Weekend Wander #53

Welcome, welcome... I almost forgot about the party this week!  Eek!  So, between madly running around like crazy and fighting off this cold I'm coming down with (dang it!), this'll be quick.  Some highlights from last week:

I love this adorable Halloween sign over at Burton Avenue.  I'm gonna have to save this idea for next year!

And check out this awesome loft bed over at Holy Craft!  I secretly want one of these... but doubt I could convince My Mr Right that the desk underneath should be for my crafting...

Feature buttons are in the sidebar if you want one.  Thanks to everyone who linked up!  Now, on with the party!  You know how this goes:

1)  Family friendly links only, please.
2)  No commercial sites, please.
3)  Visit and mingle with your fellow party-goers.

I'd love for you to grab a button or place a text link on your blog to share this party with others.  Also, don't forget to link your Halloween goodness to the Halloween Linky.  And GO!

October Spooktacular: Batty Lamp

This is a fantastic kid-friendly project.  And it can stay out where they can see it and be super proud of their contribution to the holiday decor.  It’s easy, cheap and quick.  Perfect for the attention span and dexterity of a two year old…


Here’s the How:

Supplies:
- Vinyl Bat Cut-Outs
- A lamp shade

1.  We used the $13 Target lamp that resides in our living room as our canvas.  I cut out some bat shapes in various sizes from vinyl with my Cricut (love that thing).
2.  Little Monkey went to town putting the bats on the lamp shade.  He LOVES stickers and the black vinyl was basically that.  He was in heaven.  I had to help him position some of the bats; but, for the most part, he did it himself.  He loves to look at it and often points out “Momma, BATS!”  (I had to explain to him what a bat was.  Surprisingly, for the amount of attention he paid while I was explaining, he seemed to comprehend it fairly well.)
    
Go get Batty!

Krista

October Spooktacular: Bat Invasion

This was super easy.  A little time consuming, but hey, I’m all caught up on Grey’s Anatomy now.  Silver lining, right?!  Little Monkey helped hang them and loved it.  I found the idea over at MADE.

           

Here’s the How:

 

Supplies:

- black cardstock

- Scissors

- Two episodes of Grey’s Anatomy (optional)

 

1)  I found a package of black cardstock (50 sheets) for less than $5 at Wal-Mart and it worked great.

 

2)  (Turn on Grey’s Anatomy, if desired.)  Fold you cardstock in half.  For my large bats, I folded the paper while it was horizontal.  I got two bats on one sheet.  For the little bats, I folded the paper while it was vertical (making a long skinny rectangle).  I got four bats on one sheet.

 

3)  I drew a basic bat shape on my first piece of cardstock and tweaked it till I was happy.  Then I cut it out and used it as my template.  Don’t spend the time tracing, just hold the template and wing it.  They don’t have to be perfect.

 

4)  Repeat.  And repeat… and repeat.  Times a billion.  Not really, but it’ll seem like it.  I did approximately 10 sheets of cardstock, 5 sheets of the big bats and 5 of the little ones.

 

5)  Hang on the wall.  I used some sticky tack I had, as it seems to do a little less damage to the paint on our walls.  Double stick tape would work too. 

 

Discuss bats with your two year old again and roll your eyes when he says, “Mom, I know.  You said that again tomorrow".  Then, smile a little because you know he remembers your little discussion about bats yesterday… or he can seen the future and you will talk about it all again tomorrow.

 

Krista

 

October Spooktacular: Witch Silhouette

If you’ve been following October Spooktacular this month, you’ll know that I’ve got a little thing for witches this year.  Last year it was haunted houses.  Anyway, I don’t know where the idea came from.  It was one of those things that evolved slowly and I don’t know what started it all.  Thank you, pregnancy brain.  I was going to do this for our Dead and Breakfast Date and hang it in the window in our living room, kind of as a ‘Welcome Home’ to My Mr. Right.  But the sun was super hot that day and I wasn’t sure what the heat would do to the sticky adhesive on the back of my vinyl.  I really didn’t want to have to spend days and days scratching adhesive off our rented apartment windows.  So, this project moved to the refrigerator.

