Werewolf Meatloaf

I made Werewolf Meatloaf for my kids tonight so we could have something a little different. I didn't make the meat any differently than usual, just shaped it differently. My 5 year old son wouldn't even touch it. He thought it was really a werewolf paw. Ha ha! My older kids loved it, especially when they got to add the "blood" (ketchup).

Here's my meatloaf recipe:
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. soy sauce
1/2 chopped white onion
1/4 - 1/2 c. seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg salt and pepper to taste
5 pecans or almonds

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix all the ingredients together by hand until well mixed. Shape into a hand shape, placing a nut on the end of each "finger". Put onto a cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. Top with ketchup.This is the cooked meatloaf. I couldn't even get it out of the pan and onto a serving plate before the kids were eating it. The onions stayed at the top which my youngest thought was fur.

Terra Cotta Mummies

I got the idea from Inspiring Creations. I tweaked it a bit because I liked the mummies being thicker in the middle.
Supplies 2 same size of terra cotta pots White Paint Googly eyes Strips of white material Hot glue/glue gun Black or dark brown ink pad Foam brush Directions 1. Glue together the lips of the pots and press together until dry. 2. Paint the pots white. Use a couple of coats, but they don't have to be completely perfect since you're covering them with the material.
3. Glue the eyes on the pots.4. Take a strip of the material and adhere it to the top of the pot and wrap it around, gluing every so often to keep it on. Make sure to avoid the eyes!5. When you're done with the material add some ink to it to make it look older. I used a black ink pad and a brown ink dauber to get the colors I wanted. (Here's one that I hadn't distressed next to the one that I had.)Display with your other favorite Halloween decor!

Halloween Wreath

I saw a picture of a cute wreath in a Woman's Day Magazine a while ago and decided that I had to make it. This project was actually pretty inexpensive. I already had the paint, foam sheet, glue and eyes. At the dollar store I found the wreath and the bag of balls. I got the bag of orange feathers from Hobby Lobby for less than $2, and the black pipe cleaners for less than $1 at WalMart. Here's my inspiration photo.

Supplies
12" grapevine wreath (you can do larger, just get more feathers)
1 bag orange feathers
1 bag of multi-sized Styrofoam balls
Black, orange and purple paint
Black foam sheet
Google eyes
Black pipe cleaners
Glue gun/glue
Craft tweezers

Directions
1. Paint the balls purple, orange and black. You may need to do 2 coats. Set aside to dry.
2. Put glue on the spine of the feather. Place it on the wreath, and press firmly to make sure it's on there tight. Continue until the entire front of the wreath is covered. (The directions in the magazine called for using an orange feather boa, but neither Hobby Lobby nor Joann had on in stock so I used the feathers. If you use the boa instead just do a small section at a time with the hot glue.)3. For the spiders- Cut out small sections of the pipe cleaner for legs. Press them into the balls and bend to look like legs.
4. For the bats- Cut out bat wings from the foam. Hot glue to the back and hold for a few seconds while the glue hardens.
5. For the pumpkins- Put a piece of green feather or foam onto the top of the orange balls to make pumpkins. 6. Using the craft tweezers pick up the eyes and put hot glue on the back. Place onto the balls.
7. Glue everything to the wreath and display.

Halloween Countdown Blocks

I have seen countdown blocks at various craft fairs in recent years, but usually for Christmas. A friend forwarded a link to me with Halloween blocks. It looked pretty easy so I thought I would tackle this project too. I think I'll make one for Thanksgiving and Christmas after I finish this one. (I'm posting complete directions, and when I finish mine I'll put pictures with it.)

