Happy Halloween from Vanellope von Schweets!!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Vanellope Von Schweetz Costume: Part 3

 

Happy Halloween everyone!!  Here's the final piece of my costume that I actually did myself.  (Other pieces are a brown skirt and green and white stockings I had/bought as is) For Part 1 & 2 of my costume blog post check them out here:

Vanellope Von Schweetz Costume Part 1
Vanellope Von Schweetz Costume Part 2

My $7 find at Good Will.  $7 is actually a bit pricey for a frugal unemployed person like me, but I figured it's not going to be just a costume.  It's going to be an investment for winter so it's not bad.  Love love love the color.  I was so excited when I saw this on the rack at Good Will.

It took me 2 evenings to pull the stitching off the GAP letters but it was well worth it!  After a good wash the sweater is good to go.

Pulled out some ribbon that I had and sewed it on and all done!

Final costume picture of everything to come shortly!  Putting everything on right now to get ready for the trick or treaters to come by tonight.

~~~

UPDATE: I used a seam ripper to pull the stitching off of the GAP letters.  Just flip the sweater inside out and start "ripping" the threads.  The front lettering will come loose as you rip more stitches off.  Alternate between ripping the stitches on the inside and the outside but be careful not to rip the actual sweater.  Hope that helps.

Vanellope Von Schweetz Costume: Part 2

Candy Hair Clips

Here's the pin that was pinned on the Vanelope von Schweetz board: http://pinterest.com/pin/147422587773391960/

This blog post is my own little tutorial on how to make a candy hair pins with actual candy pieces.  I know these items will not have a long life of use beyond this Halloween and the movie night, but I really wanted to use real candy pieces to give my Halloween costume that nice little extra wow factor. 

• Felt
• Bobby pins
• Candy! I used Smarties, Skittles, Spearmint Candy
• Sealer (I used Martha Stewart Decoupage Glue & Sealer with Brush - bought it with a 50% off coupon at Michael's :D)
• Hot Glue gun

Vanellope von Schweetz Costume: Part 1

Photo Credit: Disney's Wreck-it-Ralph

So I'm pretty excited for Disney's Wreck-it-Ralph coming to theaters November 2.  A Disney movie about video games?  Yes please.  :)  So after watching a few trailers I decided that for my actual Halloween costume I'm going to be Venelope Von Schweetz!  I'm also planning to reuse the costume for opening night at the movies.

While looking around I actually discovered that someone has made a Pintrest board for this costume!  http://pinterest.com/brermatt/vanellope-von-schweetz-costume-wreck-it-ralph/  Great ideas on the board, but just looking around online for a sweater everything seemed to be out of my price range so I decided to rely on my good ol neighborhood Goodwill.  I also put my own little personal touches on the costume.  The next couple of post will be dedicated to how I put together my halloween costume.  Almost must apologize since the camera ran out of battery and I took most of these photos with my phone.  Hope you enjoy the read regardless.

Candy Cane Nails using The Beauty Department's Tape Trick 

Pin Rating: 3

Duration: 30-40 min

• Painters tape
• Wet n Wild White nail polish (.97 cents)
• Wet n Wild Clear Coat (.97 cents)

Remember my red nails from last week?  I decided to repurpose them into candy cane nails to go with my costume.  So I believe this is my first 3 pin rating.  I'm not sure if it was the nail polish, the tape or just my nail polishing skills, but the final results came out a little runny and the lines weren't clean.  It's possible that it could have been a little bit of everything but I'm satisfied with the overall results for my Halloween costume.

I cut up tiny strips of painters tape and lined them up where I wanted them on my nails.

Paint the nail with the white nail polish.  Wait about a minute and peel off the tape.

And after that touch up and top coat and you're done!

Click below for Part 2 & 3 of my costume.

Vanellope Von Schweetz Costume Part 2

Vanellope Von Schweetz Costume Part 3

Bedazzled Pumpkin!

There's only 5 more days until Halloween!  Today's Fast & Simple Friday post is a bedazzled pumpkin.  I got pinspired by this pin here.  There were plenty of other ways to bedazzle and dress up the pumpkin but this one seemed the easiest.  The original pin used a crystal gemstone sticker design which would have been way faster than my method: Glitter glue!  I had some glitter glue laying around after my DIY Spider Web blog so decided to put it to good use.  The pumpkin is still drying so I don't have a final product photo yet.

