!  Hobby Lobby had their "fall decor" 50% off (or maybe 40%, I don't remember) and I NEEDED a vine of leaves to go around my frame.  Once all I got all the goodies home, I glued them to my frame.  It looked cute but it was missing something.  Then it hit me...MONOGRAM!! I added a cute little "W" (painted in red) to the bottom corner of the wreath.  I used some orange glittery ribbon I had bought on sale to make the hanger.  I LOVE IT!!!  I am not sure why I have never used a frame before...but I may never go back to a round wreath again!!  For less than $10, I have a wreath that is personalized and adorable!!  It accents my door beautifully.  I did not take any "before" pictures but here is my "after" picture that I took this morning before walking out the door.

       

There you have it!  An easy wreath that can go up in September with your fall decorations and come down in November after Thanksgiving!

Happy Crafting!!

Hugs y'all,

LSG 

Today I partied at www.reasonstoskipthehousework.com

 

10 Tips Tuesday- 10 Quick Halloween Decorations

It's 3 days before Halloween and you have no decorations up?!  I am afraid I don't understand where you are coming from since mine have been up since the end of September.  Each week I added more stuff (mostly from the great store of everything is $1!)  Anyways, I have complied some great cheap ideas to instant "Hallloween" to your house.

1.  Spider Webs:  You can go about this two ways.  1) Don't dust or vaccuum your house all year and you should be set next year! or if you prefer a clean house, 2) buy some bags of the fake cobwebs from your local dollar store or discount store.  It's easy to put up and takes no time at all!  I stretched our across the fireplace in the living room.  We have a big brick fireplace that was perfect especially since the fireplace isn't used in Texas until at least Christmas.  Mine did not come with spiders so I bought some big ones, spray painted them gold and stuck them in the web.

2.  Lights:  I use lights every chance I get.  I have a 100 count orange strand stretched across our fireplace under the spider webs. There's a strand of bat lights hanging across a family heriloom.  Mulitple little battery powered sets are all around the house.  Most of the 10 count battery powered ones I got at Dollar Tree this year!!  There was a skeleton set in a picture for Friday Favorites a couple of weeks ago.

3.  Plastic Skulls and Skeletons: I seriously became obsessesed with these this year!!  I spray painted all of mine!  At one time, I had 3 gold skulls (the sweet pup ate one).  I did my kitchen in black, white, silver/grey theme centered around the table runner I made.  So I have 2 skeleton hands that are silver.  I got them all at Dollar Tree!!

4.  Creepy Fabric:  I used this stuff everywhere!!  There are pieces draped across family heirlooms, coffee/sofa tables I even hung some on my porch!  Again, it all came from the Dollar Tree!  I bought the dark grey and black colors.

5.  Easy Bunting:  This was my first attempt at bunting.  I love it and have already decided to use some of my fabric scraps for Thanksgiving and Christmas ones.  You can buy the pre-cut triangles at most craft stores.  I heat pressed "EEK" on mine.  You can use stencils and paint (I am just not that good with stencils!) I then hot glued the triangles to ribbon I bought at the dollar store.  See how easy that it is?!  See the picture above...that's the one I made!

6.  Pumpkins:  Seriously?!  The easiest of all!  Go the grocery store, home improvement store, craft stores... everyone has pumpkins!!  I like to use real pumpkins.  Get them in all shapes and colors.  I even found a couple of black glitter pumpkins in the dollar bin at Target back in September.

7.  Free Printables!!  I made some of my own.  But I also visited several blogs and found super cute ones that I could just print and frame.  Some of my favorites came from "Tatertots and Jello" and "Yellow Bliss Road."  

8.  Candles:  Again super easy!  We all have them.  I use a mix of scented, non-scented and battery powered.  I like to light candles at night and turn off all the lights in the room.  The ambiance of the candle glow just makes me feel warm and fuzzy (on 85 degree "fall" nights).  Make sure to get pumpkin scented or something that reminds you of fall!  Right now I have candy corn scented candles!!

