Halloween Treats

Here are a few Halloween treat jars I made.  I just filled some jars from Michael's with M&Ms and threw on some Cricut doodads or stamped them...

I like how the spider has two different sized wiggly eyes...

Here is the top of the jar...that stamp is from the Papertrey Halloween Tags set.

I love this bat stamp...it cracks me up...I don't think a bat with big ol' fangs should be cute, but he is!

Another Halloween Tags stamp....

I used a different shaped bottle and glued buttons onto the cork stopper.  The card took about 5 minutes...including gluing on those googly eyes :)

Here's a closer, (but even fuzzier) shot of the top of the bottle.

That's it for Halloween this year.  It's time to start working on those 12 million Christmas gifts that I said I was going to start on in January...I swear my middle name should be Procrastination!  Acccck!

Pumpkin Bread Tags

I made some pumpkin bread today...I used a new recipe...with 2 boxes of cook and serve vanilla pudding in it...I even made crumbly streusel topping to put on top.  I made it knowing that I was going to give it away.  I let it cool and then wrapped it in aluminum foil.  It looked naked...and generic...and unhappy  :(  So, I made it a tag.

Here it is with its tag...much better.  I made 4 tags in about 5 minutes and even raided the "Yucky... I should throw this ribbon out but I might need it someday" jar...See?  I was right not to part with that funky green raffia...It came in handy!

Here's the tag...Papertrey's 2009 Autumn Tag stamp using a sentiment from the Limitless Labels set...How perfect is that?  Homemade bread...Those girls at Papertrey are genius!  Everyone NEEDS a stamp that says ~homemeade bread~!!

Here he is with his little friends...4 little prizes and my house smells good!  You can't beat that!

I'm still no Bakerella!

So, I made some Halloween brownie pops...they looked so cute in the magazine.  

He's a little fuzzy, but recognizable.  I used dark chocolate melts in a ziploc bag with a tiiiiiny hole cut in the corner to pipe on the faces.  I made some little stamped tags cut like pennants..It took about 3 minutes to make 12 of them...easy peasy!  ;)  Hopefully the packaging helps to hide the jacked-up faces!

Here he is with a few of his friends...I wonder what they look so afraid of?!?

It can't be Jack here, can it?

I don't know how anyone gets food markers to work!  I've bought 3 or 4 sets, and none of them work very well!  Maybe I'm expecting too much...I want what I make to look just like the picture in the magazine.  For all I know, the food stylist couldn't get them to work either and just pulled out a Sharpie!!  :)  Anyway,  the faces in the magazine were perfect...clear, dark, expressive...mine look impressionistic and melty...ack.  Ooooh, I guess they're just "Jack-ed" up...bwahahahahah...I crack myself up.  Sorry.  That was a total Connor joke!  He is the king of ridiculous made up bad jokes lately...I hope he outgrows it!

Here's Jack with some of his peeps.  They look pretty funny all bunched together...like Willy Wonka's personal pumpkin patch...chocolate-filled, candy-coated vegetables.  Hmmm, I bet Connor would clean his plate every night if they were on the menu!  ;)

Simple Caramel Apple Kit

Single caramel apple kits are nothing new...and they have definitely been done waaaaay cuter than this guy.  But, I made 2 of these in about 15 minutes with stuff I had at home...I had already bought the single serve caramel containers, since I knew I wanted to do this.  I was just looking for a quick prize for Connor's teacher and for my neighbor, who I thought might need a little sugar to help them get through the day :)  I know I always do!

I just used clear bags from Michael's,  a couple of scraps, and  a few stamps...easy!  Inside are an individual container of caramel, an apple, and a small bag of chopped almonds.  You could absolutely skip all craftiness and just tie the goodies up in a the bag...if your recipient can't figure out what this is without a label, then it's probably dangerous for them to have a plastic bag at all!  ;)

Rehearsal Dinner Favors

My brother got married in August and I made the favors for the rehearsal dinner.  My mom ordered these frames for a super good deal online...they were under $1.00 each (with shipping!)

I killed two birds with one stone by just pulling the ribbon I used to tie up the package through the accent flower on top and tying it there. That way I didn't need a separate flower center...worked swell!

My husband (the computer whiz)  created  the insert for the bottom of the frame from a picture I drew and me standing over his shoulder barking directions.  I think I may have tried his patience just a smidge!  :)  It's so hard when you can see something in your head EXACTLY how you want it, and you have to direct someone else to do it.

He did an awesome job though!  Just what I wanted!  (He hated it because it wasn't centered and symmetrical!  LOL!!)  I thought it deserved its own picture even if it is a little blurry.  Thanks honey!  You rock!  :)

I also made some silverware pockets...complete with wet wipe (It was a BBQ dinner).  These looked very nice on the tables.  Round tables, white tablecloths, red  center circle accent cloths (I'm sure there is a technical name for those...but I'm a savage, so I don't know it!), red roses, the party favors, black and white boxed candies, and a sparse smattering of red and silver heart confetti...wow, when I list all that, it sounds obnoxious and over-done, but it looked good in person.  You'll just have to trust me, because no one thought to take a picture of the finished product...oops!

