Happy Halloween

                                          

May you all have a safe and Happy Halloween!
Don't eat too much candy.
See you back here soon!

Quick Note on Hacked Email

Last night I became aware of a few emails that were sent from my email account in which I did not send.  The offending emails were sent out during the time I was at my daughter's doctors appointments to approximately 6 people including one sent to myself.  I believe my email address has been hacked, but at this time I have no further information.  Please accept my apologies and do not attempt to open the email.  I do not know what the link contained is for and would not trust it. As soon as I became aware of the issue I sent emails to all of the persons who were affected to my knowledge.  If you recieved an email from my personal account before todays date, please take caution with any links involved.

The email had in the subject line: Come on, babe!  Let's do our lives better!

Please know that I have taken all necessary steps to report the issue and change personal information regarding my email account. I may even close the account altogeather because of the violation.

If you recieved the emails, I apologize.  Hopefully we caught it early enough.

Escape From Reality

In an attempt to escape from the reality of which is my life, I have entered the enchanting world of Layla Grace.  I (believe it or not) have never actually taken the time to actually look at the website although I have heard of it.  Let me tell you,  I am in utter love!  Finally, I have found furniture and accessories which move me and excite me.  With every click of the mouse I fall deeper in love. 

Now, all I need are a few thousand dollars and I'm set.

  Or perhaps a few yard sale finds in which I can attempt (dare I say it) to achieve the look!

I'm really not the 'floral' type, but I really am attracted to these.

The birds on these two pieces are very pretty and bring a relaxing nature vibe into a room.

This one is me all the way.  I admit my taste tends toward the ornate and perhaps even gaudy!

I'm telling you I must have been a princess in a past life, it reminds me of an old castle.

This one is so not me but I am drawn to the vibrant colors.

{all above images via Layla Grace}

Layla Grace has not approached me to write this post.

I have not been offered any compensation for writing this post.

No free furniture or accessories have been sent my way.

Hee Heee!

But, let me tell ya... I wouldn't mind if they did!

I needed to just dumb out tonight and browse (and not feel guilty for it).

Stress stinks.

I have not had a chance to breath recently between my Mom's Doctors appointments and tests and it will not be slowing down any time soon.  Alexis sees her kidney doctor tomorrow and has an ultrasound to check the health of the kidneys.  We need to stop for blood work while we are there as well to check a few things.  Hubby is busy working on the bath at Mom's house, I'll have another update on it soon.

                                           

Extreme Home Makeover - Parent's Bath #1

The construction at my parents house has begun!

I first told you all about our intentions to add a first story full bath to my parent' home here just in case you missed it and felt like catching up with me!

As I explained the other day, the home is in dire need of some updating as no updates have been done since the late 70's early 80's when a large family room edition was added on.  My father is very old school and very country so the home is what many would consider 'rustic'.  All throughout the home you will find some lovely good old 1970's paneling.  I am not a fan of it, especially the dark faux wood which makes the home feel dim and lifeless on a daily basis... even if the sun is shining bright.

(honestly, I apologize to any and all faux wood paneling lovers out there - I really do)

Honestly, I think the choice of wall covering was a half by choice back then and a bit by necessity. The aging of 100 year old lath and plaster walls is not a graceful process as it crumbles.

The first 2 days of construction were spent in the depths of the yucky basement working on piping.  (Growing up I thought everyone had basements with dirt floors like we did)

The paneling was removed in the corner where the shower and bathtub will go.  Check out that 40 year old wallpaper!  I can barely remember the walls like that as a young child but have seen it in photos.  One wall and the bathtub partition wall have been studded out at this time.

You can see the full glory of the rustic paneling above!  The small white hole is where the toilet will be placed in the near future.  Gotta love the Mommy, stuffing an old towel in the hole in fear her dog will fall in it.  The window will stay as well as the original radiator heat.  Progress has been a bit slow (at least my sister and I think so).