Supplies:
4" x 4" wood beam cut into 3 pieces- 1- 8" x 4" block and 2- 4" x 4" blocks
Sandpaper
Paint
Scrapbook paper
Paper trimmer
Mod Podge
Foam brushes
Vinyl numbers and saying for the bottom block

Directions:
1. First off I found that the 4" x 4" beam was actually 4" x 3 1/2". Grr. So I had my husband cut the wood to 4" x 3 1/2" instead of having him cut it a little smaller. I hope that it still looks good! Once your wood is cut sand it until it's smooth. Make sure to check the edges so you can avoid splinters!2. Paint the wood with your favorite color of paint. If you're using a dark color you may need to do several coats. Some people paint the entire thing. I just do the outer inch or so because I'm going to cover it with scrapbook paper. That's totally up to you. When the paint is dry you can sand the edges to give them a distressed look. Again, totally personal preference.3. While the paint is drying cut out your decorative scrapbook paper. I used 6 different papers so I would have a different paper for each side. Cut them 1/2" smaller than your measurement so you'll have some of the paint showing.
4. When your paint is dry put Mod Podge on one side and then on the underside of your paper. It sticks really well this way. Apply the paper to your block and make sure you rub out all the air bubbles. (I use my Pampered Chef scraper.) Continue doing this on all 6 sides fall 3 blocks.
5. Apply your vinyl numbers and words to your blocks.
6. When you're done apply at least one coat of Mod Podge to the top of all your paper. I have found that it's easiest if I leave one side dry so the others can dry and then I paint the final side.
Once everything dries you're done. Display them however you like!

Halloween Subway Wall Art

After looking around blogland I found several posts with subway wall art. I had the supplies and decided that I could make one too. If you want to make it here are the supplies you'll need: scrap wood (mine was 10" x 24") or a piece of stretched canvas coordinating cardstock black paint Mod Podge Directions:1. Sand and paint the wood. Seal it with Mod Podge and set aside to dry as you do the next step.
2. I used my Cricut to cut out several words and pictures in various sizes and colors. If you don't have a Cricut you can cut things out by hand or use pre-cut embellishments from your local craft store. 3. There are a couple of different ways to do the next part... I ran my cardstock through my Xyron sticker machine and so I could place them on the board without worrying about the paper slipping. You can also just put some MP on the back as your adhesive and apply it to the board. 4. After that all you need to do is seal it with more MP on top. Don't forget to seal the sides! It dries pretty quickly. 5. Then if you used a board put a piece of ribbon or something so you can hang it from the wall. You're done!
The first two are my inspiration pieces, and the one I came up with is at the end.

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

Make your favorite cut-out sugar cookie recipe. Divide the dough into 3 parts. Keep one part white, color one part yellow and one part orange.
Place wax paper into a bread pan. Press the white dough into the bottom, then the yellow and then the orange. It won't be even, but that's fine. The cookies will still look great when you're done. Put the pan into the refrigerator for 3-4 hours. When it's done remove the dough from the pan using the wax paper, and keep the wax paper beneath it to cut it up.
Cut into 1/4" strips, and then into triangles as shown.

Put them on your greased cookie sheet, and bake according to the directions for your recipe.

When they're done remove the cookie sheets from the oven. Let the cookies sit for 1 minute, and then roll in sugar. It looks really white in the picture below, but in reality it's pretty transparent.

Here are some of the cookies on the cooling rack. The cookies look and taste great with or without sugar. Be aware that the cookies with sugar will dry out much more quickly. If you don't plan on using the full recipe you can freeze your dough.

Enjoy!

A few more Halloween crafts for you

Here are a few more crafts that you can do. Refer to these posts for directions for the wreath and the letters.One thing I did differently was to add a black boa to the top. All you have to do to add that is use craft or hot glue and stick it down carefully. You can certainly add it to a board or hang it with ribbon.
This wreath differs from the Valentine wreath in that I bought wooden shapes from the craft store. I colored them with Sharpies, then sealed them with Mod Podge. That will help protect them in case of rain. I hot glued them to the wreath.

This was a really easy craft. I spray painted terra cotta pots with a glossy black paint. I added the round foam and stuck the flowers in. To use it for Thanksgiving just remove the garland and raven.

Pumpkin Table Runner

Supplies:

Several pieces of orange, black and green felt (Yellow felt if you'd rather use that for the faces.)