Here's a close up of the little silver double heart detail on the pocket. These charms were at Michael's.  They were only about $6 for 50...it was a perfect tie-in since the double heart was on the picture frame and on their invitations.  I made 60 of each of these little guys.  You know, for as much as I claim to hate mass production, I sure seem to do it a lot!!

I've already uploaded the photos for at least 5 more posts...it's so much easier when the pictures are sitting there on the desktop ready to go!  I'm going to try to be a good blogger for the rest of the month  :)  but my slacker tendencies may get in the way.

A vase full of Pixy Sticks?!?

Okay...in theory a vase full of candy just sounds odd...and they only ended up in here because I didn't have any place else to stick them.  However, as soon as I saw them sitting there, in all their sugary goodness, I thought...Hey~that's kind of cute.  Can't you just see them with die cut flowers on top?  or hand print flowers from the kids?  Or die cut flowers with a child's face in the center and the hand print curled and used as a leaf?  Hmm...I think Pixy Sticks may be a new go-to item for me  :)

These are the treats I made for Connor to give out in his classroom for Halloween.

Pure sugar...good for carnivores and vegetarians alike!  

I used Papertrey's Boo to You set and the 2009 Halloween tags...Every time I see that company's new stamp releases, I swear they are the cutest ever...and then the next month they are even cuter!  These stamps are absolutely adorable...but the Christmas line is cute enough to put you in debt...even if you're not a stamper!  Here's the front...sorry for the blurry picture...my sad little camera doesn't do well with a macro picture  :(

The pumpkin is from Boo to You, but the face is from a different company...I just liked the eyes better than the one that came with the set...

Here's the back...I even used the Simple Alphabet stamp to put Connor's name on...not great pre-planning.  I didn't realize his name would be so long.  I should have stamped the From stamp farther over...oh well, like the average 8 year old is even going to look at the tag!?!  All they're going to see is 20 inches of sugar high!  :)

Baby Shower Goodies :)

Here are some pictures of the fun goodies I made for my neighbor's baby shower. I found these boxes at Michael's for half-price in the dollar bin...Yeah!!  The bottom was an unattractive flower print...easy fix!  I used Papertrey Spring Rain paper and some stamps to make my own pattern paper and just covered them.  That cute puppy is a hero arts stamp.  The box came with that adorable kraft colored polka dot lid.  :)  I love it when things work out like that!

I filled the boxes with baby blue M&Ms and whoppers to keep with the blue and brown color scheme.

The ribbon is just stuff I had in my stash...Everyone has enough ribbon perfectly matched to turn out 25 party favors right?!? I love the little tag.  I stamped the pre-made tags with Papertrey's Polka Dots 2 and then stamped over that with the thanks script sentiment..I think it's from Mega Mixed Messages.

Ahhh...Mass production...It's a good thing!  :)

I also made some cutesy-fied silverware holders...Just stamped that puppy onto the napkins to make it match.  

Here's that banner I made.  All hail the might Cricut!!  The whole thing is cut on that machine.  :)

Here's my present for Lucy.  It's a scrapbook.  I didn't take any pictures of the inside...but I made the tag match the decorations.  :)  And then there's the cutest thing I made....

It's a diaper cake...acccckkk!!  It only took about 90 minutes...including wrapping and rubber banding the diapers.  The picture isn't that great...but it was cute in person.  I couldn't believe how much trouble I had finding a stuffed puppy to go on the top.  I thought that would be the easiest part...I had to go to four places to find one...who knew?!?

That's it for the baby shower stuff.  I know it took forever to get it blogged...sorry Kim!!   I'm just a slacker!

Have a great Tuesday  ;)

Baby Shower Invites

Here are the invites I made for my friend Lucy's baby shower.  The bedding she chose for her son's nursery is blue and brown with puppies...so I thought it would be cute to use that as a baby shower theme.  Everything I made had either this cricut Doodlecharms puppy head or a cute Hero Arts puppy stamp on it...maybe some day I'll find my camera and be able to upload pictures of the other goodies I made...

I love cutesy envelopes...getting one in the mail is just a happy thing!  :)  I used some Papertrey star stamps to decorate the envelope and stamp the word Baby inside the invite...I also used their Spring Rain, Kraft, and Dark Chocolate paper...I really liked how stamping the word inside the card made it match perfectly with the paper and the envelope...that's what's so great about Papertrey...the whole matchy-matchy thing.  Okay, it doesn't hurt that they have the cutest stamps EVER and a ridiculously talented design team!...not that I'm envious or anything...I swear, I look at those blogs and feel like a Kindergartener...in a cast....with a blindfold on...using broken scissors...you get the idea!  :)

Breakfast recipe...

Okay, so the slacking continues...but, at least here's a copy of the recipe for that yummy French Toast Casserole my mom makes.  Maybe I'll even get the other egg-y/potato-y one posted this weekend...

FRENCH TOAST BAKE ~ from Lucy's baby shower

1/2C  melted butter

1&1/2 C  brown sugar

1t  cinnamon

8-12 pieces white bread 

8-9 eggs, beaten

1&1/2 to 2 C milk



Cover 9x13 pan w/butter. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon, then mix with butter in the dish. Layer the bread in the dish, then put a second layer on top of the first. Mix beaten eggs and milk, then pour over the bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 55-60 min. To serve, turn upside down and cut into squares.