Trick or Treat Wood Blocks

This is the first of my Halloween decorating this year. I started with the blocks that I made for Thanksgiving - that I was planning on switching up for different seasons...

These Thanksgiving blocks have a quote printed on burlap - CLICK HERE to go to that post.

For the Halloween blocks, I used a batty dictionary page for my background that I found on Graphics Fairy.  I tinted it orange on my iphoto program. The words "trick" and "treat" were printed out using the font "Pieces of Eight". The word "or" is printed out using the font, "Rage".

After printing out the sheets, I cut the paper to fit each block, I stamped some scrolls randomly on the paper, and I inked the edges with black. I tacked the paper on the blocks with black upholstery tacks.  

I got the idea for these blocks from the Horton's of Tipton site. I cannot find that exact post now to link to that - but I suggest you check out this site as it has some amazing stuff.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Graphics Fairy

Toy Story Halloween Costume

I do not make Halloween costumes for my daughter anymore, but I thought I would share my favorite costume that I made her. My daughter loved Jessie and Bullseye from Toy Story once upon a time - and we had watched a neat segment on one of our favorite shows, Art Attack, on how to make box horses. Although I did not know how to draw at all, I set out to make this outfit. I used pictures to be my guide, and I think I did pretty good considering my drawing skills are not very good. 

I couldn't find the Art Attack tutorial on how to make a cardboard horse - but I found one on ehow. CLICK HERE to go to it.

I used to make and sell baby western wear, so making the western shirt for me was reasonably easy. One could easily get a white shirt from a second hand store and add on the yellow yoke and cuffs, with red braid. I found the hat at Value Village, and I bought some cheap cow material from a fabric store and baste stitched it to a pair of her jeans - to remove later. I borrowed a pair of cowboy boots - but warning - cowboy boots are not comfortable - if I did this again I would go with runners all the way.
I did braid my daughters hair. 

Other costumes my daughter wore:

 Little Red Riding Hood

 Lion

  Princess

Elephant

 bunny

 lady bug

skunk

wounded dirt biker

This year she is dressing up as Jessie from Pokemon - and she is going to put a pikachu stuffie in a butterfly net. She might dress her dog up as James. Too funny.

Happy Costume Making!!

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Cinnamon Roll Bouquet

I like to give little gifts to my neighbors once in a while - and Thanksgiving is always a good time to show my appreciation. I saw the most adorable cinnamon rolls on a stick made into a bouquet. I saw this on Tasty Kitchen. The cinnamon rolls were made from Pillsbury Crescent dough. The picture for these is adorable - they were put in a mug with tissue paper and raffia was tied on the bags. The secret I think to making these mini buns is cooking them in mini muffin tins.

  CLICK HERE to go to the post. 

I was making a batch of cinnamon rolls from scratch and decided I would try this. I use Pioneer Woman's recipe - it really is very simple to make from scratch - and homemade tastes so good. The tutorial on her site is very helpful. CLICK HERE to go to it. One thing I tried different this time, and I personally liked it better, I waited for the cinnamon rolls to cool completely before I poured the icing on. 

Other things I do different:  I do not follow the instructions to not skimp on the icing. I love my icing - but I like tasting the cinnamon roll too. I do not put coffee in the icing - I pour more of the maple flavoring in. I cut the recipe in half. This makes a huge pan (15 large buns) and then I made 24 mini rolls. Of course the large recipe would work for a large group or a lot of give aways. 

After the cinnamon rolls were made and wrapped - I dressed up a can using my THANKSGIVING TYPOGRAPHY. I copy and pasted the image to my favorite graphics program, and resized it to fit six on the page. I printed it out on kraft wrapping paper (taping it to cardstock so the printer would not eat it) and then I cut it in half to fit on two cans. I used a piece of styrofoam to stick the rolls on the stick into, and used some paper grass to cover it. 

I made a "welcome to the neighborhood" tag and can too, as I had some new neighbors to greet. The inspiration for this tag came from Sankari Wegman. Please go to her post to see this tag - as mine does not do the original justice. CLICK HERE.

