Mirror Mirror On the Wall, Who Will Have The {Best Halloween Party} Of All?

Today is October 12^th and there are exactly 19 days until Halloween. In other words, there are 19 days left to host a fabulous Halloween party using Anders Ruff Custom Designs printable packages available here and here.

In addition to my printable party collection from Anders Ruff Custom Designs, how should I decorate for my Halloween party? Well, after purchasing one of our Halloween printable packages, here are some additional ideas courtesy of the craftacular, Martha Stewart. Donuts and cider anyone?

What can guests do at my Halloween party? Knock, knock...Martha, are you home...or are you out on the farm walking Francesca and Sharky? Here are some fabulous ideas from you guessed it...Martha Stewart: Pin the face on the pumpkin!

What can I serve for my guests at my Halloween party? Check out this awesome Halloween recipe collection from Better Homes & Gardens: A Frankie cupcake!

Happy planning for your spooky celebration! Make sure to send us pictures. We love seeing what our readers come up with using our collections.

P.S. Our Pink-O-Ween collection is 50% off, and for every package purchased during the month of October, Anders Ruff will donate $2.00 to Team Pinkoween to benefit Susan G. Komen.

-Carrie

Mirror Mirror On the Wall, Who Will Have The {Best Halloween Party} Of All?

A {Green} Halloween!

I know that we have friends from near and far; however, I recently discovered that it really is a small world. BabyElan Daily, a fabulous go to website for the latest and greatest in everything baby, is located practically right around the corner from us (in Charlotte, North Carolina). What a fun bunch of gals! We also learned from our new friends about another Charlotte based web boutique that tickles us green. Natural Luxe is an eco-friendly boutique and the owner, Jennifer, has put together for our area a Green Halloween Costume Exchange. Little did I know that this exchange takes place all over the country! Recycling Halloween costumes...why didn't I think of that?! I don’t know about you, but each year I DREAD shopping for costumes and THEN I always wonder what to do with the costumes my boys have outgrown from last year? Well, now I have my answer! Check out this link for a location near you. Hurry though, most of the swaps are this weekend!

-Carrie

A {Green} Halloween!

Virtual Pink Smurf Sale to Benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation

With everyone walking around saying “touch yer boobies,” you must be aware by now that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Anders Ruff and the ever so spunky and talented Courtney Dial of Pizzazzerie, have joined together to form Team Pinkoween. We would love your support. All pink Smurfs (wink) are just $1 (wink), or name your price (wink, wink).

Anders Ruff has roughly 279 Twitter followers, 224 blog followers, and almost 1000 FB friends. If every one of our friends gave $1 to Team Pinkoween, we would surpass our goal of $1000 in a snap. I’m quite sure you could use a virtual pink Smurf. I mean, who couldn’t?! We might even be able to dig out a Limited Edition Pink Papa Smurf (wink). Anders Ruff will also donate $2.00 from the sale of each Printable Happy Pinkoween Halloween Design Collection package purchased to Team Pinkoween.

Thank you all so much for your continued support of our company, our blog, our tweets and everything else. We would be nothing without you!

Now go touch yer ta-ta’s! Breast health is vitally important and my guess is that every one of us personally knows someone who has breast cancer, beat cancer, or died of breast cancer.

Think pink!

-Carrie

Virtual Pink Smurf Sale to Benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation

Get a {Move} On It!

Happy Tuesday! I am SO excited because tonight an interior designer is paying me a visit. I need a little (lot) of direction. She is going to do a “fluff” and use the existing stuff, maybe buy some new (not too expensive) stuff, and voila (or not – and if not, I will be seriously bummed out).

We are currently renting our town home and cannot paint. With my two young boys, the marks all over the white walls…ARGH (that’s me screaming). And don’t get me started on the toilets, and the floor around the toilets (but that’s a whole other post). Those of you with young boys know what I am trying to say. (Sorry, went off on a tangent there but gosh darn it, they need to learn to AIM!)

When we do (eventually) move in to our own home, I am going to send out Moving Announcements from Anders Ruff (see Exhibit A)

Exhibit A –

I love the brown and green combo – so classy! However, the moving announcement would need to be worded a bit differently for me (I think I have mentioned before that I am divorced but in a committed relationship with my significant other, Dave..I prefer not to use the word boyfriend, because he is almost 50 and this isn't high school). Perhaps we would word it: The Dave and Carrie Union; or Dave and Carrie Plus Four (we each have two children).We would also need two initials for our last names. Maureen and Adria would come up with something spectacular, I’m sure! I guess I will need to cross that bridge when we get to it.

Check out our other fab line of Moving Announcements.

Until Thursday,

-Carrie

Get a {Move} On It!

Team {Pinkoween}

Happy Thursday bloggy peeps! Guess what? It’s almost October. Do you know what that means?! Pumpkin picking, bobbing for apples, shopping for overpriced costumes, parent/teacher conferences AND National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Remember when we collaborated with Pizzazzerie for her pink themed Halloween shoot entitled Pinkoween that was featured on Amy Atlas? Well, this month presents the perfect opportunity to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and fight breast cancer together. We would love your support!