I get some of my vinyl from local sign companies and had a roll that still had about 4 feet left on it.  It was perfect for this project.  I rolled it out, vinyl side down, drew a rough sketch on the backing paper and then got out my trusty little scissors and started hacking the extra away to make my little (well, not so little) witch.  My roll was only 18” wide, so I had to piece the cauldron together, but everything else is one piece.  The bubbles were cut from the excess scraps.  I did have to cut a gap for the top piece and the bottom piece.  Call  me crazy, but I still intended to use our fridge.  I didn’t cut any out, I just started at the top, applied the vinyl and then cut it apart when I hit the bottom of the freezer door.  Then, I started right back up, just eye-balling the placement, on the top of the refrigerator door and worked my way down.  It took some patience, but I love the way it turned out.  And it’ll be easy to take down when Halloween is over.

 

Krista

October Spooktacular: Easy Eerie Candles

When you think Halloween, I’m sure candles come up in your visual somewhere.  Dim, candle lit corridors in a creaky, eerie haunted mansion with bone-chilling stone walls that house a vampire waking from his death-like slumber for a night out and the cackle of the witch carefully tending her wretched-smelling, bubbling brew down in the basement can be heard to echo slightly into those empty, dark corners.  Ok, longest run-on sentence ever, but did you see candles?  Maybe not.  In any case, they are a popular item to include in Halloween decor.  But, you don’t just have to slap some candles out and call it good.  Here are three super easy ways to dress your candles up.

 

1.  For a quick and painless dress up, grab some vinyl and plaster in on your waxy canvas.  Use images, words or anything else you think would compliment your decor.

 

 

2.  Spray paint.  These candles take a little bit of prep, but the result is pretty cool.  I had intended to do this with red candles (so it would look like they were bleeding), but my Dollar Tree never had the red ones in stock.  I do like the white and black though.  A lot actually.  To get these beauties, simply spray paint your candle black.  Let it dry well.  Burn for approximately half an hour so the wax can drip down your candle.  These would look super cool next to an old “spell book” or witch’s potion bottles…

 

3.  Containers.  Put your candles in the containers and dress the containers up.  Ribbon, vinyl, glitter, paint, fabric… the possibilities are ENDLESS! 

 

What’s your favorite way to dress up a candle?

 

Krista

October Spooktacular: Festive Food

Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to do as much cooking/baking as I had hoped this month.  Between busy schedules, business trips, our baby moon trip, the army and this pregnancy, it’s been hard to find the time or desire to spend much time in the kitchen.  But, there are those who have spent some time in the kitchen creating some awesome Halloween food.  Let’s take a look-see:

 

These cute ghost pancakes would make a great little surprise for the kiddos.  Gourmet Mom on the Go has a couple of variations for these cute little creations:

 

 

There are some fun ideas over at MarthaStewart.com, including these tasty and creepy shriveled meatballs…

 

 

These mini pizza mummies are adorable and what family doesn’t love pizza?  Check out the details at FunFamilyFoods.com.

There are some more cute pizzas at Red Couch Recipes.  I love these jack-o-lantern versions!

 

 

You’ve got to go over to Brown Paper Packages and check out the amazing collection of Halloween food over there.  It’s inspiring!

 

Six Sisters’ Stuff has some fun ideas too, including these mummy dogs that Little Monkey LOVED.

 

I’m still trying to get my act together and make this too fun muffin tin lunch over at Another Lunch for Little Monkey before Halloween has come and gone.  He doesn’t really get “Halloween” yet, but I think he’d still like to play with all the fun food before eating it.

 

These candy corn cupcakes at Fredellicious are genius.  I never think about putting the frosting on the inside.  I’m just boring and lame like that.

 

Swanky Tables has some too cool Jell-O Petri dishes.  I’m loving the worms!

 

There’s another great collection of Halloween foods over at Our Best Bites.  And check out the glow in the dark food too…

 

Over at A Little Sussy, I’m totally in love with these owl cupcakes.  YUM!

