Saturday, October 23, 2010

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Earlier this week, Cash had a play date with our friends Charley and Reagan. I thought it would be fun for them to do something fallish, so we made these pumpkin cookies. The kids had a blast, and really did a good job helping "mix" the ingredients.



Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening (or butter)
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 cups flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the sugar and shortening for 3-4 minutes. Mix in the egg, vanilla and pumpkin. In another bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Add flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture. Mix just until combined. With a spoon, stir in the chocolate chips. Drop spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.

I found this recipe over at One Charming Party. (I L*O*V*E that blog! Great party ideas.)

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Secret Pal Commission

I have been commissioned, by a friend, to whip some stuff up for her secret pal. I love doing things like this, so I gladly accepted. My first set of goodies are office supplies. I don't know about you, but I have a huge crush on anything remotely related to office supplies or stationary! LOVE IT. I hope my friend's secret pal has the same opinion. In her basket this week she will be receiving 4 magnetic flower clips, 4 flower magnets, and 4 flower tacks.

Aren't they just the cutest? I love Gerber daisies! They just always brighten up my day. :) These were super easy to make...partly because I didn't make them...well, I didn't make the flowers.

These flowers were bought back in the beginning of the summer for another project. They didn't get used, and I hated to see them just sitting there....waiting. I grabbed them up yesterday along with some clothes pins, magnets, and tacks.

I started by taking apart the clothes pins, and painting them green and blue.

The flowers had an adhesive backing, so I cut little felt circles to go over them. I then hot glued the flower to one side of the clothes pin, and a magnet to the other. The big flowers were put on the clothes pins, and the smaller ones on magnets and tacks. I pretty much did the same thing for the smaller ones, except just hot glued them directly to either a tack or a magnet.

I think I am going to have to make some for myself. Who else wants a batch?

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Halloween Yarn Wreath

I have been wanting to try making one of these wreaths for a LOOOOONG time. I saw some on Etsy, then my friend over at More Chic than Shabby started talking about them, then my bestie over at A Bird and A Bean made one! We hadn't even talked together about yarn wreaths, but that is how it always works out for us....one of us thinking/the other doing and vice versa. (She usually ends up on the "doing" end of it first, as I am terribly slow...)

Anyhoo, I finally got around to making one, and I am SO GLAD I DID. I am absolutely in love with these wreaths! For the cost of what you put in to it....it's flipping amazing. I spent a buck on yarn at Big Lots, and about $4 on a styrofoam wreath at Hobby Lobby. The rest of the stuff I already had, so I was in like flynn.

Here's how it went:

1. You need a basic wreath, and yarn. It can be any kind of wreath you like, and whatever size.
(The yarn spells it out for you!)

2. Tie one on! A knot that is...just tie one and start wrapping. Erin says in her post that it doesn't have to be perfect, that it will end up ok. No worries. I am completely OCD, so I had to wrap mine meticulously. It took about an hour, which is how long Erin says, on her blog, that it would. I watched an episode of Teen Mom online while I did it. (It's my guilty pleasure! Don't judge!) When you finish, just tie another knot in the side you choose to be the back.

3. I used felt to make flowers for mine. I have seen all kinds of things on yarn wreaths, but I already had felt. Plus, there is love in my heart for felt. I had made these flowers before, and hadn't used them for anything, so I was excited to use them on this. Ok, so cut a circle out of the felt. Size depends on what you want. My small flowers used about a 3 inch circle, and my larger ones about a 5 inch circle.

4. Once you have the circles cut, cut into it in a spiral motion as seen below. Then just roll the felt up starting on the outside. Use hot glue to glue the very middle fat piece to the bottom of the rolled flower. I then hot glued a bead into the center of the flower. I made 4 large flowers and eight small ones, but you can use as many as you like.

5. I made Cash go out into the yard and pick me out a couple of little branches. I covered them with Mod Podge, and some orange glitter that was left over from the "Spooky" banner.

6. I arranged everything to my liking, then hot glued it all down. (Thank goodness for hot glue!!)

7. I had some left over black and white ribbon from some other project, so I used it to tie the wreath up.

Afterward, I thought I might like a black raven on my Halloween wreath. I found one in my stash, spray painted him black, and stuck him in the mix. I am not totally sure how I like it, but I suppose it's fitting for Halloween. What do you think? Bird or no bird?

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

More Halloween Decor and Cash's Scary Spider!

I saw this fun spider craft somewhere online. I knew Cash would totally dig it, so it was a must. He had fun, and it turned out pretty cute. He's pretty proud of it, as well. :)

Super simple. Paint the hand, except the thumb, and use googly eyes...there. Done.
Cash is wearing an appropriate shirt for the occasion.

I used some fun scrapbooking paper and Mod Podge to cover these letters.
The sign is from the Dollar Tree, and the Cash painted the pumpkin on his school field trip.

Most of my Halloween stuff is cheesy, goofy stuff, but I like it because the kids like it. It's ok to be cheesy sometimes, right. :)

Monday, October 18, 2010

Halloween Mantel Decor

Ok,Ok, Ok....I admit it. I have totally allowed life to prevent me from blogging. :) Working full time, selling Jewel Kade Jewelry part time, and keeping up with my two boys and husband has wore me slap out! I haven't had a bit of extra energy to put into my crafts or my blog. I know all of you out there have been shaking your fists at the computer screen when you realize that I have had nothing new for you, right??? :) Not really, but in my mind...it's a fun fantasy. Honestly, this blog is more for me (accountability to keep me being ME) than for anyone else. However, I do hope SOMEONE out there gets a kick out of it.

All that being said, I want to go ahead and lay it out on the table. I AM BACK. I L*O*V*E fall toooooooooooo much to let it pass by without putting out a few fun recipes or crafts. Plus, this week is fall break, (YAY for no school!!) and I have time to rejuvenate myself with creative endeavors.

Here is where I started...the mantel. I was working with a shoe string budget, so most of my stuff came from the Dollar Tree or Hobby Lobby using their good ole 40% coupon. Take a look....

The subway art was downloaded, but for the life of me, I can't remember where I got it from...will find it. The other Halloween pictures were downloaded from Craftily Ever After .

I love banners with all my heart! I used Eighteen25 's printable banner to use as a stencil for my own. I used Mod Podge and orange glitter to spice up the spooky letters.


Eye balls, skulls, and glass cylinders all from Dollar Tree.
Skeleton is from Dollar Tree.
Fun spiders that Cash helped me make. I used Johnson
Journal
's idea.
I have more to show....

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Happy Birthday MOM!


Today is my mom's birthday.


She is an amazing woman who deserves to be given much more than she has been, but is loved more than she could ever know.


Happy Birthday Mom!


Saturday, September 25, 2010

Playtime

Cash and Luc have a box of costumes. This is Cash in his "Batman Warrior" pose.

Not really sure who he's saluting...check out Luc's awesome costume....Batman Giraffe.
Breakfast with Luc.....
and Flux...
Kaleidoscope at the Creative Discovery Museum
Cash at CDM
More kaleidoscope
Luc at CDM
Me and the boys at the top of CDM tower.
even more kaleidoscope
Cash "hanging" out at the play ground.
Luc looking sun kissed.
Doing some digging.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...