The men did not work much over this past weekend which drove the double K's cray zeee! Double K's are myself {Kimberly} and my sister {Karla}.  Saturday we got together and decided to try to tackle the floor.  Growing up with hardwood, we went through our phase of hating it.  Other people had beautiful lush wall to wall carpeting unlike us with our rustic wood floors.  Now as adults we are back to appreciating it's glory. 

I'm still blown away at the transformation of the floors in only a few hours!  Before, as seen in the above photo, the floor were very dull and worn.  We will be carpeting outside of the bath and kitchen per Mom & Dad's request but refinished the whole floor for future sake.  I am still amazed by the change.  I am so in love with the depth and texture a single coat of poly has made. 

I will be back soon with another update as the work began again last night!

Follow along and let me know what you think! 

Linking Up!

Tuesdays:

Tip toe thru Tuesday @ Crayon Freckles

Twice Owned Tuesday @ House of Grace

Tip Junkie's Tip me Tuesdays @ Tip Junkies

Tuesday Time Out @ Reasons to Skip the Housework

Monster Mash

Friday night was the big Monster Mash at our local Elementary school where Austin attends.  He was so excited to go and dance and have fun with his friends.  Mommy and the 2 kids went while poor poor Daddy worked at my Mom & Dad's house on the bathroom.  Updates coming in that later!

Austin (much to my dismay) wanted a store bought costume this year for Halloween.  He chose this clown suit... not your typical happy go lucky clown, but a bit of a demented clown, complete with a rubber type mask.  Not much for me to do this Halloween but sit back and watch the tricking and treating. As disappointed as I may have been, I realize that it may be for the best as I have tons on my plate right now.  The children are unable to wear masks to the school for safety purposes I suppose, so I was able to get my hands dirty a bit and paint his face.

(a bit dark, I apologize)

A close up of my version of a demented clown.  Big funky teeth and all!  I am NOT a big clown fan just so you are aware.  When my sister and I were younger,  we were given these clown dolls, complete with porcelain faces hands and feet.  I know I know... it was just a doll but these freaky little things also laughed.  I can't remember if you pushed a button or what but Oh NO NO NO, we did not like those darn clowns and had my Mom put them away... far far far back in the closet.

Every now and again those freaky little dolls would laugh hysterically from the back of the closet as we tried to go to sleep at night.  I don't know what ever happened to them but the damage was done!  Clowns are not good in my book.  The hair stands straight up on my body when I think of those evil little dolls!

For the love of my son, I had to suck it up and deal!

I think if he had wanted a traditional clown suit I may had said "Heck NO!"

Frontal view.  We sprayed his hair silver.

Now, although the face painting is not quite movie set quality, he was quite happy with how he looked.  He received quite a few complements at the bash.  We all danced a bit, ate a bit too much sugar, played some games and had a nice evening. 

That's what it's all about!

Extreme Home Makeover - The Parent Edition

I feel exhileratied today!

The sun is shining, the leaves are ablaze here in southern PA against the bluest sky I have ever seen!  Today is a perfect example of why I love love love Autumn!  I am actually feeling (cautiously) optomistic about life here in the Sminkey household today.  God is Good!

My sister (whom you will probably never see photographed here on the blog because she may kill me) and I have been shopping all day at a little store you all may know and love.  The Home Depot!   My Mom and Dad live in a very old 2 story twin home built, Oh, sometime in the year 1900, seriously.  It is in dire need of some major repair.   Since Mom has been home from her 3 1/2 week hospital stay in September, diagnosed with Atrial Fib, phneumonia, and a stroke, she is unable to take the steps up and down to use the only second floor bathroom.  That old house actually had no bathroom at all when it was built, just a lovely little outdoor out house.  Imagine that... ucky yucky!  So, the two of us have masterminded a plan to have a full bath built on the first floor for them and replacing the carpeting throughout that main floor!  They actually have beautiful original hardwood I hate like heck to cover up, but they insist it is too cold for them.