9.  Witch's Hat:  I bought a couple of cute ones.  If you have a chair or bench on yor porch, hang the hat on the back of it (or sit it in the chair).  You  can add a witch's broom and it looks like a well-mannered witch came over to visit!

10.  Paper Silhouettes:  You can buy pre-cut ones, have the kids cut them out or use your paper cutting machine.  I found a pack of 15 pre-cut spiders at The Dollar Tree and taped them to our front porch doors.  It looks like a pack of giant spiders are parading across the french doors.  You cut out bats and place them in the windows. 

                         

Friday's 5 Favorites: Cute Pumpkins with No Carving!

Carving a pumpkin is not everyone's cup of tea. It's gross, messy, time-consuming, and, if you don't like pumpkins, it stinks! But it's fall and there is some unwritten rule that I need cute pumpkins in my house (Pinterest pressured again!) My dear sweet lab (yes there's sarcasm there) keeps eating my pumpkins outside so I needed some small ones inside. As much as I love white pumpkins, they need a little pizazz too.  I worked this week on decorating a few to add to my extensive Halloween set up in the house.  Here's what I came up with.

1.  MONOGRAM PUMPKIN:

This might be my favorite!!!  I painted this pumpkin with chalkboard paint.  You can spray paint it any color; I just liked the look of chalkpaint.  I spray painted a wooden "W" with gold spray paint.  Once everything was dry, I took my glue gun to adhere the "W".  This pumpkin is sitting on our bench on the front porch.  LOVE IT!!

                  

   

2.  SPRAY PAINT AND PEARLS:

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my Halloween color scheme in the living room-black, cream and gold.  I took the small pumpkins (also called gourds) and spray painted them gold.  Once it dried, I took my glue gun and some flat backed pearls, and went to town! I love the way it turned out!!!  I have a few more fake pumpkins that are about to get the same treatment! Seriously it took longer for these babies to dry than it did to decorate them.

                       

3.  WASHI TAPE:

Another easy 5 minute pumpkin idea the kids could do!  I found a pack of turquoise colored washi tape at Hobby Lobby on sale.  Since our sitting room off the kitchen is brightly colored, I added a few bright, non-traditional Halloween colored items like lime green skull head.  This pumpkin would fit perfectly in that room once done.  I chose a white pumpkin (the only one the dog did not completely eat!). I started my strip of washi tape at the stem and went down toward the bottom of the pumpkin.  I did this all the way around with different strips.  My pack came with chevron, polkadots and a solid turquoise roll.  I added a gold bow to the top.

                             

4.  RIBBON:

This pumpkin is so easy, a monkey could do it.  I used another pie pumpkin since I was putting it on the mantel.  I bought to two spools of ribbon in black and gold.  One ribbon was wider than the other so that I could layer them.  I wrapped the wide ribbon around the pumpkin and hot glued it to the back.  I took the thin ribbon (polkadots!!) and wrapped it around the gold ribbon, making sure that stayed in the middle of the gold ribbon.  I put a few sporadic dots of hot glue to hold the thin ribbon.  That's it!!  I did add a bow around the stem to hide it a little.

       

5.  PUSHIPNS:

The last super easy , non-carving alternative is to use pushpins (or thumbtacks).  I found a box of 100 at Hobby Lobby by the counter.  I took my last white pumpkin and stuck pins every place I could.  I started with a pattern but that got out of control quick.  It gives it a nice polkadot effect.  And we know how much I LOVE polkadots!!!

                           

 

There you have it folks!  5 alternatives to carving pumpkins that won't break the bank or take up an entire weekend!  Most of these ideas that kiddos can do too!!  Just be careful with the glue gun!  Then when you are done, enjoy the pumpkin recipes from Wednesday and the Cheesecake Pumpkin Martini from yesterday's post!  Happy Friday friends!

Hugs y'all!

