excuse the crappy cell phone photos.....

what I've been up to:




1. Put together an angry birds' pig costume that Will requested then refused to wear. sigh.

2. Made some ghostie cake balls for halloween. so good. And orange on the inside ;)

3. Spent an entire afternoon with Will adding coat after coat of paint ( and then glitter!) to this beanbag toss game for Halloween night festivities. inspiration here. I guess I didn't get a shot of the bean bags, but they were three orange prints from my stash. The board is cut from a cardboard box. Yay for free!

4. Stitched up a softie for Mirabel. Really, it took less than an hour, less than an hour for a good cause. including running up and down the stairs to use my SIL's sewing machine since mine is still not fixed. still. And it was all from scrap. a little embroidery, a little cutting and pinning and tada! kitty for Mirabel.

5. Stretching left over squash into killer pancakes! I put some cream cheese and walnuts into mine and folded it over into a taco-type thing. mmmmmm!

To Do:

Stay tuned for a giveaway coming up for this book! Just in time to plan your holiday countdowns! And a surprise to go with it! Come see on Monday!

trick or treat!!

happy halloween all!

* * * * have a spooky day and magical night! * * * *

we're planning on apple-sausage handpies, pumpkin carving, games, trick or treating and then maybe a scary movie marathon after all since Harry's school is closed tomorrow for a Teachers' conference. woohoo! Hope your day and night are a blast too!

just a little brain-loving goodness.

( photo by chaosfish1 )

eep! look! Brain in a jar!

Show off your tasty brains like so.

My favourite zombie flicks:
Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead: Classic zombies
28 Days later: Fast zombies.
Shaun of the Dead., Zombieland : Funny zombies.

I will so be running for my life when this course when it comes to Boston!

Three words: Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse. Wow. Certainly beats the local haunted house. just, wow.

five and five (and five more)

(*)

five things giving me heartburn lately...

1. bedtime routine. No matter how many stories we read, baths, stretching and everything else that usually zens them right out, they're still calling mommy! for half an hour after.

2. The price of everything going up and up and then more up.

3. I don't care how many days are left until Christmas. I want to enjoy Halloween and Thanksgiving first.

4. I think I'm becoming the mom who hates video games.

5. If you do what I tell you to, the first time I tell you to, there will be no yelling/crying/time outs. ( I need a vacation, y'all. alone. )


five things making me happier...

1. Harry coming home from kindergarten with new songs and teaching them to Will.

2. Lower temperatures. finally!!

3. Running more again.

4. Planning Halloween costumes. The boys are going to be Captain Hook and Peter Pan. My tiny little niece will be Tinkerbell! Oh the cuteness! But what are Paul and I going to be for our party!?

5. All that dye and highlights and mess is growing out of my hair and my roots are so healthy now. Stop me if I mention highlights ever again, okay?


five things I need to make soon...

1. This scrumptious looking apple bread pudding from (of course) smitten kitchen.

2. These adorable candy corn cupcakes! how fun would it be to find one of these in your lunchbox?

3. Umm, everything in the latest Sweet Paul.

4. I bought a pretty angora sweater for three bucks ( three bucks!!) to try out this look with.

5. Some of these super cute, wicked easy seeming little ghosties. And these smiling bats. And who doesn't love prize balls?

What's been getting the star in your Google reader lately? On your must-make bookmark list?

Or something been driving you crazy? Tell me, I'm a good listener.

(* scary clown from a recent birthday party. scary clown is like saying round circle. all clowns are creepy, do you think so too?)

it's scream queen season.....

Do you have a favourite scary movie?
Do you watch scary movies at all?
I really like scary movies. I used to say I loved them but hey, parenthood changes things.



I really liked The Orphanage. It's very tense. like, you realize you're clenching you jaw tense, not action thriller tense.

Consensus in my family is that IT is where it's at. We've all watched it a million and a half times. And the scene where Henry Bowers hair goes white kind of still gets me.

And I do love zombies. The old Romero films are so full of cheese they should come with a box of macaroni. LOVE them.

So! I'm hoping to have an all night movie marathon on Halloween night. Popcorn, the boys' bucket of trick-or-treat candy and maybe breakfast at midnight. I think it would make for a good party, with creepy snacks, and of course wine, but Halloween is a Monday this year. sigh. Maybe in 2015 when it's a Saturday...

What are your favourites? Is there a movie that just says Halloween to you?

phew, what a weekend!

Well I sure hope everyone had a great Halloween! We had a blast, it was our first year trick or treating after all, what can top the excitement of running the streets after dark, with a big kid (we got to go with my cousin's family) and a whole bag of free candy to boot?

Harry decided to be an Ant, there's a good shot of his "ant butt", er, metasoma.



I wish I had a better shot of his extra arms and antennae, it was really too cute all together. And what's that in the background? on the seat? Right there?



Amy's Ginger Molasses cookies that are taking the blogosphere by storm, haha! Did I mention these are so freaking good?

William was a bee again because, well because he could care less about dressing up really. Next year will be the big year.



But really Uncle Reg had everyone beat out with his vampire make-up by Becca.



