Allison: Halloween Decorations

Hello again! I wanted to start my post by announcing the winner of the Halloween wreath giveaway from last week. And the winner is... (Drumroll, please)... Bethany!! To my question, "What is your favorite Fall craft or treat?" she responded:

"How about my favorite fall activity? I love going to the pumpkin patch! We always have so much fun. I love fall in the NW. Crisp, sunny days, the smell in the air, the leaves changing....it's the best!"

She made me particularly homesick for Oregon with that comment, but I won't hold it against her... too much. Congrats, Bethany! And a big thanks to everyone else who left a comment. We love hearing from all of you!

For this week's post, I'm being a little lazy. I'm going to share some ideas that I'm GOING to do, but haven't yet. But they were all so creative, that I wanted to share.

I love this first Halloween craft, because it's something that kids could help with. I think these little bats would be fun strung from trees in the front yard (or the cactus, in my case).  Here's where I found this idea.

I thought this next idea was really fun.  Using toilet paper or paper towel rolls, cut some "eyes" and insert a glow stick.  Then place them in bushes to shine like scary eyes in the night.  I've never seen this idea before, and with a 2 pack of glow sticks in the dollar section at Target, it's easy to accomplish. I found the idea here.

I kind of hate the water here in Arizona, which results in a lot of empty water gallon jugs in our recycling. So this next idea was a no-brainer. Those same dollar glow sticks would work great to line our front walkway Halloween night. I can't wait to see the end product! I found this idea here.

Last but not least, Pinterest helped me find this fun idea.  All you have to do is glue a magnet to the back of a plastic spider and stick them wherever you want.   Creeps me out just looking at it!  I only wish my door was made of metal.  I'm sure I can find somewhere to put them. Here's the original site for this idea.

So there you go! I'll try to take pictures of the final products Halloween night. What fun decorations do you have planned? I hope you all have a great week!!


Allison

Sara Jane: Pumpkins!

Hi friends!

From now until January, be prepared for way too much excitement in my posts.  Like I told you last Wednesday, I LOVE everything about September, October, November, and December.  I love all the food, the decorations and the overall excited/giving spirit that most people seem to have.  

I'm not sure if it is the changing of the seasons or what but I have had way too much happiness in me the last few weeks.  Its the kind of happiness that all you want to do is turn the music up way too loud to sing and dance.  Yesterday, I tried to channel that happiness into something productive for the blog.  

We have had this huge pile of wood sitting outside of our house since July.  A lot of it is wood we picked up from my in-law's house, the pallets were delivered to our house by a friendly neighbor, and then there are just lots of scraps of wood from some remodeling we've been working on.  Hmmmm, what could I do with all this wood???  PUMPKINS!

This project was so easy.  I went through our huge pile of wood...

and found a few random pieces that I thought would make cute pumpkins.  I also I had my sweet hubby cut a few little pieces for the stems. 

Then came the painting.  I had a few little helpers for this part.  For their pumpkins, they painted then entirely orange.  For my pumpkins, I did the first coat white.  When that coat was dry, I painted an orange coat on top of the white.  For the stem pieces, I simply painted them green.

When everything was nice and dry, I distressed the wood with a piece of sand paper.  If you don't like that look then just omit this step.  Next, using my glue gun, I glued a piece of thin wire, which I curled, and the green "stem" to the top of the pumpkin.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  When I finally dig my harvest decorations out of the attic, I will decorate with leaves but for now, these will simply sit on my mantle as they are.  They brighten up my living room....I LOVE them!

I never feel like my posts are complete until I share with you a favorite recipe.  Today, I thought I would share with you a recipe my sister-in-law, Micky, gave me.  Gingersnap Pumpkin Pudding.  I have seen several recipes similar to this one but I have not liked any of them as much as I do this recipe.  It is always a hit when I have it at parties.  I use it mainly as a dip for gingersnaps or fruit although I am positive you could eat it by itself.  It is absolutely delicious.  We have it several times during the fall.  If you love all things pumpkin, you must try this gingersnap pumpkin pudding!

GINGERSNAP PUMPKIN PUDDING

Ingredients:

* 1 3/4 cup cold milk

* 1 package instant cheesecake or vanilla pudding mix (the small box)

* 1/2 cup canned pumpkin

* 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

* 3 gingersnaps, crushed

* 1 cup whipped topping

Directions;

In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix together for 2 minutes.  (I use my electric mixer for this part).  Stir in the canned pumpkin and the pumpkin pie spice.  Let stand for a few minutes or until soft-set.  Fold whipped topping into pudding.  Sprinkle the crushed gingersnaps on the top. 

There you have it folks.  Have a great rest of your week!

Sara Jane