40th Birthday Cake Ideas

A 40th birthday is a great time to celebrate! If you're going to be throwing a birthday party for someone who is reaching that milestone, here are some 40th birthday cake ideas for fabulous cake possibilities.

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First, consider the old standby. A simple cake should work for this one, but have the number 40 written as big as possible. Then, surround the edges of the cake with 40 candles. Don't forget to light them. And don't forget to have a fire extinguisher standing by.

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Second, why not try a photo reproduction cake? These are becoming more and more popular and they can be very beautifully done. You'll need a favorite photograph of the birthday gal or guy. Maybe one with the spouse, or even with the kids. Phone around to local bakeries to find one that has the capability of turning the photo into a cake topper. They'll make an actual edible photo to put on top of the cake. Most cakes I've seen like this are real conversation pieces. Everyone loves them. And then you get to eat it, and it's always fun to see who gets to eat Uncle Larry's head.

Third, try the hobby angle. Does your brother like to fish? Then, have a cake decorated with a fishing theme. Does your aunt like to golf? Golf-themed cakes can be super cute. There was a very beautiful cake at my local bakery that was decorated with shoes and handbags for a woman who loved shopping. Whatever the hobby, the bakery can do it!

Next, you can't forget the "Root for the Hometeam" cake. Does your family love the Razorbacks? A cake in the shape of a hog, covered in bright red icing will always make people happy. And then you get to make fun of everyone because after they eat the icing, their lips and mouth will be bright red for the rest of the day. Any team colors or logos will make a super 40th birthday cake really special.

Lastly, don't scoff at the tried and true tombstone/over-the-hill cake. Yes, it's been done and overdone. But it also makes people laugh every time. And, truly, the 40th birthday is a great time to poke a little fun.

Whatever cake you choose, make sure to take a picture. Because the recipient is going to remember this birthday for a long time!

40th Birthday Cake Ideas

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Adorable New Costume Ideas For Halloween - The Ladybug Costume

Thinking about what to be for Halloween this year? The Ladybug Costume is an adorable new look for Halloween. Costume stores predict the Ladybug Costume to be very popular for girls this Halloween due to its widespread appeal and classic good looks. And it's very, very cute. One of those costumes you'll get tons of compliments on.

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The Ladybug Costume is available in a variety of different styles and sizes, so you can get the perfect ladybug look for your baby, toddler, teen, young girl and adult women. In terms of styles, there are classic ladybug looks along with sexy ladybug looks, sweet tutus for the little ones, and bunting for the infants. Basically, there is a ladybug costume to suit any age and style.

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If you are thinking about wearing a ladybug costume this Halloween, you want to get the basic outfit and then accessorize it for personality. As an example, Infant or Toddler Ladybug Costumes can be matched with black leggings and a long sleeve shirt to keep your little bug warm throughout the evening. For ladies, some sexy black shoes and a pair of fun stockings will complete your look.

Infant Ladybug Costumes come in several different options. There is a bunting for infants, designed to keep your baby nice and warm all evening. There's also an adorable ladybug cape that works well over a simple black outfit, and it comes with black mittens and booties. There's a hat with red pompoms that will not bother your baby the way a headband might. It's very sweet!

The Toddler Ladybug Costumes are available in some really cute styles to choose from, including a number of different dresses, and an adorable pajama one piece version. Depending on whether you are looking for total comfort or pure cuteness, you can find something that works perfectly for your little bug. Complete the look with wings, leggings and antennae.

Girls Ladybug Costume options are plenty. Dress styles that range from classic to flirty are available, some being very sweet and innocent, while others are more in a sexy style better suited to young women. There are some great accessories to personalize your look, including stockings in a ladybug pattern, as well as different styles of wings. Black platform shoes or high heels complete the look.

You can also add to the look with a custom makeup look. I've seen some really cute videos that show how to do several different ladybug makeup looks, from red eyes and black polka dots, to a series of ladybugs crawling across your face for a very unique look.

This Halloween, there are some really great looks available for a Plus Size Ladybug Costume. Depending on your taste, you can go with a classy or vixen look. The classic style ladybug costume includes an a-line dress with elbow length black gloves and a pill box hat. Then there's the sexy ladybug costume with a tight dress for showing off curves. Accessorize with some bad girl black boots or platform heels and stockings. Both looks are fantastic, it just depends on if you are feeling naughty or nice.

The Ladybug Costume is a great look for this Halloween, especially if you desire something with lots of personality and style. Happy Halloween!

Adorable New Costume Ideas For Halloween - The Ladybug Costume

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Ideas for a Small Wedding Reception in Las Vegas

If you are planning a Las Vegas wedding and only want to have a small wedding reception, there are many options available to you. A lot of Las Vegas wedding chapels and banquet facilities offer small, intimate reception packages that are elegant and affordable.

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Little Chapel of the Flowers is one of many Las Vegas wedding chapels to offer reception packages. The receptions are held in their Desert Falls and Garden area which is an outdoor garden patio that features a waterfall. The Little Chapel of the Flowers reception packages start at just 0 and can include cider, wedding cake, appetizers, coffee, tea, and photography services.

