Last minute Halloween snack ideas for that 'before the big night' party :)

    I just LOVE it when I find things that don't take to long to make, but will stick out with my children later on in years. My parents did some signature things that I will always carry with me. For instance, my mother food coloring once throughout our Dinner. Our meat was one color, while the mashed potato was a different color and so on. Even though this may have never changed the taste, it sure was more fun eating it. 

There were some really cute ideas I stumbled upon on Food Buzz.

How about some "Mummy Dogs"made by Rachel? Aren't they cute?

Get the recipe for these guys here.

And this one is being made as soon as I go shopping...Ellie had a genious idea with macaroni and cheese and a mini bread loaf.. get this recipe here!

Susi made some great Halloween appetizers. Just take a look at these! 

Now that's creative, and very simple. Click here for the recipe. I will certainly be trying these out on my little monsters. They loved deviled eggs and I love jalapeno poppers, so it is a win-win. If you have a fun recipe like this, please share :) What meals/ snacks stood out to you?

Tag You're It! Tuesday... Blog Hopping :)

This is my first blog hop but thought it was a great idea. This one is hosted by Debbie Does Coupons. So....tag you're it!!!

(All you have to do is follow Debbie and then as many other blogs as you want..get followed back and hop on to the next one :)

Get carried away with these cute broomsticks and look at those bats!!

   Hello everyone, hope all is well. My family and I have been going through a lot lately. It has really brought us down. I just really have not been in the mood for projects and had no creative juices at all. But! Luckily my sister was told about a really cute idea for a Halloween party and pulled me in on the project. Please check out her post on this project here! Thanks for a fun afternoon! These brooms are very affordable and such a cute idea for a party treat. All you need is some brown paper lunch bags, scissors, bailing twine (or just thread), plastic baggies, candy (or snacks),  and some sticks you can have fun collecting with the kids outside.

 First you take two of your brown lunch bags and cut off about 2 inches off the top. If you want bigger brooms then just skip that part. Take one of the bags and from the bottom upward, cut strips as wide as you like till about an inch and 1/2 from the top. Take your other bag and place it inside the one you cut. Puff out the bag and straighten the strips how you would like. It should look like the photo above.

   Then you fill the little plastic baggies with candy or snacks..(we used gummy fish, sour patch, and pretzels). Place the baggies in the brown bags you have made. Grab one of your chosen sticks and stick it up in the bag. Gather the brown bag at the top and use the twine/thread to tie it tight. Wrap as much as you want for the look you are trying to achieve. That's it...for an added touch, we stuck some name tags on the brooms so the kids knew which one was theirs.  The kiddies loved them!

The second project my sister had ready to try were some pumpkin bats. For this project you will need: some very small pumpkins ( about the size of gourds), black spray paint , some craft foam, toothpicks, and some double sided tape.

                          First..take your pumpkins outside and spray paint them all black. Let dry.

 

Then, use your foam to cut eyes, ears, wings, fangs and whatever else you may want to accessorize your bats. Attach your wings and ears to the toothpicks with tape or glue. Then put the eyes and mouth on with the double sided tape. It's that easy.

     You can either let the kids put the pieces on or if it's too hard for the kids to push the picks in, then you can just make a bunch of different eyes/wings/mouths ahead of time to let them pick the look. Of course, you can always substitute the materials being used with just about anything.... you can use black thumb tacks to keep the white eyes on, white glue to adhere the pieces. You can also cut these bags from the top so you have a more uniformed bottom, but we like the unruly, windy look. Just have fun :)

A nice Halloween treat that is fun to make.

   I first saw this idea here. I thought it was so cute. My stepson has a birthday tomorrow and since he loves Halloween I like to combine a Halloween party with his birthday sometimes...especially since he is usually with his mom for this holiday. The video shows how to do this but I'll quickly go over what I bought and how I did these particular treats. I will be adding hair tomorrow, so those pics will be uploaded then.

   I got 11 boxes of lime flavored jell-o. I also bought 1 package of gummy worms, some gummy eyeballs, fangs and fingers. The eyeballs were great. They came in 3 different colors and were very gushy. They work well with the jell-o. I found them at a local convenience store.

     I made the jell-o according to the directions...for this project, I boiled 11 cups of water, added it to the gelatin and then added the 11 cups of cold water. I poured it into the cups and placed them in the fridge till they were half set. Pulled them out and added the eyes, fingers, and worms. Then I put them back in the fridge to set all the way. I'm going to pick up some cotton candy and add that as hair and eyebrows. When I get around to it, I will post a picture of the finished monster treats.