The two of us girls spent the day picking out everything from lumbar to bathtub, toilet to lighting, and oh one must not forget copper pipe, pre hung door, and screws.  It was an exhausting day, but we had a blast.  I know I sure did.   Our challenge was to keep the costs as low, low, low as possible!  We purchased and picked out every single thing one must need to build a bathroom from scratch.  We even purchased the paint and poly to seal the beautiful hard wood we will be utilizing for the bathroom floor.  Would you believe we were able to purchase everything for  the bath and preorder the new carpet and padding for under $2200?  Really!  Our saving grace is that both of our hubbies are pretty handy and a friend who is skilled with the plumbing and sewer work so labor costs are going to be pretty close to nill. 

I feel amazingly blessed to be able to help my parents with this.  I'm pretty excited to be able to share some of the progress with you all as well!  The men will be picking up our immense shopping order tonight and getting straight to work.  I'll be taking some photos to share with you on the progress, but I'm most excited about being able to get in there after contruction to paint and prettify the bathroom.

Austin's school is hosting a Monster Mash ball tomorrow night so we will be attending that, looking forward to some much needed fun with my kiddos.  He is going to be a demented clown!  That in itself scares me a bit, truth be told, but should be fun!

Keepin' it Real!

It is no secret that I have been very inconsistant with my little old blog here lately.  I wanted to take a "keepin it real" moment and share some heartfelt thoughts with all of you lovelies who have remained here waiting for me.  I am truely blessed by each and every one of you in one way or another, kind words, spritual and creative inspiration and encouragement abound here in blogland.

When I began Tiaras and Bowties I had quite simply set out to 'toot my horn' so to speak, to share crafts and projects in a 'look what I can do'  and  "Wow, ain't I great" fashion.  That's what I thought a successful blog would be all about.  That's all well and good but something is missing.   Although I shared a tiny glimpse of my personal life way back there in the beginning about having a special needs daughter and the stress of a live in MIL, I tried to keep it "light" and "pretty".  That is not what life is like here... there's lots of crazy and crisis amid the paint and glitter.  I always have and still do worry about putting the personal in the blog.  I mean, everyone of us has issues to deal with - does blogland really want to hear what I go through, what I think, what I believe?

                                                                 I really do no have a clue!

I do know that I have not been enjoying myself lately.  The daily stresses have been taking over and I've been quick crafting to get something on here, something to look at, just something.  Don't get me wrong, I love blogging.   I want to blog about what is important to me, and, with any luck it will be something of some value or importance to you as well.  I am a painter and crafter which has been my focus here, but I am also so very much more.   I'm really trying to find balance in my life and have been struggling immensly with that.   Over the next few weeks and months as I work on myself, discovering exactly who I am and what I am about, Tiaras and Bowties may change a bit as well.  For the better I am hopeful. 

So, If I haven't stopped by your blog or you haven't recieved an email from me lately, please know that I have not forgotten you and that I will get back to visiting and building upon our relationships!

Creepy Photo

I am taking a break from face painting today to share a quick Halloween decor item.

Yep, quick and easy, that's my game this month.

(I'll be back real soon to update you on my crazy life)

The kids and I crafted this wooden eyeball frame.  Different variations of this are all over blogland and are extremely easy to make.  We simply painted it purple and glued gOOgle eyes and ribbon on.

After a few days of frustration thought as to what to put IN the frame...

a saying or a photo

which saying?

what photo?

I was thrilled to stop in the local Dollar Tree and find a few Lenticular Photos on the shelf.

I've always thought lenticular photos were so cool, the way they change with your viewing angle!

You can almost see the facial features changing in the photo above...

CrEEpY!!!

I just cut the photo from the plastic frame and trimmed to fit into our eyeball frame.

EEEEsy

pEEEsy

Nice distinguished looking gentleman in a suit, displayed in our cutesy Halloween frame.

OOOOh, creepy skeleton faced creature from the other angle in our cutesy frame.

Positioned ever so sweetly on the back of our toilet.

YES, I said toilet.

