New Small Book Shelves

Finally!  We have been looking for something to go on either side of the fireplace, and I am PICKY, it would have been much easier had I been even a little less picky! But now they are built and fill the space just enough. I can even use the top shelf for a little while longer, until Finnley can reach those, the other 2 are already within his grasp.  The mirrors were up before the shelves so I know they are off.. but I am short and Ryan has been busy!  It's already dark here so the pictures aren't great.. but this side has a mini lamp (stole it from our bedroom), a jar full of mini skulls and the middle shelf has a jar of eyeballs that move and light up and a silver clock with a little mouse!  And the ottoman is only there cause I didn't move it!

We found these ON SALE this week at Target less than $100 bucks (I had a coupon too) for both of them!  I'm excited I have some more new areas to put Halloween stuff!

Hopefully I will remember tomorrow when it isn't dark to take some pictures and show off some more Halloweeny stuff!

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Caramel Apple Snack Mix

I saw this picture the other day

And for some reason the one with the pumpkin seeds inspired me to come up with a snack with apples and pumpkin seeds.  these pumpkin seeds usually come salted so I was thinking of what I can do sweet with it. I like the sweet and salty mix.  And it had to be something the kids would eat.  These are the things I came up with.

And luckily we had some of these already!

 1 Tablespoon Butter

Pumpkin Pie Spice

2 teaspoons Sugar

3 cups Crispix Cereal

I melted the butter, mixed in the sugar and spice (to taste) and then mixed the cereal in and stirred it around to coat lightly. Spread onto a cookie sheet and put it under the broiler for a few minutes (keep an eye on it so it doens't burn)

While that was going in the broiler I mixed

1 1/2 C pretzels

1/2 C White Chocolate Chips

1/2 C Carmamel Bits ( love these, they are super super soft)

1 C of the Freeze Dried Apples (in the baby food section, these are pretty sour but have lots of flavor)

1C Pumpkin Seeds

And I was going to add some dried apples (shown in picture) but decided to go with the other ones this time, you could use either or both.

Once the cereal was cool I mixed it all together!  It made a huge bowl full, good thing my kids are always hungry!

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Halloween Apothecary Shop

Finally getting to share some Halloween stuff!

I have a pretty big area between my sink and windows, I decided to fill it with little jars full of stuff, nothing too scary though!

Here is the "how to" on this stuff

The books are just paper mache books from Michaels or Joanne's

they start looking like this

Then I painted one brown and one black with acrylic paints, once they were a little dry I used a baby wipe and wiped some of the paint off so it wasn't so uniform!

On the top one (the black one) I used the cricut and cut the letters out, burned them a little bit and then modge podge's them down, I also did some mod podge on the raised parts of the spine so it had a little dimension.

The little balls are styrofoam and come in a big plastic container at our craft store.. NO idea what they are called and I can't find them online.. I got a big container on clearance for 80 cents!  They match the black and white shades I am going for.

The eye balls are from Terry's Village a few years ago and the liquid in the jars is rubbing alcohol.. it doesn't get that nasty musty smell!

 The little pink container says Amortencia ( thanks Harry Potter Dictionary, it's a love potion... that's why it's pink)  I printed a peice of paper burned the edges and mod podge'd it down. The inside is alcohol and a tiny bit of food coloring and Wiltons pearl dust. 

 You can see in the picture below the pearly swirls in it! (click to make larger)

The little rat or mouse whatever it is, is from Ikea. 

Here is the other side

The spider in the cloche did have purple stripes, but I am just not into purple really, so I covered the stripes in glue and Martha Stewart Glow in the dark glitter.

Skull bottle is from Michaels.

Jar with little heads is from goodwill and little heads from Dollar Tree ( I think )

Polka dot bottle is from Ikea and the inside stuff is called Water Beads

The ones I bought at Michaels came in clear and the directions just said to add food color to the water.

Here is a picture of them outside the bottle.

There is a tag drying right now for this bottle that says Toad Eggs.. these things are slimy and weird but cheap and just spooky enough!

And this little bottle has a tag that says Fairy Bones.. tiny little bones came in a pack with other body parts but the rib cages and hands were a bit much for me.

So that's it!  Hope I can share some more Halloween stuff tomorrow!

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~Love Puffs~ Perfect for Fall

It is just now starting to feel like fall here! Finally a day where I didn't feel bad for packing the kids tank tops up already. It was perfect yesterday and today looks great too!  I knew I was ruining our no sickies streak by talking about it.. Ramsey is sick, nothing too serious just a cough and runny nose but I know he needs some extra loving, not because he is sick but because he is sad he is missing school!  So we made these this morning and he is already feeling a little better. These really are so easy and yummy but it had been a year since I made them last. I made them for the 2 older ones the morning we were going to have Finnley, so just over a year ago!  They are different for sure, like a doughnut and muffin combo and just the right size! 

Love Puffs

Oven Temp 350

Ingredients

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup sugar, divided

1 egg

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 tablespoons butter, melted

 

Directions

 

In a small bowl, beat shortening, 1/2 cup sugar and egg until smooth. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; add to the sugar mixture alternately with milk.

Fill greased muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Meanwhile, combine cinnamon and remaining sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll the warm puffs in butter, then in cinnamon-sugar.( I actually don't roll mine anymore, instead I just brush the butter on top and then roll in the sugar and cinnamon) Serve immediately. Makes about 1 dozen.

 

 

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