Monster of a birthday!

So my baby boy turned one over the weekend so I was busy planning a party.  I love it when they turn one and they tear into the cake or get freaked out by it.  I was in the hospital last Halloween so this year I wanted to get into the spirit by throwing my baby boy a party with a Halloween theme.  What is more Halloween than Monsters?  Besides, He is my little monster!  So I used some ideas for decorations from other websites (pinterest is going to be the death of me) and his party was born. 

First, I started with the decorations!  I followed the idea of my mummy wrapped candy bar and wrapped a vase like it so It looked like a mummy.  Then I used some toliet paper rolls and with some scrap paper and googley eyes some monsters were born.  Last for the decorations that I want to show you was a mason jar that I wrapped in string and spray painted black with some halloween ribbon the tops.  This was also a idea from pinterest.  Check them out:

Next came the cake!  I let the kids pick out what their cake is going to be and then I attempt to make it.  Since my baby is only one then I make a small cake just for them and cupcakes for everyone else.  Going with the theme of monsters I created simple cupcakes with a royal icing decoration from the Ace of Cakes guy.  Sorry, I can't remember his name but they were darling and so much saved work for me.  The cake I made using a round metal bowl and then piped stars on it to give the monster a fur-like texture.  I added a marshmallow with a black dot using food coloring for the one eye and licorice for the mouth.  My husband told me to put the teeth with a space between them because our cutie has the same space in between his front teeth, this was marshmallow also.  The horns and arms were made by melting chocolate and piping it onto wax paper and then freezing it.  I then just put them in the cake.  Here are the cupcakes and cake:

 

He totally enjoyed the cake even after a scare with trying to grab the candle when it was lit.  I love their messy faces!  Hope you enjoyed your Halloween weekend and you had a 'monster' of a time.  Corny I know!

Various easy Halloween crafts!

This week I did a few random crafts for Halloween that were easy to the budget and easy to do.  First I made a cake platter using an idea that is all over the blogging world.  These are the supplies that I used to make it:

I then put a liberal amount of glue around the base of the candle pillar and pressed the plate down.  I turned the plate upside down so I could better center it on the candle pillar.  Isn't it so cute!  The finished picture would have had some cupcakes on it to display but I ate them.  What can I say - I am a junk food fiend.  So you are going to have to settle for apples.

I love how it gives the plate a little height and makes it a display!

Second, I made a cute treat for some neighbors.  I am in charge of an activity for some girls in my church and we thought about doing the 'Boo' activity for some people in the neighborhood but we wanted to do around 12 and our budget isn't all that extensive so this idea was born. 
These are the supplies needed along with tape and glue dots for the eyes:

I made these Halloween mummies and they ended up costing around 75 cents a piece so we are giving 2 mummies with a tag attached that says "Some 'mummy' loves you!  Happy Halloween!".  I would love getting chocolate and I hope the people that get it will too.  What do you think?

Hope you enjoy your Halloween season and go get your craft on!

Leafy Tree for Fall!

Sorry for the wait on the post but I have been busy with some other things.  I have been canning - salsa and raspberry jam.  I love fall with all the things going on and the smell of salsa in the house.  So onto the blog post- I had this idea as I was driving home the other day from eating lunch with my honey.  I had a couple styrofoam cones left over from a trip to the Dollar Store and I remember that some blog used some fall leaves to cover a wreath.  Well, why not cover the cone and make a fall tree?  So first I bought some fall leaves at -- you guessed it! - the Dollar Store and I already had the styrofoam cone so so far I am into this craft $3.00!  I came home and started making it by hot gluing on the leaves to the cone.  I started at the bottom and worked my way up.  After I had covered it once, I added some more to fill it out.  I then found an old candle pillar and put it on there.  Here is the finished picture! 

I had some leaves left over so I added some to a grapevine wreath and used some gold tulle and made this cute wreath too. 

I still have some so I might have to try a cute table runner that I saw with burlap and fall leaves.  Hmmmm - decisions, decisions.  :)  Hope you enjoy the project and enjoy your crafting!