We did keep joking though that he really looked like dead Elvis, haha!

Oh I wish Halloween lasted longer, like Christmas! I'm off to pack away my ghosties and witchy-bits until next year.

And I have something big to share tomorrow! Something I'm thrilled to death to show off, come back and see!

Happy Halloween!

Well we Halloweened it up yesterday making bones, (which I was informed were dinosaur bones) baking Amy's cookies, (Oh my goodness...) Having mummy dogs for dinner and of course, carving pumpkins.

Tonight will be trick or treating (for the first time!) and then scary movies for me and Paul.

Hope you have fun wherever you are and stay safe!

Happy Halloweeeen!

Well, it's a double ear infection, folks. But we've got some nice pink meds and chunkybaby is feeling better already today. Thank God. I was worried we'd miss trick or treating, this will be the boys' first year and they're rather excited!

In happier news, my chocolate spoons are featured over on the crafty crow today, and that really brightened Mama's day!

So now I'm off to squeeze in every last ounce of Halloween goodness before tomorrow night.

paper cups.

Sorry folks, not a whole lot of words today. The Zzz monster's got me by the jammies, lack of sleep from sick babies has caught up to me. Something better tomorrow.....

orange leaves and orange spoons

This is looking down our driveway at sunset. Aaah. I love it.

Okay, remember those yummy chocolate pops I had the other day?

These are what they made me think of:



dipped spoons!

Around here, trick-or-treating is a cold weather event, like caroling. So these will be perfect to put into hot chocolate when we get back in!

They're easy beans to make, like this:

Gather your supplies and line the counter with wax paper.



Melt your chocolate ( I just used dark chips) in your micro, thirty seconds at a time, until they're a nice dippy consistency.



If you just want to have sprinkles on one side, dip away, then sprinkle and lay on your wax sheet to cool and harden. If you want to sprinkle both sides, do the backs first and lay to dry, then fill up the bowl of the spoon and sprinkle that side.



I tied them up like little ghosties,



(I liked these two best, the left looks surprised and the right has a nose!)

They look awful nice just sitting in a jar too.



We had a Halloween party Saturday and gave the tied ones as favors for the kids and put the rest next to the coffee for the adults and they were a big hit!

And easy. Did I mention easy? Kids can help with this one for sure. Just sprinkling for the littler ones, but bigger kids can dip and even tie them into ghosts and draw faces!

And the winner of the Halloween Bunting is Amanda of Late Night Stamper! But I have something Halloween-y in mind to share with everyone, too. Hopefully tomorrow or the next day. (Last minute much, Elizabeth?)

happy flappies!

The giveaway is still on until Friday evening, so click over and comment if you haven't yet.

I was scrolling through all my favourites I saved from Halloween last year and I knew I had to make these for our Halloween party on Saturday!

Happy Flappy Finger puppets!



Aren't they too cute! And so easy, I made ten! They'll be perfect for all the little chubby fingers there.



The originals are here at domesticali. She mentions they're a good size to top a wine bottle. Sounds like a good hostess gift to me!

Oh it is on, now.

Phew! I am positively pooped from all the bloggy Halloween partying of the weekend. And some real partying too. Now I'm definitely in full on Halloween mode! Saturday we got up to Quincy market and I saw this beautiful display at Michal Negrin. Couldn't you just grab it all up?



And I may have filled my pockets with these gorgeous treats from a candy stop along the way. Which inspired a great idea for some more treats I'll show you later this week.



For now, I'll share my Halloween bunting I made today with my time that I found with one boy gone for the afternoon:



I may have an event coming up that I'll have to make a whole bunch of these for, so this was great practice. I made a template and rotary cut the triangles then pinned a few together and pinked the edges for the anti-fray factor. Not that I see this getting tossed into the wash anytime, but with boys you never know!

Then I just tucked the fabric into some double fold bias tape and went merrily along. I didn't pin or measure, just eyeballed placement. The best part? Half of the fabric is from cut up old men's buttondown shirts from 99 cent day at Savers! Hooray for being cheap, err...thrifty!



Llawrence Llama approves.

And get this: tomorrow is my three hundredth post! Can you believe it? So we'll have to celebrate! Especially since I skipped right over my two year blogaversary last month.

So more eye candy tomorrow. Maybe real candy, we'll see!

Halloween Bash!

Welcome Welcome if you're coming over from A Fanciful Twist!

We are so glad to have you!

Come on in and have a look around. I don't have many words for today's bash but the shots can speak for themselves I suppose.

Just a gang of ghouls partying on the forest floor...























Fill your pockets friends, I'm off to visit all the other parties.

Happy Hallowe'en!!


Oops! I almost forgot to link back to The Wonderful Vanessa, our super-host!
(ps - thank you husband for helping me setup and photograph and then carry away all the fun! And for not complaining a bit!)

I'm so in!

Miss Vanessa is hosting her Halloween Extravaganza again this year!

Click on over and join in the fun.

(Here's my part of the party from last year.)

