Literary Halloween Crafts

I actually own (very different) books about Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde, the classic is on my e-reader and the other is pictured below and is also a good tale written by Beth Fantaskey.

Being the book nerd that I am...The Strange Case of Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde along with a few other tragic tales has always been a favorite of mine to read during Halloween time, so this year I thought I'd tie in a extra spooky craft to go along with it! I love this particular story and I've always been drawn to Victorian Era literature style of writing, there is just something romantic about it, even in this novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.

In this craft I decided to change the idea of Dr. Jekell being a man and created him actually into a her... cool right?!? Maybe a part of me wonders what it would be like to dabble in the realms of my subconscious and see if I have a Mrs. Hyde of my own? LOL!  These crafts were way easy to construct and were VERY inexpensive too! Most of the materials came from the dollar tree and Micheal's with their fabulous coupons that I normally get in e-mail, text message or mail anyway. I think all together I might have spent about 10 bucks total!

My Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde Skull came from the dollar tree, as did the candle stick and glass plate that I hot glued together. While waiting for those pieces to set, I spray painted the skull black first, once the black dried I then pulled a old fishnet stocking over the face of the skull and sprayed (in small bursts) a bit of the purple spray paint I had left over from making the spell books. I then let that dry completely and started to paint the paper mache pumpkin from Micheal's ($3.00 on sale). After the pumpkin dried completely I took a sharpie and one of my favorite excerpt from the book and started to hand write it over the outside. I sprayed the pumpkin with some Krylon clear coat and wrapped a Halloween ribbon (from the dollar tree) around the stem and wa-la! Once my skull was completely dried, I cut the top hat off headband I got from Micheal's ($3.99 on sale), fired up the glue gun and glued it to the top of the skull. I added the black and green flower by clipping it on the side and then painted the lettering for the sign onto some heavy card stock. I threw some of the cheap dollar tree spider webbing under neath the glass stand I constructed and placed last years cupcake sprinkle test tube rack near my new Dr. Jekell and Mrs. Hyde skull and ta-da! Instant fabulous and spooky literary Halloween craft! What do you think?

My little pumpkin patch by the fireplace. The monogrammed pumpkin is from Hobby Lobby and was bought last year and the black and orange was made by me using a maple leaf for the outline, inside it says 1692 which was the start of the Salem Witch Trials, another of my favorite non-fiction reads!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge, My First Recipin!

So I have actually been owning up to what I've pined on pinterest lately, I have been super bad about this kinda thing in the past. I think the Dos Equis man said it best... "I don't pin things on pinterest very often, but when I do I pin 1,000 pins in one sitting." LOL! Yes, that is sooooo me! Is that you too? Well anyway after looking through all my recipe pins I picked about 10 of them that I figured I could try them out in the next few weeks. So when I went shopping earlier this week I decided I'd try my hand at making fudge... I love sweets so I figured what better way to start than on a small scale like this! I found a great recipe for "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge" on pinterest and thought oh man... what could be better! I love cookie dough and I love fudge so BAM! Perfect! I have never ever made fudge before and I was seriously hoping I wouldn't fudge it up... LOL! Like that little pun? ;) Well, it honestly turned out pretty awesome! The only thing is... is VERY sweet and I am so glad I have great neighbors to share this all with! LOL! Here's the recipe below if you want to try you own hand at it, it wasn't time consuming at all... I literally made it last night and it took about a half hour. I've also attached the link to the pin here if you want to see it on pinterest.


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge

Yield: 64 1-inch pieces

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours chill time
Ingredients:

For the cookie dough:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons half and half
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
For the fudge:
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup butter
pinch of salt
1/3 cup half and half
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Line an 8x8 baking dish with foil, leaving a 1 inch overhang. Spray with non-stick cooking spray.
To prepare the cookie dough, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla, salt, and half and half. Stir in the flour until incorporated. Set aside.
To make the fudge base, combine the brown sugar, butter, salt, and half and half in a saucepan. Stir over medium low heat until the butter has melted and the brown sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and slowly stir in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until the mixture is smooth and well combined. Stir in the vanilla.
Add the cookie dough to the fudge base and stir to combine. Mix in the chocolate chips.
Spread the mixture in the prepared baking dish. Chill until set, at least 3 hours.
Keep in refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Yield: 64 1-inch pieces
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours chil time

Ingredients:

For the cookie dough:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons half and half
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
For the fudge:
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup butter
pinch of salt
1/3 cup half and half
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Read more at http://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2013/02/12/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-fudge/#ovDT06SdHZ565rfj.99

Halloween Decor, Crafts and Fun!