LSG

   

   

 

Thirsty Thursday-Pumpkin Anonymous

Is there such a thing?  You would think so right? I would suspect that a meeting might go similar to this:

Suzie:  Hi, I'm Suzie.  I am addicted to pumpkin.  I drink 3 PSL a day.  And my sandwich is made with pumpkin bread. AND a side of pumpkin pie.

Group:  Welcome Suzie.

Well, in celebration of pumpkin week on the blog, I am bringing a delicious pumpkin drink.  No, it is not the copycat version of a Pumpkin Spice Latte. I would say this one is better-it has alcohol!!  I found this Pumpkin Cheesecake Martini  recipe over at A Beautiful Mess.   I can't wait to make this drink to go with the pumpkin recipes from yesterday's blog!
  The grocery list is pretty simple. I posted the grocery list here but the "how to" is in the link.
You need:
Vanilla Vodka
Pumpkin SPice Syrup (she has a recipe for it)
Puumpin Pie Filling
Half and Half
Vanilla Extract
Ground Cinnamon
Sugar
Jello Cheesecake pudding mix
Whipped Cream

Doesn't that look yummy?!  Imagine sitting on the couch (after the kids have gone to bed) with one of these and some pumpkin pie fudge... (see Wednesday's blog).  Yea, if you need me tomorrow night, you know where to find me.

                         

Hope you enjoy your thirsty Thursday!!

Hugs y'all,

LSG

 

Wonder Woman Wednesday- 5 Pumpkin Recipes to Get You Ready for Fall

Fall in Texas is usually a privilege.  It is not a given that just because the calendar flips to October, that cooler temps will move in.  Sometimes we go straight from summer to winter in a couple of days.  This week we have been able to enjoy cool mornings (55-65 degrees) and pleasant afternoons (low to mid 80's).  I guess you could call that our fall.  This is the time of year that I start looking for new things to bake.  After a good search and review, I think I have found some that I can't wait to try out!! These are for all you pumpkin addicts out there!!

PUMPKIN SEEDS:

If you follow my blog, you know that we carved a pumpkin on Tuesday.  My little guy insisted that we cook the pumpkin seeds.  So that is just what we did tonight! First, we cleaned the seeds and let them soak for about 10 minutes.  I covered a cookie sheet with foil and spread the seeds out on it.  We drizzled EVOO over the seeds and sprinkled sea salt on them.  The seeds cooked for 15 minutes at 325 degrees.  You  could cook for less time (maybe 10 minutes) for less crispy.  But my family liked the crispier seeds (and I forgot the seeds in the oven while I was decorating pumpkins outside!!)

           

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE MUFFINS:

If you combine anything with cheesecake, I am there!!  I found these yummy looking muffins over at Sally's Baking Addiction These are going to be on my weekend menu for breakfast.

                

Pumpkin Pie Fudge:

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!  You had me at fudge!! This great little recipe would be perfect for a fall party or Thanksgiving!  Holiday Cottage Page had this tasty recipe on their page.  It makes 56 servings!!

              

 

CREAM CHEESE PUMPKIN BREAD:

This is another yummy one I cannot wait to try!  I love a good bread but when you add cream cheese, even better!!  Eat Cake for Dinner has several great pumpkin bread recipes.

                        

 

PUMPKIN FRENCH TOAST BAKE:

I love this one for Thanksgiving morning!!  Seriously thinking about putting it on the menu that morning.  I don't make french toast very often but with all the great recipes floating around, I have several I want to try out on my family.  The Minimalist Bakerdefinitely scored big with this one!!  Can't wait to serve it up for breakfast this weekend!!

                 

Grab a pencil and paper to make that grocery list!  You have new recipes to try out!

Hugs y'all!

LSG

"What did I Miss?" Saturday

It's been a week since I have returned to the blogging world.  When I started this blog, I had names/ideas for each day. During my blog break, I decided I wanted to reformat some things.  I wanted to add more DIY stuff, more recipes, and  more ideas to make our lives easier.   Make up Monday may change from time to time and become Mom Monday or Make It Monday (craft projects). I am hoping that the new ideas will work and make people want to read this blog. Feel free to leave comments letting me know what you think about a particular post! 

