DEBBIE-DABBLE BLOG: August 2022

I am a Victorian Soul, who lives in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970's, not a huge Mega Mansion!! I just recently lost my Hubby Joe, who was a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care ... I am so glad that we retired at 62 years of age and got to spend that time together before he passed....I still do love Retirement!!!!

I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
George Eliot

George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans......

BLOGGING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Fall and Halloween Crafting and a Dollar Tree Haul!!!!!

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

Just a reminder, I will be posting on Wednesdays and Sundays every week so be sure to check back on those days to see a new post......

As always, click on each picture if you would like to enlarge it....

Today, I will be sharing a Dollar Tree Haul and more Fall and Halloween Crafting!!!

In my last post, I shared some crafts that I have been working on, some new Buys, an amazing Farmer's Market and an equally amazing Sunset!!

Click HERE if you missed that post!!

Thanks to ALL the hosts of the You're the Star Blog Hop for choosing my post, Patriotic Tablescape, as one of the features from the Extra Week 5 link party!!!!

Thanks again to ALL the Hosts of this party!!!

Thanks Dee , over at Grammy's Grid, for choosing my post, More "Under the Sea" Decorations in Living Room, as one of her features from her Themed Link Up Party for Coastal Decor and Crafts!!!

Thanks so much, Dee!

Dee currently is hosting another Theme party featuring All Things American and Patriotic!!!

Link Up your past and present posts now!!

Please stop by and link up to all these lovely parties!!!

And now for a few Personal Notes...

Food of the Week

This week's Reheat and Eat Dinners from the WB Scranton Pens Food Service.....

Joey and I will be having Grilled Chicken Alfredo with Seared Gnocchi & Roasted Seasonal Vegetables...

Joe did not care for any of this week's Entrees so he passed....

I am happy to say that Chef Steve liked my idea about offering Gift Certificates for the Dinners, especially now that the Holiday Season is upon us....

He had them made up and Joe sold the first 6 gift certificates the other evening to someone who was buying them to give as a Bridal Shower gift!!

Great Idea!!

We finally got some much needed rain yesterday!!!

In the form of thunderstorms and downpours with a cold front passing through!!!

Some areas got up to 3 inches of rain but we only got 1 1/2 inches

I'll take that as it means I don't have to water for at least 2 days!!

I have some serious yard clean up to do but I will wait until tomorrow as the high temps. are supposed to be in the 70's with low dew points and hopefully, everything will dry up a bit....

President Biden visited our area yesterday to speak at Wilkes University....

Since we are on the Flight Path to the Wilkes Barre Scranton Airport in Avoca ( about 15 minutes away), we have had the privilege of being able to see Air Force One fly over our house whenever it brings a President to our area and takes him back to Washington, DC for the past 44 years....

I was able to take these pictures of Air Force One after leaving the airport on it's way back to Washington, DC, flying over our house.....

All other flights were suspended in the area until it cleared our area....

Trish, who is the owner of the house next door but rents it out, stopped by the other day to bring me a fossil rock that she got from the shores of Lake Ontario where her family has a cabin!!

Joey almost flew out of the chair when he heard "fossil"....

He had a Rock Collection of epic proportions when he was a kid!!

You can see the imprints of shells in the rock!!

How cool is that!!!!

I will be putting it out in the back yard somewhere as I am fearful that the ice melt used in the Winter would be harmful to it!

I actually went out last Saturday and hit pay dirt at one of the Dollar Tree stores by us....

I do have a "thing" for Halloween!!

And to think that I once gave away almost all my Halloween decorations when the boys got older!!!

It was my friend Anne Marie, who I call the Queen of Halloween, that got me back into decorating for it.....

I do my Dining Room completely in Halloween and have added Halloween touches to both the Powder Room and Kitchen over the past 3 years....

So let's take a look at what I bought....

These signs are marked vintage and you can see why!!!

They remind me of the paper ones my Mother used to hang on the windows of our house for Halloween!!!

The next few items are going to be used on my Kitchen Hutch as I decorate that area for Halloween in the Kitchen!!

I love the Eat, Drink and be Spooky sign which I think will be perfect in a Kitchen, don't you???

.....

And of course, a mason jar sign to go with several others I have.....

I had to buy these as I already have 2 of the long stemmed ones!

Some Craft supplies!!

A bony spider and some ribbons....

Orange plaid mini pumpkins...

Love these roses...so much so that I sent Joe back for more and he also grabbed the last pack of ivory ones which you will see in a minute....

Okay...now when I saw this "playground cone" as it is marked, I thought Witch's Hat!!!!

And I am thinking of making these into Christmas Hot Cocoa Mug ornaments

And more baking pans for zucchini bread as I freeze it right in the pan and give it away that way too....

Most of their Fall things were picked out already so I was glad I got what I wanted earlier....

I have used all of last week and this week to do some serious crafting for Fall, Halloween and Christmas....

I needed to take advantage of this free time I have before I start to change over drapes, curtains, linens to Fall, start Fall house cleaning and decorate for Fall and Halloween.....

