A Boo-tiful Setting

We have a table by the front door that I usually display photos on that I decided to turn into a Halloween Table (a Boo-tiful Setting if you ask me haha!) and combine a few of my latest projects. I love how it looks all together! I added a giant furry spider, a couple of creepy rubber rats, spider webs, and some garland that I had in my Halloween decorating box...

halloween haunted gingerbread houses

Brooke and I had so much fun making these halloween gingerbread houses! It got a little silly (snacking on the building materials gave us both a sugar rush I'm sure) but in the end they turned out super cute. Watch her talking about the project...

We started with graham crackers and I thought we could just stick them together with frosting and shape our house, but that was a giant mess and it kept falling down (which made us laugh hard, seriously- there was frosting everywhere). Brooke asked if we couldn't just hot glue the crackers together and that gave us the idea to scrap the crackers and just build our houses out of cardboard and hot glue! We cut out 5 4" squares to make the walls and bottom, cut out 2 triangles for roof support and then B had the idea to use popsicle sticks for the roof. So having created sturdy houses that wouldn't fall over we continued on with frosting the entire thing in white, then stuck on lots of different candies to create our masterpieces. Of course because she is 12 it turned into a contest to see who made the better one, so on her video she is asking you to pick your favorite :) I had such a fun time doing this with her!

Spinach Artichoke Spaghetti Squash

I saw this on Pinterest back in January and just got around to trying it, we LOVED it - it's so good, cheesy, and easy (what's not to like!).

I modified the recipe a little bit:

• didn't use the onion and garlic
• sautéed the artichokes to heat them up, sprinkled with garlic salt; then added the sour cream, neufchâtel cheese, and parmesan till creamy; added twice the amount of spinach and let it wilt down into the sauce. 
• I pulled apart the spaghetti squash strands with a fork and added it to the sauce in the pan, combine all and add salt and pepper to taste.
• put the mixture back into the squash shells, top with cheese and bake at 425' until melted about 10 minutes. 

I served this as a side to pork chops, but it would be really good with the addition of meat to the filling if you want. Ground sausage, chopped chicken...or just leave as a meatless meal - it's pretty hardy on its own. 

*note: if you haven't made spaghetti squash before give it a try, it's a nice substitute for pasta and very healthy. I cut off both ends and half it, remove the seeds, put cut side up in a covered microwaveable dish with a little water for about 10-12 minutes. Drain off the water; using a pair of tongs I stand the squash halves up in a large bowl and scrap the flesh with a fork into long strands. 

Ravens on Sticks

Quick easy decorating idea - I've had these ravens for a while now and usually just set them out on a table or in the front windowsill, but this year I got some sticks from our yard and anchored them in a vase, and attached the crows to the branches - I used a short piece of black pipe cleaner to hold them in place-  and think it looks pretty cool. Maybe next year I'll make a "nevermore" sign to go with them...that'd make it even creepier.
I like to come up with different ways to use the things I already have - look around your house and see if you can change up your things to style them in a new fresh way - doesn't have to be birds and sticks but you get the idea!

Jack O'Lantern Gift Enclosure

I was invited to a Stampin Up meeting to check it out and see if I'd like to be a Demonstrator for them (yes, I am going to do this - so fun and I was VERY inspired after listening to all of the ideas and projects!), and my friend Ronda who ran the meeting was nice enough to send me home with four easy "make and take" projects. I didn't have time to make them while there but I was sure I would remember how to do them...have I told you what a terrible memory I have?! Well it's bad, so when I finally sat down this morning to put the jack o'lantern gift enclosure together and am faced with a little baggie full of bits, I wasn't sure what I was meant to do - I might not have done it exactly right but I guess that's what being creative is all about...do it however you want! Turned out great - don't know what I'll use it for but I'm thinking a little bag of candy inside would be cute. This was made with 2 pieces of cardstock, 3 black triangles, 1 half round circle, 3 punched out shapes for the stem, and thin twine. I will definitely be making more of these - it will be a good project for when my niece comes to craft day! Wish me luck putting the other projects together from "memory" ;)

Kitten Miniature Pumpkin

Awwww look at this cute mini kitten pumpkin :)

Got the idea from All You Magazine, they made 5 of these and had them peeking out of a large decorated pumpkin - very cute but I only wanted one of them so....

