Halloween Projects (we'll call all these number 68)

 As I am trying to catch up on blog posts and projects I finished in 2014, I came across these pictures. I went to a craft day- which is like heaven to me, and made these Halloween signs. Have I ever mentioned that Halloween is my favorite holiday?
Cause it is. Me and Martha Stewart. We both like it the mostest.

 So, I am excited, because coming up at the end of January- here in a few weeks, my friend is hosting another craft day. It will be Valentined themed. I'm so excited I want to go eat pink and red forms of sugar! Valentine's day is one of my favorite holidays too. It's in my top 5 list.

I hope to post those projects much sooner than I did these ones!

Minion Trick-or-Treat Bags (#57)

 This year for Halloween, most of us went as Minions from the Movie "Despicable Me 2" I Made these treat bags for my little girls:

I used warm and natural batting to make them stiff so that they would stand up, and when they set them down on the ground, all their candy didn't spill out...

I appliqued the eye ball(s) and embroidered their names.

 Then I lined the inside with orange fabric.

I was happy with how they turned out, and so were my girls!
P.S. I also made the skirts... but a friend made the hats for me.

And now for the part where I confess (If you just came to see the bags, you can skip all this part!)

So, I have 5 kids. That's a lot. 

a. lot. 

And my house is too small. We've been trying to buy a bigger one, but that just hasn't worked out, but that's another story. Point is: Since we don't fit in our house, something has to give! So, we looked in the garage, and through the house to see what stuff we could give rid of. This is a hard process. 

Especially for me. But I am not a hoarder! wait! Are you throwing that away?!!? Nope, not at all.

But, I did spot out 6 huge boxes and totes full of costumes. 

Yep, SIX!

(Actually there were seven, plus a bag, but I didn't see those until today when I was putting the boxes of Halloween stuff back into the hoarders den garage)

I don't repeat costumes very often, so I decided that I could narrow that down to 1-2 boxes (which I did! But that is another story!)

So, as I was downsizing costumes, and Halloween decorations, and everything thing else, which I've already decided is going to be a long hard process, I got to those jack-o-lantern treat buckets. You know the ones. They are iconic trick-or-treat loot holders.

But they take up a lot of space in storage, they don't flatten down, and don't stack inside each other.

So, I gave them away when I was giving away costumes.

And that's when i decided to make these treat bags. Because they match their adorable costumes, and they will flatten down and store easily. And I decided that even though they are minions, they are "Halloweenish" enough to use every year.

And your reward, for reading this far?

You get to see my adorable baby in his yellow minion costume!

And one more thought while I'm confessing: As I was putting my now reduced boxes of costumes and Halloween stuff back into the garage, I started eyeing my boxes of Easter decorations... and especially the Easter Baskets, which also don't flatten or stack inside of each other, and I think I'm going to say good-bye to those and make a squattier, fatter version of these treat bags to be our Easter baskets... then they could each have the kids names on them, and be personalized, and- best part- not take up so much room in the garage!

How to make a last minute Zombie cake

I was trying to think of something to make for our ward trunk or treat party for the Spooky Dessert contest. After looking around pinterest, I decided I wanted something gory/spooky, not just cutesy/spooky.

I knew I didn't have time for a trip to the store, so I needed to use stuff I had at home. In my Halloween stuff, I remembered that I had these skull head cup cake toppers.

 

 then I remembered this Bride Cake I made a few years ago...I had sent the rest of the cake home with the bride, since it didn't all get eaten. The mother of the Bride had washed the barbie doll cake topper and brought it back to me. So, I had saved it with my cake decorating supplies, thinking I might use it again...

 

hmmm, the skull seemed about the right size, so I popped off the doll head, cut a hole in the skull and popped it on. Then I cut off the doll face (which I left laying around the house and it kind of freaked out my kids, so I think I might use that for something...) and glued the hair to the skull.

I didn't have the time to make a real cake, and they cake be a little finiky in the skirt shape anyway, so I did rice crispy treats.

Also, I had no time to make fondant, and my husband broke my Bosch, so I would have had to do it by hand... uh, no thanks. No, buttercream it was.

I was in such a hurry, I left the back uncovered. Viel was cheesecloth slightly shredded, and the black part of my baby's Halloween costume that I had to cut off so she wouldn't trip on it.

I was hoping fake blood would be enough for the gory factor.

I think it was. BTW- to make quick edible fake blood, just mix corn syrup and red food color. It will even puddle cause the corn syrup is thick enough.

