Love From Your Mummy: A Halloween Chalkboard Care Package

It's time once again to remember your favorite college students,

far away friends and relatives, and loved ones serving overseas.

Yes, I know I'm a little late. Again.

I was out of town and just got this finished up.

Sorry.

You can pin it for next year.

But...it was worth the wait!

It's Love From Your Mummy!!!

A totally awesome Halloween Chalkboard Care Package!

I'm almost more excited about the box than the stuff inside!

Seriously.

But I'm a dork.

I started off painting the inside with black craft paint.

I added orange polka dots with more paint.

Use different coordinating scrapbook paper for the flaps.

On a side note...I love scrapbook paper.

But I don't scrapbook.  So There.

I wanted to make the outside cute, too.

I started off just painting it like the inside.

Then I had a brilliant idea!

Chalkboard, baby!

The cardboard kinda soaks up the paint a little making the surface a little rough.

I knew it would be easy to replicate a chalkboard look even without chalkboard paint.

I did go ahead and rub some chalk over the surface and wipe it

off with a paper towel before painting for more authentic look.

I haphazardly, but precisely (lol), painted my words with white paint.

I didn't want them too perfect, but I wanted them to have nice form.

Then using a sanding block I lightly distressed the entire thing and lightly dusted it off.

The result was a beautiful thing.

Really.

Just look.

I did two full sides...

Love from your Mummy
and
May contain: things that go bump in the night

The other two sides I just filled in with mini chalkboard scenes.

My furry helper approved...

But wait...what about the Halloween treats inside????

I made up a bunch of these adorable Halloween S'mores treat packs.

Each one has 4 graham cracker halves,

2 mini Hershey bars, 2 pumpkin peeps, and one ghost peep.

Mr. Ghost looks a little angry.

Maybe someone ate his I Scream.

Look how cute they are!
I just love them!

What good is a Halloween care package without a good movie.
Sara doesn't like scary movies so I always look for
something a little more on the fun side.

I know she hasn't seen this one...and it's a musical to boot...
Little Shop of Horrors is the perfect choice.

A little trick or treat candy, some decorations,

other random stuff...and you've got yourself

a howlin' good Halloween care package.

Full of Love from your Mummy.

  I hope you've enjoyed this last minute Halloween gift idea.
I know I had way too much fun creating it.

The lady in the mailroom at the college told Sara
she always knows when a box comes in for her.
I always decorate them in some way.
I think she's really going to like this one.

I've got a little giveaway coming up next week so be sure to stop by!

Until then...

beware of those things that go bump in the night.

Scaring up a little fun here:

Funky Polkadot Giraffe

Savvy Southern Style

Just A Girl and Her Blog

Crafty Allie

A Simple Pantry

Ivy and Elephants

From My Front Porch to Yours

The Blissful Bee

Lamberts Lately

Northern Nesting

AKA Design

Bloom Designs

Saving 4 Six

Embracing Change

Outdoor Movie Night

Hey there!

I wanted to share something fun we did recently before

the weather got too cold for you to do it, too!

We hosted an outdoor movie party and it was a blast!

Even if we did get rained out...boo.

It's so fun and easier than you think!
We used a cheap shower curtain for our screen and clamped it to the back fence.
I only wish I'd gotten one a bit bigger or maybe two.

We asked guests to bring camp chairs and/or blankets...
but we had some available also.



I researched inexpensive projectors with USB
connections and chose this one I found on Amazon.
I won't be the next destination for the Sundance film festival,
 but for $58 it works pretty great!

It does have its own speakers but we hooked up
some computer speakers we had along with a spare woofer,
 and it sounded awesome!

We just connected it to our laptop to play the DVD.

Once you've taken care of all the tech stuff...it's time for food!
Always make sure you have plenty of tasty treats,
but keeping it simple means no stress eats!

In trying to keep with the movie night theme we had corn dogs,

single size candy, and of course, POPCORN!

I think Sara and I made popcorn for almost 2 hours straight in the air popper. Oooof.

I found the NOW SHOWING chalkboard on Amazon,

along with the character concession cutouts and the popcorn bags.

You can find a lot of those things at Hobby Lobby, too.

To add to the fun and let guests participate in the movie choice,

we included a URL to a SurveyMonkey questionnaire.

Invitees were able to vote for their favorite of 3 movies and

let us know what their favorite movie night snack is.

It made it easy to pick a movie everyone would enjoy,
and make sure we had good treats.



Let me say...The Princess Bride in the backyard is so awesome.
As I said, we did get rained out about half way through.
It hadn't rained in our area for WEEKS!!!

Families with young kids went on home...
everyone else helped get the equipment out of the rain
and we finished the movie inside.

Even with the rain...it was totally worth it and so much fun!

I apologize for the dark pictures.
It's not easy to snap pics in the dark ;)
I hope you decide to make a movie night...
even if you have to do it next year.
I think we're starting a new family tradition!

Till next time...

Rolling out the red carpet here:

Crafts a la Mode
AKA Design