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The Grove at Silk Purse Ranch is another great location for a small wedding reception in Las Vegas. This wedding venue offers a wedding ceremony and reception package for 50. The package includes a garden ceremony, pictures, video, flowers, and limo service and a one and a half hour reception in their Garden Bistro restaurant for up to 35 guests. The reception includes a wedding cake, champagne toast, vegetable tray, and table centerpieces. For an additional cost, they can also arrange for appetizers or dinner.

You may also want to consider some of the fabulous restaurants that Las Vegas has to offers as an option for a wedding reception. Upscale Las Vegas hotels like the Wynn Resort, Bellagio, and Paris offer wonderful gourmet restaurants with intimate atmospheres perfect for a small wedding reception.

These are just a few of examples of what Las Vegas has to offer if you desire a small wedding reception. Thoroughly research all your options before settling on a location for your gathering. You will be surprised by the vast amount of venues in Las Vegas that offer wedding receptions. There is something for every taste and every budget!

Ideas for a Small Wedding Reception in Las Vegas

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How to Put Your Best Cricut Ideas Into Your Cricut Projects

Looking for some Cricut projects? Here are some Cricut ideas for you.

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Now that you own your Cricut cutting machine, why don't you start making great projects such as handmade greeting cards? Start selling them either at local craft shows, online, or at specialty shops in your area.

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Now days everyone could use a little extra cash. Your first of many cricut projects will be to make an assortment of about 10 to 12 cards. Be creative, there are a ton of ideas you can think of. Included in this assortment you should have a couple of Birthday cards (make sure you make cards for women, men and also cards for children), make sure to include Thank You, Anniversary, Get Well and even a Sympathy card. Some more projects that you can make on your Cricut cutting machine would be to make blank inside note cards for any occasion. You can have some card ideas such as flowers that are layered on the cover with a rhinestone center, or maybe just the word hello decorated with some other shapes. You can package them up in sets of 4-6 cards. With your Cricut cutting machine making all kinds of projects are all at a touch of a button. All kinds of ideas will start flowing from your creative mind. You can even make decorated boxes to put your cards into.

Now you need to take your Cricut projects along with some of your ideas and take them around to a few shops (Florists, Bakery, Salons, and small Gift Shops) and talk to the owner. Have your pricing available for each shop owner. Make sure to personalize the price sheet with the name of the company that you are going to sell them at. You will come across looking like a very professional business person and not just a crafter trying to sell your card ideas. Some owners may even let you leave your cards in there shop on consignment and just take a percentage when you sell them. (I have done consignment in the past in at a local florist and also in an upscale nail salon and did great. What a better place to display your Cricut cards than in an atmosphere that is 95 percent women, who by the way are the best shoppers. Besides the cards that I sold in these shops, I also received special orders for Baby Showers and Birth Announcements) Just don't forget to leave your business cards at these shops.

Customers may want to contact you personally for special orders. You can also sell online a great place online is called Shop Handmade, it's great because it is free. Or you can also sell your Cricut projects at local craft shows. While creating your cards, don't forget Christmas and other big holidays that people send cards such as Valentines Day, Easter, Mothers Day, Fathers Day!

Another of many projects you can make with your Cricut cutting machine is to create a Custom Baby Shower or Wedding Shower or even Wedding Invitation. There are so many ideas for these types of cards. There are a lot of Cricut cartridges that are made especially for these projects. In the Cricut Solution series there is a cartridges called Wedding for all the great wedding shapes you can think of and they also have Home Accent cartridge that has beautiful swirly shapes and flowers that you can also use for a wedding theme. If you decide to go the Baby Shower or Birth Announcement route, there are great cartridges such as New Arrival and soon to be released A Child's Year.

Which ever route you take make sure that you make several samples in a variety of styles. Take them to Wedding Shows; contact Wedding Planners in your area, Bakeries, Florists and Baby Boutiques. I can't stop thinking of ideas. I just had another one for a fantastic project. See I told you that your ideas will start to flow once you get started using your Cricut cutting machine. If you have any party centers for children birthday celebrations in your area you can offer decorated and personalize goodie bags, and Name tags. Show them samples of different themes that you have (depending on the Cricut cartridges that you have). You may even make up a catalog to leave there so customers will be able to see the selection that you have to offer.

Have fun and be creative. Cricut Ideas and Cricut projects will start popping into your head. I guarantee it!

How to Put Your Best Cricut Ideas Into Your Cricut Projects

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Snack Facts: The Incredible History Behind Some of Your Favorite Foods

Quick...what's your favorite snack?

