Lisa: Eyeball Pie and Some Ghostly Friends!!

Hello!!  I am very excited about this time of year!  I love the fall and the beginning of the Holiday Season.  The cool weather, nice storms and the excitment for our traditions just makes it so enjoyable! 

I have a few traditions that my kids, my husband and I have formed over the years.  I tend to be the room mother of one of their classes so we have Halloween Parties at school that I am incharge of.  I try to have four stations that the kids rotate through: a craft, a food, and two game stations.  One of the crafts that we do that is very easy and popular (because it invovles candy!) is:

Tissue Paper Ghosts

These are super easy, especially for the younger children.  I think my sisters will remember these because we use to make them growing up!  They are simple but so fun for the kids to make and decorate the house with! 

Supplies:
Kleenex Tissues
Lollipops
Ribbon/Yarn
Sharpie/Marker

Directions:
Cover a lollipop with a tissue.  Tie around the top of the stick to keep the tissue in place.  Draw a face onto the tissue.  Easy.  You probably didn't even need instructions!
 
Another tradition that we do during the month of October is Halloween food.  We love to come up with scary/gross food to eat.  But not too scary or gross!!  I thought I'd share with you one of those recipes.  This one is called:

Eyeball Pie   

























Ingredients:
1 medium potato, shredded and drained (or just squeeze out the juice)
4 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/4 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 c. butter, melted
salt and pepper to taste
4-8 eggs

Directions:
Take 4 mini pie tins and divide the shredded potato between them.   Press the potato up the sides and bottom of the tin.  Drizzle 1-2 teaspoons of butter over potatoes in each pie tin.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Bake in 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until potatoes begin to crisp.  Then, into the hashbrown crust, sprinkle bacon and cheese.  Over the top of the pie, add a cracked egg or two.  Salt and pepper the egg, to taste.  Finally, drizzle the remaining butter over the top of the eggs and put back into a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.  It is really a nice breakfast treat.  My picky child even declared she wanted this every morning (but to be honest, she'd say that about anything with bacon!).

And finally, what is Halloween without decorations?  I love Halloween decor but not the scary stuff.  I prefer the cute!  One of the things I got last year were these

 Mummy Blocks

These are so cute and easy to make but they are one of my kids' favorite decorations!

 

Supplies:

Wood of any size

White craft paint

White fabric, torn into 1" wide strips

Googley eyes

Black craft paint

Sponge brush

Glue gun

 

Directions:

Take you wood pieces and paint white.  When paint is dry, wrap blocks with fabric, making sure to put a little bit of glue under the fabric each time your wrap it around the side of the block.  Next take your black paint and just dry brush the edges of the block and bandages, in the manner you see above.  Finally, glue on your googley eyes and there you go.  Simple and awesome!

 

Well, there are a few of our traditions for this time of year!  Hope you enjoy!

 

 

Lisa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sara Jane: Pumpkin Bag Giveaway Winner...

Hey everyone.  Thank you for all your comments.  I love your holiday traditions you shared.

Alright, we have a winner for the giveaway...

Rebecca Wray!

Her holiday tradition was:

"My dad used to make a big pot of chili on Halloween night.  We would take a break from trick-or-treating and eat a bowl with some corn bread.  I love those memories and hope to do the same when my kids get older."

What a fun dad!

Rebecca, send your mailing address to fivecraftysisters.blogspot.com and I will get you the bags ASAP.

Thanks again, everyone!

Sara Jane: Felt Pumpkin Bags

***Giveaway is now closed***

Have I told you how amazing my/our mother is?  Well, she is.  She always has been, too.  She was the mom who was always volunteering in the classroom.  She would give demonstrations at school on how to make bread or sew an apron.  She made (back when you could take homemade treats) birthday treats for the class when our birthdays came around (keep in mind she had 7 children).  She was very involved in PTA (her fundraisers funded the new playground when I was in elementary school).  She was/is amazing!

One of the fun things I remember her doing for at least a few of my school classes were pumpkin bags for Halloween.  She would spend hours cutting and sewing the bags and then stuff the cute bags with little treats and plastic spiders.  