So there you have it - a yummy treat that makes a sweet gift.

Thanks for stopping by!

T-Shirt Market Bag

If you are on Pinterest - I am sure you have seen these fabulous market bags. This is a project I made on the beach this summer - after doing the sewing prep. This project was fun to do. This is made out of a t-shirt, with slits cut alternately through the fabric. The tutorial is found on the blog called Delia Creates.

Click here to go to the tutorial for this really cool project.

Without anything in the bag - it looks funny - but with stuff in it, it looks great! I was making a harvest gift bag for my boss and this market bag was perfect. 

I made a tag to put on the bag - inspired by a wood sign that I made last year. Right click on the image

and save to your computer if you would like to use it.

Click here to go to the post on how I made these blocks.

I am going to have to always have a t-shirt market bag on hand. I suggest you give it a try as it is fun and very frugal!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Tatertots and Jello

Printing on Burlap Trial

Well, I have gone and done it. I mustered up all my courage and put burlap through my printer. I don't know how other people feel - but I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I try something that is a little out of my comfort zone - and then it turns out amazing. Here is what I made....

I found a tutorial for printing on burlap via Pinterest. CLICK HERE to go to the tutorial found on the wonderful blog called "Domestically Speaking. It has great step by step pics. Basically, you need to find Reynolds Freezer Paper. You iron the freezer paper (shiny side down) on to ironed burlap and cut it to the dimensions to fit your printer. The freezer paper gives the burlap the stiffness it needs to feed through the printer. I live in Canada - and the blog comment chatter I had heard was that it was hard to find freezer paper here. I went searching high and low with no luck. I was beginning to think a 6 hour journey to shop in the States was going to be my only hope for finding this beloved paper - but I found it where I shop all the time - SAFEWAY! I have seen a tutorial for printing on burlap using contact paper too - but I am thinking one could even use the technique for printing on regular fabric - using adhesive spray and adhering the burlap to paper. Anyhoo - I found the freezer paper - I tried it - and it works. Of course I had my finger over the CANCEL button the whole time, and I ALMOST hit cancel as there was this terrible paper jam sounding noise. It turned out it was the freezer paper just making crinkling noises as it was going through the printer - so beware of the crinkling noise. All went well and I am so excited with how easy it was. One thing I do suggest is vacuum the printer after - as burlap seems to shed worse than my daughters dog.

The saying I printed out is my all time favorite Thanksgiving saying -

Here are the images if you want to try making this saying using the three wood block idea. Right click on each image, copy, and paste to your favorite printing program and resize as needed.

I am definitely going to be printing on burlap more. 

Thanks for stopping by!

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Whipperberry

Easy to Make Pumpkin Bars

You can whip up this batter in 5 minutes or less. I love how easy these are to make - and how yummy they are to eat. These are a perfect autumn treat.

4 eggs
1 cup veg. or canola oil
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups pumpkin or a 14 oz. can
2 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda

Combine all ingredients together in order. Stir until just mixed. Bake in 11x17 inch pan at 350 for 15-10 minutes.

Icing

3 oz. soft cream cheese (1/2 a package)
1/2 cup margarine
1tsp vanilla
2- 3 tbsp. milk
4 cups icing sugar

I use half this recipe and I still have icing left over.

I got this recipe from a friend. Whenever I share these bars - I am asked for the recipe. This is definitely a keeper.

Thanks for stopping by!

Harvest Blessings Burlap Sign

I have been busy decorating for the Canadian Thanksgiving that is going to be a week from now, October 10. I love using burlap for fall decorating. I made a stencil using Cricut cartridges. The word "harvest" was cut out from the Country Life cartridge, and "blessings" was cut from the "Beyond Birthdays" cartridge. I used the same stamp method that I used to paint my wood planters. For the tutorial CLICK HERE.

I used a plate frame to put the sign in. I cut the burlap to fit - a layer of quilting batting - and a piece of heavy cardboard for the back. I snipped off a sunflower and leaves to dress up the bottom and I had a nice fall decor done in about 30 minutes - including drying time.  

I have more fall decor posts on there way so stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!
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