Halloween Banner

Fall is here along with all of the wonderful things that come with it! Sweater weather, hot cocoa, scarves, boots, pumpkins, apple picking, and crafting! I wanted to make some cute Halloween decorations in addition to making my Halloween costume. I wanted to make a cute and spooky banner to hang. I had a few burlap pennant shapes and twine left over from the Save The Date Banner I made for our engagement photos so I decided to make another banner to hang to get in the spirit. I made a trip to Michael's to get the rest of the supplies.

Supplies I used:

-Burlap Banner Pennants (5)
-Twine
-Orange Paint
-Black Paint
-Letters (B,O,O)
-Felt Cutouts (spiders, ghosts, pumpkins, bats)
-Paint Brush
-Bottle Cap
-Glue Gun

First thing I did was start painting the pennants so that they would be able to dry over night. I wanted to paint polka dots on the banner (this is where the bottle cap came in handy). Since the letters are black I wanted to have orange polka dots on those pennants. On the remaining two outside pennants I wanted to have a mix of both the black and the orange polka dots. I poured some black and some orange paint in dishes and dipped the bottle cap in. The cap made great dots, they weren't too big or too small. I realized after starting this that I had a neat sponge paintbrush in the bag of new paintbrushes that would make these dots as well...

Perfect Polka Dot Paintbrush (or bottle cap)

Orange Paint

Mix of black and orange polka dotted pennants

All five pennants drying overnight

 After the pennants dried I started assembling the banner. On the back side I put down the piece of twine and hot glued it in place. This needed to dry for a bit before flipping back over. On the front I started assembling the letters. Even though they are technically stickers I used the glue gun to keep them in place since they weren't that sticky. I had a lot of fun decorating the outer two pennants! We had adorable ghosts, happy pumpkins, spooky spiders, and perfect bats to add to the edges of the letters.  The felt shapes had two holes in them because they were made to have buttons sewed into them but they were perfect for looking like two teeny tiny eyeballs!

I finished assembling and added a few extra spiders, pumpkins, and ghosts to the spaces in between the pennants on the twine. 

 

Close-up view of the finishing touches 

And Voilà! 

Happy Halloween! 

Engagement Photos!

We took  engagement photos last weekend and we already got the unedited photos back! I can't wait to print and frame them. We need to pick one for the save the dates and luckily we have a pretty large selection of great photos to choose from. There are definitely some awkward ones but here are a few (okay, more than a *few*) of my favorites:

Banner I made! :) 

Love this one

Love this one

We might use this for the 'Save The Date'

Hope you enjoy looking at our photos as much as we did taking them! 

Love,

Consignment Shop Adventures

I was so tempted to keep this place a secret for my own personal treasure hunting but have decided to share the wealth. Betsy and Cornelia's in McLean is hands down THE best consignment shop out there. The staff is super friendly and willing to help out in any way and they will even pick out things that would look good on you for you to try on. Betsy used to work with my uncle and is a-maz-ing! She has great style and is just a trip! She reminds me of Betsy Johnson. After weeks of wanting to check the place out I decided to stop by on my way home after work. Not until Betsy recognized me did I make the connection and realized that I had known her for 20 years!

One of the many perks to this shop, aside from the constant new arrivals, is the fact that things more than two months old are 50% (Yes FIFTY) off! and Jewelry more than two months old is 30% off!

On my first trip I walked away with a black sweater from Banana Republic for $8 and a pair of Gap skinny jeans for $10. When I was checking out I noticed this beautiful globe near the register on a pedestal and thought it would be the perfect gift for Dan's upcoming birthday. The countries were all made out of gemstones. Nothing could be more perfect for combining two of his biggest passions: geography and geology! It was also marked "May" and this was in July so it was half price! So I walked away with this globe that cost a couple hundred dollars retail for less than $70. Steal of the century? Perhaps.

Banana Republic Sweater

So soft and versatile

Gorgeous globe

Close-up of the gemstones

My new favorite Gap skinny jeans that I wore for some engagement photos!

The next time I went was with my aunt and cousin. We scored some good items including baby blue ankle pants (Mossimo brand) for $6 and the pride and joy of that trip was a pair of metallic Prada loafers for $20! They were $70 marked down to $35 down to $20. Betsy gave us an extra discount. She said she'd rather have repeat customers who spread the word and give us a discount than worry about the price of every item. Well Betsy, I am trying to spread the world, girl!

Yes I need to iron these...baby blue Mossimo pants

Cute and comfy

Prada Loafers

You just feel fancy wearing these!

Yesterday I went and brought my mom and aunt Toby and we scored big time again. Mom walked away with a gorgeous black and white dress and black blazer (which I will need to borrow). Toby got my cousin, Amanda, a Longchamp bag for $40 and an adorable Life is Good t-shirt. And I walked away with a pair of Michael Kors wedges for $30 (Originally marked $34) and a pair of Seven For All Mankind jeans for $8!

Three Longchamp Bags: blue, red, and purple $40/bag

Seven Jeans and Michael Kors Wedges

Love the height

As much as I'd love to be able to keep this gem of a store all to myself, that would just be selfish and you all would be missing out on these designer deals at discounted prices. So make your way over to Betsy and Cornelia's and find your own treasures!

Betsy and Cornelia's

1355 Chain Bridge Road 

McLean, VA 22101 

Happy Shopping!

Love,