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If you answered OREOS® with milk, or RITZ® Crackers and cheese, or
maybe even a MOON PIE®, then you just named a snack enjoyed by
millions of people the world over. But do you know how some of these
popular snack foods got their start? Many of these tasty tidbits have an
awesome history. Check out the following incredible snack facts:

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THE INVENTION OF THE MOON PIE®

Bet you didn't know the genuine MOON PIE® is produced exclusively by
the Chattanooga Bakery in Tennessee. But no one knows for sure how
MOON PIES® were invented. Supposedly, back in the early 1900's, a
man named Earl Mitchell, Sr. (a salesman for the bakery) was visiting
one of the company stores that catered to coal miners. Mr. Mitchell
asked the miners what they would like for a new snack. They told him
they wanted something for their lunch pails - something solid that would
fill them up. When Mr. Mitchell asked the miners what size they wanted
this snack to be, one miner saw the moon rising. He put his hands up
and framed the moon. Then he said, "just this size."

Mr. Mitchell went back to the bakery. He saw workers there coating
graham cookies with marshmallow, then putting them on the window sill
to harden. Mr. Mitchell asked them to put two of these cookies together
and coat them with chocolate, and that's how the MOON PIE® was
invented! By the late 1950s, the MOON PIE® was so popular it was all
the bakery had money to produce.

HOW FIG NEWTONS® COOKIES GOT THEIR START

The main ingredient for this famous snack is figs, of course, since FIG
NEWTONS® cookies are soft, cake-like cookies filled with a chewy fig
jam. But, the creation of these delicious sweets wasn't possible until
1891, when a special apparatus was invented just to make them. Until
then there was no way to get the fig jam into the cake or the cake around
the jam. James Henry Mitchell invented this special funnel within a
funnel. The inside funnel supplies a stream of jam. The outer funnel
produces a tube-like stream of dough, creating an endless rope of
yummy, fig-filled cookies we know as FIG NEWTONS®.

RITZ® CRACKERS ARRIVE ON THE SNACK SCENE

Times were tough for Americans during the Great Depression. Few
people could afford luxuries or fancy foods, but everyone wanted a great
cracker. In 1934, the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco) tried
recipe after recipe before they developed what they knew would be the
finest, tastiest cracker on the market. They named their luxurious, but
affordable, cracker the RITZ® Cracker (probably because anything
glamorous, classy, or fancy was called "ritzy" back then). It was popular
everywhere - from the most modest home to the elegant Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel, where it's still a regular feature on the menu.

THE BIRTH OF THE OREO® COOKIE

The OREO® cookie was born in 1912, but no one seems to know for
sure where the name came from. Since then over 362 billion of these
cream-filled chocolate wonders have been eaten, making them the
world's most famous cookie. If all 362 billion OREO® cookies were
stacked on top of each other the pile would reach the moon and back
more than five times. Now that's a lot of cookies!

KOOL-AID® FIRST QUENCHES AMERICA'S THIRST

Did you know KOOL-AID® is the official soft drink of Nebraska? KOOL-
AID® was invented in Hastings, Nebraska, in 1927, by a chemist named
Edwin Perkins. As a child, Perkins developed many flavoring extracts
and perfumes. This led to his own mail-order company, which eventually
resulted in modern-day KOOL-AID®. Nowadays KOOL-AID® is an all
American favorite. And, more KOOL-AID® is sold the week right before
and the week after the 4th of July than at any other period during the
year.

The next time someone asks you, "Quick...what's your favorite snack,"
when you give them your answer, you might also share some of these
incredible snack facts.

Snack Facts: The Incredible History Behind Some of Your Favorite Foods

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Cheetah Print - Classy Or Trashy?

Cheetah print is one of the print patterns that have been around the fashion world for quiet some time. It makes a particular and strong fashion statement. The secret in making this print work is not to use it all at the same time which means you need to limit yourself. Whether it a purse, a pair of shoes, belt or scarf with this print are all simple touches that can be added to your outfit but this might just be what you need to create the statement that you desire.

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You need to look classy and chic when wearing this because some people see this print as trashy. When used accordingly, it will give you a stunning look. Do not do a cheetah shirt with cheetah jeans with cheetah shoes; that is an extreme fashion violation. Never mix and match different kinds of animal print as well.

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However if you can pull it of the outfit, you can interior decorate with it instead. Sheets, pillow cases, blankets and rugs are perfect for a room/house that is not restricted to cottons only. It will bring out the wild and fun side of the atmosphere. It is a great way of styling as well at a very low cost. You can find easily find decorations and bedding with this print just about anywhere. Whatever that is that you think will fit for you; it is a must that you stick to a certain theme. And do not forget that, even if the print is in, it doesn't mean that it works for everyone. If you think and feel that it's not going to work for you, do not force it. If you're not confident with your style, you're never going to be able to pull it off.

Cheetah Print - Classy Or Trashy?

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Porch Skirting - Dress Up Your Porch With Classy Vinyl Lattice Panels

How often have you driven by "that" house in the neighborhood and seen the unsightly underside of the house. This is a place where even the bravest of souls would not dare venture in (unless you're a rodent or small animal). Then you think, "a little porch skirting is all those folks need".

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In the older home - say 60+ years - there really was no such thing as lattice or lattice panels. Homeowners simply ignored the issue, and threw together some pieces of wood to make some semblance of an enclosure.

