My Fall BucketList...

(A Favorite!) My Bucketlist - What's Yours? Decorate for Fall * Statue Stalking Pumpkin Carving Contest * Wreath Making * Craft Shopping (and idea gathering) * Hot Apple Cider * Baking Cookies Quilting * Stocking Making * Reading

Yes, I spent time on Pinterest tonight. How many of you use Pinterest for all those things that catch your eye, make you think that "maybe" you'll get to do even 1/10th of the things in there? I'm not sure why but it seems like every Fall I get this surge of craftiness and the urge to "do something". I came across a Fall Bucketlist that someone created (sorry it just said it was from google.com. So, it's anonymous) and I love this idea! What's on YOUR Bucketlist?


I thought I'd sit down and make up my own bucketlist - perhaps I'll actually get one or two of the things done in between literacy events, work and all the other ideas that I've got moving doing the locomotion in my head. Last year I saw some neat ideas for Snowflake Art and thought I'd try my hand. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find the snowflakes so I made a really cute pumpkin design so that's one thing off my list. Watch for a post on how to make it coming it - it's super easy and took about 15 minutes to make. =D (I'm still looking for the snowflakes). I've also made up my Pumpkin Cookies already - I took those to an Open House yesterday and they were a BIG hit! Thanks Better Homes & Gardens & MommyGaga!



I'd love to see your Pinterest Boards! Let's connect!   (follow me)

You might like to see this:
Example of Bucketlist  

It's All Fun and Games....

(Review)

Do you have an annual Halloween party? I just received this very fun game and thought I'd share my thoughts with you. The Clues, Spells and Curses Scavenger Hunt was created by Party Games Plus and involves a combination Scavenger Hunt, Treasure Hunt and Murder Mystery. It includes everything you need with the exception of the "magical ingredients" which are made from items in your home. You also receive the labels for the magical ingredients, the clues and the curses (and the curse breaking cards of course) - and the instructions for the game. To prepare you just copy and cut, put into envelopes and hand them out to teams of players.

Here is the breakdown of the game:

Your guest will hunt for scavenger hunt clues to solve the mystery, fall victim to curses and have to do what's on the curses cards until someone else finds a way to reverse the curse using the magical ingredients and reverse spell cards. AND to make it even more fun you use game money to buy, bribe, and borrow clues, spells and potions from other teams. 

Doesn't that sound like fun?

I was trying to come up with a way to play it online like a blog hop - but I'd need some help from some of the blog hop pros like Simply Stacie. I was thinking it would be a lot of fun to hide the clues throughout the "Creep-O-Sphere" and visit those blogs to find the clues & solve the mystery.

Now, this is a game for adults - but there were a few other games for kids or families to work on together. You could have a Pirate Treasure Hunt (ages 5-9) - the kid's come in costume, you award prizes for costumes and the kids solve riddles to play the game & find the treasure. And there are all kinds of other games, including Wii Party Games! 

What games caught your eye at PartyGamesPlus.com?

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. No money exchanged hands and I was not required to give a positive review.

Count Your Blessings Blog Hop & Giveaway Linky, Wk 1

Hi everyone! This is the first week of the Count Your Blessings Blog Hop and Giveaway Linky. First I want to explain a few things. 


1) PLEASE help with advertising: Click the Tweet button at the bottom of this page or the Share This button. This linky is heavily advertised but there is only so much I can do - if we all work together we'll be that much more successful. Please feel FREE to take a button and post it on your blog too.  ThankS!

Right Click with mouse on image, Copy, Paste on your blog.

Link to: http://holidaygiftsandmore.blogspot.com

2) Each week I will feature my Wednesday Review & Giveaway Linky. You are welcome to enter the giveaway if you are interested.

This weeks Featured Giveaway is:

One Lucky Reader will WIN a copy of

Family Fun's Halloween Issue!

(Enter Here)

3) I'd love to host an Ornament Exchange! It's going to be fairly basic - Sign Up to Join In HERE and I should know the dates here in a week or two & how I'm going to do it. I'm hoping to co-host the event with someone and if you'd like to join me that would be awesome. Thanks!

If you have a Holiday Event coming up and would like to feature it on my sidebar - let me know. All I ask is that you feature this Blog Hop/Giveaway Linky on your blog with a link back to this blog.  Thanks!