Scissors

Sewing machine

Orange, black and green thread (or you can just use one- your preference)

Patterns (Either printed from the computer or cut out with a Cricut machine. You need two sizes so you can back it.)

Temporary (repositionable) fabric glue

Directions:

Cut out the pumpkin either from a computer printout or on your Cricut. Also make one that's 1/2" larger for the backing.

Cut out the pumpkin, stem/leaves and the backing. Cut out the pumpkin faces with either the black or yellow. When you're done with the faces then use a temporary fabric glue to secure them.

When the glue is dry stitch the faces to the pumpkins. The first picture is the backside, and the second picture is the front view.After you've stitched the faces on there arrange them until you like the way they look. When you have them the way you like them stitch them together using black thread. You can have them face the same direction or twist and turn them to add visual interest.

I opted to keep them all facing the same way. This is how my table runner looked when completed.Here's how it looks on my table. I spray painted the sticks black, found black roses and have a couple of luminaries. Fun stuff!

Candy Corn Decorations

I saw a picture of some felt candy corn that a friend had made so I decided to do the same. This is a really simple craft to make if you have a sewing machine and basic sewing skills. (Mine are not much better than basic so if I can do it so can you!) The hardest part for me is always cutting the pieces out. And that's not even hard, just a little time consuming.

Supplies Needed:
Orange felt sheets
Yellow felt sheets
White felt sheets
Orange thread
Batting
Marking pen or marker
Scissors
Sewing machine
Pattern for candy corn (printed to desired size from computer)

Directions:

1. Cut out candy corn printed from your computer. Then cut along each color.
2. Trace each shape onto desired color of felt and then cut them out. Remember that these are double sided so you'll need to double the number you cut out. (If you want 5 total, then you'll cut out 10 total of each piece.)
3. Sew the three pieces together. I used the zigzag stitch so they would easily stay together.
4. After you finish sewing the 3 pieces together then get two complete candy corns and put them back to back. Using a straight stitch sew beginning at the widest portion on the end. When you're about 3" from your starting point start filling with batting. Finish sewing shut, making sure there is no gap.
5. After I finished sewing I used my scissors to trim around the edges to make sure they were even. Mine ended up being about 6" tall. If I made them a little bigger I would have gone around the edges with pinking shears.
6. Decorate as you will. I put mine in a jar. If you want to you could always sew coordinating ribbon on in loops and hang as garland. *Another option is to use the dark brown instead of the yellow for a twist on the candy corn. Use your imagination and have fun!

Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Valentine's Crafts

This is the first LOVE board I made. I wanted it to be in pinks and browns. Not the greatest exposure, but there is a ton of Diamond Dust all over it so it would shimmer in the light.

This is the second LOVE board I made. My sister Christine wanted one for her daughter's room. This is what I came up with for hers. This is my ho, ho, ho board. It hands in my hallway. The kids love the white boa and Santa costume on it. I also have fake snow on top of each board to make it more realistic. The "snow" glistens because I mixed Diamond Dust in it.
This is my take on Pottery Barn's Christmas advent calendar. I decided not to put our last name on it because if my daughter wants it after she gets married she may not have the same last name.

This is the Pottery Barn Christmas advent calendar that I used for inspiration. I changed a few things, but tried to keep the colors close to the same. BTW, the pockets take FOREVER to line up straight and to keep totally even. That was one of the hardest parts of making this project. This is my Thanksgiving decoration. I haven't yet done an advent for Thanksgiving. Maybe next year. For now this will have to do.

Here is my Halloween advent calendar. Again inspired by the one Pottery Barn was selling. I didn't really care for the burnt orange color they used so I made mine using purple and bright orange pockets. The ric rac they used didn't do it for me either so my ribbon has little witches hats and pumpkins. The ghosts near the top are actually little bells. This is the Pottery Barn Halloween advent calendar that I used for inspiration. Cute idea, but I just don't really like the colors they used. These are my BOO blocks. (Don't say it out loud in front of people unless/until you've practiced saying it alone. You'll understand when people around you start snickering.)