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The first time you really saw porch skirting was when mobile homes come about. There was everything from the low cost metal skirting and wood to the higher end brick, and even faux stone surrounds. Each was used for one purpose: to cover the eyesore that was and is the wheels and jacks.

Metal skirting came with a lot of issues since it would easily bend, make ground level maintenance somewhat difficult (and even unsafe), and was exposed to the elements. A good alternative - though not as expensive as brick or stone - was wood lattice. This was a good solution as it offered more ventilation than brick, sufficient pest control of rodents, and gave a more uniform appearance. The downside to wood lattice as porch skirting was the maintenance. Left untreated, lattice would deteriorate and repair was near to impossible. Even those panels that had been treated required upkeep with stain or paint.

As timed progressed, wood lattice phased out and the gate opened to vinyl lattice panels. They offered the same benefits as wood - ventilation, pest control, and appearance - yet the maintenance was slim to none. Better yet, vinyl lattice offered better choices when it came to aesthetics.

While the mobile home launched the trend, soon homeowners with open porches and decks were considering vinyl lattice panels as an option. The problem, however, was that there was really no selection. This is how Marcus McAvoy got his start: handcrafting attractive panels for his own home. One thing lead to another and porch skirting became not only functional but also very decorative and attractive.

Just one glance at the porch skirting choices available today and you will see there are no boundaries. There are classic geometric patterns, coastal scenes with palm trees and dolphins, geometric shapes, logos (and what die-hard, college football fan wouldn't dream of having his teams logo on the outside of his home!), trees and flowers from nature, as well as custom designs (for that homeowner who wants a cohesive and high-end look.

No longer must you be embarrassed at showing the visually challenged areas of your home. Vinyl porch skirting and deck lattice panels will transform your home into the classy showplace you have always dreamed it would be.

Porch Skirting - Dress Up Your Porch With Classy Vinyl Lattice Panels

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Adult Flapper Costume - Sexy And Classy Flapper Dresses For Halloween!

Is there any better rebel attitude costume for ladies than a flapper costume? Flappers have hit the Roaring Twenties and are still an icon today. They represent a new kind of women who would not allow anyone to tell her how to walk and talk, but have their own code, and fashion. An adult flapper costume is a smart choice towards sexy dress and freedom. Are you rebel enough to wear a flapper dress?

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You will want to be sexy on Halloween or another kind of party if you want to wear flapper dresses. A short dress dripping with fringe is often what the adult flapper costume is made of. It will also comes with a nice feather headband, sometimes oversized. You may also want to add your own final touch with a boa and definitely get a pair of sexy shoes.

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You will choose among red, black and white colors for the flapper dress. Well not only, though these are what you will often see, many others are available and also styles have been revisited. So a grey or pink flapper dress, or a sexy and sparkling one can also become your favorite choice.

Another style of adult flapper costume is the Charleston costume. These ladies outfits will grab all the eyeballs at the party. You will be the most fine flapper in town if you wear this style. This is the dancer ensemble of the 1920s, so if you wanted to push the fashionista in yourself to a new level, you have just find the ideal costume, and again very sexy too.

For some other elegant styles you may want to choose a longer dress. These will still be sexy but add a classy touch to the whole. Also one accessory that will perfectly finish the flapper style is a long pearl necklace. You can find one for under a dollar, yes this is a fake one but match the style completely and does a great job!

Adult Flapper Costume - Sexy And Classy Flapper Dresses For Halloween!

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Timeless Victorian Christmas Decorations for Less

Christmas decorations add sparkle to your very home during the holidays. For many people, they find pleasure in decorating their homes with Victorian Christmas decorations to bring back old traditions of the Yuletide seasons. These decorations will transport your visitors back to the classic elegance of the Victorian era and at the same time uplift the holiday spirit.

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Antique stores usually carry a lot of Victorian Christmas decorations. You will easily recognize them since the designs have lace touches, delicate ribbons and richly-colored draperies. You will be fascinated with picking the best decorations such as wreaths, paper chains, angels, glass balls, fairies and not to mention Santa ornaments. And to give a festive glow to your room, you can also choose colored glass lamps and candles.

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Should you want to stick with this vintage theme, remember that Victorian Christmas decorations tend to be very detailed and the main idea of the design is quantity. The ornaments may look more cluttered but nonetheless, they will still appear very elegant and classy.

If your local antique shops do not carry these products, you can just work your way conveniently to the Internet. You can find all sorts of Victorian Christmas decorations through online auctions or websites that specifically sell these ornaments. With this manner, you will have a lot of options. You can choose from various designs of different price range. You can be sure that you will get the exact designs that you wish.

However, if you want to be more creative, you may always turn to nature for inspiration to create your own unique, cheap and colorful displays. You may use rich greenery to cover your front stairway and add on wide red and silver ribbons. You can also use pinecones, berries, holly, flowers and fruits to dress up your house during the holidays.

