Halloween Cupcakes

Here are some chocolate cupcakes, filled with orange, yellow and white buttercream frosting (I wanted it to look like candy corn when you bit into it).

Halloween bags

I was walking through Michaels awhile ago and saw these cute tote bags hanging up for $2 each. I thought they would make a great trick or treat bag and let my kids pick out the colors they wanted. I then let them decide what they would like me to put on the bag. For my oldest I drew a pumpkin face, my middle child a ghost and my baby a spider. I had a hard time picking out my babies tote. I was debating between a mummy, frankenstein, the words boo with ghosts, a spider and a skull. I eventually chose the spider. I made these out of freezer paper and fabric paint. I did something similarhere and you can use the same directions from there to do these as well.

Gnome and Mushrooms

Need a last minute Halloween costume?  This is what we did last year and it was very easy to put together!

For the Gnome Hat, just get a piece of white construction paper and cut a circle.  Then cut a piece of red felt into the same size circle and with a hot glue gun, glue the felt to the construction paper.  Cut a triangle out of the circle so it looks like this:

Then form the piece into a cone and glue the seams together.  Your gnome hat will look like this:

Then to complete the costume get a white beard and stuff a pillow under a Gnome looking shirt.  Add a belt and some boots and your costume is complete!

For the Mushroom hat cut another circle out of construction paper and of red felt.  Glue the felt to the construction paper, then cut a smaller triangle out of the circle so it looks like this:

Cut out white felt circles and hot glue them to the hat.  Then hot glue the seams together.  Your hat will now look like this:

Then get a headband and hot glue it to the bottom of the hat.

For the mushroom cap, just make or buy a red beanie and hot glue white felt circles to it.  To complete the outfit, wear a white shirt and pants for the stem.

Pumpkin Jars

I love making crafts with my kids. Last year we did the wood pumpkins foundhere and this years I decided to make pumpkins out of glass jars. I found this idea in the latest Taste of Home magazine and knew my kids would love them. It is a very easy craft to do. First cut your tissue paper into strips. Next paint mod podge (or some other kind of glue) over a glass jar and place the strips vertical before the mod podge drys. Continue to do this until the jar is covered. Once it is dry cut out different face shapes for the pumpkins out of black construction paper and glue to place the pieces on the jars. Decorate with ribbon. My kids loved doing this and I thought they did a great job. My middle child who is 2 needed a little help but my oldest who is 4 could do almost all of it alone.

Wood Pumpkins

I saw these pumpkins on www.itsadaisyday.blogspot.com and knew I wanted to make them. They would not only make great decorations for Halloween but for Thanksgiving as well. It is also very cheap, easy to make and a great family craft. I ended up spending a total of $1.27 and that was for the orange paint.
What you need:
orange paint
wood blocks
sandpaper
sticks
ribbon
raffia

Start out by finding some scraps of wood. My husband found a 2x4 for me and cut it into three blocks. The kids and I then painted them. Once the paint dries use the sand paper and sand the pumpkins however you like to give it a rustic look. Next, hot glue medium size sticks (we found these laying in the back yard) about an inch and half tall to the top of each pumpkin. I then found some old ribbon and raffia and tied it around each stem. You could also use wire or fake leaves if you have some on hand. That's it, a simple, easy and cheap pumpkins!

I will post the kids Halloween costumes soon!

Grapevine pumpkin

I recently found this on a blog and fell in love. Usually I am not drawn to things that look messy but I love the simplicity of it and thought it would look great on a front porch (I still need to put it outside). I plan on giving this one to my mother in-law. Sp, when I make my next one I plan on making a longer stem so it stands out more and I might wrap a thin green ribbon around the stem.













Here is a link to the tutorial: http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/2009/09/grapevine-pumpkin.html

Snack-O'-Lantern

Snack-o'-Lantern













I just received this e-mail from the disney family fun website and I thought it would be adorable treat for kids.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
Navel orange
Canned or fresh fruit salad
1. To make one lantern, use a small knife to slice the top off a navel orange and cut around its interior to hollow it out. Scoop out the orange segments, chop them, and mix them with canned or fresh fruit salad.

2. Carve small facial features in one side of the orange, then cut a slit in the lid to accommodate the handle of a green plastic spoon. Fill the lantern with fruit salad. Insert the spoon and set the lid in place.

Halloween food

I made these cupcakes last year for a birthday. They are time consuming to make but would be perfect for a Halloween party. I got the idea for the cupcakes from wilton.com.
























I made these for my kids last year and plan on making them again this year. They didn't turn out as well as I would have liked (next time I need more pudding and a better cup) but I thought they were really cute.














1 square BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate
2 cups cold milk
6 drops green food coloring
1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
8 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, crushed Make It

MELT chocolate in microwave as directed on package. Use a clean small paint brush to paint a monster face on the inside of each of four clear 5-oz. plastic cups with the melted chocolate. Refrigerate until ready to use.

ADD milk and food coloring to dry pudding mix in medium bowl. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Immediately pour into prepared cups.

TOP with the cookie crumbs. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Store any leftover desserts in refrigerator.


Don't forget to check out the crafts I made last year for halloween in the post below!

Cheap Halloween decorations

I love decorating for Halloween. I have a few decorations that came from the store (my mother in-law has spoiled me by buying me a few over the years and even loaning me some of her favorites) but some of my decorations are homemade. These homemade decorations are easy to make and very inexpensive:) These pictures are from last year since I haven't gotten around to decorating yet but I will soon. All of these ideas came from Marthastewart.com. Here are a few of the decorations I chose to make last year:

Paper Bats! Here is the link: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/decorating-with-paper-silhouettes?
I didn't get around to doing the large bats but I might next year.














Paper mice and cobwebs! Sorry the mice are a little hard to see in this picture. I thought that they were adorable (in a scary way of course) and I loved putting them all over the house. As much as I liked them the kids liked them more than I did:) Here is the link for the mice silhouettes:
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/paper-mice?

Also, if you didn't notice I have a lot of cobwebs hung up around the fireplace. I know they can come off a little tacky but I really like the cobwebs and I think it adds a nice touch to the decorations.













I LOVE these flyaway giveaways. They are easy to make and are a great way to give someone some cookies or candy as a Halloween gift.