Goodies on the Cheap

You may have noticed a trend in this blog - I LOVE TARGET. Actually, I love finding the the cheapo goodies at any huge mass market store including Walmart, Christmas Tree Shops, Michael's, Kmart, etc.. And I'm not ashamed to admit it!

So in keeping with the economic downturn news that is completely bombarding us, I present to you the "Goodies on the Cheap" blog entry. I'll bring these to you on occasion as I find them.

Today's featured item is this John Derian melamine platter


Isn't it adorable? Its on the small side which makes it even more useful. It would be great as a keys catch all in a hallway table or serving up some cookies for guests. $13, available in store only.

And for those extra observant readers - it is missing the "j" and "w" so I'd advise against using it as a children's learning tool :)

Operation Infestation Nearly Complete!

Well, we're just about done "infesting" our house with spiders for Friday night's Halloween festivities. So happy to have it done - I think it looks pretty good considering this is our first year.

If you know me, you know I like to keep with a concept when decorating for holidays and parties and this year is no different. Thankfully, Mr. Limestone is a good sport and only partially resents me when I send him up on the roof to hang cobwebs or interupt his football watching to arrange a giant spider on our house :)

I planned on carving a few pumpkins but after putting all this stuff up today, I really didn't have the energy. So one carved pumpkin and one uncarved adorn the doorway. Both were spraypainted black and I really dig the glossy look. Orange is so last year. (just kidding!)

I made up these "warning" signs which I think are fun (and just about free, so thats always a bonus!) For anyone who takes the NYC subway on a regular basis, its sort of like the rat poison signs that so gracefully liter our great metro.

The only thing I have left to do is get a flood light to add some illumination as the regular porch light doesn't really do much.

Happy Haunting!

Halloween: 9 day countdown

Its official, Halloween is nearly here. And with the lemon themed party I had last week, I didn't want to fully horrify my house until afterward. So in other words, I'm a bit late to the game and I have to get my act together.

The only things that were hung as of last week were the feather wreathes you see in the photo above. (Planned to make them myself but Target was selling perfectly lovely versions saving me the hassle. Love when that happens!)

I put up a few decorations but Im not too happy with their impact. I suppose thats the danger of having a house made of gray stone - there isn't a lot of impact with the white and black decorations I've put up so far. I think my biggest problem is Im missing accent lighting...but I don't know how to add some without making it a danger to passerbys.

So I have to turn it up but Im not sure how. Any suggestions?

Im trying to stay with a spider web & black silohuette concept for the most part. I already have spider silohuettes in my windows, a large spider web draped over the house, a giant spider ready to be hung, a load of cobwebs and pumpkins ready to carve. Im having a hard time finding a spooky spotlight that will light up the work on Halloween night but Im hoping to find something this weekend.

Hopefully I'll have some finished photos this weekend to share. Until then, I'll share some of my favorite Halloween finds from Flickr that are great inspirations for the procrastinating decorators like me.

Fabulous spider infested house
Amazing Marie Antoinette Costume
Simple but spooky stoop welcome

When life gives you lemons...

You may remember my little homage to the lovely lemon a while back. Using lemons in decor was sort of lingering in the back of my mind so I decided to dust it off and use it for a little get together I had at my house on Saturday.


A friend let me borrow these yellow candlesticks and oversized footed jars which helped make it super easy to dress up living room and kitchen.


I picked up some yellow roses at the deli to make one special arrangement for the coffee table. I guess kitty doesn't approve.


I made some rum spiked lemonade along with yellow cocktail umbrellas. (Thank you Martha)


It was surprisingly easy to keep the yellow theme going. I didn't realize how many little things are yellow - like cheese.


And I broke out the beehive cake mold to serve a lemon honey dessert. It was my first attempt at making a cake from scratch but it was really very yummy. I admit, I cheated on the frosting and used duncan hines :)

While I probably won't get to use the all out lemon theme again, it was a really easy one to decorate with and the bright yellow really went a long way. Not quite as good as having loads of flowers but a lot easier and cheaper so it was worth the trade off.

Hope you're weekends were as sunny. On to the dreaded workweek :(

More birthday goodies...

I must admit I totally scored on my birthday this year. I got all sorts of goodies that Im excited to put to use. I'll post more about the others later but the topic of my post is this candelabra.


Here is the description from the Wisteria website: Did Someone Say Drama? You don’t need a phantom in your opera house. Just plenty of candles and room to let the flames dance. The arms vary in length and the finish on the iron invokes years of use. People will think your grandmother was a baroness – or at least a soprano. Holds twenty candles.

I thought that was a pretty good description. Its definitely cool but now that I have it in front of me, Im having second thoughts. Mostly because I can't imagine how Im going to use this without ruining whatever table its sitting on with wax. It would make a fabulous outdoor centerpiece for my Halloween stoop party - but its a little extragant for just that use.

What do you think? Should I keep it or return it? If I keep it, how do I use it without making a waxy mess of my house?