Please visit our Team Pinkoween page on the Susan G. Komen Passionately Pink for the Cure site. Any amount you can give would be so appreciated. Even one dollar! It adds up fast, especially if we use the power of social networking. Please spread the word with our link to Team Pinkoween and the hashtag #Pinkoween.

Also, for the month of October, Anders Ruff Custom Designs will donate $2 from each sale of the Printable Happy Pinkoween Halloween Collection to Team Pinkoween.

Thank you and Happy Pinkoween!

-Carrie

Team {Pinkoween}

{Carrie’s Favorite Things}...like Oprah’s Favorite Things, but without the freebies

HAPPY TUESDAY! It’s always a happy day when I get to blog for the super creative dynamic duo behind Anders Ruff Custom Designs: Maureen Anders and Adria Ruff.

Favorite Thing #1:

As I was thinking about what to write about today, I was poking around Etsy
and found a shop that sells some of the coolest edibles that I have ever seen: butterflies, bats, autumn leaves and more. It’s called Sugar Robot . Host a Pink-O-Ween party with pink and black bats on your cupcakes! Or, just imagine what you could do with these lovelies on your wedding cake! I think they are extremely unique and quite spectacular.

Favorite Thing #2:

Twitter. I love Twitter. I tweet a lot under @andersruff (on behalf of Maureen and Adria), but I also have a personal Twitter account where I do the typical stupid things like tweeting @aplusk (Ashton Kutcher) actually thinking that I may get a reply. The other thing I love about Twitter is that you learn about so many different companies. For example, I learned about @CurbsideCupcakes in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, I live in Charlotte, but can you imagine a truck full of homemade cupcakes that drives around like an ice cream truck? How wicked is that?!

Favorite Things #3 & #4:

Ree Drummond, blog-ess of The Pioneer Woman. I think that she is really Wonder Woman in disguise and am waiting for her to pull out her golden lasso (she does live on a ranch)! If you haven’t read her blog, you must.

Gabrielle (Gabby) Blair of Design Mom is just so hip! I love how readers write in with questions and she gives advice and then asks her other readers to chime in. She also shares tons of design tips and her fabulous finds as well. And she has six children, including a baby. And she cooks and cleans and wears the hats of both a working mom and a stay at home mom. Amazing! I have two children and last night was make your own Eggo waffles for dinner night.

Just a few of my favorite things. P.S. I also LOVE dessert.

-Carrie

{Carrie’s Favorite Things}...like Oprah’s Favorite Things, but without the freebies

{Gift-lemma} Translation: What the heck do I buy for...?

Whenever one of my two boys gets invited to a birthday party, I REALLY struggle with what to buy for a gift. My oldest is eleven and at that age, a lot of the kids want gift cards. Speaking of which...isn’t it funny where you can buy gift cards these days!? Everywhere from the supermarket to the gas station. Kind of takes the fun out of it (but I will admit to buying a card at Ye Ole Card kiosk at the Circle K gas station). Invitations (at least in my neck of the woods) tend to come with very little time left to buy a gift. PSA: Think ahead about designing your child's birthday invitation and itsy bitsy Etsy your way over to Anders Ruff Custom Designs. We do rush orders!

Anyways, I found this really cool website called uncommon goods. They offer all kinds of unique, "uncommon" items for everything from the home to the hostess. Here are some examples of fun things I found for gift giving to the younger set.

Eco Dough anyone? (for the 3-5 year old age range):

Check out these cool Hands Gone Wild! temporary tattoos for kids in the 5+ age range:

The über cool thing about uncommon goods is that they donate $1 from every gift you purchase on their site to one of three charities (you choose which one). It’s called the Better to Give Program.

uncommon goods sells a heck of a lot of good things! Check out this cool croquet lamp featured in their Recycled Home Décor section:

We like cool companies!

-Carrie

{Gift-lemma} Translation: What the heck do I buy for...?

My {Sweet} 38!

My 38^th (bleh!) birthday is bearing down on me like a freight train (November 2, if you are curious). I’ve never had a birthday party as an adult and I was thinking about what type of party I would have (if I were to have one). I think that I would literally have a Sweet 38^th Birthday Party – just desserts and open bar. Why? I love martinis, I love dessert and it's MY birthday!!!

The invitation (see below...another Anders Ruff fab creation), but remove the 16 and insert 38. Edit name and location, etc.

The venue: The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte, NC (because I live in Charlotte).

Décor: Uh. Comfy and casual chic??? Need help with this (little) detail.

DJ: That Guy Smitty (LOVE Smitty! He spins the best tunes.)

Food: Desserts and drinks: Amy Atlas dessert table(s) and open bar (lots of martinis)!

Presents: No presents – your presence is my present. (Unless you want to pitch in some $$ for some Botox and Juvederm - it gets expensive!)

Start time: 8:00 p.m.

End time: 12:00 a.m. – That’s pushing it for me (I’m a morning person) and pumpkin o’clock at my house is usually between 9:45-10 p.m. But, what the H E double hockey sticks, I can stay up until midnight on my birthday, right?!

Do you think MTV would come and film My Sweet 38? Probably not. But, Fantasia lives right around the corner from me...maybe I could invite her and be on her VH-1 show, Fantasia For Real.

Let's party!

Carrie

My {Sweet} 38!