Here are economical decoration suggestions you may try, if you want to a add a touch of classic elegance on your Christmas decorating this year:

1. Make a Victorian candle centerpiece using a dinner plate. Use a white lace to cover a dinner plate and arrange candles with different heights. Fill the spaces with green leaves and add on flowers and gold ribbons. This makes a wonderful centerpiece and creates a cheerful ambiance with the glow of light.

2. Create your own Victorian lampshade. Use a plain lampshade and paste Victorian images from fabrics with Victorian prints. Paste them neatly and outline them with gold fabric paints. Glue ruffles and laces at the edge of the lampshade. Just make sure that the color of your laces will match the Victorian images that you have pasted. If desired, add buttons, pearls and bows to embellish the lampshade.

3. Cover mantel top with lavish greenery. Arrange assorted fruits like pineapples, berries, grapes or oranges at different heights. Accentuate the arrangement with ribbons, pearly beads and tassels. This makes a lively ornament along with the blazing fireplace.

4. Make your own Victorian Christmas tree with crystal drop ornaments. You can buy plastic versions in craft stores and hung them with gold ribbons. You can add garlands of silk roses, pearls and feathered birds and dominate the tree with ribbons in silver, gold, pink and lavender. Hang lights that would look like miniature candles.

5. Make easy Victorian centerpieces. You can fill a glass bowl with pinecones. Make sure to spray your pinecones with gold or silver paint. You can also tie colorful ribbons around tall glasses and fill with pinecones, potpourri, berries, pearls or even candy canes.

If you want the extravagant beauty of Victorian decor, you can always innovate and create even more crafts to transform your home into a holiday masterpiece. You don't even need to spend more when all the resources you need are just within your reach. You will find that every year, you just have to go with this theme during the Christmas seasons. After all, Victorian Christmas decorations are timeless.

Timeless Victorian Christmas Decorations for Less

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A Plus Size Poodle Skirt Looks Classy, Not Trashy

My Halloween Background

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Most articles about Halloween costumes start out talking about how Halloween got started or maybe they give you some background on the costume they are writing about. Not me, I'm going to tell you about my Halloween history. I'll fast forward through my childhood, through my fun college days, and move right past the birth of my four children. Oh, there are some great memories and stories during those years, but that will have to be another article.

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 I'm picking up a few years ago. About the time my dress size tripled. And, of course, my weight was always on my mind. That is when Halloween became the dreaded Halloween holiday. What if the hubby and I get invited to a Halloween costume party? What will I do? Or, the real question on my mind, what will I wear? If you are reading this and you have always been thin, then you have no clue what I'm talking about. It is a real fear. It is a keep me up at night fear.

 My Halloween Nightmare

A couple of years ago it happened. My husband gets invited to a company costume party. We have to go. My first thought is I've got thirty days to lose ten years of weight gain. It is not going to happen. My next thought was cry. You know the hard uncontrollable cry. OK, I got that out of my system.

I regrouped, and headed to the internet. After my first couple of clicks, panic was setting in. Oh my God, I wouldn't wear those costumes in my bedroom. Do plus size women really wear those tight little things? Later, at the party, I found out yes they do. Anyway, I had no choice but to keep searching around. Finally, I found a plus size poodle skirt. I think I have seen a picture of my mom in one of those. It is as cute as can be and it looks like something I can make work. Plus, I already had some shoes that will go perfect with it. Quickly I clicked and purchased.

My hubby is the nicest guy in the world. The outfit shows up a few days later and, of course, he says it looks great. I thanked him, but I knew the real test was yet to come. I will have to admit though, I even thought it looked great. And it was very comfortable to wear.

The Halloween Party

Halloween finally comes and I'm as nervous as all get out. How is this costume going to go over?  It's me and the poodle off to the party. We get to the party and like I said before, there are some women who must not look in a mirror before they leave the house. There is a lot more skin showing then I care to reveal. And I'm not talking about the young unmarried girls out on the hunt. I understand where they are coming from. No, it's the girls in my boat that I don't understand. What statement are they making?

 The poodle and I are a hit. Compliments come my way all night long. I think hubby is even proud. Now that feels good. It makes me feel better than I have in a long time. Come on Halloween, I can't wait for you to get here.

 Shopping For Plus Size Poodle Skirt

A Plus Size Poodle Skirt Looks Classy, Not Trashy

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Color Me Christmas - Designer Colors in Holiday Decorating

Have you ever walked into someone's perfectly manicured, designer decorated home during the holidays only to be greeted by multi-colored lights twinkling against red glass ball ornaments, silver tinsel and skimpy garland? Not to say that the traditional color scheme is bad, but don't get stuck in a Christmas rut! Over-the-top trees and swags may or may not be for you, but holiday decorating should be a reflection of your traditions, customs or heritage and most importantly your own taste. No matter what, try a holiday color scheme that compliments your surroundings, instead of competing with them.