So it's officially Fall, the weather is cooler, the stores are loaded up with Halloween decor (and some even with Christmas decor, OH MY!) and I can't wait a minute longer to put out my decorations either! I never feel like I get enough of my Halloween decorations and they are my favorites! Seriously one month is just not long enough! When do you put up your Halloween decor?

I think you all have met my spooky eyeball wreath from last year but just in case you forgot, here he is :)

I have spruced up my cotton branch by the fireplace with a little fall sunflower and our monogram pumpkin!

Mr. Bones has also found a new spot this year atop my glass lantern and I have cramped my fingers away at crocheting a giant spiderweb this year!

The spread of Halloween continues in my sitting room and has possibly grown twice the size from last years! LOL!

I had also decided to craft up a few new decorations this year, since I now a nice writers table in my front room and it's still such a big open space hat needs filling... so... with that I took my favorite things about Halloween and ran with it! You can see the new additions for this year below :)

New this year is my stacked witches books... ohhh so creepy! LOL! Very easy to make, the books are from Michaels and you can find them for $4.99 each. I then just spray painted them and printed out some words from the computer and then aged them using tea bags!

I used the same effect with making the fortune tellers cards, they are simply just printed images I found on the internet and modpodged on some heavy card stock paper, aged again with tea bags, glossed over with some modpodge and then dried with a hair dryer to give that aged curled edge.

This is mostly for the kiddo and her costume this year but thought it might sit nicely a top the witches books... she is going to be Snow White for Halloween this year and I found a lovely pin on pinterest on how to make your very own poisoned apple. Incredibly easy to make... one fake apple from craft store, 2 small bottles of puffy paint, and some green glitter later this little baby was made!

And since I love all things Sleepy Hallow... I decided I might like a subway art tribute to it! The fake pumpkin is from Home Depot ... yes, Home Depot they are way cheaper there for the big ones! $9.00 you just can't beat that Michaels or Joanns. The letters are from Joanns and the mask from Michaels. I have always loved the idea of Ichabod Crane and Katrina Van Tassel and the Van Tassel's Harvest Ball... it's my favorite part in the story!

And of course what would a tribute to Sleepy Hallow be without the actual invitation to Ichabod from the Van Tassels! That's right! What you see here is the same written invitation you've seen Katrina write to Ichabod in the movies (mostly the Disney version) and I just love it! I used heavy card stock again and just wrote it all out with a sharpie, I added some left over ribbon I had at the bottom and then melted a red crayon to make the "waxed seal" and drops of "blood".

This fortune tellers crystal ball is quite possibly my other favorite item I acquired this year! This I didn't actually craft but I did get it from Big Lots of all places! I thought how perfect is this to go with my tarot cards! I just love the colors in it!

And of course the final picture...

On top of all this decorating I've been itching to try venture out and have some fall fun, we will probably be taking the kiddo to the local corn maze and pumpkin patch in a few weeks since we've now turned that into pretty much a family tradition. I will miss our farm that we always went to in Mississippi but it will be nice to explore a new one this year! I also really would love to take a weekend trip up to New England... I've been chatting with my mom about this and we have been talking about maybe doing it next year since she's pretty much used up all her vacation time already this year. But... next year it is SO on! I want to see Boston, Salem and possibly the Pilgrim village in Plymouth! How cool would that be? So in the mean time this year I will just have to surround myself with all things Fall and New England style LOL! How are you celebrating the season?

It's starting to feel a bit like Fall!

All my trees are starting to change color YAY!