   That's it. Simple, fun and the kiddies will love them.

Know a nervous child? The answer... Worry Dolls.

   Guatemalan legend has it that worry dolls provide children with better sleep when they have things on their mind. They usually come, six at a time, in a little drawstring bag. A child would use one of the dolls each night to tell all their worries to, then they would place them under their pillow. Through the night the doll would fight to keep those worries away, giving the child a peaceful nights rest.

   I was given some as a child and remembered how tiny they were and that I really did treasure them. I loved the colors and their diversity. A friend and I would make our own version of worry dolls with pencil shavings. The pencils must have been different then, because I attempted this last night and didn't get to far. I'm going to look into the differences of wood and the lengths of shavings. We would carefully sharpen colored pencils to achieve the longest shavings possible for a nice flowing skirt. Then we would sharpen off a smaller one to turn it upside down and place as a torso. Another was done for the head, arms and hat. Even though this may seem like an odd thing to do, there is something fascinating with anything miniature and they were fun to make. These too, would come out different every time depending on colors we used and when the shavings decided to break.

   So if you have a  nervous child who worries about things at night, try making some worry dolls and seeing if they help. There are several ways of making these. The original ones were done with some wiring, paper, scrap material and embroidery floss. I have just made some with q-tips, double sided tape (can't find my glue lol), recycled shirts, brown paper bag and a pen.
Here is how I made these.

    I took a q-tip and cut it in half. I then shaved a little off each half. These were used as legs. I grabbed another q-tip and cut it in half also, using one of the halfs as a head and torso. Take one more q-tip and cut the cotton off. Cut the stick in half. These will be your arms. I had a really handy double sided tape roll on hand. It is clear, peels and stretches. It really worked well and it was at Marden's for less then a buck. I cut the tape in about 1 1/2 - 2 inch strips and used this like the floss, bounding the body in shape. Not only did this really work well in hold it all together, I could mold it better and it attached the clothing very easily. I then wrapped the cotton head with tape as well. Then it was time to pick the look.

   Cut some scraps of material and decorate your doll. With the double sided tape it stuck without sewing or binding. These literally only took about 5-10 minutes to make. It all depends on how detailed you go. You could even go as far as making the dolls resemble family members. Make 6 of them and put them in a little drawstring bag....like a perfume bag, crown royal...etc. And that's it! Very easy, cheap and fast but a great comfort for a little one.

Salt dough and what you can do with it.

Salt dough can be more then just a fun activity for you and your little ones. I have never been ashamed of being frugal, and salt dough projects can be one of the cheapest and unique ways to make gifts for any occasion. I have made several things with the most recent being a picture frame for a friends baby shower. She was having a girl and decided on the name of Willow. So I googled Willow trees and found one I liked and used that for my inspiration. I made the dough and got to work. For a spacer where the glass was to go, I used cardboard and tinfoil. When the tree was done cooking, I took the spacer out and replaced it with glass. Since she wasn't born yet, I used the announcement I was given.
   I had most of my crafting items in storage so I had to improvise. After painting the tree I used tinfoil and rolled it up for sparkles in the branches. How durable is this craft? Will it stand the test of time? Let me just say....No Worries! This frame took a fall from about 6 feet high off my wall due to a faulty hook and the only damage that was done was a small corner breaking off. You may be able to see it. Now practice makes perfect, I could have spent even more time and got it to look better, but overall I was happy with this gift and it turned some heads at the shower. Overall cost for this project if you had to buy everything would be about 6 bucks. But I had everything on hand and had this done in an afternoon.

Salt dough recipe

1 cup salt
2 cup flour
1 cup water (maybe some more)

Mix this all together in a large bowl. Use it like clay or play dough to make your project. Try to stick with flat subjects. The more 3D you get, the more chance you have of bubbling, overcooking etc. Keep the thickness the same so it cooks evenly and you don't have molding inside. You want your items completely dried out and as hard as a rock. While you are molding your dough, have a glass or shallow bowl of water right next to you. You can use this to keep dipping your fingers in it to make everything more smooth. It helps with cracking too. I overdid the water when I did Christmas ornaments one year. Bake these guys at about 300-350 degrees. Keep an eye on them and make sure they are thoroughly cooked!! The more cooked they are the harder it is to break and less chance of mold. Think of it like paper mache. It's better to take the extra time while you are making it, then to regret it later.

 Tips

-store in airtight container
-add a touch of vanilla extract to keep mold away (and smell nice of course)

-the more you knead the dough the more pliable it becomes

 -for ornaments, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough and cookie cutters for the shapes...you can use a straw to poke a hole for the ribbon at the top.