Halloween Playgroup

We hosted a Halloween themed playgroup yesterday with a few of our playgroup regulars. I made some apple cider, apples and dip, sugar cookies and "monster munch" to snack on. The kids glued eyes, nose, mouth and leafs onto orange paper pumpkins and posed for pictures with our Ghost and Witch cut-outs (inspired by these). Happy Halloween everyone!






MONSTER MUNCH RECIPE
pretzels (bones)
mini marshmallows (monster toes)
Reeses Pieces (frog eyes)
raisins (dead flies)

Zoe's Halloween Costume Dress Up

Remember the cute online "paper" doll Zoe created by Allsorts? Well now she has a slew of Halloween costumes you can try on her. Jane and I are going to dress her up for Halloween this morning.

Halloween Masks

You can print these images and others onto cardstock and make yourself a last minute Halloween costume. The directions on HubPages suggest using pipecleaners for the cat whiskers or bug antenna. You can adjust them a bit to get them how you like. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

Save the Date

This year's Fall Craftpad Crafty Party will be on Saturday, November 15th! I think we will work on some items we can use as holiday gifts (maybe aprons, notebooks, things like that). We'll meet at my home at 10am. I'll make some goodies to munch on we'll work on our little projects. Let me know if you have any preferences about what we make and if you are able to come. Check back for more party details!

Sewing Patterns for your Tots

I have always been a fan of the vintage inspired children's clothing patterns from Oliver + S. Their new Fall/Winter patterns are out and they include a little boys ensemble plus some kimono-style boy/girl pjs I really like. I want to learn to make children's clothing but I have never actually followed a pattern before. I found some directions for a Lazy Days skirt from the Oliver + S blog. Since there are no zippers involved I think I might try making one for Jane. She is totally into skirts and leggings these days (she's so hip).



Also, a friend told me about the new children's clothing patterns from fabric designer Sandi Henderson. Her Portobello Pixie collection has a bit more of a funky, thrifty feel. I really like the jumper version of the GRACIE dress.

Halloween Printables

Check out these free Halloween Printables from Matthew Mead I found via The Long Thread. They have a great vintage-y look. There are ghost garlands, Halloween treat boxes and wrappers, pumpkin ornaments. All kinds of great printables. And I really love the funky spotted owls.

What a Doll

My little niece has been coveting Jane's Black Apple Doll since she first met her awhile back. With her own birthday approaching, I decided I just had to make her her own. So I whipped her together in a couple of hours last night and here she is. A new little "cousin" doll to play with Alice Cinderella (Jane's doll). This time around I tried adding little felt pigtails with bows and some socks and shoes which I attached with Heat 'n Bond. I really like the way the little socks and shoes turned out but they were almost impossible to turn right side out.

Sewing Space

I have always been a fan of Lovely Design, and now I am swooning over her newly transformed sewing space. She removed the doors from a closet, added IKEA shelving and made herself a little sewing spot. How clever.

I have been thinking a lot about my own sewing space these days. Or really, my lack thereof. I am hoping Santa will bring me this IKEA Secretary desk with matching Hutch. It is the perfect size to hold a sewing machine (complete with a hole for the cord to fall through) with large shelves above to store fabric and notions. I am going nuts taking out all of my supplies every time I want to sew then hauling them back upstairs and stuffing them in the closet. I am ready for a sewing space of my own!

No Tricks, Just Treats

We've been making Halloween goodies around here. We put together some goody packages for a couple of friends which consisted of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies, Candy Corn Sugar Cookies, and Tootsie-Pop Ghosts. I recommend this Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from All Recipes (use half milk chocolate chips and half semi-sweet chocolate chips and NO nuts). They are super soft and fluffy. The sugar cookies came from a mix, but the idea to embellish them with candy corn came from Martha Stewart's Cookie of the Day. The Tootsie Pop ghosts were my own invention and Jane loved helping to make these for her friends. We cut 7 x 7 inch white fabric squares and tied them around the lollipops using yarn, then drew on black ghost eyes using a thick pen. They are really fun.

This is Halloween

My "trick-or-treat" banner's hung, my Halloween hang-ups are made (do not attempt theses without a glue gun), my spooky lantern is lit and we even made it over to the pumpkin patch this week. Jane picked a Jane sized pumpkin for herself and a smaller version for Clark.

Quilt Give-Away from Pigtails & Snails

You can enter to win this beautiful quilt by Pigtails and Snails. The give-away ends on Friday so hurry over to her blog and post a comment to be entered to win. I'm so glad I stumbled upon her quilt via Joys Light Bulbs before the deadline. I myself have been slaving over a Christmas quilt for the past month and I'm going a bit insane. I can't imagine working so hard on such a beautiful quilt and giving it away! What generosity.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

A few years ago my husband ate a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin a friend had made; he loved them so much he called me at work and had me leave right then to come meet him to try a bite. Really. These muffins are yummy. They are topped with extra chocolate chips and sprinkled with sugar.













Barbara's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe

Yields 9-10 jumbo muffins

Ingredients
1 2/3 C. flour
1 C. sugar
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice (heaping)
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 C. plain pumpkin (canned)
½ C. butter (melted)
½ C. milk chocolate chips
½ C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Turn oven to 350 degrees
Spray muffin pan
Mix together dry ingredients in bowl
Mix together wet ingredients in second bowl
Add chocolate chips to wet ingredients
Add wet ingredients to bowl of dry ingredients
Spoon batter into muffin tin (mound in center)
Dot muffins with extra chocolate chips and sprinkle with sugar
Cook muffins for 20+ minutes or until golden brown
Cool in muffin tin for 5 minutes

Around the House

I love looking at photos of other peoples homes and getting inspiration for my own. You can check out photos of Amanda Soule's house on the Cookie Magazine blog. As for me, I've been doing a little bit around here to spruce things up. I made my way over to IKEA this summer to pick up the HENSVIK bookcase which I added to the corner of Jane and Clark's room. I also got some little spice racks which I painted white and hung above Jane's kitchen to store play food and dishes on.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream (My All Time Favorite)

I came across this recipe for Choclate Peanut Butter Ice Cream from Joy the Baker at My Plum Pudding and I am so desperate to try it. Chocolate peanut butter ice cream is my absolute all time favorite. And I was just thinking about my poor neglected ice cream maker the other day. I also wanted to point out that Joy has a great photo tutorial on how to frost a cake. I had wanted to do a similar photo tutorial myself but never got around to it. I'm so glad I found this one to share.

Fall Crafty Party

I would like to throw my next CraftPad Crafty Party sometime this fall. The sooner the better. But I need your input. I would love to work on some handmade holiday gifts. Would you prefer to get together and work on your own individual holiday projects or would you like to do a group project? Maybe a few simple handmade gifts we could make together. Do you have any specific projects in mind? Send me your ideas so I can start planning!

Vintage Sewing Cards & Paper Dolls (Free!)

These are so cute. Bella Dia found some great vintage paper dolls and sewing cards at a thrift store and has scanned them for us to print free. They are super cute. I want to print the dolls on cardstock, laminate them and add velcro dots to help Jane dress them up. For the lacing cards I'll do the same (minus the velcro) and get some of the plastic beading needles (like these) I saw in the kids craft section at JoAnne Fabric. What a great find.

Printables from Doe-C-Doe

I discovered some great free downloads from Doe C Doe recently. There is a really cute birthday card and thank you card, some "quilted" gift tags, and gift tags with animal illustrations. Best of all are the awesome (do people still use that word?) bookplates featuring vintage fairy tale characters. I love these. How About Orange led me to this site and I included the printable cards in the card making kit I put together for my neice.