Halloween decorations

Before it gets too late, I thought I'd show you some of my handmade Halloween decorations. I'm not a massive fan of Halloween if I'm honest, but when you have kids, there doesn't really seem any escaping it. I don't mind the pumpkins and the costumes (costumes are year-round attire, in this house), trick or treating is pretty cool, and I DO like how it kind of marks the beginning of a couple of month's of festivities here so maybe I shouldn't think too badly of it after all.

On top of all that, I really want to make some great childhood memories for my children. I am so aware that the years are ticking by way too quickly and that these wonder years will be over before we know it.

I saw this blog post last year and I successfully vowed not to forget about it for this year, so we have a CLOUD of bats (yes, I checked - the collective noun for bats is a cloud!) swooping into our dinning room.

We have jars of candy labelled with 'Poison' and 'Eat at your own risk' emblazoned on them (not sure what lesson I am trying to teach my kids here!?!? The warnings did nothing to dissuade them from reaching in and nibbling some treats).

I crocheted this doily/mat thing for Halloween a couple of years ago and with the tiny hook and fine cotton it took to make it, my eyes have not really been the same since. It's supposed to be a kind of spider's web, I guess. A BLACK spider's web (?!?!!?)

I also have some of these creepy guys around the inside of our entrance way by the front door. I used the spider template from Martha Stewart's Halloween special and though I can't find the link on the website, I know all the templates are available online if you want to spend 3 hrs searching for them.

Have you made some Halloween decorations this year?

Butterfly wings

I just wanted to share a new tutorial I have up over at Fiskars. They are starting to feature Halloween projects right now, and as well as my Halloween Fairy costume I mentioned last week, I also have a tutorial for a giant pair of colorful Butterfly Wings. I think these would look great on a kid wearing all black; it would really set off the color.

I really enjoyed making these wings. It gave me the chance to buy some of the sparkly sensations at my local fabric store.

Tasty treats for toothless ghouls

My 7 yr old lost the first of his front teeth last week, which makes it tricky to eat things like apples. I wanted to make some chocolate covered apples this week, so instead we used apple slices, which are more easily nibbled, and they are a MUCH better portion size for small children.

We spiked our apple slices onto wooden skewers.

We melted milk chocolate and white chocolate over a pan of boiling water.

When the chocolate was completely melted we dipped the apple slices into the bowl.

Then rolled them around in a pile of sprinkles.

After laying them out on a plate and refrigerating them for half an hour, we couldn't wait any longer.

He still had to bite from the side of his mouth because of that missing tooth, but thumbs up all round.

Halloween Fairy Costume

I have a new tutorial up over at the Fiskars website. You can find it by clicking here. This costume just kind of suits my daughter.

Here are some of the outtakes from our photo session. Luckily she's a very good sport about posing for photos for me. In fact you can probably tell she enjoys hamming it up.

Are you making Halloween costumes this year? Please share your link in the comments section.