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Along Came A Spider: Halloween Decorating Ideas

September 17, 2012 · Comments { 1 }

My Halloween decorating is going to be a little more focused this year. In fact, I may have to use a microscope to see some of the little creepy, crawly friends that will be on display. I’m talking about spiders and lots of them.

I’ve searched the internet, blogs and Pinterest for some of my favorite spider Halloween decorating ideas. Here’s a sampling of what I found…

Spider Themed Halloween Party Invite

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Spider and web Halloween party invite.

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Wreath and pumpkins crawling with spiders for the front door.

diy spider garland paper halloween

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DIY spider garland for the front porch.

DIY yarn spider web window

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Spider web for the front window.

magnetic spiders door halloween

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Spiders creeping on the inside of the door (these are magnetic!).

Halloween Skulls with Spider Web

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Spider webs and skulls for the mantel.

Spider Trick or Treat Bag Halloween

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Spider treat bag for the kids.

Spider Web Bowl Halloween

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Spider web bowl for the Halloween candy.

Spider Web Cupcakes for Halloween

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Spider web cupcakes for the kids.

Spider Web Cake for Halloween

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Spiders on the cake – love this!

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Black spider labels for the drinks.

Need more Halloween decorating ideas? Follow the frightful fun on Pinterest where you will find all of these images and more!

Read full story By Cristin on September 17, 2012 in Entertaining, food, Halloween, Holiday, holiday decor

Confetti Toss: New Blog Reveal

September 2, 2012 · Comments { 10 }

Drum roll please. For the past several weeks I’ve been working with the creative team at CooperHouse to redesign the blog site. The biggest change you may not even see … but the blog is now on WordPress (love!). The new platform provides cool navigation features which will allow you to find articles more easily. One item that has been removed is Google Friend Connect (Google won’t be supporting it much longer and it’s rumored to be unreliable in the future). But no worries, there are lots of ways to receive posts from Simplified Bee including feedburner, bloglovin‘ or email (see form in the right sidebar). Simplified Bee publishes blog articles typically three days a week, so it shouldn’t overload your email.

If you’d like to connect more often, you are also welcome to follow the things that inspire me on a daily basis via Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+ and now Instagram (a really fun, addicting site for browsing and managing photos). This pretty picture below was taken on a recent trip to the San Francisco Flower Mart and stored on Instagram.

In celebration of the new site, I’m tossing a little gold confetti …

image sources: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Thanks so much for your continued support and for reading the Bee!

Read full story By Cristin on September 2, 2012 in blog, color, Parties, storage

Dorothy Draper Inspired Entertaining & LONNY

August 13, 2012 · Comments { 2 }

I was so excited to see Lauren McGrath of Good Bones, Great Pieces on the cover of this month’s Lonny Magazine. Inspired by the design icon, Dorothy Draper, Lauren creates a beautiful setting for a summer dinner party on the shaded lawn of her Westchester County home. As a starting point Lauren uses Brazillance, a South American-inspired textile designed by Draper in 1947 to create a stunning table runner. Lauren did a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of the revolutionary designer. It was Draper who in 1923 launched the first interior design company in the United States, something that was considered daring for the time (& aren’t we glad she did!).

dorthy-draper-inspired-dining-tablescape

I love Lauren’s mix of pattern and color. Isn’t the bar housed in the black & white striped Portofino Pavilion from ZGallerie fun?

* all photos by Patrick Cline via Lonny Magazine

Read full story By Cristin on August 13, 2012 in Entertaining, Garden, Parties, tables, textiles

Cute, Eco-Friendly Lemonade Stand Supplies

July 6, 2012 · Comments { 2 }

Summer and lemonade stands go hand in hand. And isn’t the lemonade stand above just the cutest? My kids would love! And I love because it features reusable glasses, pitchers and decor by Acme Party Box Company so your kids can be open for business all summer long.

I’ve shared their sweet eco-friendly, sustainable and reusable party products before, but couldn’t pass up sharing their lemonade stand accessories!