Count Your Blessings Blog Hop

Link Up Your Blog (No Giveaways Here please) Hop
Link Up any Holiday ideas for Decorating, Recipes, Halloween, Fall Fun, Crafting, etc - NO Giveaways - use the linky below this one - Thanks!


          *** Sorry no images this week - 

              I can't get them to work?***

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Easy-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
For best results, use HTML mode to edit this section of the post.

Please link up any family friendly giveaways. Be sure to load them like this:

WIN a ______________, 10/31, US & CA
You must indicate an ending date & who can enter
US, Canada or WorldWide (WW)

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Easy-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
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Halloween by Family Fun (Magazine Review)

Halloween by Family Fun (Magazine)
by Disney Publishing Worldwide
Age 8-12, $9.99
Available at a store near you

It's hard to believe it's almost Halloween but it is, and I'm sure your kid's have been sharing their costume ideas since school started (or maybe summer?).

The special Halloween edition of Family Fun is packed with FUN ideas for costumes, crafts, pumpkin ideas and treats (gotta have treats).  There are bonuses too - easy ideas for Halloween parties, clip art decorations and even more.

The costume section comes with a supply list and many of the supplies are things you have around the house like - cardboard boxes (need a big one? Ask at Sears or the local appliance or furniture store if they have any dishwasher size boxes (or whatever size you need). Paint, brushes, foil, margarine tubs and plastic cups are just a few of the items you may need.

There are ideas for: a Perky Penguin, a Pink Poodle, a Ladybug, a really cool Retro Robot (my favorite lol) or how about a Washing Machine or a MP Player?

How about some cool craft ideas?
A couple of the crafts I loved the most were Mr Bottle Bones & the Tie Dyed Pumpkin Shirts! You can also make a tabletop haunted house, a giant spider or get some great pumpkin & gourd ideas.

No party is complete without treats!
(aren't they cute?)

Christmas Suggestion:

Have a family in YOUR family that would enjoy a 

Year Subscription to Family Fun? 
You can order a subscription for $9.95 

(savings $29.55 (or 75%)

CLICK HERE

Holiday Traditions is going to give away 1 copy of Halloween to a lucky reader. Is it going to be you?

Wicked Witch of the West Cupcakes

We had a visitor on Holiday Gift Guide today - and she has a darling blog you just have to check out!  Jacqueline from Purple Chocolat Home has a delightful blog that has the most wonderful cupcakes that every little kid would love to have at THEIR halloween party.  Check 'em out!

These adorable Wicked Witch of the West cupcakes were

featured in the October 17th edition of Women's Day Magazine.

Jacqueline has a thorough tutorial and the recipes for the 

fondant hats and shoes on her blog HERE.

Don't miss the wonderful Witches in the 

Woods Tea Party whose menu was:

Wicked Hot Chocolate

Graveyard Cupcake Tower

Wiggly Squiggly Canapes

Rotten Apples

Wouldn't you just have LOVED to have been there?

PURPLE CHOCOLAT HOME

STYLING YOUR FOOD, STYLING YOUR HOME, STYLING YOUR LIFE

CLICK HERE

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has really changed since I was kid in more ways than one.  How many of you remember walking around the neighborhood filling bag after bag FULL of candy?  Not having to have parents with you, making your own costumes and actually saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You"?  

When I was a kid preparing for Halloween began when school started.  This meant making a decision about what I wanted to be and then mom and I thinking about outfits, props - the planning was way more than 3/4 of the fun.  We would hit the goodwill and find clothes that could be used to make up a scarecrow, a witch, a gypsy lady (can you tell I was a reader?), or whatever else I could come up with.  I know one year my brother was an "old lady", Mike "the refrigerator" (I think his name was Mike - he was a Cornhusker, of course - nope, I just looked it upline, he was actually William Perry).  

I know over the years that we never went to a costume store or a halloween prop store.  Actually I doubt they were around at that time.  I thought I'd share with you a few of Usborne's Make & Do Books and Kid Kits that would help with planning that special Halloween costume.

Fairies?  Fairies can be fairy godmothers or evil fairies like in your favorite storybook.  Which would you be?

