Jack Skellington Cookies

I made these the same day I made the Spider Web cake but saved them to take in today. Didn't want to overload them with too much food. Athough I think I was definitely tired by the time I drew the faces..not perfect but I don't think the coworkers will mind too much..after all, free food is free food.

This recipe came from Disney and I decided to use a food pen rather than do the black icing for the face. It was much easier and have to say just make sure the icing is good and dry..I hit a few spots where my pen sank in a bit.
I have another recipe for Sandy Claws and thinking I might make those for Christmas, perhaps by then I can do better with the face.

Halloween Spider Cake

Been busy the past week and didn't have much to share for the blog so kind of was MIA, but I finally was able to get a bit more craft and fun time. Today am sharing this spider web cake that was shown in Country Living. I confess I like to bake and it's more of a hobby so I am far from a professional.

This was my attempt and will be taking this to work today for the co-workers. The recipe basically stated to make two box cakes in two 7x4 and and one 4x4 cake pan. Not sure about you but I don't have those sizes and in fact didn't see the need to run out and buy any either so I used two 8 inch round and two 6 inch rounds.

My cake was from scratch; a spiced oatmeal cake and I made some sticky pecan icing for the filling.

The CL cake also said to cover in buttercream but I decided to cover mine in fondant and lastly the most important part is melting 8oz of Marshmallows for 30 seconds and stirring until smooth. Once you did that you basically pinched the stuff between two fingers and pulled so you had nice long strands..I pulled about two feet once I got comfortable with it. I must say 8oz of Marshmallow was too much you could easily half that. I wish I had put the cake on some sort of pedestal because sitting on a plate on the counter was a bit of a challenge to make sure I had enough strands covering the cake.

I made the spider from black fondant (fondant that I had leftover and colored) and make a stab at the spider.

More Kitty Project Life

I can't believe how big my kitty is getting. Sometimes I look at her and think wow you are so big and other times I think you are so small. Either way she is just too cute.

I am getting better at find/creating ways to add embellies like the cat and paw print stamp that I had forgotten I had.

Only A Boy!

I have to say this isn't one of my favorite layouts. It was a difficult challenge since I took these photos ~12 years ago, but I still wanted to make this page because it speaks clearly about those crazy things boys do and having raised two of them I wanted to capture those moments.

Any hoo despite the craziness of trying to find a pp that worked with all three photos that weren't exactly cohesive and I just wasn't feeling the love for these photos or that paper I plowed forward and got it done and happy that I finally did something with those photos and those crazy moments.



Halloween Picture Frames

While I was hunting around at the Dollar Store looking for things to make the Halloween Wreath with I spied these frames and picked up three to make this trio of signs. Figured what the heck, my dd would need some cute Halloween decorations to go along with her new wreath. Using Bella Blvd pp and just some odds and ends laying around.

Halloween Wreath - Complete

For those of you who read my blog on Friday here is my finished product, I think my attempt paid off  and for those who want to know how I did it, read on (or just gaze at more photos).

Since the wreath was white Styrofoam and I didn't want to risk the white showing through I figured I had two options, 1.) paint it black or 2.) wrap it in black duct tape. I chose the second option since it seemed less messier to me. I cut 6 in strips and wrapped at a slight angle. Once that was completed I just need to wrap the boas (I used two for full coverage)

Once the boas were wrapped around I needed to secure them in place. I used these odd shaped paper clips I had on hand (I am sure regular ones would work just fine,) and unbent them then cut them using a wire cutter.

Here is the wreath completely wrapped and pinned, now the fun part begins, adding all the goodies I bought.

I originally thought I would glitter the hanging skeletons and did a test one which made me realize it was too much purple so I opted to recolor the purple spider instead. I also painted glue onto the tips of the black roses to give them a bit of a punch and decided a bit of lavender tulle wouldn't hurt either. I also bought this bow and forgot to include it in the before pictures along with the black cheesecloth netting.

The netting I just cut into strips and adhered along with the other goodies, using the clips to secure in place. And used some black tulle to hang the wreath with. I loved how this looked once completed but felt like something was missing, it just didn't seem to be balanced.

And a better overall look hanging on my door, looks pretty good here, maybe I should keep it.

Here are some closer look at some of the elements

Still not happy that I seem to have a void, I then called my ds who works at Diddams (party store) to see if he could bring me home some small bats which I then hot glued to some bamboo skewers and skewered with some wire to keep their wings extended a bit because they were super floppy and added some glitter to keep with the whole theme of the wreath plus they were super hard to see just black. And voila there you have it, much better don't you think. Hoping dd will love it and pretty sure she will and if not, heck I am keeping it for me.



Project Life and A Wreath in the Making

First up just a few project life spreads of my little kitty Houdini and some Yellowstone Park pages.

 

So I wanted to make something crafty for Halloween and my dd was commenting how she didn't seem to have the time nor the energy to make herself a wreath so I decided what the heck I would make one for her. So armed with these supplies

  

And this for my inspiration I will make her a wreath. Cross your fingers I do it justice and check back with me on Monday to hopefully have it completed and worthy of sharing.

Something's Brewing

Couldn't resist making a couple of quick Halloween cards, not that I needed anymore but seriously can anyone resist a little spiritual gift giving for this fun holiday? So the first card I used some new Bella Blvd pp, Memorybox stamps, copics, a long lost Sizzix embossing folder I didn't know I had and my Nestabilities. Of course I did color the sentiment stamp with my Stampin Up pens since Copics really aren't good for stamping with. And you can't really see it but I added some clear glass effects with a Viva gel pen for the bubbles.

This next card was even easier. I used my Cheery Lyn die to cut out the spider web, punched a Martha Stewart spider, added a few red accents with a Viva Gel pen and stamped the sentiment using a Memorybox stamp and the Stampin Up markers and finished it with some Baker's Twine.

France - Eiffle Tower

A double page spread for the Eiffle Tower because it's probably the most photographed item in all of France. And or course not only can you get pictures from all angles but there is the night time view as well..truly a spectacular piece of art.

Project Life for a Kitty

So we recently adopted a new little kitty and my bff suggested I do a Project Life album to document her first year since she will grow so much and after all lets face it with a kitty in the house it's like being a new parent all over again. She is a bundle of energy and full of entertaining moments, and a cuddler which is always nice when they are this tiny.

This is the first page and I must say if I thought photographing children was hard..trying to get an active little kitty picture is five times as worse...the only time seems to be when she is resting and or halfway still.

Yellowstone Project Life (pgs 5-8)

Needed to keep working on this Project Life Album, I think I had over 400 pictures to scrap and I am sure I won't use all of them but right now it doesn't feel like I have put much of a dent into them. On the pages below you will of course recognize Old Faithful and the Lower Falls area which is actually one of the most photographed views at Yellowstone. I must say I do find it a challenge to find outdoorsy type embellishments and thankfully am finding a lot of product I had on hand for years as well as being able to cut stuff from the silhouette.