Pin Rating: Seeing as how this isn't an original project on pintrest, you be the judge :)

• Pumpkin
• Glitter glue (Crayola Glittler glue highly recommended)

The pumpkin my sister brought home from Safeway.  It has a nice layer of dirt on it that needs to be washed off.

Shower time for the pumpkin.  Nice and clean after a good scrub.  Then I let it sit outside to dry for a bit.

No Flour Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Original Pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/231724343298425850/

Pin Rating: 4.5

Duration: 1 hour

I pinned this because it was a nice healthy alternative breakfast muffin with no flour in it.  It does have sugar but it can be substituted with apple sauce or honey.  This recipe was easy to follow, easy to make and not to mention delicious to eat!  Half of the muffins were gobbled up before I even had the chance to blog about them.  The only reason I gave this a 4.5 was because it does take some time out of your day to prep and bake them.  So if you have the time these are great to make.  Beats making breakfast every morning.  :)

By the way, did anyone notice that I'm no longer posting the original Pintrest pictures in my blog?  I found it a little confusing so from here on out I'll be posting my final product photos at the top of the blog post and then linking the original pin somewhere.  Don't like the new format?  Leave me a comment to let me know. Thanks!~

Ingredients

• 2 ½ Cup oats (old fashioned, not quick cooking)
• 1 single serving (or 1 cup) of plain low fat greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sweetener of choice, I used sugar 
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda (not pictured)
• 2 bananas
• Muffin baking tin (Note from Keeping up with the Joneses blog: The paper liners don't work well when baking with a base that does not include flour, they always seem to stick to the paper. I sprayed the muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or you can use foil cupcake liners or a silicone muffin pan.)
• Cooking spray (with flour is a plus!
• Blender (I only had a food processor and it seemed to work fine)
• Preheat the oven to 400° (Bake 20-25 minutes)

RED nails and RED lips! Inspired by Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift's new album RED comes out today.  Went to Target to pick up my copy this morning and I LOVE it!  I tried to look for some Pinspiration to honor Taylor Swift and what better way than red??  I searched on Pintrest for "Red nails" and the most popular pin was "Red lips and red nails" so figured hey why not, Red Lips are what she's known for right?  Love the combination and how it turned out.  Too bad I don't have anywhere exciting to go tonight but I must admit I'm enjoying myself sitting here blogging and listening to her album (doing a happy dance inside).  Will definitely have to load the songs onto my iPod before I hit the gym tonight.

• Cover Girl Outlast All Day (#572) + Lip Gloss
• NYC Nail Polish: 131 Big Apple Red Creme (0.97 + tax)
• Wet n Wild Wild Shine Clear Nail Protector (0.97 + tax)

For touch up

• Nail Polish Remover
• Eye Liner brush

Since I was at Target already I decided to pick up the nail polish since I don't own any red nail polish. (Gasp!  I know!)  The Cover Girl Outlast All Day Lip stain was something I purchased about a year ago and looking around online just now, they no longer have #572 but they do have #507 Ever Red-dy which is probably what replaced it.  I also own the #590 Faint Hue and I love love love both of these.  I'll admit I went into Target and bought these because Taylor Swift is a Cover Girl and always has the red lips that pop and I wanted the same effect. I picked up the red for the nights I'm feeling a little bold and the fainter color for the every day occasion.  And it really does last a long time!  I forgot to check the price while I was at Target but I think it's worth it and this is a purchase I would definitely make again once I run out.

I don't have too many pictures since it's hard to take photos while your nails are still wet.  Also I figured this isn't a proper pin to actually rate since everyone's level of applying nail polish is different.  This is probably just one of those things that I will say is just Simply Pinspirational.  :)  Happy Monday!

