This weekend I logged over 6 hours of weeding and general garden maintenance. I haven't done anything gardening related since being diagnosed with Lyme's Disease in early July, but the lovely weather and insidious weeds lured me out. Once I had finished weeding I couldn't stop there, so I headed to our local nursery to pick through the last remaining plants. Luckily I found what I was looking for--purple pansies and decorative cabbage...perfect for bringing some color & cheer to the patio!
-K
If you remember my Twilight Fever post from early September on the boys' Halloween costumes, then you will remember I was trying to convince the boys to be twin Edward Cullens (aka handsome Robert Pattinson Vampires). Well I am happy to report the boys decided to be Vampires for Halloween. It was mostly because they couldn't find anything else they wanted to be and less because of my (fading) All-Powerful-Mommy-Influence. I followed Martha's instructions for making the capes and added an embroidered patch to personalize each cape. Overall the cape project was pretty easy and I would highly recommend giving it a try (you only have to sew two straight lines per cape). I had a lot of fun doing their hair...check out my twin vampires:
And of course this post wouldn't be complete without my other Vampire Love fresh from the Vanity Fair photo shoot...
-K
Have a delightful Halloween! Wishing you all lots of candy and Halloween desserts!
The Halloween Cat container is from Pottery Barn. I used wired floral picks for the very first time today to add the berries to the arrangement...so easy, I can't wait to use them again. And you have to love the nice Fall leaves!
-K
OK, so I pretty much followed the same technique as last year to make *Halloween Treats* for the boys to share with their classmates: Stamp, Stuff & Sew.
At Micheal's I purchased Glassine-like favor bags (in the wedding section, 100 per pack) and stamped them with Halloween motifs (Martha makes great stamps -- not the clear kind, but the block kind). Then stuffed them with Halloween goodies. I enlisted the boys to help with the stuffing part and they quite enjoyed it. Finally, I sewed the bags shut. The sewing step is completely optional. I was feeling lazy about the sewing part and was just going to fold over the tops of the bags and seal with a clear circle sticker, but I couldn't find them at the craft store (I didn't check any office supply stores though).
For their teachers the boys brought in mini-bundt cake brownies tied up to look like a giant piece of candy. To make these use wax/parchment paper, colored tissue paper and cello to wrap up your baked goods, tie with bakery twine and add card.
-K
Halloween is almost here! I wish I were a kiddie again so I could get dressed up and go out trick-or-treating! What would I be? Just what any girl would want to be (besides Edward Cullen's beloved)...a princess. Princess Leia that is. Okay, so I am too old to go out ringing doorbells for candy (not too old to be Edward's gal), so I will have to settle for some glittery Halloween decorations. Here is how we put the Glitter Spiders to good use...
1. Bling on a stack of pumpkins:
2. A tie-on for a bag of Halloween Goodies:
3. Extra spook an a Halloween Wreath:
-K
This Fall the boys took a break from soccer to try out flag football. Though they missed soccer and their soccer teammates, football turned out to be a lot of fun. For our traditional end-of-season treats the boys passed out these cute little bat 'tins' filled with Halloween Chocolates. To give the bat tins some extra Halloween character we attached labels adorned with sparkly & spooky Halloween stickers from Martha's craft line. Both the plastic tins and stickers were purchased at Michael's.
To make the treats, start by assembling the supplies: tins, sitckers, circle punch, chocolates & labels. The labels were printed on light green paper and then punched out with the circle punch. The fonts for the label can all be found at dafont.com: the 'Happy Halloween' font is Bone; 'Connor & Jackson' font is Matchbook; Spider font is Trick or Treat BV; Football Helmet font is WC Sold Out B Bta; and the Bat font is KiddyHalloween.
Next, fill the tins with Halloween candies or other treats. Then tie with ribbon and label.
Lastly, distribute the tins!