This enchanting book is teeming with delightful projects. Follow the simple step-by-step instructions to make pictures, pretty little bags, a tooth fairy purse, fairy pillows and lots more. Even if you’ve never sewn anything before, you’ll be able to follow the instructions for sewing different stitches, and attaching sparkling sequins and shimmering beads.  Big Book of Fairy Things to Make and Do  or Fairytale Things to Make and Do

Wizard?  Wander into the wonderful world of wizards in this magical activity book. By following the simple steps, you can create spellbinding wizards, enchanted castles, a bubbling cauldron and warty toads. You’ll also find out how to make magic wands and wizard hats, creepy cats and bouncing bats. With over 250 silvery stickers to add extra magic to everything you make.  Wizard Things to Make and Do

Princess?  What little girl hasn't dreamed about being a princess?  This kit includes Little Princess Treasury book, simulated diamond tiara, jeweled bracelet, as well as 10 innovative and fun stick-on body jewels with cosmetic glue (adult supervision recommended), and suggestions for creative princess activities.  Princess Jewelry Kid Kit, Princess Things to Make and Do, Princess Handbook

Monsters - What kind of monster would you like to be?  A Scarrrrry Monster?  A cute furry little monster like Elmo? Or maybe an Alien Monster from Mars?  You’ll find monsters lurking in every corner of this fantastic activity book – they’re hiding in cupboards, swimming in the sea, flying in the air and squelching around in a swamp. Follow the simple steps to make monster finger puppets, wobbling monsters, pop-up cards, dangly monsters and lots more. You can also make a monster mask and hands, so that you can look like a monster too! There are over 400 stickers for you to stick onto the things you’ve made.  Monster Things to Make and Do

Be a Pirate! You can be Blackbeard, Jack "The Sparrow",  or any other pirate you want to be!  Take a leap into the swashbuckling world of pirates as you tackle the projects in this exciting kit. Make a shining sword, a treasure chest, a moneybag, coins, an eye patch, a treasure map, a pirate hat and lots more. Kid Kit includes: Pirate Things to Make & Do book, pirate stamp (Jolly Roger Stamp), pirate stamp pad (black ink), shiny silver material for pirate sword, glue stick, scissors, black construction paper, white crayon, black felt and elastic cord for pirate moneybag, and heavy art paper for treasure chest & other projects.  Pirate Things to Make & Do Kid Kit , Pirate's Handbook

Halloween is coming.....

Cooking w/ Grandma Set $19.99

October 1st is here! It's time for all things spooky, creepy, scary - witches, black cats, haunted houses and ghosts. Time to dig in the attic, the basement or even the goodwill racks for a great costume that no one has a chance of being able to recognize us.  

I contacted Ann Clark, Ltd about being one of our 12 Days of Christmas sponsors and she is definitely joining us!  You will find the best cookie cutters on her website, along with kids cookbooks, holiday cookies, themed and more.  Her individual cookie cutters are $3.99 - $6.99), many have these handy little handles which make it easier for little hands and arthritic hands to press down and cut lots of cookies out.

Last week's newsletter from Ann Clark's Cookie blog is up and she shared a great recipe for Halloween Cookies that are Dairy Free - perfect for those little goblins with dairy problems to enjoy.  You can sign up for her newsletter and her cookie network at: http://www.makemorecookies.com/ .  You'll get all kinds of cooking and baking tips, there's a forum to visit with other cookie-maniac's and of course, recipes!

Aren't They Cute?

DAIRY FREE VANILLA AND CHOCOLATE HALLOWEEN COOKIES

When you want everyone to be able to join in the fun, sometimes that means accommodating food allergies, and two of the most common allergens for kids are eggs and dairy. With that in mind, I created a couple of cookie recipes—one vanilla and one chocolate—that don’t use butter or eggs. These cookies are suitable for vegans as well, and incidentally, the lack of eggs means that the dough is safe to nibble. I replaced the butter with dairy-free margarine, and instead of eggs I used a product called Ener-G Egg Replacer. This is a dry powder that comes in a 1-pound box; you can find it in the baking aisle or in the special diets section of most well-stocked supermarkets. It costs about six dollars, which might seem like a big investment for cookies, but it keeps indefinitely. Better yet, you can use it to make royal icing, which dries hard and is used for decorating Christmas cookies and gluing together gingerbread houses. The standard recipe for royal icing includes raw egg whites; meringue powder is sold as a safer-to-eat substitute, but happily this egg-free powder works just as well.