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If you have neutral walls and décor, your holiday decorating options are pretty wide open. You can go traditional red and green, but consider throwing in lime green. It'll give you a retro feel without feeling old-fashioned. Metallics are hot every season and add "bling" against a neutral backdrop without being gaudy. Try mixing metallics with other earthy elements like feathers, stones and twigs. Not only are you fashionable, you're recycling too! Jewel tones are a current favorite although be careful to avoid the "circus" look. Choose three to four colors and mix them with artificial yet natural looking sprays to keep it authentically holiday. Purple, red, green and fuchsia are a rich combination that is festive yet classy.

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Of course the opposite could be true if you live in a house full of bold color or prints; reds, yellows, blues or bold wallpapers. Try a monochromatic theme or a more neutral, earthly color scheme.
If you've got a red kitchen, your holiday decorating is half done, right? Maybe, but this doesn't mean you have to go with traditional holiday color scheme year after year. Try a couple of contrasting but complimentary colors and strategically place them throughout the kitchen to balance the red.

Surprisingly enough, a nautical look is a popular new theme. Use white and cream seashells or chunks of coral as your "pinecones", pearl garland, ornaments and sprays as your round ornaments and accents (as well as your metallic bling) and starfish as your "snowflakes". Take a large starfish, decorate with ribbons and pearls, attach a small cone to the bottom and use as a beautiful tree topper. Mix the treasures of the sea with some from land; a woven basket filled with silk paperwhites or a clay pot with white silk amaryllis, a traditional Christmas flower. Believe it or not, there's a great Christmas story tucked inside every sand dollar; one part of the story says that the star that lead the shepherds to the baby Jesus is emblazoned on the front and the poinsettia is on the back side. Would you have ever thought the nautical theme could tie into Christmas so well?

No matter what your budget or taste, color plays an important role in creating a holiday atmosphere that your friends and family will remember for years to come. Don't stress about it, but make it a fun and exciting part of decorating for the holidays each and every year.

Color Me Christmas - Designer Colors in Holiday Decorating

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Outdoor Christmas Decorations Offer Many Options

Christmas decorating starts outdoors for everyone to enjoy. The options to make your lawn a holiday winter wonderland are fantastic and the prices won't deplete your gift buying budget.

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The best way to avoid that cluttered, "What were we thinking?" look is to draw up a plan before shopping for your outdoor Christmas decorations. All you need is a simple line drawing of your yard and a flat drawing of the front of your home.

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You can even take a few digital photos of the front yard area and put those up on your computer screen while you're planning so that you can think without standing outside in the cold.

Start with the lights. Do you want a theme like candy canes or a patterned color scheme? Do you plan to use monochromatic lights such as all white or all blue? White lights look like new fallen snow flakes, so pair them with the animated deer and fawn who look as if they're grazing on the lawn and you have an instant snowy Christmas no matter where you live! Add a few spiral lighted trees and from a distance, this is a minimal, classy look.

The Santa's Workshop theme is red, white and green with other primary colors. Find the biggest inflatable Santa and elves that your lawn can accommodate. Get free, large, sturdy boxes from the grocery store and wrap them like presents.

Stick a lawn stake in the yard and make a small hole in the bottom of the gift boxes to affix to the stake. That keeps the boxes in place. Invest in a spotlight to shine on the scene and soon you'll be looking at a North Pole theme right in front of your own home!

Giant inflatable snow globes are gaining popularity. You can use this as the main attraction for your outdoor Christmas decorations and then build smaller elements around it. Choose lights to complement colors in the main decorations.

Use your environment as part of the decorations. Before rushing out to buy, look at your drawing for ways to enhance the landscape. Do you have a tree that could be decorated with lights as a centerpiece for the lawn?

Can you line the circular driveway with lighted candy canes and then follow that candy cane theme around the exterior of your home? It's a simple, yet timeless look. One of the best and cheapest accessories for outdoor lights is a remote control.

This simple attachment plugs into the outdoor electrical socket and the first light string plugs into the remote attachment. No more running out in the cold to turn off the lights late at night. Just push the remote and you're done! All of this convenience is worth it for a ten dollar investment.

Whatever you buy for your outdoor Christmas decorations, remember that you have to find a place to store them for the next eleven months. Inflatable decorations deflate and store easily, but larger attractions might take up too much space.

Outdoor Christmas Decorations Offer Many Options

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Easy Christmas Decorating Ideas

There are many different ways to decorate your home and yard for the holiday season. The usual decorations of Christmas lights, ribbons, bells, garland, and of course a Christmas tree. Some people choose to decorate with those blowup balloon type object in their yards too.

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How about shaking things up this Christmas season by putting up some classy Christmas decorations?

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Christmas Decorating Outdoors
Your walk way or sidewalk leading up to your home. This is a great place to put up some decorations. Kids especially love this idea. Cordless LED Pre-lit walk way trees. You can find these adorable trees online. Some models light up on their own so you won't have to worry about turning them on at dusk. No cords to worry about tripping over either, these trees run on C batteries. The sidewalk or path to your house will be lit with you holiday spirit!