What Did I Miss Saturday is coming to you today as a recap of the week.  We have a giveaway going on too!!!  You  didn't miss much on Monday.  I introduced the ginger behind the blog to our new readers and followers.  Tuesday was by far the most popular post of the week!!  My daughter and I had the chance to stay in a shabby chic camper for a girls' nght out. We were the first ones to try it out!  Wednesday was simple Halloween cookies that were cute and tasty!  Thursday  had a recipe for caramel apple cider.  It is delicious!! Make sure to check out the individual blogs for details.

                

Make sure to visit Friday's post and enter the FIRST giveaway for the blog!!  You could win store credit, a custom koozie, LSG leather tassel earrings and some fall goodies!  Have a happy Saturday!!

Hugs y'all!

LSG

         

Friday Favorites-Falll in Love with Fall Giveaway!!

Lone Star Ginger is proud to annouce the blog's very FIRST giveaway!!  I started out small with a few of my favorite fall things.

       

           

1.  Custom Koozie:  With the weather cooling down, there's nothing worse than your hand going numb from the crisp air and a cold drink!  Your koozie comes with either a Texas (or your home state)or Star and a monogram.

2.  Black Leather Tassel Earrings:  My new favorite product in the Etsy store!!  Black is perfect for Halloween.

3.  Gold Owl Salt and Pepper Shakers:  Seriously....these are so cute, I bought myself a set. Owls are perfect for the fall and the gold just adds  "bling" to your table.

4.  Pumpkin Cupcake Hand Sanitizer:  Cold and flu season will be here before you know it!  Here in Texas, we are on "Ebola" watch espcially if you live close to the Dallas area.  Quick easy way to kick germs to the curb!!  Plus it smells good!

5.  I just added some cute ribbon beause I liked them!  I used some of this same ribbons around my house.  The orange has black polkadots....so cute!!  

AND a $10 store credit to LSG boutique!!!!

Now that you have the run down on the goodies, be sure to enter!!!  Good luck friends!!

Hugs y'all,

LSG 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thirsty Thursday-Add A Little Spice to Your Fall

                                              

                      

                     

With the chilly mornings we have been having lately, it puts me in the mood for the popular coffee chain's warm drinks.  However, I have been little bothered with their menu lately.  It's wonderful that the pumpkin spice drink is back.  I am so happy for the people that get their drink back.  But what if you're not the pumpkin spice type?  What if you are the simple girl who just really wants a tall caramel apple spice cider?  I understand there are not very many of "us" around.  The ones that order the drink as is...not extra whipped, not with skinny milk but extra sugar, not with 2.73 oz of creamer...AS IS! When fall comes around, I want my apple cider, not the pumpkin spice thing that everyone is drinking.  I don't like pumpkin that much!

Since my yummy apple cider is not on the menu yet, I will just have to make my own! And just maybe, I will add a touch of vodka to really spice up my day!  The grocery list is pretty simple: A jug of apple cider (makes multiple cups), brown sugar, ground cinnamon, whipped topping and caramel sauce.

                   

                     

Steps for making a single cup of caramel apple cider:

1.  Heat 1 1/2 cups of apple cider in a small sauce pan.  I made sure not to boil mine; just heat it.

2.  While the pan is still on the heat, add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.  Stir well, making sure the brown sugar dissolves.  Before removing from the heat, add a pinch of cinnamon.

3.  After adding the cinnamon, stir one last time really well.

4.  Pour the cider into a mug.  Add a scoop of whipped cream and drizzle caramel sauce over it.

I made some to go with my dinner tonight.  My kids were stealing sips while I made their plates!  So after dinner, the kids got their own small cup (and a promise to make more this weekend!).  I am thinking the next time I make a cup for me, I made add a dash of caramel flavored vodka.  I did not have any on hand tonight.  If I give it a try, then I will let you know how it is.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!!

Hugs y'all!

LSG