Showing posts with label spiders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spiders. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

10 Tips Tuesday- 10 Quick Halloween Decorations

It's 3 days before Halloween and you have no decorations up?!  I am afraid I don't understand where you are coming from since mine have been up since the end of September.  Each week I added more stuff (mostly from the great store of everything is $1!)  Anyways, I have complied some great cheap ideas to instant "Hallloween" to your house.

1.  Spider Webs:  You can go about this two ways.  1) Don't dust or vaccuum your house all year and you should be set next year! or if you prefer a clean house, 2) buy some bags of the fake cobwebs from your local dollar store or discount store.  It's easy to put up and takes no time at all!  I stretched our across the fireplace in the living room.  We have a big brick fireplace that was perfect especially since the fireplace isn't used in Texas until at least Christmas.  Mine did not come with spiders so I bought some big ones, spray painted them gold and stuck them in the web.

2.  Lights:  I use lights every chance I get.  I have a 100 count orange strand stretched across our fireplace under the spider webs. There's a strand of bat lights hanging across a family heriloom.  Mulitple little battery powered sets are all around the house.  Most of the 10 count battery powered ones I got at Dollar Tree this year!!  There was a skeleton set in a picture for Friday Favorites a couple of weeks ago.

3.  Plastic Skulls and Skeletons: I seriously became obsessesed with these this year!!  I spray painted all of mine!  At one time, I had 3 gold skulls (the sweet pup ate one).  I did my kitchen in black, white, silver/grey theme centered around the table runner I made.  So I have 2 skeleton hands that are silver.  I got them all at Dollar Tree!!



4.  Creepy Fabric:  I used this stuff everywhere!!  There are pieces draped across family heirlooms, coffee/sofa tables I even hung some on my porch!  Again, it all came from the Dollar Tree!  I bought the dark grey and black colors.

5.  Easy Bunting:  This was my first attempt at bunting.  I love it and have already decided to use some of my fabric scraps for Thanksgiving and Christmas ones.  You can buy the pre-cut triangles at most craft stores.  I heat pressed "EEK" on mine.  You can use stencils and paint (I am just not that good with stencils!) I then hot glued the triangles to ribbon I bought at the dollar store.  See how easy that it is?!  See the picture above...that's the one I made!

6.  Pumpkins:  Seriously?!  The easiest of all!  Go the grocery store, home improvement store, craft stores... everyone has pumpkins!!  I like to use real pumpkins.  Get them in all shapes and colors.  I even found a couple of black glitter pumpkins in the dollar bin at Target back in September.

7.  Free Printables!!  I made some of my own.  But I also visited several blogs and found super cute ones that I could just print and frame.  Some of my favorites came from "Tatertots and Jello" and "Yellow Bliss Road."  

8.  Candles:  Again super easy!  We all have them.  I use a mix of scented, non-scented and battery powered.  I like to light candles at night and turn off all the lights in the room.  The ambiance of the candle glow just makes me feel warm and fuzzy (on 85 degree "fall" nights).  Make sure to get pumpkin scented or something that reminds you of fall!  Right now I have candy corn scented candles!!

9.  Witch's Hat:  I bought a couple of cute ones.  If you have a chair or bench on yor porch, hang the hat on the back of it (or sit it in the chair).  You  can add a witch's broom and it looks like a well-mannered witch came over to visit!

10.  Paper Silhouettes:  You can buy pre-cut ones, have the kids cut them out or use your paper cutting machine.  I found a pack of 15 pre-cut spiders at The Dollar Tree and taped them to our front porch doors.  It looks like a pack of giant spiders are parading across the french doors.  You cut out bats and place them in the windows. 
                         
Too Much Time On My Hands

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Wonder Woman Wednesday-Easy Halloween Cookies

One thing you should know about me is that I love to bake!!  It's also not something I get to do very often.  I bought two chocolate cake mixes this past weekend with the full intention of making the most delicious triple layer chocolate cake with orange icing and Halloween sprinkles.  After they sat on my kitchen table all weekend, I finally put them up in the pantry last night as I whispered "Maybe next weekend."  
With "Pinterest pressure" running rampant (yes, it's like peer pressure except you're not in high school and random strangers are unintentionally pressuring you to be a rock star mom), I am sure many of us have a Halloween board full of yummy treats we will never make.  Am I right?  So I am here to give you my favorite "easy peasy" cookie recipe that can make it look like you spent all afternoon in the kitchen. I have been making this cookies for years!   They  are so super easy.

You can start this recipe however you choose.  You can use the "pull apart" cookies that you slap on a cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes (GUILTY!).  You can use a mix, which is what I am doing today.  OR you can be supermom and make your own sugar cookies from scratch.  Any way is fine.  If you use the pull apart kind, at least sprinkle flour some on your shirt to make it seem like you have been baking all day.  So if you go with the prepackaged mix, chances are you will need some water, butter and an egg or two.  But other than that, this is all you need. Make sure to have a couple of toothpicks handy too!!
I chose cream cheese frosting because well, who doesn't love cream cheese frosting on their cookies? But you can use just plain vanilla/white frosting.  After the cookies have baked and cooled, slather a little frosting on each cookie.
Take your black icing and draw 3 circles (think the Target symbol!)
Start a toothpick in the center dot and pull toward the edge of the cookie.  Do this all around the cookie.  This should pull the icing causing a spider web look.
You can add a cute little plastic spider.  I didn't have any small enough.  Now you have cute little spider web cookies that look like you have been in the kitchen all day.  No one has to know they took 10 minutes! 

Hugs y'all!
LSG