This is a great idea that works for many different holidays. A Panoramic Holiday Projector. At night light up your house with bright clean images on your house. For Christmas you can project "Happy Holidays", ornaments, and snowflakes on your house. Some kits also come with slides for other holidays too like Halloween, 4th of July, and Valentines.

Unique Christmas Decorations for Inside Your House
Traditional Electric Christmas Candles. Place some of these safe candles in your window at night. It's a beautiful look. Some of these candles automatically turn on at dusk and turn off at dawn. Electric Christmas candles look great in windows and on mantles. Add some garland around the base of the candles and you have a classy gorgeous decoration for your home.

Keeping with the candle theme, if you search around online you can find cordless candle wreaths. These cordless wreaths make decorating easy. Simply hang the wreath and you are done.

Easy Christmas Decorating Ideas

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Five Classy Tips For Making Cheap Hair Bows

Keep It Simple

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Design your bow style with one or two solid colored to create a stunningly simple bow that can be worn with anything. Basic Grosgrain and satin ribbons are readily available at your local crafts stores and Wal-Mart. Coupled with coupons found in your local paper or store flyers you can pick up a myriad assortment of colors for pennies!

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Add Sophisticated Detail

Want a little more panache? Try adding embellishments like rhinestone trim or decorative ribbon trimming running down the center. Lace edges would be unusually pretty. Painting your initials in vibrant puffy paint or glitter will give your bow a cool 3-D effect. Once again, these items are commonly found at local stores. So stock up when they're on sale.

Use What You Already Have

Try searching the house (or a friend or relatives) for old clothing, fabric and accessories that can be repurpose as cheap hair bows. Your mom's old sequined beret from her disco days would make a fine competition bow. How about your dad's satin disco shirt from the 70's? It could see new life as a boutique bow for a little girl. Your Grandma's old house dress could become a one of a kind patterned hair bow you'd be proud to wear.

Do Something Wild And Unexpected

Outdated wigs and hair pieces can be formed into Lady Gaga hair bows. Check your local beauty supplies, costume and party stores for a variety of styles and colors. Be inventive and unique. Maybe there is a use for purple hair that has nothing to do with Halloween.

Add Little Bits Of Luxury

Patterned hair bows can be made with fat quarters from the fabric store. You can save tons by purchasing these small swatches of luxury fabrics.

Five Classy Tips For Making Cheap Hair Bows

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Planning Your Home Christmas Decorations

The entire world waits with excitement for the Christmas season since it is the sign that this year is almost over and the New Year is just around the corner. A lot of people over the world start celebrating the festive season from the first day of December, or even earlier if you go be the displays in the department stores.

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The Christmas cake, the Christmas tree, the Christmas decorations and most importantly, Santa Claus, are some of the things we are instantly reminded of every time we think of Christmas. Not only those, wreaths and stars are also inseparable from Christmas.

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Everyone from small children to old people start getting busy planning for Christmas some time before the big day It does not have to be a lavish celebration for everyone. It is a time to be together with the family and simple cozy celebrations are also nice, with people having a simple Christmas tree and decorating it with some ornaments and a star.

Christmas decorations can be done both indoors and outdoors or both together. Most people use the Santa Christmas scene, snowmen and white snow as themes to brighten up their indoors decorations, all centered around the tree.

You can choose a Christmas tree according to your budget since there is one to suit everyone's pocket. They are generally decorated with swirls, ornaments, garlands, bells, stars and pine cones. To make it seem more like a 'real' Christmas tree, fake snowflakes are often sprinkled on the tree. If you cannot get these fake snowflakes, you can also use cotton swabs in their place. However, do not use too many accessories in the Christmas tree if you display it in a small room.

The Christmas garland can be fixed to the tree using polyester or velvet Christmas bows. This makes the garland look neat and pretty wherever it is attached. Stars traditionally symbolize Christ's birth and are available in a variety of sizes and colors. A lot of different kinds of Christmas wreaths are also available, including giant wreaths to go on the front door.

There are also animated decorations available in the markets which are appreciated by everyone, especially kids. You could get yourself a waving Santa, horse and carriage, riverboats, twinkling stars, or even a collectible animated ornament.

Good indoor lighting can make all the decorations look even better. Thus, invest in some good lights to brighten the festivities. Get yourself light strings, light bulbs, LEDs, mini lights and other popular Christmas lights to make your home look even nicer.

You could also try being innovative with the Christmas tree by getting a wrought iron tree this year. They are classy and come in various sizes, shapes and colors, which means you can get one to match your decor and other Christmas decorations. These trees are available in colors other than black and dark gray. You can also get wrought iron stocking hooks and wrought iron stocking holders, which also come in different sizes and shapes. Wrought iron can also be used to decorate the hooks and holders such as with traditional Christmas symbols and characters such as a snowman, a candy cane, a Santa Claus, reindeer, stars, snowflakes, wreaths, gingerbread men, nativity scenes, an angel, as well as the Christmas tree.

Planning Your Home Christmas Decorations

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Host an Adult Halloween Costume Party

Halloween is not just for kids. Adults love to celebrate the holiday and dress up in costume too. Here are some ideas for hosting an Adult Halloween Costume Party. 