I got a foam mini pumpkin at Hobby Lobby, downloaded the ear pattern from All You (click for their instructions and template), replaced their suggested black eye thumbtacks with googly eye pushpins. Cute.

Bats!

I found something to do with that extra pumpkin from the too tall pumpkin tower - I had ripped out a magazine page from Better Homes and Gardens in 2005 and stuck it in my idea file and of course forgot about it...till now. I modified their example slightly by using a package of foam bats already cut out, glued on orange paper eyes that I hole punched out of scrap cardstock, hot glued them to 20 gauge wire that I found in the floral section at craft store, stuck them into holes in the top of the pumpkin and hot glued them in place, then covered the holes with some natural excelsior moss. You can bend the wire any which way to place the bats where you want them. This would be cute with any Halloween or Fall shape you want - leaves, pumpkins, turkeys, whatever!

Sarge and his Halloween Scarf

I saw a reversible rectangle scarf with a pin closure in a store the other day and at first thought it was meant for a dog -  the storeowner informed me no, it's for a person...oops. Well that got me thinking that Sarge "needs" a reversible Halloween scarf!

I found Halloween fabrics that I thought would look nice on him, bought 1/2 yard each and have lots left over. I bought diaper pins for the closure, the scarf in the store had a kilt pin but I didn't want to chance it opening up on Sarge and poking him - the diaper pins have a safety catch.

Cut out 2 rectangles 27"x6"  from 2 different Halloween fabrics, pin right sides together and sew - leaving a 2" opening in one end. 

Of course what should have been a very simple quick sew job turned into the bobbin messing up and my having to rip some of the seam out...if this happens to you don't get frustrated! I'm pretty sure sewing machines have temperaments and if it senses you are upset it will only mess up more!! ;)

Once sewn, pull the right sides thru the opening to invert the scarf to the correct side out - I put a knitting needle or something pointy into the corners to get them nice and crisp - then either hand sew or topstitch the 2" opening closed (I topstitched very close to the edge). Iron out the wrinkles and pin it on crossing the ends over each other.

he's comfortable enough in his new scarf to take a
nap in it - that's a good sign!

Halloween Tree

 I had a thought recently about why we decorate trees for Christmas but not other holidays? Or do people decorate trees for other holidays and I've just never noticed? I'm not sure...but that led me to remember that I actually own a miniature orange artificial tree (why I own an artificial orange tree I can't remember...I know it was as meant as a Spongebob Christmas tree but that doesn't explain why I bought it!!) But what better tree to decorate for Halloween :)

Hobby Lobby is full of Christmas decorations right now and they're on sale (yay) so I picked up some small black and purple ball ornaments and black bead garland in the Christmas section - along with some glittery spiders, black flowers, black ribbon, and a couple pumpkin picks from the Halloween/Fall section. I put a short strand of mini lights on it, decorated like I would a Christmas tree with the black flowers as the topper - and it is SO cute!! I'm very happy with it - there, an actual reason to own an orange colored tree.

I get that you probably aren't as odd as me and don't happen to own an orange tree (or can't find an orange tree) I think a silver, white, or black tree would be just as cute. I've never tried to spray paint an artificial tree but maybe that is an option to make one orange...

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Meatloaf

My friend gave me this idea yesterday and I couldn't wait long to try it, it sounded so good! You might question how this falls under my "31 Spook-tacular Days" theme - so did I haha - I guess since we have to eat in October and this seems like the perfect fall dish, I'm including it :)
My husband says it looks like a dragon's eye and I should have named it that, although I think it looks more like a sunflower...he said that's because I have a sunny disposition and see flowers, he sees dragons. HA! Made me laugh...

I cut off both ends of 2 acorn squash and scooped out the seeds; filled each half with about 1 cup of meatloaf (click there for my recipe) mixture and baked at 350' - normally I bake meatloaf for an hour or so but I didn't research baking a stuffed squash and this took almost 2 hours to get the squash cooked until it was soft... I should have pre-baked the squash to give it a head start. My meatloaf recipe makes 2 pans so I had lots left over that I didn't stuff into  the squash - I put that into a baking dish, leaving a channel all around the edges for any grease to run off, and baked it at the same time (for one hour),  I'll freeze that one for later. Really good, I will definitely be making this again.