 

The Kurtz Corner will totally hook you up with some awesome pumpkin recipes!  From beverages to great eats and, of course, yummy sweets.  I wish it would get just a little cooler here… I’m dying for some of the great Fall food, but still dread heating up the oven (and the rest of the house).

 

Why Not on a Tuesday has these C.U.T.E. Nutter Butter Ghost cookies.  I love me some Nutter Butters! 

 

There are lots and lots of great ideas out there, so go get your little self in the kitchen.  I’m gonna sit here with my bag of boring old Oreos and binge on the great food ideas on Pinterest while I try to convince myself that I’m not really that tired and I really do want to make some mummy dogs for dinner…

 

Krista

 

Weekend Wander #52

Hey party people!  Welcome to another edition of Weekend Wander, where you can lose yourself in the great blogosphere and come away with some awesome inspiration.  Some inspiring links from last week include:

Alderberry Hill shared a great little Halloween idea.  Guess what these are made from?!  The can, not the cookies... although they look awfully yummy...

Did you see this spray painted faucet?  It looks wonderful...  Head over to Saving4Six and see this $.97 beauty!

Pop over and check out all the things you can do with laundry detergent at Ask Anna.  You won't believe how versatile that stuff is!

Encourage your kids to get their homework done and keep the distractions to a minimum with this printable over at Bacon Time.

  Thanks everyone and congratulations ladies.  Now, let's get the fun started. Here's the deal:
1.  Keep it family friendly.
2.  No commercial sites.
3.  Mingle!  No one likes a wall flower, and this is a party, after all.

October Spooktacular: Pumpkin Party Favors

Are you throwing a fun Halloween bash?  Do you want some cute (and easy and practically free) favors for your guests?  Or how about some yummy table centerpieces?  Well, check out these cuties. 

 

Here’s the How:
Sorry, there aren’t a lot of process photos, this project was kind of a two-hand deal.

Supplies-
-  Paint chip samples (hit up your local Wal-Mart, Lowe’s or Home Depot)
-  Wooden Skewers (got a big bag at Wal-Mart for $1)
- Hot glue gun
- Scissors or paper cutter
-  Filler Candy (I used candy corn, as it fit nicely between the small spaces)

1)  Begin by cutting your paint samples in half.  Mine had five colors on them and I just cut them right in half.  Otherwise your pumpkins will be really big (and take a lot of candy to fill).

2)  I poked holes in my paint samples near the middle at both the top and the bottom with a straight pin (like you use for sewing) and slid them onto the skewer.  Do all the bottoms first and then all the tops.  (I cut my skewers in thirds, eventually.  It’s easier to slide the paint chips on the skewers if you have the pointy end to help out.)

3)  Slide the paint chips up the skewer until you have the stem of the pumpkin the length you want it (the bottom of the paint samples should be approximately 1/3 of the way down from the dull end of the skewer).   Cut your skewer down just below the paint chips.  Use a small dab of hot glue on the end of the skewer to keep the paint samples from coming off.  You don’t need to have the glue on the paint chips.  If you do, arrange them into the pumpkin shape before you glue.


4)  If you haven’t already, fan out your paint samples so they make a circle.  Secure the top of the samples with hot glue to the skewer, if necessary.  Most of my pumpkins didn’t need glue on the top, but a few had a hard time holding their shape.


5)  Slide the paint samples apart just enough to stick the candy corn inside your pumpkin.  I found this to be the easiest way for me.  You could fill them before you push the tops of the samples onto your skewer.


You could also add some felt leaves and little green curly wires if you want to get real fancy... but, I didn't have time.

October Spooktacular: Dead and Breakfast Date Night

Ok, so this date night is perfect for Halloween and October, but it would be fun to do anytime of the year too.  If you don’t have time to pull it off this Halloween, save it for later.  And, the intensity of this date is all up to you.  You can go super easy or go all out, the important thing is to spend some quality time with your Honey.
Most of the prep for this date will be from decor and food.  Decor can set the mood.  Make a trip to your local Dollar Tree and hit up the Halloween aisle.  Grab some crawly spiders, caution tape, spider webs, and anything else you think will help spookify (yes, I just said that). 