Wow! Real fall this year! I get to experience the beautiful colors of fall and a crisp cool fresh autumn breeze in the air! Hubby and I have recently been taking after dinner walks, ya know to get in shape and all... and well, I've been side tracked with all the pretty scenery around me... but honestly how can you blame me with all this!!!

Found this pretty covered bridge on a walking trail across the street from my house.

The kiddo and I's new fishing spot!

Pretty River Creek that stems from the Potomac!

I HEART FALL!!! :)

What does your Fall look like?

Book Review: Rubbed Out by: Riley Adams

Even Lulu Taylor proprietress of Aunt Pat's Barbeque restaurant in the heart of Memphis, Tennessee needs to get out of the kitchen now and then. But at the Rock and Ribs festival, she finds more than a taste of trouble...


Reuben Shaw rubs a lot of people the wrong way including Lulu's best friend, Cherry, who has the misfortune of being in the booth next to his  at the festival. The pigheaded pit master thinks he's a shoo-in to win the barbeque competition, but he spends more time stirring up trouble than seasonsing his spare ribs. Hours after she gets into a quarrel with him, Cherry finds Shaw dead with a butcher knife in his chest. Now it's her turn to get grilled by the police. Lulu sets out to clear her friends name and finds Shaw had more secrets than his barbeque recipe. She'll need to act fast, because the real killer will spare no one... including Lulu. 

Mrs. Lulu, Cherry and the Graces are back at it again with some seriously good BBQ and top notch mystery sleuthing! This time things heat up when one of the competitors at the world famous "Rock and Ribs" BBQ competition and festival gets stabbed, and it's up to the gang at Aunt Pats to find out who did it! This mystery will keep you guessing and your mouth watering with all the mention of great food!

"At the Movies" themed wreath craft for movie theater room or media center!

I think my crafty side side has taken over lately! I feel the need to craft up a storm. Oh pinterest why do you inspire me so, you are killing my wallet LOL! Remember a while back when I showed you all pics of our new house, and told you about turning the basement into a "movie theater room". Well, it's coming along nicely! I have added little touches here and there to give it more of a "movie feel", I have recently hung a bit more decor, added a few nick-nacks and eventually I'd like to make "box office" around the entrance with curtains and everything. For now though, I made a wreath. I think it turned out pretty nice too :)

I did manage to take a few more photos so you could get the jest of how I put it all together, sorry I'm still crap at making "tutorials"... LOL! Anyway here it is! :)

So first things first... I went to Michales (yea, they've seen me a lot lately... it's becoming my second home LOL!) and bought a flat wreath from the floral section ($4.99) and then to office depot to buy white packing peanuts (NEVER thought I'd make a wreath out of that LOL!) medium size back was about $6.00, and I used the left over to put in my kiddos bean back, fixed that from flat to fab in less than two minutes!! So once you've got both of those, I took my kitchen shears and cut the packing peanuts in half.

 I then fired up my trusty glue gun and started to glue around the flat board wreath to make it look like "popcorn". Just watch your fingers since the glue is hot and the foam tends to shrink... I was burnt at least a dozen times during this process LOL!

 So once you've got all your wreath covered to your liking (I went around a few times since I wanted mine pretty full). I then just barely grazed the wreath with some yellow spray paint to make the packing peanuts look more realistic to buttery popcorn. I then grabbed some garland that I had picked up on my trip to Michalels ($1.99 each) and started to wrap that all up around the wreath.

After I got the garland attached, I then decided to take some red (WIRED- because it works best) ribbon and make a big bow from it. Sorry for the lack of pics on this part but it's fairly easy to do. Just keep wrapping big loops around a finger and then slip the last part through when your at the end of the ribbon. :)

 I then realized I had all these "movie tickets" left over from an old project (you can find a whole roll at dollar tree for a buck, or just about any party/office supply store has them too) and thought, how cool would it be if I made a bow out of them. So once again, I fired up the glue gun an just started looping until I liked it, when I liked that look I glued it. I also decided it might not look too bad if I also used the ticket's to wrap around the wreath also (sorry for the lack of pic... again) but it was Eaaaasy Peaasy :)

Of course then, I wasn't crazy about the red on red combo so, I decided to take some black ribbon and loop that around to make it look like a flower, I then glued all three bows together  and attached them to the lower right hand corner of the wreath. I also had these left over cardboard popcorn boxes and decided to glue them together and then glue them to the top of the bow but onto the actual "popcorn" part of the wreath. I attached a bit of ribbon with my glue gun to the back to fashion a hanger and TA-DA! Done!!!