Nyan Cat Saturday!

Hi everyone, it's time for Cat Saturday!!  Does anyone else here read theCHIVE and look forward to Cat Saturdays??  My boyfriend showed the site to me a while back and for a while we made a habit of waking up on Saturday mornings and logging on to see if the Cat Saturday post was up or not.  Haven't done it in a long time now but I thought the title of today's post was fitting since I have a Nyan cat picture up on my post.  (Anyways, here's a link to today's Cat Saturday post for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about.)  So today's post is a little different because I have a big announcement to make.  I've opened up my very own Etsy shop!!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SimplyPinspirational

The Nyan cat keychain that you see is something that I've recently made and decided to start selling online.  I figured with all the crafty things that I have been doing in the past, and will have time to do in the future, I should just go ahead and put it on Etsy and if they sell.  If they do, then great....If not, it's still going to be a lot of fun learning to make some of these items and offer them up for sale.  :D  I only have the Nyan cat keychain up for now, but hoping to have a lot more items posted within the next couple of weeks.  Sooo excited!  Please check out my shop and follow me on Twitter (@pinspirational) for more updates!

Tater Tot Casserole

http://pinterest.com/pin/165296248794584047/

Pin Rating: 3.5

Prep Time: 30-45 min

Cook Time: 45 min

Helped my sister out with dinner on Friday night and changed the original recipe for this breakfast casserole with healthier ingredients and items we had in the fridge. The results of the casserole was tasty but by following the assembly instructions from the website I feel like it could have been assembled better.  I'll put in the instructions I used below and my suggestions for changes if you're planning to attempt this yourself.  I also added in chopped onions and bellpepers per my sister's request.  If you're not great with a knife in the kitchen you can forego this section and it'll cut the prep time in half.

• Ground pork, breakfast sausage, ham or bacon  (I used ground breakfast sausage)
• 2-4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 cups milk
• 4 eggs ( I used 3 eggs and 3 egg yolks since my sister had egg yolks left over from her most recent cake bake)
• 2 lbs of frozen tater tots ( Used 1 bag of sweet potato tots)
• 1/2 bell peper
• 1/2 onion
• Casserole dish

Washed the bell pepper and chop off the top.  Next you want to take out the "pit" of the bell pepper and toss that out.  Helps if you just slice off the pieces connecting the center (shown in picture above).

Cut the bell pepper in half.  As tempting as it may be to lay the bell pepper skin up, it's actually easier to cut it with the skin (outside) facing the cutting board.  Then cut the bell pepper into tiny slivers.  Once you cut them into slivers, continue to cut/chop them into squares.

DIY Wipe Off Weekly Menu Boards

http://pinterest.com/pin/231724343298381043/

http://www.makeandtakes.com/wipe-off-weekly-menu-board

Pin Rating: 5
Duration: 2 mins
Cost: $1.30-$2.00

I'm a little under the weather today so that might reflect my blog post today.  Going to make this one a short and simple post so I can get back to bed and take a nap.  :)  So this pin request is from my sister to help her organize the weekly menus in the house.  She showed me the pin and I think it's a great idea.  It helps to do the grocery shopping at the beginning of the week and then plan the meals for the rest of the week.  Every day I usually ask her what's for dinner and what should I do to help with prep work.  Now that we have this nifty white board she can now update it weekly with any prep instructions for myself and her husband to see so that we can help start dinner for that evening, and everyone's on the same page.

• 8" x 10" glass pane (important that it's glass pane) picture frame from the Dollar Store
• Scrapbook paper of your preferred design.  I picked mine up from Michael's and they had papers ranging from .29 to 1.99 sold by the single sheet.   Make sure the paper matches the size of your frame.
• Dry erase marker (not pictured above)
• Possibly some scissors  and a pen(not pictured above)

