I haven't fallen off the grid...

I've actually been holed up in my garage...and kitchen...and couch. I took a mental health day so I could finally shake a little cold that has been causing me great irritation. In addition to that fun, I've been baking and working non-stop on my Halloween booth. Today I baked one of my favorite recipe's, my swirl bread.

I've also been forcing cardboard to bend to my will :) My Halloween booth is coming along quite nicely. Here it is when I was figuring out the general layout.

And here it is as of today... All I have left is the decorations and the roof. I can't wait to slip into my witch's costume and hand out cupcakes from my booth!

I have to say, I'm very excited for Sunday....but I might be a little bit even more excited for Monday!

Dinner Party

I keep saying to myself, I really need to finish up costumes, booths and treats....but instead I'm playing host. There's nothing I love more than throwing a dinner party. I love setting up the table and figuring out the menu. I'm not sure why, but I just have so much fun! A dinner party shouldn't be stressfull, it should be a time for friends to come together to have a good time. Here's a couple of my tips that might help you out with your own dinner party....or maybe they'll inspire you to host one!

My tips for a dinner party:

1) Go ahead, pull out the china....besides it only gets used a couple times a year. Show it off!

2) Add a seperate water glass in addition to a wine glass. The restaurants do it and it makes your table look very elegant. (And yes, I do realize that in these pictures I hadn't added the water glasses yet).

3) Use chargers! No, I'm not voting for my favorite football team, I'm talking about the fake plates that go under the china. Chargers are bigger plates, sometimes made out of plastic, that are decorative and meant to add a decorative touch to your dinner plates.
4) Add a personal touch. Instead of name cards I write quotes on cards. We had our friends over last week and I wrote friendship quotes on the cards. We read the quotes out loud during the dinner which not only gave us something to talk about but also gave us an oportunity to tell them what great friends they are to us.

I hope these tips help you out with your next dinner party. And remember, have fun!



What now?

Can we say...clean up?! My hubby snapped this picture as we were discussing all the toys and clothes to organize and clean up.... oh my! I'm defninitely feeling a little bit overwhelmed today. At least the downstairs is in order, but the upstairs is a whole different ballgame! And I need to get started on thank you cards and my Halloween Carnival booth. Okay, time to take a deep breath and finish the morning coffee. Then I think I'll do a little bit of laudry organizing. Then maybe the thank you cards. I think on days that are overwhelming you have to take one task at a time. I can't think of the large list piled up, just one at a time... And that is my plan for today. One task at a time....

Dora Birthday Party Images

Happy Birthday to my precious daughter Taylor

Snow Princess Dora themed cake 

Close  up on Dora with explorer stars made out of fondant fanned out behind her

Explorer star cookies made out of royal icing with fondant eyes

And they are ready to get in those goody bags and go home with some kids

The backside of the goodybags:

Notice I added little self adhesive Velcro so the kids could easily open, close and could reuse them.

I think they turned out just adorable....Diego for boys and Dora for girls:

Sneak Peak....

The birthday party was yesterday and my daughter loved every minute of it. It was complete with getting rained out of the park, having to call everyone and rerouting an entire birthday party to our house. Basically it had all the chaos a birthday party requires :) Today I'm going to be looking through the pictures and deciding which ones to post....but in the meantime here's some of the cookies...

Spooky Windows

I've been working like crazy on my daughter's birthday party and I can't wait to show you all I've done. But I have to finish all of it first :) In the mean time I've also finished up my Halloween decorating. I did large window decorations that can be easily seen from the street. I went to a teacher's supply store and purchased 12 foot long black paper that's 2 feet wide. I flipped it on it's back and drew out a picket fence. 

I then drew a cat to go on the picket fence....and some bats in the "sky" above the picket fence. Anyway, you get the idea. You can draw or trace out a spooky scene on the flip side of the black paper. Then you cut out your scene. 

Here I am just beginning to cut :)

I have pull down black out curtain on those windows so I taped the scenes to that. But if you do not have anything on your windows I suggest taping it (with painters tape) to tissue paper so light can shine through! It'll create a very spooky effect. Although if it is for a kid's room maybe something a bit sturdier such as a sheet or even a large piece of white paper. It's so simple and so fun!

Crafty Weekend

I hope you all had a great weekend. My weekend was filled with some simple crafts. I picked up some of the $1.00 masks at my local craft store and decided to start painting them for the kids. I finished the Frankenstein one and the kids have looooooved it! 

