First bit o' chill

I live in Cheyenne, WY. Which means that *generally* (i.e. - every year that we've been here) there has been SNOW by September 15th. September 15th. The leaves don't change colors, we don't really get to have the cute autumn front door step covered in pumpkins, because generally it is really covered in snow & ice.
This year has been a bit different. This year, it's September 13th and the frost still hasn't come and no snow in sight ... yet. But yesterday was the first really chilly day in the fall, which now has my mind whirring with ideas and possibilities for the front section of my house. It's a narrow little area, about 2 feet by 4 feet. And nine months out of the year it's an ABSOLUTE mess because of all the coats, etc. that tend to gather there. So I have been searching for ideas and have come up with these ones ...
I want to make a shelf for the coats using this tutorial (picture found via pinterest).

And then try to decorate it really cute like this gal's amazing shelf (pic found via pinterest ... again).

Then I want a cute little sitting bench like this one from ana-white (photo from her site ... unfortunately not mine ... yet!)

 But since it's technically only 21" across (not even 2 feet!) for the entryway ... I'm guessing a big ol' tub will be more realistic for the space.
Oh! And I don't want to pay anything for it ... we'll see. Maybe if I ever finish re-painting the chairs that I started in March I could talk my husband into making it for me??? :)

Girl Craft Night

My daughter and I have tried to keep the tradition of having a girl craft night once a week. Sometimes we fail, but mostly we succeed. Last night we were finishing up our crate book shelves (tutorial/idea found here). The girls room is so small and cramped and this was the PERFECT low cost solution to giving a much needed home for all of her random books.

$5 for the crate (using a coupon) and we already had the paint and supplies. I can't WAIT to put these babies up on the wall this week! :)

Family Movie Night

We have a family tradition like many others, family movie night. But my goal has become more & more lately to not just have a movie night, but have a fun night with an activity or special treat that is themed to the movie. But I have to be honest, most ideas I found on-line were NOT cheap or easy. Both of which I really needed, until I came across a few gems on-line. :)

This week was the first time that we did this. My husband had read the kids' Charlotte's Web and it's a movie I remember loving as a child. So that was the first movie we requested from Netflix.

So I made some pizzas using this fabulous tutorial (she shows you how to make a spider out of olives! My kids freaked out they thought it was so cool!). And then I took some simple paper plates & hole punched them like crazy and wrapped some tape around the ends of yarn, so it wouldn't fray on the kids. And voila! little red spider webs to make while watching the movie.

 (Sorry for the photos ... it was late & I was just glad I remembered to document at all)

Now the kids are begging to do this as a weekly tradition of sorts ... hmmm, guess it's time to start checking for more ideas! :)