DIY Autumn Holiday Wreath for $3

 

http://pinterest.com/pin/231724343298389048/

Pin rating: 5
Duration: 15-20 min
Cost: $3.00

Granted the pinspiration and final product don't look exactly alike, but sometimes you're inspired to do something of a similar sort and not to make an exact replica of what you see.  And the results still look great!  After seeing the holiday decorations on the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland (and not to mention my sister repeatedly asking for a holiday wreath for our door) I knew I could use it for inspiration for a wreath for our home.  I really  loved the bow on the Haunted Mansion decoration and was aiming to make something similar.  Since I'm on an unemployed budget I knew the dollar store was where I would have to go to find my inspiration.  When I walked into the dollar store I was looking for any sort of material that I can make a holiday wreath and I actually saw them well stocked with Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas decorations!  I decided to go with an autumn theme instead of a Halloween and/or Thanksgiving wreath.  This way we can keep the wreath up for October & November.  :D

• Grapevine wreath
• "String" of fall colored leaves
• 1 roll Wired ribbon - the wired is a must in my opinion ($ store had 1 roll of 9ft wired ribbon.  I bought 2 just in case but I could have done fine with just 1)
• Hot glue gun & glue sticks

Loop the string of leaves around and through the grapevine circle.  Make sure you wrap it tight so that the leaves don't sag.

Double Rope Braid Bun

 http://pinterest.com/pin/231724343298182755/

Photo credit: The Beauty Department

Pin Rating: 4.5

Duration: ~15-20 min 

Sorry I've been MIA for a week now but I've had quite an exciting weekend.  I've been busy working away on some Halloween Costume for Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland.  In August one of the blogs I follow (Budget Fairy Tale) had a blogiversary giveaway and I was lucky enough to win the free photo shoot with Jenna at White Rabbit Photo Boutique!!!  So I decided it would be a great idea to have the photo shoot in costume at Disneyland!  A couple of friends and my boyfriend and I attended the photo shoot as Haunted Mansion Ballroom dancers.  This hairstyle that I found on Pintrest was the perfect solution to a quick and elegant up-do that the girls can do for the photo shoot.

The pintrest photo does a great job of breaking down the instructions.  I don't have any pictures of the step by steps I did, but I have to admit, it's a little hard to do this one by yourself so I gave it a 4.5 rating.  Also if you have layered hair (which I do) it gets a little bit harder to manage as well.  Luckily I had my friend there to help me so we did each other's hair for the night.

What you'll need:

• Hairspray
• 2 thin hair ties
• 2 small elastic hair ties - black or clear depending on hair color ( I like using Goody's ouchless elastic bands) Note: These small ones should be as big as the width of your fingers.  It will make it easier to tie the ends of your hair.
• Standard sized Bobby pins (if you happen to have larger bobby pins like I was lucky enough to, use them!  They help out a lot)
• Brush

PB + Honey + Banana Tortilla Snack

http://pinterest.com/pin/231724343298238613/

Pin Rating: 4.5

Duration: ~5 min 

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted any updates.  Been working on sewing my Halloween costume and took a mini vacation last weekend so I've been away from the computer.  Here's a quick snack I made for lunch the other day.  Real easy to make and put together assuming you have all the ingredients ready at home.  When I originally saw this pin on Pintrest I thought it was a PB&J banana tortilla.  I was slightly disappointed that it wasn't jelly and actually honey.  Taste wise I guess it makes more sense this way.  However, I did give it a 4.5 because despite all the honey and butter and banana the tortilla taste stood out and was pretty bland to me.  Also lunch got a little messy with the honey and banana wanting to slide out of the tortilla ever so often.

Ingredients are as follows:

• Some sort of buttery spread (PB, almond, sunflower seed...etc)
• Honey
• 2 Small (~6in tortillas)
• 1 banana

Tip: Microwave the tortilla for about 20-30 seconds before you do anything.  This will allow for the tortilla to roll/wrap a lot easier without cracking or breaking.  Then I spread the almond butter on.