Happy Halloween all!

halloween week, day three

When my husband was a little boy. he wasn't interested in Halloween. He'd say he wasn't going trick or treating until everyone was walking out the door, then throw something together last minute and go. He tells me he was Mork for like four years. The rest of his childhood, he'd throw on his camoflage pants, rub some dirt on his face and he's a soldier. It's easy enough now to throw my boys into thrifted and last year's costumes, but if that's what I have to look forward to in a few years, I want to be ready.

So here's my last minute costume guide. All as good for adults as kids, I think.

Spa Princess is one I wouldn't have thought of.
You certainly don't see Farmer as much anymore. And you know you still have those overalls hanging around. Good luck trying to get someone to pull you in a wagon though.
This road trip is really original.
Wondertime boasts the easiest costume ever.
How about a black trash bag and some bad sunglasses to be a California Raisin?
And I like every idea in this Fox article. I think I'll be a jellyfish.

Halloween.com has some different ideas for sure:
*Wrap yourself in Aluminum foil, you're a baked potato.
*Wear all white. Attach (or paint) yellow circle to your stomach. You are an egg. Add horns and a pitchfork and you are a deviled egg.
and my favourite: Take a stuffed dog and attach it to your a long sleeve shirt. Use safety pins (or if you can, sew it). Instant attack dog trainer.

This is us, early 90's.

Me as a vampire, Regis as The Ultimate Warrior with a tan sweatshirt stuffed to make muscles under a tank top, Mike as pirate, Joey in the dog costume with scary mask.

I can't wait to see photos of everyone's costumes. What are you going to be?

halloween week, day two

The caramel apples were a big hit, so much that my brother asked if I just wanted to see him and his pregnant wife fight? Why else would I only leave one in his fridge? Oh boy...

Okay, we love horror movies. We've watched them all. Scary or cheesy. New or old. This time of year I like to double up, so here's just a few that are favourites around our house.

Zombies: The Romeros of course. You can watch the entire original Night of the Living Dead (1968) on youtube. 28 Days Later. 2002. The first introduction of fast moving zombies. And Hubby likes Resident Evil. 2002. More action than horror but zombies nonetheless.

Rubber monsters: Monster Squad. 1987. Oh the cheeeeeese. The Tingler. 1959. The Divine Vincent Price and the best rubber monster ever. Evil Dead 2. (1987) Low budget goodness.

When I was putting this together I noticed a kind of theme: Kids are incredibly creepy. Way creepier than zombies, ghosts and rubber monsters combined.

Spooky kids: Number One is The Changeling. 1980. I got the heebee jeebees just watching the trailer again. Guillermo DelToro's The Orphanage (2007) was surprisingly tense and scary. The cinematography was dark and the twist was a killer. Alice, Sweet Alice. 1976. Spooky little girl, dreadful neighbor and camera angles that a just off.

We're always looking for new different ones so leave me a comment with your favourite, please.

And who is this hiding in my curtain...?

It's my new bat-friend. Actually there's a whole family swooping around this place.

I had an old black shirt with a tiny silver bits in it that I never intended to wear again and so they were born. With matching silver ribbon to hang.

Would you like one? Comment on this post and I'll have one of the spooks around here pick a name out of the cauldron on Halloween.

halloween week, day one

Hooray! It's almost halloween and this messy crafty house is stretching to festivities. This is a big holiday in our family with all the usual tricks and some odd traditions of our own.

It's wasn't until this year I realized how much of Halloween is based around eating! It's like a pre-Thanksgiving stretch for your belly.

Well, I think you all know how I feel about sprinkles. And a girl can't feed her family on cupcakes alone, so I got up this morning trying out something I haven't before...

Caramel Apples!

I did cheat and use a bag of caramels.

I bought them as a just-in-case-I-don't-have-a-ton-of-time problem solver, but they ended up being a don't-have-everything-on-hand problem solver.

I did find a fab recipe here that I'll be trying out come Thanksgiving and Christmas, but today I'm a cheater.

These are my favourites. (0n the great new kitchen towels from Amy!)

And on my new cake stand that I'm in love with.

All the rest are at flickr.

Tomorrow I have a quickie recycled bat and a movie roundup. So what's your favourite Halloween movie? (scary or not)

the party continues

When high winds killed the Farmer's Market plans yesterday, I got to do my favourite autumn activity.

BUYING PUMPKINS!!!

My brother and I adore pumpkins. We buy dozens every year. So when every last penny was gone, we got down to business. Everyone was all nonchalant except Taylor and I who dove right in, but by the end of the night, everyone was carving. I'm thinking this is going to be an every Sunday night thing.

Here's our creations...

These are Nana Joann's

This is Muncle's

And Paul's

Taylor's Cat/OwlAnd My three

Here's the whole family lit up on the rail.

Our favourite new carving tool? Melon baller! Perfect circles! Thanks Mum L! I want to do one all circles like a lantern.

There's so much jack inspiration on flickr. Like this group. And I don't know if I have the patience for eight hours, but this jack is really something. And this one. And this one.

Okay, I just really love jacks.

Are you an eight hour carver or a triangle eye traditionalist?