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You can make your own invitations to set the Halloween party mood. At your local craft store get some pre-cut blank cards in a Halloween color and then head to the stamp row. Find a stamp that has a spider web, pumpkins, witches hat or other Halloween symbol. Don't forget to get an ink pad and a marker too. Decorate the front of the card with the stamp and ink pad. Write down the party details on the inside with the marker. Make sure you write down that it is a costume party. 

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When decorating for the costume party you need to decide if you are going for spooky or classy. If blood and gore is your goal then pile on the scary décor. Have a scary noise DVD playing to help set the mood. Hang spider webs and plastic spiders all over. Perhaps you had a classy party in mind. Then go with a candle filled room with cauldrons filled with dry ice and water to create a smoky ambiance. For either of these parties pumpkins, gourds, and fall leaves always have a place. 

Your menu can be inspired by the season. Serve a pumpkin soup, salad, and pork tenderloin stuffed with apples. Pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream is always a hit for dessert. 

Top off your Adult Halloween Costume Party with a costume contest. Make sure you have some fun door prizes to hand out to the winners. 

Host an Adult Halloween Costume Party

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Halloween Witch Costumes Can Be Sassy Or Classy

Ask anyone walking in the mall at anytime close to Halloween what the perfect symbol of the Halloween season is and you will find that hands down, the most common answer is the witch. And Halloween witch costumes come in such a huge variety of styles now, that anybody who wants to dress in this classic Halloween emblem costume can find exactly what they are looking for.

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Online it's so easy to search for and find hundreds if not thousands of variations on the witch costume. Look through any internet retailer of Halloween costumes and you will often find an entire section dedicated just to witches.

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Some of the costumes are suitable only for attending adults only Halloween parties because the sexy and sultry quotients are off the chart. These often feature very low necklines, teeny tiny little skirts and skin tight bodices that make the wearers look more like the Oktoberfest beer girls rather than scary witches.

And for some people, especially guys who attend Halloween parties, these costumes are absolutely tops on the list of favorites. And for some that is what Halloween is all about, pretending to be someone different than you are in real life.

But sexy witch is not the only variety of costume that you can find online at the Halloween costume websites. You can also find a lot of witch outfits that are not sexy at all and are indeed truly frightening.

These costumes feature mud green fabric for the costumes, long scraggly fingernails with fake blood crusted on and wart filled noses often with a single long stringy hair hanging out of the nostril. Top that costume off with a necklace of dried shrunken baby heads, a hat with greasy straggly hair poking out from underneath and Goth makeup and the idea of sexy witch is as far away as the North Pole.

But you can also find witch costumes suitable for little ones as well. These are often in the little girl section of the Halloween websites and can be found in appropriate sizes for newborns, toddlers and young girls. None of these are particularly scary looking, which is a good thing because you don't want your child looking in the mirror and being frightened of herself before she even gets out the door.

The witch outfits for children often come in colors besides black or green so they are right away nowhere near as scary as the kind in black.

There is no doubt that there are many styles of Halloween witch costumes available online. And if that is what you are looking for, just a bit of searching is all it will take to find exactly the style you want.

Halloween Witch Costumes Can Be Sassy Or Classy

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Halloween Decorating

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31st. Generally, Halloween is related to the scarier aspects of life such as like death, magic, and mythical creatures. Ghosts, ghouls, black cats, spiders, gnomes, skeletons, demons, monsters, and the famous Dracula are among the more famous Halloween personalities.

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Halloween traditional colors are black and orange. Purple, green, and red are recent additions. Pumpkins and scarecrows are the symbols of Halloween.

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One of the elements used in order to make Halloween a uniquely memorable occasion is make-ups and costumes. Pumpkins and Jack-o-Lanterns are one of the symbols of Halloween, so use a large number of carved pumpkins to decorate your Halloween party. Stenciled pumpkins will give the visitors to your party a scary feeling, as will creepy decorations.

Hang Halloween magic mirrors at the entrance of your home. Watching people get scared looking at their own terrifying reflections will be quite comic. Use dark decorations like a Halloween beacon with a pumpkin, Halloween clocks, Halloween candle holders, and Halloween wreaths for creepy Halloween parties. Use Halloween flags and banners in front of the party hall.

Decorate your car with Halloween stickers, posters, and symbols. Display all spooky Halloween toys in a table. Glue all the scary Halloween photographs in a frame, and hang it in the centre of the party hall. Decorate and light up your party with Halloween lights. Play Halloween music and videos that give off a spooky effect.

Arrange Halloween games like 'Finding a Monster', 'Make a Mummy', 'Halloween Pictionary,' and 'Build a Monster' for kids and adults to boost the enthusiasm of the participants and to enhance the enjoyment at the party.

The Internet has an incredible number of Halloween decorating ideas. A number of websites offer useful and unique decorating ideas for your Halloween party.

Nicely decorated Halloween parties will make the experience memorable not only for your visitors, but for you as well.

Halloween Decorating

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