An Urban Paisley year celebrates what is special about each of the four seasons. Giving readers ideas for holidays, home decoration, and activities that make the most of any occasion in a beautiful and budget friendly way.
These are some of my favorite Halloween costumes that we've made over the years. Hope you are having more treats than tricks this weekend, however you choose to celebrate.
The fisherman. (which had lots of accessories!)
The pirate (take one) That lip is the preschool version of Arrrrrr attitude, matey!
A little witch to fly in for the festivities. She's so tiny! Just about 2 inches tall, but such cute fun.
We have summer planters on the front steps filled with impatiens that are still mostly happy due to all of the crazy rain and warm weather here. They've been kept out much longer into October than other years. I thought it would be cute to make big plant poke sort of ghosts to holidayify (yes spell check says I totally made up that word. use it in a sentence today. it'll make you smile) them a bit.
They are quick to make. Cut two ghost shapes out of felt or fleece. I used fleece for these. Also cut out eyes and a mouth, however you wish them to look. Sew or glue the eyes and mouth in the appropriate places. (or inappropriate, it's your ghost) Sew along the edges, leaving the bottom open. Then I used 12 gauge aluminum florist wire and bent it in the ghost shape and then put the ghost over the wire frame. The bottom of the wire pokes into the planter.
We definitely swept the porch afterwards. There's only so much Seasonal Leaf Ambiance one can take.
It is end of term conference time, so I have lots of help at home preparing for Halloween. Today, at the grocery, store we discovered cinnamon chex cereal. And also the recipe for Snickerdoodle Chex Mix on the back of the box. I followed most of the directions as written, but ended up using only about half of the cinnamon sugar mixture and half the melted butter. That was enough for our family's tastes.
Also, the directions say to microwave the chex mix, but we don't use a microwave, so I put it in a 250 degree oven for about 40 minutes checking it in the middle and stirring it, similar to what we do with traditional roasted chex mix. It seemed to work for us that way.
We found these teeny tiny potatoes at the store. They are like the babies of the baby potatoes. The size of marbles. We couldn't help but say Awwh! when we saw them. And, of course, some made their way into the shopping cart. I'm going to make them tonight with tiny individual meatloaves, baby carrots, and baby greens. A tiny trick for the eye.
Itsy bitsy spider. I want to make more of these sweet little spiders. They are done with wool roving wet felted into a ball. The legs are made from covered wire bent with round nose pliers to make the little feet. I found that, if you wet felt the ball a little looser than normal, it makes it easier to tuck the wires underneath and gather the wool around them and then sew the bottom shut.
Once upon a time, I used to make a version of these fun Halloween breadsticks. There was a recipe in one of the Martha Stewart Living magazine Halloween issues using bread dough or soft pretzel dough. They were so good. Being from the Philadelphia area, and now eating gluten free, I will admit that the thick warm doughy goodness and its ease of availability in these parts makes Philly soft pretzels the one thing that I do miss now. But hey, we all adapt to circumstances. So I'm trying another way. This year I decided to try and make a gluten free version of the spooky fingers using this pizza dough mix made by chebe bread. It's no soft pretzel, but I think it's still pretty cool! I followed the directions for mixing the dough with other ingredients on the back of the package and then, instead of rolling it out, I formed the dough into "snakes" about 4 inches long, put them on a baking sheet, scored them with knuckle type lines with the back of a knife, and used an almond pressed down into the tip for a fingernail. I used the same package baking temp and similar timing. I think these were in the oven for about 20 minutes until they started to brown. It makes about 18 fingers.
I was super pleased with how they turned out and they were so fun to serve along side the "chili con carnage" with dinner last night. I love the silly spooky week before Halloween. I found this to be a quick and easy way to add a bit of a not so tricky treat to our gluten free Halloween celebrating.
I love living in this area in the Autumn. So lucky to have this national park close by. It's beautiful for sunny day walks and gorgeous views. An afternoon filled with color and texture that always puts me in such a good mood. A day following pathways and trails, wherever they may lead.