 Here's the finished product... hung nicely on the door to our basement. I love the size of the wreath and I love all the colors, it really makes me hungry for popcorn every time I look at it! :)

DIY Gumball Machine Craft

A few days ago, the kiddo and I had been just browsing around in stores, when she happened to stumble upon a plastic toy gumball machine. I also though how cute!... I remember my grandpa having one of these things at his house when I was little, although his was the real deal. Then I looked at the price of said "toy gumball machine"... $29.99!!!! It was no bigger than 9 inches high and about 4inches in diameter, and to me that just spelled "RIP OFF" and "Don't worry, spend money on me and I'll break in a record breaking 3 days!" Sooo... I made a deal with the kiddo. I told her that mommy would make her one! Then we went home and I Pinterested the CRAP outta of DIY gumball machine tutorials. There are sooooo many on pinterest is is quite ridiculous LOL! I kinda wish I took some pictures of my steps and process but honestly, it's not that difficult. All you need is: a terracotta plant pot and saucer. ($1.99 each at my Michales craft store). I bought a smaller saucer than the size that matched the pot also. One glass bowl, similar that to a gold fish bowl. ($2.99 at my Michaels). One round wooden knob (.75 cents at my Michaels). One letter wooden letter U (.99 cents at my Michaels). One flat round wooden disc, looks like a wooden quarter (.75 cents at my Michaels). First I spray painted both the terracotta plant pot and the saucer with purple spray paint. I then hot glued (because I ran out of my favorite epoxy, but hot glue does the trick too) the bottom of the terracotta plant pot to the bottom of the glass bowl. Then I painted both the wooden knob and flat wooden disc white and glued the knob to the bottom of the terracotta saucer and the disc to the terracotta plant pot. I used a sharpie to write the 25 cents price on the flat wooden disc to make it look just like the old fashioned machines. I drew a line with some white paint to represent the spot where you put your "quarter" in. I then glued the U upside down towards the base of the terracotta pot and then painted it white along with the area inside the U. That represents the shoot where the gumball comes out. I then used clear glitter paint and slathered the whole thing with it. Tied a bow with some cool candy ribbon and hot glued that baby on there! And waaaaahala!!! Instant gumball machine!!! And for around $10.00!!! A small fraction of the price of what the store wanted me to buy one for! I can't tell you how much the kiddo loved it and loved helping me make it. I let her choose the colors and the ribbon and then we went to the store to buy some gumballs! Easy Peasy right?!? :)

In the spotlight... again

Last Tuesday was the artist reception for the Artful August show here at the Villages at Leesburg. I didn't end up winning anything but it was still very nice to go and be apart of something. It was also really great to be among other artist and feed my artistic soul with good inspiration. It's been quite a while since I've had my "art" in the spotlight... it's been pretty much since high school LOL! It was nice to be appreciated again. The hubby snapped a few pics of my "big moment" and I was happy he was proud of me :)

The County Fair!

Yesterday we took the kiddo to the county fair! I haven't been to one in AGES, so it was pretty awesome to go and even re-live some childhood memories again. I couldn't believe that they still had some of the same types of rides from when I was a child! I got my funnel cake "fix" that I had been craving ever since Fourth of July and all in all we had a GREAT time! Here's some of the pics...

The kiddo and her "favorite" horse... a pretty mare named "Heavens Night".

What pure fun looks likes! She even made a friend while standing in line.

My favorite part of the fair... of course LOL!

Merry-Go-Round!

A fun classic!

She liked it so much she did it twice!

Anyone else remember this one too?

The kiddo and her daddy on the Ferris Wheel!

Up, up and away we go!

My sillies! :)