Halloween Banner Scraps

When I finished making the Halloween Banner, I had a bunch of scraps leftover that had already been cut. I put one of each design on a short piece of ribbon and tied it to the chandelier over our stairway.

Then I got this fun idea to make little rings of fabric to put on each newel post on our stairs. This was pretty simple - I tore off a magazine cover (Rachael Ray, if you're wondering) and used duct tape to tape it into a ring. Then I put the fabric on in the same way I made the banner, only I made sure they were right next to each other so you couldn't see any of the magazine page.


After I made one to see how it would turn out, I counted the actual number of newel posts in our house and decided that one was enough. I just did not have the patience to make thirteen, plus the downstairs railings are covered with spider garlands anyway! =) Maybe I'll make one a year and in a few years, have enough.


You could also make these to hang on door handles to make all of your doors a little more festive!


Our house is almost done being decked out for Halloween! I can't wait to see all the little boos and ghouls who come in two weeks!

Halloween Fabric Banner

I found this super cute banner on Pintrest the other day and I had some time on Monday so I wanted to try it out. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and it turned out so freaking cute!!!






Supplies:
-Halloween fabric scraps (I didn't have scraps, so I went to JoAnn fabric and got 1/2 yard of five different fabrics. I had originally planned to just make one banner but I had enough to make two. Actually, probably three!)
-Ribbon (the original plan used clothesline, but the ribbon was on sale and I think it turned out cuter to have the fabric scraps a little farther apart.)










Once I had my fabric, I started cutting it into about one inch strips. I found that just folding the fabric and making a crease gave me an easy line to follow and they ended up much straighter if I did it that way. If you are a perfectionist, I am guessing you could iron creases or mark the fabric somehow.

The strips were about one inch wide and a third of a yard long. Again, perfectionists probably could have measured, but I just folded them into about thirds and cut. Once the strips were cut, I laid them out to figure what order I wanted them in.


To get the fabric on the ribbon, you make some sort of knot. I forget what kind of knot it is, but here are step by step directions.


I started by cutting two yards worth of fabric and didn't like how empty the banner was, so I cut one more yard in thirds. I only used two pieces of each fabric, so I had to find something to do with the scraps. I'll show you what I did with the scraps later!


The banner turned out really cute!! I don't have a mantel to hang this on, but we have this awesome bookshelf from Ikea that I hung it on. For easy hanging, I put command hooks on the unit. I can leave them on if I end up making a Thanksgiving banner...and a Christmas banner....and a Valentine's banner....and a St. Patrick's Day banner...I'm officially addicted!

Two ingredient pumpkin muffins

I found a recipe for pumpkin muffins online today at Miss Zoot's blog and decided I needed to try them. Like, now.


I had to run to Target from some stuff anyway, so I grabbed a 15oz. can of pumpkin and a box of spice cake mix while I was there.

This recipe is as easy as "put cake mix in a bowl, dump in can of pumpkin, mix until fully combined." Warning: this was a messy recipe for me. Unlike a regular cake mix, where the dry mix incorporates pretty quickly and easily, this recipe made a bit of a mess with the dry ingredients. (Of course, it could have been the fact that I used a really small bowl. And I was impatient.)

Once everything is fully mixed together, put in muffin tins. I sprayed with Pam first and they popped right out when they were done cooking. I baked at 350 for 25 minutes and they are PERFECT. Delicious and amazing. I am so glad I made them!

I kept them plain so we can have them with dinner, but I bet they would be a great dessert if you frosted them with a cinnamon or cream cheese frosting.

Mumsy!

Before we left on our honeymoon, we had a whole collection of potted flowers on our front step. My parents took them to their house to take care of them while we were gone for three weeks and my mom decided she liked them so much that I wasn't getting them back.

So I decided that I needed new potted plants for the fall and while I was at it, I wanted to make some super cute pots for them. I think it would be fun to paint another one orange and make a jack-o-lantern face and another one green for a Frankenstein face.

Anyway, this one is a mummy and it pretty easy to make.

Supplies:
-one flower pot in whatever size you need
-white duct tape
-black foam
-purple glitter glue (I had this leftover from the Boo wreath)


To make the pot, just tear off strips of duct tape and layer them on and around the pot. I found that working with shorter strips (maybe about 8 inches) worked the easiest. Since the pot is not a straight cylinder, the duct tape strips won't go flat or straight, so you have to layer pretty well. When the pot is covered with the tape, cut out your black foam eyes. I simply attached them by putting a piece of duct tape at the top and bottom. Once the foam was attached, I added the "eyeballs" with purple glitter glue.

Because I love a pun, I bought a mum to put in my flower pot, which means I am now calling it...a MUMSY!!!

Isn't it super cute???

Halloween Wreath

I have been looking for a Halloween wreath for several years now and never really found one I liked. I've seen a ton of super cute wreaths on Pintrest, but none of them looked 1) easy or 2) waterproof. So I decided to just make one myself.

I was at AC Moore the other day and all of their Halloween stuff was half off, so I bought two Halloween garlands, a wire wreath frame, glitter glue and the letters B-O-O for about $10 total.


To start with, wrap the garlands around the wire form. I was going to see if I could get away with only one garland, but I didn't like how full - or NOT full, rather - it was, so I went back and used both of them. I guess I probably could have (should have?) glued it on to the frame, but it seemed to stay just fine. I think it helped that the garland was wired.


Once that was done, it was on to the letters. I liked the purple glitter with the orange and black, but I think green would look good, too. I coated the front, back, and sides of the letters to make sure that it would be weather-proof. (We'll see how it is at the end of October!)


Once the letters were dry, I tried to figure out what layout I liked better - straight across or following the curve of the wreath. (Is there a fancy word for "following the curve"? I swear there is...)


I liked the curved look better, so once I figured that out I glue gunned the letters onto the wreath. I love how cute it looks!! And I'm hopefully it will turn out weatherproof. It's supposed to be rainy this fall, so it seems like we'll definitely have a chance to find out! Tomorrow I'll tell you about my new flowerpot. =)

The BEST cupcakes ever. Seriously.

We were halfway into our tailgate when we started eating the cupcakes and my exact quote was "WOW, I know I made these, but these are the BEST cupcakes I have EVER had!"

And they were SO easy.

Buy your favorite cake mix - again, I had a Duncan Hines chocolate - and a coordinating flavor of instant pudding - so, in this case, chocolate. (I bought the off-brand kind because it was on sale and I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out and it was DELICIOUS.)

Make the cake mix according to the directions on the box and then dump in the whole package of pudding.

Bake according to the directions.

These turned out so fluffy and moist and so, so good! I think it's my new default way to make a cake mix!

And it doesn't hurt that the Terps won their game, either! =)