A few years ago, I came across one of my pumpkin bags from my childhood.  At this time, Penelope was just beginning to understand how fun Halloween and other holidays were.  I made a pattern off of the bag, made 10 bags, and then Penelope and I took them to her favorite people (I think one actually made it back to my mom).  We had so much fun doing it that it has now become a tradition in my family and I hope to someday get to take a tray of them to my children's classes.

With special permission from my mother, I am going to share these bags with you.  Here we go...

First, you will need black and orange felt and ribbon for the handle.  My mom always used green ribbon so that is what I have used. First, cut out a pumpkin, a mouth, a nose and two eyes.  For the nose and eyes, I just cut random triangles so each pumpkin was different.  If you would like a copy of the template I used for the pumpkin and the mouth, either leave your email in a comment or email me at fivecraftysisters@gmail.com and I would be happy to send one to you.  I could not get the template uploaded.  Next, using your hot glue gun, glue on the eyes, nose and mouth making sure to leave enough room for a seam.

Next, you sew the pumpkin together, making a bag.  A few things to remember: (1) be sure to add the ribbon into the first few stitches, (2) make sure to back stitch the beginning and end and (3) make sure to keep the top open - You may be thinking "duh"...I've sewed the top shut before :)

I had quite a difficult time sewing these little guys this time around.  My thread kept breaking, my needle broke....needless to say, these bags are in no way perfect but I am sure the children who receive them will still love them.  I tried hot gluing the pumpkin pieces together and it worked really well.  I just like the look of the black thread on the orange felt :)

When you are finished sewing, this is what your bag should look like.

We like to fill ours with our favorite candy and I always add, just like my mom did, a plastic spider ring.  This year, we are also adding Dracula teeth.  

Penelope can't wait to hand out her favorite little goody bags.  

Now for the giveaway that I promised back here...

I will be giving away TEN pumpkin bags to one lucky reader (treats not included). 

All you have to do to be in the running to receive these is leave a comment on what your favorite holiday tradition is in your family.  This giveaway will close at 12:00 AM on Saturday morning.  That way I can mail the bags to you in time for Halloween.

 I hope you guys enjoy these bags as much as we do around here.

Sara Jane

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

Lisa: A Quick Post

Hello, there!  I thought I'd sneak a quick post in before Allison gets her's posted.  I have been a slacker.  We've had some situations arise (some expected and others not expected) that I needed to give my full attention to!  But, hopefully, those situations are now under control and I'm ready to begin again.  I'm sad I've missed so many great opportunities to post because fall is my favorite time of year, just as it seems to be all of my sisters!!  Well, I'll be posting some of our favorite traditions, crafts and food coming up in the next few weeks.  Hopefully that will make up for my missed posts!  Have a wonderful week!

Lisa

Allison: Halloween Wreath and Giveaway

                                     ****************GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED*******************

Hello and welcome to another week!! It has been a busy one for my sisters and me. With travel and family obligations, sometimes posts don't happen. On that note, mine is a day late. But I actually have a craft to post!

I was walking up to my front door the other day and saw the wreath I made for this post. Now that it's October and almost Halloween, I figured it was time to switch it out.

I'm not going to repost the steps, since they're pretty much the same. But instead of patriotic colors, I bought some cute new fabric and raided my scraps to find all I needed to make this cute wreath. I love the freedom you have with scrappy wreaths to make it as crazy or "clean" as you want. I may end up adding a "boo" or something to make it more exciting. Then again, I might just leave it plain too. :)

I ended up having so many extra strips that I thought I'd do a giveaway this week. To be entered to win this Halloween wreath, you just need to answer the question below:


What's your favorite Fall craft or treat?

A view of the other side of the wreath.

The Giveaway will close Monday night, and I'll announce the winner in my post the next morning.  I am seriously missing the NW and their beautiful Autumn trees and weather. Help me feel even more homesick by reminding me what I'm missing. :) Have a great week!!

Allison

Sara Jane: Pumpkin Chocolate Salt Cake

Its been another one of those weeks...

Instead of creating the cute little pumpkin favors I was going to make (all of the materials are sitting on my table as we speak), I, instead, am sharing with you a cake I am determined to make this fall season.

Doesn't it look heavenly...

From the blog of Use Real Butter

You can find the recipe for this beautiful Pumpkin Chocolate Salt Cake here.  If you try it, send us a picture of your creation.

Sara Jane