A beautiful fall day -- perfect for creating a welcoming porch for the season. For the door, a simple sign proclaiming fall and hung with brown satin ribbon. A huge pumpkin, kissed by late afternoon sunlight and nestled in autumn leaves and berries atop a black urn. Bytes has dibs on carving a jack o lantern. Imagine coming at this dimpled brilliant beauty with a sharp knife -- not me. Beautiful pumpkin's companions. That's a swan gourd at the end. Looks just like a swan, doesn't it? If swans were green and spotted. It's shaped like a swan I meant to say. The stem looks like the beak -- even though you can't find it for the scarecrow's twine ties. On the other side, shooting into the morning sun, Mr. Strawman rests his foot on the little pumpkin. My dad always ... [Read More]
Halloween
Elegant Halloween
Halloween is not just for kids. Nor does it have to be creepy. Fun as those things are, there are options. How about an Edwardian Halloween? Elegant and classy. More Edgar Allan Poe than Friday the Thirteenth. A pumpkin covered in black lace. A stack of books. Story -- that bottom book -- the one labeled 'Spells"-- is an old geometry book from high school. I loved geometry and asked the teacher what kind of job used geometry. He didn't know so he made me set out in the hall for the rest of the class. My first job as a landscape designer used geometry. Lots of it. And now I've found another use for geometry -- the base for a pumpkin. So there, Mr. McC! A glittered owl. She looks wise. She probably knows what careers use geometry. And lots of other things. An ... [Read More]
How to Make a Halloween Wreath
I love wreaths of all kinds. No idea why! I just like the looks of a lush full circle hanging on a door, a window, a mirror. It just sings! I first saw mesh wreaths on Kristen's Creations and fell in love with the fullness and possibilities! It helps that her site is full of gorgeousness and rich colors and tons of creativity and inspiration. Halloween seemed the perfect time to try my hand at making a mesh wreath. I knew I wanted to use a feather boa -- just for fun. I hesitated because I didn't want to use greenery for Halloween and the black wreaths I found weren't . . . ummm . . . fun. And fastening the mesh to the not round grapevine wreaths I found seemed rather daunting. And then. . . . I found the solution at HobLob. A sixteen inch work wreath -- two levels of ... [Read More]
Grasshopper Guts – Halloween Treat
Pin Pretty Please!!! Grasshopper Guts are a Halloween twist on a classic kids treat! This one is simple, not too sweet, and easy to make for your Halloween party. If your preschool regularly allows homemade treats, it also qualifies for the G snack. :-) The F snack? Smashed Frog, of course. For a peanut free treat, use chopped almonds or pecans instead. Or go nut free and use mini M&Ms. Chopped toffee is another possible substitute. Halloween in a preschool classroom is fun! The little ones get so excited about dressing up and “be-tending”. Isn’t that a perfect word!? A great term for trying on a new persona. Being and pretending at the same time. That’s the best part of Halloween -- letting out the inner princess in charge of the world or being the great ... [Read More]
Smashed Frogs – Halloween Candy
Notice that Smashed Frogs cereal snacks only take one half bag of fall colored M&Ms. They only come in the big bag so don’t look for a little one. If you can’t find the fall colors, you’ll have to pick out the brown and yellow and orange ones from a regular mix. And that also means you’ll have to buy a big bag of the regular mix so there is enough. Whichever you buy, you know what to do with the leftovers to keep them from going stale. You are welcome! :-) Smashed Frogs is a pretty standard cereal and marshmallow mixture and follows the same process. Choose dark green food coloring paste if you can find it, as it is easier and quicker to stir into the melted marshmallow mixture. You can wipe butter on a couple of tablespoons and use them to drop the candy mixture on waxed ... [Read More]
Candy Corn Fudge
Candy Corn Fudge . . . Just another pretty fudge. Candy Corn Fudge . . . . Just because I can. The coloring I used was Wilton’s gel and to give it a strong color I scooped out a bit with the edge of a teaspoon. I mixed the coloring into the sweetened condensed milk first before adding it to the chips to make the color more even. I prefer Ghiradelli white chocolate chips to other brands. Soften the white chocolate and shortening in the microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power. Chips will hold their shape until stirred so don't microwave again until you stir the chips and shortening together. If they are not soft enough to combine, then microwave again in 15 second bursts at 50% power until most chips are melted. Add the colored milk to the melted chocolate, stirring gently ... [Read More]