If you’ve never decorated cookies with royal icing, please give it a try. Royal icing is easy to make and easy to work with, once you get a feel for how thick it needs to be. Piping a border of thick icing and then filling in with thinner icing creates nice clean edges and allows you to neatly decorate a cookie using more than one color. And the resulting cookie is much more durable than one iced with soft frosting—perfect for ornaments.

You can read a good description of royal icing as well as tips for using it here. As for coloring, here are some of my own observations:

Food coloring paste, sold in small jars, gives you a wider range of color shades and intensities than liquid coloring does. It comes in dozens of colors, but to start with, you can stick to the basics and blend your own. If you’re an avid cake and cookie decorator, it’s nice to have orange, green, and purple in addition to red, yellow, and blue—and of course you need black.

A little paste color goes a long way. Dip the tip of a butter knife in the paste and then touch it to the surface of the icing before stirring it in; set the knife aside and retouch to add more color. Keep in mind that as the icing sits, the color will become more intense (for some reason, this seems to happen with yellow in particular).

You can blend colors either by using different pastes in the same icing or by combining two different tinted icings. To tone down the orange for my pumpkins, for example, I added a tiny amount of black icing.

Even if you don’t intend to use white icing on your cookies, don’t color the whole batch of icing; set aside a little plain white in case some of your colors turn out a bit too bright for your liking.

In the weeks to come, I’ll include more cookie decorating tips. In the meantime, I’d love to see your Halloween cookie creations—you can post photos on this site. Happy haunting!

Ann  www.AnnClark.com

    

VANILLA AND CHOCOLATE HALLOWEEN COOKIES 

Makes about 18

No eggs, no butter makes this a cookie recipe that just about everyone can love—suitable for vegans, people with egg and dairy allergies, those who need to watch their cholesterol, and cookie fans in general.

Stir together:
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer
- 2 tablespoons warm water

Cream together until light and fluffy:
- 1 cup dairy free margarine room temperature
- 2/3 cup sugar

Beat in:
- Egg replacer mixture
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together and add:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir just until all ingredients are well blended; do not overmix. Chill dough for 3-4 hours before rolling. Preheat oven to 350º. Roll dough out on a lightly floured counter to 1/4-inch thickness and cut with your favorite Ann Clark Ltd Cookie Cutters, then transfer cookies onto cookie sheets that have been lined with parchment paper or silicone liners. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly colored. Let cookies cool slightly on cookie sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dairy-Free Chocolate Cookies
Makes about 18
The chocolate makes this dough a bit crumbly. If the dough cracks as you are rolling it, let it rest on the counter until it softens up, about 10 to 15 minutes. It can be hard to tell when chocolate cookies are done; rather than waiting for the edges to turn brown, remove the cookies when the surface looks completely dull and dry.

Melt and let cool:
- 2 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

Stir together:
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer
- 2 tablespoons warm water

Cream together until light and fluffy:
- 1 cup dairy free margarine
- 1 cup sugar

Beat in:
- Cooled chocolate
- Egg replacer mixture
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together and add:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir just until all ingredients are well blended; do not overmix. Chill dough for 3-4 hours before rolling. Preheat oven to 350º. Roll dough out on a lightly floured counter to 1/4-inch thickness and cut with your favorite Ann Clark Ltd Cookie Cutters, then transfer cookies onto cookie sheets that have been lined with parchment paper or silicone liners. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until the surface looks dry and cookies seem firm. Let cookies cool slightly on cookie sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Egg-Free Royal Icing
The amount of sugar you add depends on what you are using this icing for. For piping fine lines, as for borders to be filled in with more icing, the consistency should be fairly thick, like frosting. It needs to hold its shape without being so stiff that it’s difficult to squeeze from a pastry bag. For glazing large areas, the icing should be just pourable, so that when spread, the surface flattens out. If you’re using the same icing for both purposes, make the thicker icing first, pipe the borders, then add water a few drops at a time to thin the icing.

- 2 tablespoons Ener-G egg replacer
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract or clear vanilla extract (optional)
- Food coloring (optional)

Whisk egg replacer powder and cream of tartar together in a medium bowl, then whisk in water. Add 2 cups sugar and stir in until smooth. Add more sugar if necessary to get the proper consistency. Stir in the extract and food coloring if desired.

DIY Costume Wings Instructions

Isn't she a doll?

DIY Costume Wings Instructions

I'm doing a little Blog Hoppin' and came across these darling instructions to make wings - ya know Halloween is comin' up!