I used to not be a fan of pumpkin desserts. My only reference being Pumpkin Pie, which is OK, but definitely not drool worthy. Then I was introduced to the Pumpkin Roll (which A and I have tried to rename to a more appealing option, Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl, but the name just doesn't stick) and I became a staunch believer in pumpkin desserts. So as soon as I read Amazing Mae's Do Not Make This If post on her favorite Pumpkin Cookie Recipe I knew I had to make them. She warns those who have little self control to not make them--I quickly disobeyed. And I'm glad I did. The cakey pumpkin flavor was complimented nicely by the buttery glaze to produce a very yummy cookie. The perfect treat for a Fall day (or any day).
-K
If you follow Martha at all, then you probably know she loves to glitter anything and everything. I have always wondered why she seemed so obsessed with glittering. On a recent trip to Michael's craft store I picked up one of Martha's *Halloween Glittering* kits on sale. I had no immediate project in mind and like many of my crafting supplies, it found its way into my shopping cart because it was on sale. Then this past weekend while hubby was off watching the Giants lose, I decided to impress the boys with a glitter project. I busted out the Martha Glittering kit and a bunch of spider rings and went to town. The boys claimed the project as 'boring', but I had a hard time stopping. After glittering a bunch of spider rings I wanted more. As I quickly moved on to bigger and better Halloween objects I fully understood Martha's obsession. The results were very easy to come by and very sparkly...who wouldn't love it! And even though the boys thought the project was boring, they were oohing and ahhing at the results.
The glitter spiders are great to embellish Halloween treats or to add a little sparkle to your Halloween decorations.
-K
When it comes to decorating the front door for Halloween I definitely prefer a simple treatment. Pumpkins are a must! Fall flowers or a few other select Halloween props look nice. I think it helps to repeat the decorative item(s) and limit yourself to only 2-4 different kinds of items (too many may look busy). Here are some nice examples:
{Top 2 images Martha Stewart, 3rd image Pottery Barn, 4th-6th images Country Living, last image Eddie Ross}
*Pumpkin Picking* with the boys has become one of my favorite fall events. We have been lucky enough to have found a great farm close by. Wegmeyer Farms wowed us again with its excellent variety of pumpkins & super nice owners. I could easily spend all day there (as could the boys), but then I wouldn't be able to stop myself from buying all their pumpkins! Check out the eye candy below. I definitely recommend seeking out a local pumpkin farm if you already haven't.
We just got back from my brother-in-law's wedding. It was a tremendously fun & elegant affair. The boys were decked out in kilts to pay homage to the bride's Scottish roots. I helped out with a few small details, which I will shall soon.
-K
If you are planning on throwing a Halloween Party check out these great examples of *Halloween Treat Buffets*. It definitely makes me want to have a party!
This first example is from the ever-so-talented Amy Atlas...
These next examples are from the long lost (& loved) Martha by Mail...
Some current Martha examples...
And finally a Pottery Barn example from their current catelog...I love the cat buckets!
A late edition from Eddie Ross...
If I find any more worth sharing I will definitely add on...
-K
It is hard to believe the summer is over. It started out with great expectations and lots of promise. I had many projects earnestly queued up on my to-do list, but sadly most of them stayed there. One of the projects was a quilt for a dear friend who [many months ago] 'just' had a baby boy. To be honest, the quilt should have been finished up before summer even started, but it wasn't. Then something went bad. A dark cloud came into my life--Lyme's Disease. My hair started falling out, my hands and feet hurt, and I was worried about the disease all the time. And then after many weeks of antibiotics things were suddenly normal again. My craftiness returned and the quilt was finished. So it is with much happiness that I share these pictures of a long overdue quilt and other goodies (monogrammed photo album & burp cloths)...
-K
P.S. Use sunscreen AND bug spray.
Yes, I know, more *Cookie Treats*. But who doesn't love cookies!?! This stack of Chocolate Chip Cookies is packaged up in a cello bag from Martha Stewart Crafts. The top of the bag is folded over and punched with two holes and then tied with ribbon and hand-stamped card. A perfect little treat to give to someone to show you care.
-K
For the boys' first day back to school I decided to make them special treats. I tried out a new cookie recipe...*Oreo Chunk Cookies*. The cookies are very similar to Chocolate Chip Cookies, but instead of tons of chips they have chunks of Oreo cookies. The resulting cookies were very excellent the day I baked them, but the next day were a little too crunchy (still yummy). Next time I might try increasing the oven temp and reducing the bake time. Here is link to the recipe I followed if you would like to try them out.
