First Days...

I'm not really a huge fan of January 1st, because I'm not really a "do over" sort of person who needs a fresh clean slate. In fact, I prefer to be smack in the middle and comfortable.
December 1st, though, is my best friend. It's a beginning in a middle. It's still technically autumn, but this is where all the pre-winter magic and sparkle begins.
Dark evenings need faerie sparkle and glow light warmth.
And lots of decoration.



This tree in the family room is my favorite this year.
It's very homespun, raffia, and tin stars looking.

Hello November...

What a difference a week makes.
Last Friday's abundant leaves have fallen.
Halloween, with its wind and eerie warmth and wetness, is past.



November, with its fill of Scorpio birthdays (my favorite kind) and celebration, is underway.



Invitations for Ethan's Birthday Bowl-o-rama party.
Cool inspiration for using the CD sleeves here.
Changed up and embellished.

Halloween

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!



King Arthur



Pirate (take two)



Luke Skywalker

witch craft...

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.

tiny treats

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.

tiny wet felted spiders

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.

gluten free monster fingers for halloween

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.