 

You can't really see it, but she's standing on a black doily and there are some skeleton hands coming out from under her dress.
My 5-year old was observing the process and was quite perplexed, "Why are you cutting that doll?"
"Why does she have a keleton face?"
"Why is she bleeding?"
I finally told her that she was supposed to be scary, and that she needed to make up a story to go with her. Then she smiled and said,:

"There was this girl, she was getting married, and um, on the first day when she was getting married, somebody shot her in the heart. And her face to turned into a skeleton. Her husband ranned away."
Suddenly she was Ok with it.

To me, the best part (aside from winning 1st place) was the girl that was serving it said that some of the kids would come up and look at it, and when she asked them if they wanted some, with big eyes, they would shake their heads and back away from the table. But then, if she pulled out a plate that already had a cut piece on it, they would take it. Funny.

"Boo"-ya! (#42-46)

So last week at our church we had a craft night. I thought I would be spending most of the evening helping to watch the kids that were there in the mursey. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I actually got to do some crafting.

(So I know this only takes a minute to put vinyl on, but I'm still counting this as project finished #42!)

I really got into the crafting groove. About 10 minutes before it was ending, I told a friend, "I think I could keep going another 2 hours."

(Learned how to make these felt flowers... #43... I think if I make the leaves smaller it would make a cute hair accesory)

It seems like in my life right now it's hard for me to find any uninterrupted time for crafting...

(This is a photo pendant that I made there. Those are my 2 youngest girls, hard to see in the picture- I just got a chain so I can wear it now! #44)

The next day I spent a few hours, ignoring the condition of my home, and getting my craft on.
There had been a demo about how to make pendant banners. I've made a few before, but the teacher did a short one that just said, "B-O-O", which is a lot faster to make than a "H-A-P-P-Y B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y-!" banner. I had some scrap fabric left from when I made my Jack-o-lantern quilt. It was so small, I didn't think I could do much with it, but it was so cute, I hated to throw it out. So, I got the idea to make some mini-pendant banners.

(#45)

I made "BOO!" and a "Spooky" and I have enough left to make a "Beware" one. I decided that since they were so small, it wasn't worth cutting out and appliquing teeny tiny letters, so I embroidered them on. Easy peasy. I ran out of stabilizer, and haven't made it to Hobby Lobby to get more... so that's why "Beware" isn't done.

(#46)

I cut the little scraps that were left to tie on in between. No fabric wasted.
Since I used stuff from my project closet for this- this TOTALLY counts as a finished project!!

MORE CANDY CORN TREATS!

So I guess I'm on a candy corn streak. (You can see the candy corn cupcakes here)

I needed another treat for something, and I had a lot of rice crispies and marshmallows on hand. I was supposed to make part of my oldest daughters cake with fondant and rice crispy treats... I didn't feel well, and that part of the cake didn't happen.

So, I made a double batch of regular rice crispy treats, and after the marshmallows and butter were melted, and just before I poured it over the cereal, I added orange food coloring.

 

My 5 year old helped with this.

After they cooled, I cut them into triangle shaped pieces, and moved them to parchment paper.

then I melted some yellow chocolate I had on hand and dipped the big end into it. It used a lot more than I thought it would, and I ran out. So, I did the rest in milk chocolate. Those looked cute too, and tasted good. We called those ones Indian corn.

Then I dipped the other end in white chocolate. I say dipped, but it was more like I spread it on there with a spoon.

 

Then I put them in bags with a few candy corn pieces, tied a cute bow and a card with it...

 

I think they turned out really cute... except that I don't like these bags from Dollar Tree cause they have printing all over them. It really detracts from the cuteness factor. Plus, I don't want anyone thinking the treat was made in China. Cause it wasn't. It was made right here in my kitchen in Texas!

linked to:

http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

I heart Candy Corn

Last week was my daughters birthday, and she asked what kind of cupcakes I was going to make for her class at school... like 2 days before her birthday. Well, I didn't want to make a trip to the store, so it was going to be whatever I had on hand.

One one of my favorite blogs had this tutorial for Candy Corn Cake tutorial

I didn't end up doing the cake, but looked around at all her other Candy Corn ideas, and came up with these:

I used a yellow instead of white cake mix,(cause that's what I had) but added the lemon zest, which really made it yummy. I colored the batter yellow and orange, and used some fall cup cake liners I had. Then used some orange sugar, and yellow sprinkles along with what was left of my candy corn bag! 

 

They turned out yummy and cute. But, really, you should check out Leigh Anne's blog for some great candy corn ideas.... she might be the only person I've met who might love candy corn more than I do... maybe.

 

 

P.S. Thanks for voting on the dresser color. It is still being worked on, but I'm told it's almost done. I gave him the new hardware I bought on Friday. Hope to reveal it soon!