Where else would I put this strange jeeper creeper to spook my family and anyone else brave enough to enter?

Linking to some wonderful blog parties listed in my footer!

Face Painting Frenzy - Puppy Dog

What a cute little puppy for Halloween!

Alexis has decided to allow her face to be painted once again!

Today we have a pretty simple & cute brown and white puppy for you to try on your own wee one.

Paint a white stripe down the forehead and nose and widen around the mouth onto the chin.

Below, we simply tried to blend the brown and white to soften the edges.

A Heart shaped nose and mouth were painted in black with a paintbrush and paint pot.  The same can be done with wax paint crayons or a cotton swab.  Add some whisker dots.

We free hand painted a red tongue,  was it was still wet I added a white stripe down the middle and blended it.  Outline the tongue in black.

Using a large flat brush, the white fur was stroked onto the forehead to make it pop.

We chose to add more white fur down the cheeks with the brush.

This design is fairly easy, it took us about 5 minutes to do.

Mommy's not loving the tongue but it's cute and Lex likes it!

Happy Halloween!

You can also find a cute Kitty and Fit for a princess in these earlier posts.

Face Painting Frenzy - Fit for a Princess

Thanks for coming back for another episode of Face Painting Frenzy.

We have a whimsical design for you today we call

Fit for a Princess!

Alexis and I enjoyed bringing the quick easy kitty cat to you and we hope you enjoyed it.

If you missed the fun, you can find the kitty cat post here.

Remember, we want this to be a fun experience for everyone so do not get hung up on perfection!

That's the hard part for me.  I spend alot of time on detail when I paint for other purposes so it is a challenge for me to just LeT Go!

For our princess, we used just pink and white face paint pots, a detail or liner brush, and some glittery eye shadow from the makeup basket.  We are trying to keep the 'ingredients' list small but feel free to amp it up with some face glitter or rhinestones for that extra sparkle!

1.  First I rubbed some pink eye shadow right on my finger and covered the eyelids extending up over the eyebrows onto the forehead.  I also covered the cheekbones with the shadow.

Then with the liner brush and some thinned down white paint from the paint pot we started with parenthesis shaped lines above the inner corners of both eyes, added some dots and comma shaped stokes with the paint brush.

 

2.  Next, more scroll like lines were added above and across the eyebrow, extending down the side of the nose onto the cheek.  We added some more dots as well.  For time purposes, we only continued down one side of the face, you may (or may not) want to mimic the design down the other side of the face as well.

3.  Tear drops were painted from the corner of the eye.  Two swirls were added below those onto the cheek as well as more dots.  On the forehead a grouping of six tear drops were painted, 3 up and 3 down.

4.   Lastly, some bight pink accents were added.  A diamond was painted in the middle of the forehead.

This is where I would have added some rhinestones or crystals

(if I had them, but I don't, so I didn't)

for some added bling factor!

A pretty princess dress and perhaps a beautiful little tiara would be all you need to transform your little girl (or boy...) for a magical Halloween Eve!

Linking up with those Spooktacular Link Parties listed below in the footer!

Face Painting Frenzy - Kitty Cat

I'm so excited to get started exploring some quick and easy face painting ideas for Halloween.

Today we have a cute & quick kitty cat!

(we've moved the panda back a little later in the week) 

 In our house we dabble with face paint on and off throughout the year. It's kinda funny because the kids actually get tired of it now. A year or so ago they were thrilled to have a mommy who would paint their faces pretty much any time they asked.

Now, please remember if you are going to try to replicate any of the 'faces' shown here...

Do NoT get hung up on perfection.

Kid's squirm and move, they laugh, the make faces.

Make it fun for both you and your child!

Ms Boom Boom is our model today!

This kid cracks me up!

(she squirms a lot and laughs constantly!)

1. Using a brush and some white paint, begin by painting 2 triangles above both eyebrows to create the ears.  Connect both ears with smaller shorter triangles across the forehead to create some fur.  Continue down and across the nose finishing with a rounded 'C' and backwards 'C' onto the cheeks.

