Roller Derby Girl

My little Roller Derby girl. I think it came out super cute. I wasn't going to do a helmet, but at the last minute Josh suggested using one of CalJ's plastic cereal bowls. We spray painted it this morning, let it dry and attached some elastic straps to the inside using tape. It didn't hold up AT ALL by the end of the night - but I can't imagine her costume without it. Good Job Josh! (Notice her mouth full of marshmallows? I bribed her with them to keep her "helmet" on. Now, that's just good parenting! lol).

It would have been even better with roller-skates. But c'mon, she's 1. I think that would have been some kind of safety hazard or something. ;)

Pleated Skirt pattern: Heidi and Finn

Procrastination

We've been trying to get CalJ to decide what he wanted to be for Halloween for the past month. His suggestions have ranged from a ketchup bottle, a steam roller, a Backyardigan, a banana, a policeman, and finally - between Iron man or a trash truck. I had really wanted to make him a costume but was slightly terrified of having to construct a garbage truck. I really was trying to talk him into being a young Mermaid Man from Spongebob. He wouldn't budge.

I figured I had a week (this being about a week ago) to get him to finally make his decision and get his costume together. He tells me Sunday night he wants to be a spider. "I promise mama, a spider. That's all I wannna be. A spider"! Monday morning rolled around and I had completely forgotten that he had to dress up for school - the very next day!!! I went to the fabric store Monday afternoon and stayed up 'til almost 1am making his costume. Nothing fancy, by any means. But I was super thrilled that it was something he let me make. :)

And just in case he was going to change his mind - again. I made him a freezer paper spider t-shirt (two hours before he went to school)! This way, if he hated his spider leg jacket he'd still have a little spider shirt to tie everything together.

I still have a few things that I'd like to add but this is it for now.

CalJ, as a spider.

I hate spiders - well - except for this one! ;)

Candy corn jello

I like jello. But it also kinda creeps me out. Do you really know what gelatin is? Gag. So if I do eat/make jello, I have to block it out otherwise I get grossed out. Putting my love/fear of gelatin aside I had to make this. It was just too dang cute not too!

Granted, it doesn't actually taste like candy corn but it does kinda look like it. And that was good enough for me.

So here you go, a cute recipe for candy corn jello that I picked up at Kitchen Daily. I tweaked it a little bit. Partly because I wasn't going to use a "mold" to make it, but mainly because I'm lazy!

So here is my version of their candy corn Jello.

Ingredients:

1 packet unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 box Orange Jello

1 box Lemon Jello

water

Preparation:

In a medium bowl or larger Pyrex measuring cup, sprinkle unflavored gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water and let gelatin absorb water for about 2 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup boiling water for another two minutes until gelatin is dissolved.

Add 1/2 cup condensed milk and stir until smooth and milk has totally dissolved.

Divide between 9 cups. I used these triangular shaped ones from Chinet. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

Follow the quick-step instructions for the orange Jello. Once the "white" layer is set, divide the orange Jello between cups. Refrigerate until set. Do the same with the yellow Jello. Divide between cups and let set in fridge for a couple hours.

There you have it. Just in time for Halloween.

Go on. Try it. They did!

Thanks for stopping by!

ghosts and jack-o-lanterns

Start off with washed and dried pears and apples. Any type you choose.

Melt a bag of white chocolate chips and stir until smooth.

Dip pear and coat using a spoon or spatula if needed until completely covered.

Place on wax paper and put in fridge to harden.

Take remaining melted white chocolate and mix in a couple drops of yellow and a couple drops of red food coloring.

Yellow + Red = Orange. ;)

Take apple and dip into orange chocolate.

**I should have re-melted my chocolate a little bit before dipping my apple because the chocolate had started to solidify and didn't give me that smooth look. My bad. Luckily, these are for CalJ - and I assure you, he won't/didn't mind one bit. Ha!

Place about a half cup of milk or semi-sweet chocolate in bowl and melt.

Place in bag and snip off a tiny bit off of one corner of the bag.

Slowly and gently squeeze out chocolate to make your ghost and jack-o-lantern faces.

OOOOoooooOOoooooo. I made these while CalJ was in school and he was quite pleased with his little treat when he got home.

I can't remember when, but I originally got this idea from a Martha Stewart Living mag a few years back. Oh how I love her.

Bleached initial tee

I've been wanting to try this idea out for a while now, I just hadn't had the chance. One of my friends' son had a birthday party this past weekend. I thought it would be cool to make it for him. (And one for CalJ too).

Ch-ch-check it out...

Make a freezer paper stencil with the initial of your choice and iron onto shirt.

Spray bleach onto shirt around initial using the "fine mist" setting on your water bottle. Then use the (for the lack of a better word, I'll call it the) "squirting" setting to spray finer lines in random places all over the shirt.

Rinse immediately. After rinsing, wash and dry as normal.

Done. I want to whip up some more using different colored t-shirts and see what color combos I can get. Cool.

Halloween candles

I saw these candles in the latest Pottery Barn Kids Catalogue. I love Pottery Barn, but not always the price tag. These were sold out anyways, so I thought I might be able to re-create something like it myself.

Here's what I did.

Supplies:

Candles (i used white, unscented)

Sharpie

That's it! Nice!

I took my sharpie and drew a design onto the side of the candle.

Easy! I'm no artist so I stuck to a VERY simple eyes and mouth shape - a la - ghost!

I could have used a stencil which would have made them look a lot crisper, but I was lazy and just hand drew my picture. Not too bad I think.

The ones from PB were battery operated so they already had that cool "glow" to them. I had to light my candle and let it burn down quite a bit before it got that look. Worth the wait though, worth the wait.

This was possibly the EASIEST project ever. It didn't even take 5 minutes. Then just light it and let it burn. Enjoy!

Halloween table runner

It's October. You know what that means. Orange, black, spiders, and pumpkins. I love Halloween. This month I hope to be sharing lots of cute Halloween-ish decorating, cooking, and baking ideas.

I've never, ever had any desire whatsover to make a quilt. None. That is, until I saw this post from Char at Crap I've Made. I thought I'd change it up and try it out using some Halloween fabrics. Okay - I know it's not an actual full-blown quilt, but it's about as "quilty" as I can see myself being. Plus, I like the way it came out. :)