"Grrr. Argh"

All Hallows Motifs

 

 

Found these gems mixed in with a book of repro vintage "Seasonal Motifs" scrapbooking paper in Michael's clearance. They're kind of small, and in most cases hard to read (definitely hard to photograph), but I can think of a few things to do with them. ;)

Halloween Watch 2014

Sometimes I swear I live at Michaels and Joanns. This has been one of those weeks where I find myself at either store multiple times and now it's July so the Halloween things are trickling in, which means I'll be there a lot more. Monday all they had was ribbon, the sparkly silver, purple and black décor crap and fall stuff. Today there was a little more. I actually went in hopes of those certain early and predictable yearly items being out-- lucked out on finding one of the two of what I was looking for, but give it another week and that one aisle they have cleared will be full and that one item will (hopefully) be there.

Honestly I'm sick of the sparkly "regal" Halloween end caps-- they don't even merit a pic anymore, but they did have this, which at least made me smile:

And this craft in the kiddy stuff which I only took a picture of to remind me to make my own...

Ultimately, this is what I walked away with...

(Hello Kitty and "stickerz" from Joanns $1 section)

 

Target Halloween

The rumors are true! The usually torturous super slow Halloween stocking at Target seems to have magically already happened. Of course I didn't believe it until I headed out yesterday morning and saw it for myself.

The last couple of years I haven't been at all impressed with what Target's been putting out. I couldn't tell you one thing I've walked away with since the haunted mailbox I bought a few years ago. Maybe a couple melamine plates. A little ceramic pumpkin. And I've never EVER been able to catch the pumpkin spice Eggos or the poptarts everyone on the haunt forums were gushing over... until yesterday.


On the shelves:

Always happy to see these little guys. I don't think they'll ever get old.

Sparkly cardboard houses, and witch hat owls... I love these pillows, but let's be real. I could totally make my own. No sign of any bedding, except for the usual chenille throws. Shame. I really loved all their pillow cases.

Does your store have pillow cases this year?

A terrible photo, but I was kinda in love with all the sippy cups. Is that weird? I especially love the orange skulls and the black pumpkins (barely caught on the edge here). The pictures are divided into strips and turn to make different pumpkin faces. Sweet!

Party things.

Kicking myself for not liberating these two. They want out!!!

 

My phone crapped out on me halfway through the first aisle. Wanna see more? I recommend checking out The Spooky Vegan and her Target 2012 post. She has some awesome photos of everything I didn't get a chance to. I'm in love with the flaming pumpkin!

 

Overall, in comparison to the last few years of ho-hum Target Halloween, I guess I'm impressed. Definitely satiated the Halloween need at the very least.

What made it home with me:

I have a thing for pencils and stickers this year. Probably cause they're cheap. :)

 

 

Lalaloopsy... doomed to live in her package for all eternity. Unless I go back to liberate the sock monkeys, then maybe I'll get a 2nd and let her out to play.

 

 

More dog toys! The Bugaboo's been carrying around her skellie since I gave it to her yesterday. Even brought it in to sleep with her last night at bedtime.  The bat has proved Zoe proof! She was chewing on the rope wings all day and not a scratch...

 

 

Fabulous plates. The black ones are even microwave safe!

 

 

The good stuff! My mom was super excited about the Cadbury Screme eggs. Also managed to grab a couple boxes of Eggos waffles since I've been trying to find them for three years! Tried some this morning, which, of course, our evil toaster almost burned, but they smelled and tasted SO good. Subtle, but definitely pumpkin spice. Worth "3-years-of-waiting" good? Um... probably not.

A couple extra shots from a quick run-in to Marshalls:

Marshalls is probably the scariest square footage of consumer chaos on the planet, FYI... the things we do for Halloween! I was pretty unimpressed with all the sparkly garbage. Only this guy merited a photo.

 

 

At Five Below:

 

Again, nothing special.... so far. I'm hoping for more, because last year this was where I really scored some surprisingly awesome stuff.

 

 

Wal-Mart, Walgreens and Party City are next on my list of places to check out and that's about it for me and my Halloween shopping. After that it's really time to hunker down and build build build!

American Runs on Punkin'

Pumpkin doughnuts appeared in our Dunkin' Donuts racks this weekend! So excited!

Can't get enough pumpkin? Check out A Beautiful Mess blog for pumpkin smoothie and cream cheese recipes (both easily veganized) and more on the way later in the week.