9 Spook-tacular Halloween Treat Ideas

Cinnamon Cider Candied Apples

Zombie Boogers via Paper & Parcel

Gingerbread Skeleton Cookies via Spoonful

Brain Cupcakes via Martha Stewart

Cupcakes with Bat Toppers via Luulla

Skeleton Cupcakes via Women's Day

Ghostly Meringues via By Wilma

Witch Finger Cookies via House & Home

Witch Broom Pretzel Snacks via Mom Trends

A Grown-Up Paper Plane Birthday Party

Last weekend we celebrated my husband's birthday.  It was a last minute celebration that I threw together.  I wanted something fun, but classy.  Something easy an inexpensive, but that looked like it took me hours and hours to plan.  Isn't that really the goal for any party thrown?  I settled on paper airplanes.  I'm not entirely sure where this idea came from, but once I started working on it, it came together seamlessly!  I bought an old outdated atlas from Half Priced Books to make some planes, threw a globe in the mix and used my vintage film canisters to give the table some dimension.  For the cupcakes, I tried to make the frosting look like clouds that the planes were hovering above.  All in all, I love how it turned out!

We had such a blast with our families and having all the kiddos running around torturing our poor animals.  Needless to say, we all passed out around 9pm after all the craziness subsided.  It was so worth the exhaustion, though!

Check out our Link Party Page to see where we link up each week!

Scoop Top

Have you ever had a project that just sat on your craft table, waiting for months to be made? That's what happened with this Scoop Top. When Kristin of Skirt As Top posted a tutorial and free pattern for her Scoop Top in April, I got excited and printed out the pattern in anticipation of making one or ten of them right away. And then the poor pattern sat on my craft table taunting me for months when I got caught up with other things.

One day as I was enjoying my bi-weekly rummage of the remnant bin at JoAnn Fabrics, I found the perfect fabric that I knew had to be made into a Scoop Top, probably because it looks almost exactly like the fabric Kristin used for hers? I snapped it up for under 2 dollars and got to work!

Kristin's pattern is right on! I love the slight curved hem on the bottom, and the length is pretty perfect too. Since the knit fabric doesn't fray, I decided to save some time (read: lazy ;) and leave the sleeve and hems raw. One of these days I'll actually invest in a double needle, but for now I'm happy to use my walking foot or just skip hemming all together :)

I can see this shirt getting a lot of wear this fall! I can't wait to make more. I'm thinking long sleeves...

Have you made a Scoop Top yet? Go do it!

Check out our Link Party Page to see where we link up each week!

8 Pumpkin Recipes for Fall

It doesn't take much for me to get a pumpkin craving. Just the mention of fall gets me in the mood to eat a pumpkin pie. Or ten. I know a lot of people who can't wait to put up the Christmas decorations but for me, I can't wait for fall so I can bust out my boots and make some fall desserts.

For this week's round up, I decided to include 8 tasty recipes that include my favorite fall ingredient, pumpkin!

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel-Pecan Sauce via Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

Pumpkin Spice Breakfast Smoothie via A Beautiful Mess

Pumpkin Pie Dip via Shugary Sweets

And how could we forget our furry friends? Try these Pumpkin Dog Biscuits via Simmer Till Done

Pumpkin Pie Lasagna via Beyond Frosting

Pumpkin Pie Nog via Better Homes and Gardens

Pumpkin Pie Truffles via Six Sisters' Stuff

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream via Your Homebased Mom

Check out our Link Party Page to see where we link up each week!

Fall Collection 2013!

We have some exciting news...

Today, Jess of The Sewing Rabbit announced the release of her fall line....and we got to contribute a piece of clothing to it! A palette was chosen, and all the contributing bloggers at The Sewing Rabbit made an item of clothing for fall.

Can you guess which one is mine??

Even better, we'll be sharing tutorials (and some free patterns!) for the things we've made! You can head over to The Sewing Rabbit to learn more about the fall collection release, as well as how to share your fall sewing creations to be featured!

The Best Grilled Cheese Ever + Homemade Pesto

Obviously, you are all fully aware that I am a vegetarian and pretty much the only reason I don't call myself vegan is because of my undying love for cheese.  I love cheese so much that on my shirt for the Pittsburgh Marathon 5K this year I considered writing "I Run for Cheese" instead of some noble cause like most others.  I believe in honesty, people.  (I ended up leaving the "I run for ___" empty).  Anyway, this grilled cheese is going to rock your world. It's unreal.

Grilled Cheese Ingredients:

Fontina cheese

Whole grain bread

butter (or whatever you prefer to use to help toast the bread)

Tomato

Pesto

Pesto Ingredients:

One large package of basil

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/8 cup pine nuts

1 clove garlic

Himalayan Pink Salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Let's start with the pesto first:

1 - Put your basil, pine nuts and garlic in your food processor and pulse until all chopped up.

2 - Add the oil, then salt & pepper to taste. Pulse until smooth.

3 - Add in cheese and mix until incorporated. 

Now onto the Grilled Cheese!

1 - Keep your stove top on medium heat.  Melt better in frying pan.

 2 - Place slice of bread in pan with cheese on top.  Cover with a lid to trap the heat in so the cheese will melt.

3 - Once the cheese has started melting, place the tomato on the cheese. 

4 - Spread pesto on second slice of bread, then place on top of tomato. 

5 - Flip sandwich and cover again until bread is toasted.

Now dig in and enjoy! 

Check out our Link Party Page to see where we link up each week!

Leather Belts to Wrap Bracelets

My husband's grandmother gave me a box full of belts a few months ago, and after picking out a few to use for crafts, I saved a few favorites for myself. The only problem is, Grandma must have been a size 0 when she wore them (which I certainly am not!) because they were tiiiiiiny! Most of them found their way into my craft room to be refashioned later, but I held onto this cute yellow skinny belt for myself, thinking I could make it work...that is until I tried to force said size 0 skinny belt onto my size 6 waist and it broke.

But when life hands you lemons and broken belts, you make jewelry!

So grab a few skinny belts from your closet (or from your local thrift store) and lets make some leather wrap bracelets.

SUPPLIES: leather belts (preferably skinny belts), scissors, leather punch or Crop-o-dile.

ONE: wrap your belt around your wrist until you're happy with the bracelet size, leaving some extra for the tail.
TWO: cut that bad boy.
THREE: use your leather punch or Crop-o-dile to punch holes in your bracelet to make it adjustable.

Now make a bunch! I bet you could find a ton of fun prints and colors at a thrift store. I'm hoping to find some neon or metallic belts to make into bracelets next.

Enjoy your new jewelry!

Check out our Link Party Page to see where we link up each week!