I start right after Labor Day.....

I will be sharing the Christmas things I have been crafting on my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas, on September 25th, the next Rudolph Day!

But for today, let's take a look at the Fall and Halloween crafting that I have been doing.....

Remember the wood cut outs I just bought????

Well, first I painted them.....

Then I decided to add pieces of white paper as a background for the cat's eyes....

And as a background to make the haunted house stand out.....

Then I decided to give the cat a pretty collar and changed the rope hangers out for a pretty silver one.....

I am quite happy with how it looks....

Next I added a Jack O Lantern trim from my stash to this one.....

Happy with this one too!!

I had a large supply of large paper mache cones that I bought on Clearance one year at Michael's after Halloween....

I decided to paint them black along with some wood circles that I had.....

Creating Witch's Hats!!

I made 3...one for me, one for my niece Renae and one for my friend Anne Marie.....

I used pieces of ribbon and gray and black pipe cleaners from my stash to make bows......

I ran off this graphic from the computer and decoupaged it on the hats....

Added some sequin like trim around the top.....

Sent Joe back down to Dollar Tree for some black and orange spiders!!

And he came home with some green and black ones too!!

I added the orange and white roses to the brim of the hat....

And this is how they look!!

I am happy that Renae and Anne Marie like them!!

I will be using mine in the Dining Room....

I want to show an update to these that I did just this morning when I sent Joe to get me Pumpkin sticks from Dollar Tree for another item I was working on.....

I added a Jack O Lantern stick to the Hats....

See it???

And a smaller glittered pumpkin to the right side of the spider.....

Better, I think!

I also thought I would make a witch's hat out of that playground cone but decided to do something else with it!!!

I decided to make a Scarecrow Hat!!!

I made a bow out of the thin ribbon I bought at Dollar Tree for the top of the hat.....

I made my own riffled burlap ribbon by gathering it and gluing it around the brim and then added orange ruffled lace that I had on top of it.....

I embellished it with tan and rust ribbon flowers from my stash......

I will be using this in my Living Room which I decorate strictly for Autumn....

When I made these ice cream cone ornaments recently....

I also painted another large cone in the brown paint that I mixed up......

I decided to try something a bit different with that one....

I dry brushed some orange paint on the cone and made a Scarecrow Tussie Mussie!!!

I made the Hat out of burlap I had and fixed it to the top using a styrofoam ball I glued into the top and floral picks and glue to hold the hat in place....

I embellished the hat with pieces of gimp trim and vintage buttons that were my neighbor Elly's....

I also used vintage buttons to create the face....

I made a bow for the bottom of the cone using pieces of ribbon I had....

There are copper colored leaves on the green ribbon.....

I made a hanger out of gimp trim so I could hang my Scarecrow....

I also made another Scarecrow out of a soup can!!

I was waiting until I got out my Fall decorations as I know I have leaves, acorns and some flowers that I could use to embellish her....

I decided to finish her using what I had....

I embellished her hat with a bow and an acorn and pumpkin....

I made her hair from raffia....

I made a bow using scraps of deco mesh rope from other project and a ribbon flower.....

I may use her in the Kitchen as I do not decorate all of it in Halloween.....

I also decided to make a Tussie Mussie Witch's Hat....

I covered it with fabric that I had.....

Added some orange ruffled lace and gimp trim around the top with ribbon flowers...

Used black gimp to disguise the seam in the back....

I was going to fill it with flowers but this morning, I saw something in my Craft Room that has been sitting there for about 10 years.....

A Victorian Doll Head ornament in black, green and embellished with burgundy flowers....

I got so excited about turning it into a witch that I forgot to take a before picture.....

I removed the burgundy flowers but left the burgundy ribbon.....

I added some things to her hat and this is how my Witch's Hat Tussie Mussie turned out!!!

You can see how I embellished her hat with rust colored ribbon flowers, pumpkins, a leaf and a Jack O Lantern.....

I added orange ribbon and a flower to her bow and tucked 2 pumpkins into the cone around her.....

I added black flowers with little white beads in the center around the top.....

And I glued one of the Dollar Tree flowers, black ribbon flowers and a cameo in the center.....

I added a spider to the bottom.....

I actually love the way it came out!!

Because of the colors of this doll head, I never knew what to do with her.....

Finally, I think I found the perfect use!!

Well, that is all the Fall and Halloween Crafting I am doing for now as I may do more once I get out all my Decorations.....

I am still working on some Christmas things, trying to get as much done before Labor Day...

A few more things I want to show you......

Joe also bought a few other things on Clearance in Big Lots....

He got the door mat for $2.25, marked down from $10....

The Patriotic Welcome sign for our porch for 75% off....$2.50

He also used a $5 off $15 coupon so you could look at it that he got these 2 things for free!!

And he also bought this Patriotic door mat for 75% off.....$3.00!

I will be using the door mat and sign on the front porch for Labor Day which I will be sharing in my next post this Sunday along with my Americana decor in the Den!!!

So I hope you will stop by to visit again on Sunday!!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment. If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......