Mason Jars, Moss, and Witches: Oh My!

Hello!  What a 'last few months"....
I had to take a few months off....from life...to get myself put back together.  A Series of Unfortunate Events occurred and I quit school.  "OH MY GOODNESS", you should say.   "WHY?" you should ask.  Don't feel bad for me...it was the BEST decision I have made (other than marrying my husband).  The stress of keeping up the grades, the pressure of student teaching and being someone I wasn't, expectations from both the University and the host school for me to look a certain way, act in a particular manner and the fact that I was never allowed to teach the way that would guarantee the students would have fun and learn at the same time was, well, too much!  I snapped.  Had a mental and emotional moment of whatever you want to call it...I had it and made the decision to quit.  Now, I do not advocate quitting...especially when it comes to education.  However, there are times in our lives when we must make a decision on whether to continue into the darkness or save our mental state and move on.  And move on is what I did....and what we're doing.

My husband and I have been reconnecting with each other by spending a lot of time with each other and with our families.  We are having a "Fall-o-ween Party".  This is a combination of a Fall Party and a Halloween Party.  We have been scouring the Internet looking for ideas and we have found a slew of ideas.  Some we are using this year, some we will use in the years to come.

This is one idea that I am doing.  We have one of those canvas gazebo's in our back yard.  I thought these painted mason jars would look great hanging from the inside of the gazebo....just not in blue.  My first attempt turned out not so wonderful.  Good thing these just wash off in hot, soapy water. :)  SO, I am going to try again this evening.  And, I am going to follow the instructions to the letter and pray it works.

We also have made tombstones, with homemade moss that I found here.  I strongly suggest you use the gloves.  This is a really super messy project!  The first time I made it, I didn't use anything but my bare hands and it was a ...well, mess!  The second time, I used the gloves and saved a lot of time scrubbing my hands.  My 6 year old niece helped me on the second batch.  She was not impressed with the 'messy', but loved the effect!

We have hit the Dollar Tree, General Dollar Store, Wal Mart, and of course, Thrift Stores for items we can use in our garden of terror...aptly named "Rose Hallow Garden".  I found a huge plastic cauldron at a Thrift Store for a buck!  YES!  ONE WHOLE DOLLAR!!!!  We found this great tutorial over at Mega Spooky that we are going to use to create our witch for the grave yard.

We have also been helping plan our daughter's baby shower.  I'm in 'charge' of all the decorations...that's another post. :)

Until then, have a wonderful Fall Y'all!