Fun BOO Banner

Well, it's almost Halloween and I've finally gotten around to showing a little Halloween spirit!

I'm crediting Pepper for teaching me how fast and easy it is to make a holiday banner. It really is one of the quickest ways to bring a little holiday feel to your front door/mantle/entryway/whatever!

So here's my new BOO banner, awaiting trick-or-treaters this Halloween weekend!

The paper came from a couple of 12 x 12 cardstock pads I got on clearance at Michael's, as did the little sparkly chipboard decorations. And the orange ribbon was on clearance at Target. It was a $4 project, if that. I love a good deal!

Spooking things up,

Easy Last-Minute Tutu

Need a quick, low-budget, last-minute Halloween costume for your little girl?

I just finished this cute hot pink tutu for my daughter's Halloween costume. Started and finished it during naptime; took me 40 minutes tops.

And here's the best part: it only cost me about $4 in materials!

What you need (these amounts are perfect for a 2- to 4-year-old):

• Tulle: about 3 yards (I used only one color because the store had no black tulle, but it's adorable with multiple colors together!)
• Ribbon: 60" of 1 1/2" ribbon (my daughter is 2 and this leaves plenty for a big bow in back)
• Scissors: you don't have to use fabric scissors if you don't have any
• Ruler
• Your hands!

I followed the simple directions from this quick YouTube video. Big thanks to my friend, Amy, who's making a whole slew of tutus for her daughter's upcoming ballerina birthday party and who not only shared the video, but picked up the materials for me! Now that is a good friend. :)

My daughter is going to be a dancing black kitty for Halloween and she is going to look dang cute in this tutu! What are your kids going as this year?

Avoiding the massive bowl of candy in the hallway...

Halloween Treats!

Happy {almost} Halloween!

I don't know why I am quite fond of treats on a stick lately. The last post of tiny candy apples was so much fun, and they are truly more fun to eat when they are mock lollipops!

They are also so much more cute, which is why I made them in the first place. The fact that they tasted good was a definite bonus.

And so I introduce another spin on the brownie pops by Sassy...

CAKE POPS

Follow the directions for the brownie pops, but substitute cake mix instead of brownie mix!

They are a little harder to form cake balls than brownie balls, but they are delish!

Combinations we tried:

Yellow cake mix dipped in Milk Chocolate

Devil's food cake mix dipped in White Chocolate

Spice Cake mix dipped in White Chocolate

Devil's Food Cake Mix dipped in Peanut Butter

Wilton chocolate candy melts has many flavors to choose from.

Make it festive! Decorate with sprinkles or place them in tiny patterned cupcake papers!

Cheers,

Bye Bye Birdie - Quick Fix

Hello Birdie,

I hate to be the one to tell you, but you aren't as cute as you think you are. I absolutely love birds, but for some reason it looks like you are staring at me all of the time. I think we need to think of a little change-a-roo. I hope you don't mind...

Black is quite slimming you know, and it goes with everything. So why don't we just try it on and see? I bet you will look so great. Your little birdie friends will want to look just like you...

See how well that turned out! No need to thank me.

Bye Bye Birdie,

Candy Apples

A few years ago, we made these adorable tiny candy apples for my husband's birthday treat.

Family Fun Magazine always has the best ideas. I thought we would try them again and share our results! With Little Gal and Little Sissy older now they were able to help make the treats!

Tiny Candy Apples: Pepper's Variation

What I used:

Melon baller

apples (granny smith taste the best)

lollipop sticks

chocolate candy melts or chocolate chips

toppings

tiny muffin cups

Coffee filters (for holding sprinkles and toppings)

Step 1: Cut the lollipop sticks in half at a slant.

The pointy end will make it easy to stick into the apple balls.

Step 2: Use your melon baller to cut out your tiny apples!

One large apple will make about 7-8 tiny apples.

Step 3: Push one half lollipop stick into each tiny apple.

Pat apples dry or let your tiny apples-on-a-stick dry on a paper towel for 1-2 minutes.

Step 4: Prepare your sprinkles, toppings and paper cups for the dipping process

I used coffee filters to hold my toppings. Even though I don't drink coffee, I buy filters at least once a month to use for many other purposes... you will be amazed at all of the uses.

Step 5: Melt your chocolate!

I like using candy melts because the chocolate stays melted longer,

allowing you to "dip" more apples.

Step 6: Dip your apples in chocolate and roll it in the topping of your choice!

Since you prepared your muffin cups before, they are ready to hold each tiny candy apple!

Enjoy!

My favorite thing about this treat is that is also works as a craft for kids!

Everyone loves eating something they can help create. Use your imagination and make them your own! We have dipped them in chocolate, caramel and even peanut butter!

Happy dipping!

Cheers,

Canvas Craft Night!

I hosted a fun craft night last night for a bunch of friends who've had their eyes on the Mod Podge canvas project.

I should have taken a picture of the 75 canvases I had piled up in my office! That is a lot of canvases. I did have my husband snap a shot of the group though (or most of the group), so here we are!

We had 12 people crafting away into the late hours of the night and it was a blast. We had to spread out on the floor and the kitchen counters were covered in canvases.