2. Fill in each ear with pink using your brush.  Simply make a smaller triangle in pink above each eyebrow.  Fill the tip of nose with a pink oval or upside down triangle for the kitty's pink nose.

3.  Using a liner brush and my black paint pot paint, place 3 small dots under each nostril above the upper lip line.  Place 3 lines on each cheek for whiskers.  Start at the inside of each cheek and drag the brush gently out towards the ears. 

It does not have to be perfect!

See how much fun she had...

4.  Next, simply outline the ears and fur triangles with black paint.  Outline the pink of the ears, nose, and under the bottom lip as well.  Paint a thicker line from the center of the bottom of the nose down to the top of the upper lip.

Feel free to add any extra details you might want.  Change up the colors too!  Make a black cat with bright pink ears, nose, and lips and outline in white to make the black pop!

Check out her "serious face" for Mommy's blog!

We added some extra 'hair' under the outer edge of each ear and to the chin.

Alexis and I hope you enjoyed our first Face Painting Frenzy Day!

We would love to know what you think

(please be gentle)

Let us know what other face painted designs you would like to see covered here.

What do your children plan on being for Halloween?

Will you be painting any little faces?

Linking Up with the Spooktacular Blogs listed in my footer!

Face Painting Frenzy - Intro

Are you ready to get creative and have some fun? 

Welcome to Face Painting Frenzy...

 a Halloween Series I have been so excited to host here on T & B.

  In the next week or two we will explore some fun face painting ideas to use for yourself and your little ones as we get ready to

trick or treat!

I luv paint... any type and form and body/face paint is no exception.  My kids could tell ya that!  I am not a pro -  I do not make a business of it, I just like to do it!  Body art is beautiful, tattoos are great, but paint washes off (and it doesn't hurt)!

{via}

As we get started creating some awesome face art you may want to pick up a few supplies to follow along.  To keep costs low we will use only a minimum of supplies: paint, makeup sponges, and some paint brushes (liner & flat).

There are many types of paints available to use for both ametuer and professional face painting.  This week I will be using a mix of a few paints readily available at your local craft store, department store and even the corner pharmacy as the Hallowed Holiday approaches.

It is extremely important to use only a paint specifically formulated for use on the skin! 

Acrylic paint may be non-toxic but is NOT for use on the body.

I will be using cream face paint in white from a tube.

{via}

I will also be using paint pots like these shown below which are water based.  I will be using very little to none of the popular grease based paints available which is just a matter of preference for me.

{via}

Cheap cosmetic sponges can be picked up from the dollar store and the liner and flat paint brushes can be found at your local craft store.

{via}

Don't spend alot, don't stress out, don't try to be exact!

Remember this is supposed to be fun!

This week we will be exploring some popular kid favorites.

Panda Bear

Spider Man

Cat and Dog

Princess

Witch

I would love to get your ideas on what we should paint.

What creative creatures would you like to have covered here on Tiaras and Bowties? 

Send me your requests. 

 If there is enough interest we can keep this going all the way til Halloween!

Be sure to come back tomorrow as we feature the

Panda Bear Face!

bats in my tower

Hey everyone! It's so glad to be getting back to normal I have missed blogland so very very much!   This whole month has flown by leaving my brain feel like it's full of bats and spider webs!

I have had so much planned for the Halloween/ Fall season and I hope we can squeeze alot of it in after losing almost 4 weeks due to family illnesses. You all deserve a great big Thank You again for sticking around... again!

I'll be guest posting over at Lolly Jane  today with a quick and easy glittery Halloween craft.  Be sure to stop over and check it out!

I'll be guest posting soon over at my best buds blog Crayon Freckles which I'll also keep you informed of!

I have a week or more of Face Painting ideas and tips just in time for Halloween for you starting this Friday right here on T & B so be sure to pop over.  You won't want to miss it!

I had been working on a new button for the blog before my Stressful Steptember started and I cant wait to get it up