You’ll want to print out the Dead and Breakfast Inn welcome sign and display it somewhere obvious.  I made it pretty big (like 16x20”), so if you want to print it out like a poster and piece it together you can.  Blockposters.com makes it super easy.  Just save, upload and print it.  (I have no affiliation with Block Posters, I just like how easy it is to use and the results are great.  And it’s FREE.)  Put this up on the front door or paste it to a piece of foam board and hang it outside or from the kitchen doorway.  Wherever works the best for your home.  It would be fun to cut it out, paste it to some foam board and hang it on a little faux chain.

Just click on the image, right click in the new tab/window and save it to your computer.  You can print it little or upload it to print it larger.

Next, get your decor put up.  You don’t need to go super elaborate (unless you want to), but pull out some candles, hang some spider webs, dim the lights and put the caution tape out. 
 
Now, the food.  You can grab take out and spookify it (yep, there it is again) for a quick and easy night.  For example, grab some Chinese food, serve it right out of the cartons and slap these labels on the boxes.  Bam!  Easy, right?! 

Again, click the image, right click and save.

Be creative as to what label you put on what food.  There are lots of possibilities with some imagination.  Here is where I put everything:

- Flesh-eating Maggots went on the fried rice

- Rat Intestines went with the box of chow mein

- Eye of Newt accompanied some sweet and sour pork

- Monster’s Trash Mash was Kung Pao Chicken

- Belladonna and Werewolf Flank was Broccoli Beef

- Fried Phoenix Claw could go on a dish with shrimp

- Fried Hemlock could go on cream cheese rangoons

- Mummy Fingers would work on any kind of a roll (egg, spring)

- Maggots was steamed rice

- Dragon Heart in Blood Sauce was BBQ Pork

Or… get creative and make some creepy food.  There are a ton of ideas out there.  Some of my faves (from my pinterest board).  Please be respectful and click over to the original source to pin.  Thanks!

Slithery Snake Sandwich

Fettucine Mummies

Mummy Pizzas

Or, there’s always spider web nachos, bone breadsticks with blood sauce marinara, and tombstone cupcakes.

 

For our date, we carved pumpkins and then did some binging with a Bones marathon.  We have been going through the series and love it.  It’s got the creepy element, but it’s not scary (I don’t do scary), so it’s perfect for us. 

 

Source

We enjoy an evening where we can just relax on the couch and snuggle together, but if you are more of an out-on-the-town kinda couple, here are some ideas to get you out of the house and enjoying the frightful, chill air:

- Go to the corn maze.  Don’t forget a flashlight (or do…)  Do a Google search to see if there is one in your area.

- Visit a haunted house. 

- Go to the pumpkin patch and take a hay ride together.

- Visit a cemetery.  Take some snacks for an eerie little picnic.

- Dress up in costumes and go bowling or to the movies or just get dessert.  Enjoy all the comments and funny looks. 

You can grab a scary movie, make some Monster Mash snack mix and snuggle together for a frightfully good evening as an alternative stay-at-home date.  Or pull out some board games.  Clue, anyone?

Let your imagination go a little wild for what to do after your movie or outing…………  a little wardrobe change may give you some ideas.  What will you opt for?  Witch, French maid, pirate wench, whatever you want.  Get creative and make up some witch’s potions to try out.  (Like Ground Hemlock Root=Pixy Stick powder, werewolf’s tooth=chocolate chips, dragon’s tears=honey, ect.  I’m sure you can figure out what to do with them…)

Come morning (it is Dead and BREAKFAST, after all), cook up some scrumptious food to help you get through the day. 

If you’ve got kiddos, they would love these too.  Eggs and Bacon with a little Halloween twist… courtesy of bhg.com.  My mom has claimed Friday nights as “Grandkids Sleepover Nights”, so we get to wake up lazy on Saturday mornings.  Wonder if she’ll let us drop off both the kids after the little bean gets here?!  =)

Krista