You should see the gorgeous papers they all chose for their projects! Pretty sure I'm going to have to go take pictures of all the completed projects so I can post them. You know, for bragging purposes. These ladies definitely have something to brag about.

I finished up my own project as well. We are creating a little fairy room for our daughter, so I decided to get a little more crafty with my canvases.

Here's a closeup of my favorite one--a mushroom fairy clothesline :)
Give it a click to see the details.

Looks like we are going to make craft night a monthly thing! It was such a fun time. Why not start a craft night in your town, too? Woohoo!

Hanging my canvases,

Throw a Themed Party!

As promised when I gave you a peek at the sweets shop and the witch hat cookies, here is a run down of the party of the year for lil' Gal. No ends were left loose, and all friends and family members were utilized.

With Halloween just around the corner I thought that this would be a fun post for those of you that love a good costume party.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

PARTY

Originally lil' Gal asked for a Wizard party, as in Wizard's of Waverly Place because she wants to be Selena Gomez when she grows up. I had no CLUE how to throw a wizard party. After seeing WICKED I thought that a Wizard of Oz themed party would be fun, and lil' Gal agreed.

One stipulation, she wanted to be Dorothy.

So we threw an Oz themed costume party in July!

We put ruby red shoes under our garage door like our house had landed on the wicked witch of the east. And we had a yellow brick road that led up to our front door into Munchkin land!

The kids also had to walk under a rainbow

and enter Munchkin land.

The party started with a few different activities for the kids when they arrived!

My sister was painting faces, Glinda the Good witch was here to take pictures with the kids, and there were supplies for rainbow witch bead necklaces for the kids to create! There was also a jar of m&ms for the kids to guess how many. Closest got to take the large jar home, all kids took a smaller jar.

We ended up with a witch, 2 Dorothy's, a Lion, a Munchkin, a member of the Lollipop Guild and even a Glinda!

Lil' Gal dressed like Dorothy, with a fancy crown that said "There's no place like home".

She had sparkly red shoes, and even a tiny Dorothy figurine necklace.

I think that she felt just as cute as she looked!

I got the amazing tree from a garage sale! The tree is an actual Wizard of Oz decoration, one of the creepy trees from the movie. It was probably the best garage sale I have ever been to. I should have snatched every Wizard of Oz item that they were selling, but I had no idea months before that I would be throwing an OZ themed birthday party.

Outdoor Fun!

We made our own potions using sand art potion bottle necklaces.

Layering the different sand in the bottles made unique designs for all of the kids.

They even creatively named their potions things like..."stinky feet potion", "witch cackle potion", and "turn-you-into-whatever-you-want potion".

Broomstick Races!

This was originally a "filler" game, which we ended up using while waiting for our wicked witch to arrive. It actually ended up being one of the best games. The kids loved running around cones while acting like they were flying on a broom.

Melt the Witch!

My brother agreed to dress like a wicked witch and allow the kids to throw countless green water balloons at him. I don't think he knew he would be also be asked to wear a dress, wig, green paint on his face, and have children pulling and tugging at him for 15 minutes.

I would dare say it was the scariest 15 minutes of his life.

Munchkin Food

When it was time to eat cake and pizza the kids were surprised with Munchkin size pizza and treats as well as rainbow cupcakes that a friend of mine told me about on Family Fun. I topped the cupcakes with ruby slipper paper clips. The food was so cute and yummy looking even you wouldn't have been able to pass it up.

The Sweets Shop!

This was definitely the highlight of the day.

The moment the kids arrived they could see the Sweets Shop set up and immediately were all asking when they could "shop" for their treats. After all games, activities and presents were done, it was the turn of the party-goers. There was SO MUCH candy set up before anyone got there. I don't think there were more than maybe 30 pieces of candy left over by the time everyone went home. I am sure the parents were thankful for all that candy.

Here is "Glinda" the good witch, waiting for her candy. :)

All of the preparation paid off, and I think I had as much fun as my not so lil' Gal.

I hope she remembers it when she gets older. It was so much fun to make it her special day!

How to throw a themed party:

Try to start 1 month in advance to give you enough time to gather all ideas and supplies, especially if you need to order anything off of the internet

Utilize family and friends for help

Come up with a main theme: princesses, pirates, fairies, Oz. :)

Gather ideas from friends and websites

Make sure that your invitations indicate the theme you have chosen

Choose foods and drinks that go with your theme

Decorate according to your theme

Make a schedule!

This really is important so you aren't disappointed later when something was forgotten.

This was our schedule...

1. Arrival activities all set up for children to do as they arrive:

- Take your picture with Glinda the good witch cardboard stand-up

- Make a rainbow witch necklace

- Get your face painted

- Guess how many m&m's in the jar

2. Games/crafts plan extra activities just in case they go fast. I planned 5 and we used 3.

- Make your own sand art potion

- Witch broomstick races

- Melt the witch!

3. Happy Birthday! Singing, cake/treats, eat munchkin food

4. Open presents

5. Turn on Wizard of Oz while waiting for parents to arrive

Don't forget to take hundreds of pictures at the party!

What theme are you thinking of?

Cheers,