The boys also helped package up some of the cookies to bring to their new teachers and their teachers from last year.
-K
P.S. C$ just finished reading the whole Harry Potter series. I am very proud of him!
OK, so I know I am at least a year behind the trend, but I finally read Twilight while on vacation this past week (LOVED IT!!!). Before reading the book I never understood why all the weekly gossip mags constantly had the Twilight stars on their covers, especially Robert Pattinson. But now, I fully understand the obsession with his brooding handsomeness (see Exhibit A below)...
I am hoping her version will help convince the boys to become vampires. I think it will be so much fun to make capes and do their hair à la Edward Cullen...we'll see.
-K
When I was a new parent I loved receiving personalized gifts for the boys. Perhaps it was a mother-of-twins thing, but I think it was more because personalized items seem so....well...personal! They say 'Here, this was made especially for you because you are the best.' And because I appreciated personalized gifts so much, I love giving them. Here are some burp cloths I made for a friend of ours who recently had a baby girl...
-K
A couple of my girlfriends and I decided during a quilting session that we should have an old fashion square exchange. Having never participated in a square exchange I wasn’t sure what it was all about…but the ladies quickly filled me in. We decided that our exchange would be an appliqué square from book called Circles of the East by Kumiko Sudo.
While I was game for the square exchange, I was a little nervous about the project. Prior to this exchange, I had only done appliqué once…a pillow that my friend Pam (who was also participating in the exchange) had literally held my hand through…not a slight thing considering the near melt down I had when picking the fabric out and the huge mulligan I had with the wonder–under (don’t ask). Appliqué makes me nervous (I can’t even spell the word---I STILL have to look it up). Sensing my apprehension (or perhaps it was the cold sweat I broke out in), the ladies took some pity on me and I was allowed to pick the square. I went with the gingko leaves pattern, which I thought was not only very smart looking, but also one of the more simple patterns (okay, it was the easiest….).
Along with my slight fear of appliqué, one of my other quilting terrors is batik fabric. While I think batik fabrics are amazing, if you asked me to create anything from batiks, you would get the same reaction if you asked me to do 20 push ups (which would be me laughing so hard I would probably well, you know). I don’t know why I thought throwing the batik wild card into this project would be a good idea, however, I seemed to recall day dreaming about how impressed everyone would be when they saw that I had not only conquered appliqué on my own, but had slain the batik beast as well. What can I say? Sometimes you just want to run with the cool kids.
I won’t bore you with the details of the multitude of trips to the fabric stores or the loathing and self doubt I went through, but at the end of the day, my homework somehow managed to get done on time. I have to say, after I made a slight adjustment to the pattern (shhh---don’t tell anyone) the appliqué was pretty easy. The batiks, well, we will probably never be BFFs.
The exchange itself was really a lot of fun. When we decided on the project, no parameters were discussed which gave everyone the freedom to do what they wanted. It was really cool to see everyone’s take on the squares---all the squares were so beautiful and different!
~A
PS- Thanks for the pictures Pam!
I wanted to share these two great * Where the Wild Things Are* themed parties found on Party Perfect. By selecting a children's book to base your party on you already have a great source of images to use throughout the festivities--how brilliant! And what better images to use than Maurice Sendak's Wild Things...I love them! Thank you to Ascot Friday and C's Mom for sharing their parties!!!
The *Sweetness* ("'I'LL EAT YOU UP")...both parties used images from the book (and skewers) to adorn their cake/cupcakes:
The *Mischief of One Kind and Another* (let the wild rumpus start!)...party activities included: (1) Pin the Tail on Max...
(2) A reading of the book complete with a Wild Thing Mask for each child so they could roar along with the story....
(3) A forest themed photo both...
The *World All Around*...vines and greenery are a must (and simple) decoration...
And finally, the *Good Things*...fabulous looking goodies bags (I wonder what's inside)...and don't forget the gold crowns (nice touch).
{Images from Kristin Eldridge Photography & C's Mom}
-K