I also started working on my dog's costume....he wasn't too happy with the "fitting." But he was a very good sport and even stood still for a quick picture. I can't wait to see him in his finished Scooby Doo costume!

But once I trimmed some of the felt off and got it into cape form he was actually wagging his tail. Here's what I have so far.

There are a lot of crafts to come. Hopefully tonight I'll finish up the Dora Backpack goody bags. I've also started on large Halloween window art. Keeping very busy over here! 

Flip - Flop Friday

I can't believe I almost forgot my flip-flop Friday post! I was freaking out so much about all the "stuff" I have to do that I nearly forgot to showcase a very important blog post. This week on my sister's blog Ever Kelly she posted a picture of me in a Halloween costume...in all fairness, I wasn't allowed to argue at the age I was placed in the costume... I think a picture says a thousand words so I'll just let you make your own decisions. I'm the bunny...

Kinda cute since I'm maybe 4? Notice the mullet haircut?? Oh yea, I was "hip". And the bunny nose that isn't really placed right- it's half way on my cheek? Ha! Good times, good times. Hope this inspires some Halloween happiness for you!

Freak Out Day!

Today has been a crazy day. I woke up and realized I have about a week till my daughter's birthday party. Oh my! And there's so much to do!!! I have to plan a scavenger hunt, bake cookies, decorate cookies, make goody bags that look like Dora and Diego backpacks, figure out what I'm going to do for the cake, plan the menu, buy and create decorations and do all this within a week. ... ... ...um... I'm going to need lots of caffeine... and chocolate... or maybe just some of my espresso bites!

My next big freak out moment today---- My cake was featured on EpiCute. It was my Butterfly and Roses Cake from my bakery... to say the least, I was very proud. If you have a moment click here and give my picture a thumbs up :) Thanks! Lots more freak out moments and crafty updates to come! 

Did someone say BOO!?

(click here for the template)

In our neighborhood we have a fun tradition of "booing" our neighbors. There happen to be a lot of kids in our neighborhood and it's a lot of fun for the little ones to receive a fun Halloween surprise on their doorstep. Someone in the neighborhood usually starts this within the first few days of October. It's fairly simple and inexpensive and creates a very fun and welcoming feeling in the neighborhood. The booing package usually consists of some type of container...plastic trick or treat pumpkin shaped containers are available at Walmart for $1 and would work perfectly. There are also some really cute metal containers at Target for $2.50 in their "dollar section." As an example of what to put inside, this year we received a couple pencils, some glowsticks and a few pieces of candy in ours.

If you'd like to do this in your neighborhood here is the wording:

You have been BOOed!

This treat is for you. We hope you enjoy

The idea is simple,

one we hope you'll employ.

You pass Boo along to 2 other neighbors, along with this note

and any kind of Halloween favors.

If we all do our part, and spread good cheer,

by Halloween night it will be very clear.

we're a friendly bunch, we like to share fun,

so please do your part to keep BOO on the run!

(Please do this within 48 hours & leave BOO sign on your door 

so others know that you have been BOOed. The idea is that most

of our neighbors are BOOed by Halloween night)

Preview:

I have a lot of fun crafts and to-do's coming up this month. I have a Dora birthday party to plan, a Scooby Doo Costume to create and a Halloween booth to create. Here's the booth so far:

.... like I said, lots to do! So check back for lots more Halloween fun!!!

Going Batty

When I think of a spooky Halloween night I think of a cold dark night accented with some screeches of bats flying across the sky. But how do you bring that spooky magical feeling into your own house? And with out adding in anything so scary it'll give your 5 year old nightmares? My answer is more notable cutouts :)

I just love these bat silhouettes hanging down over our kitchen table. I cut the bats out of black cardstock and attatched them to one another with a piece of black string. Then I hung them from the chandelier. I think it's so fun and my kids just love it!  

My scanner has decided to hate me this week so I'm having some trouble creating templates for my crafts. I took a picture of the bat I used on a background of white paper. If you print this bat out it'll give you a good template to trace so you can make your own hanging bats. I'm almost 100% sure that this was originally a Martha Stewart Halloween craft idea, but I think she removed since she's now selling packs of her bats in stores. Well, I'm one of those people who love to look through her magazines for ideas, but I'll never go out and spend 15 dollars when it's a paper cut out. This is so easy to do at home, you have to try it! Notice the "fur" around the head of the bat, a very cute detail!