schmancy halloween dinner party

Small plates are from Pottery Barn. Pumpkin bowls are from Linen N Things. Wooden treat coffins are available at Michael's Craft.

My Mr. Fox painting got a halloween update for the party.

Candelabra is from Joann's Fabrics. Bottle labels are all part of the Witch's Larder printables.

See's candy fit perfectly in each little coffin.

The best part was the company.

specimens & curious findings

I am planning a very special Halloween dinner for later this month. All my guests are flying in from out of town so I wanted the invitations to be extra special.  The theme of the party is Specimens & Curious Findings. I added in a little "specimen" gummy snake to each invitation box. Ben and I are working out the menu.

The decorating is under way.

I finally got to bring out Lily and Oscar, the art dolls I made special for the mantel decor this year.

I thought it would be fun to share the invites with everyone.  I also created place cards to use at the dinner party. Scribble your guests names on them in scratchy script and they will look great. You can click the download button under the images to download.

The poem is an excerpt from Shakespeare's Macbeth. The bottom is in Latin and reads: 

The one safety for the vanquished is to abandon hope of safety.

I hope you enjoy! If you use them, please tag me in your twitter or Instagram photos! I'd love to see what you do.

Download these printables here.

halloween parfait

This Halloween idea comes via Bakedbree.com.  This is the kind of thing my kids go apes over.   Here's the recipe:

1 box of instant chocolate pudding (or homemade of course)

1 box of French vanilla pudding (or regular vanilla)

Cocoa Puffs

whipped cream

candy corn

yellow gel color

orange gel color

Halloween sprinkles

Get all of the components ready. Make the chocolate and vanilla pudding. Divide the vanilla in half. If you are using French vanilla, it is already yellow, but if you are using plain vanilla, add a few drops of yellow to it. With the other half, use the orange food coloring to make it orange.

Layer the ingredients however you like.  This is the order that I layered mine:

Cocoa Puffs

yellow pudding

whipped cream

candy corn and Cocoa Puffs

chocolate pudding

orange pudding

candy corn and Cocoa Puffs

whipped cream, sprinkles, and a few candy corn for garnish

Chill for about 30 minutes to an hour or until the puddings are set.

You can click on over to Bakedbree.com to see more photos of this recipe.

Also, I wanted to say, for the holidays, don't underestimate the flower section at Costco.  The roses there seem to take a beating, but sometimes, if you hunt, you can find some that look really good.  They also carry florist bunches that are really fun.

I recently ran across a bunch of Solanum Integrifolium (you know I had to look that one up) at Costco that almost got rid of my Costco rage.* Miniature pumpkins on a branch. Who would have thunk it?

This tag came on a gift given to me by the talented Michelle Hill of Polk-A-Dot Whimsy. 

* Costco rage is a little thing I suffer from when I shop at Costco. I become infuriated at people who stop in the middle of the isle, and stand like pigs to the slop for minutes on end, blocking traffic,  just to sample a half a cream puff or a piece of salami. Seriously? Get a life.

it was a dark and stormy day...

click photo for larger size

The day I worked on decorating my mantle the wind was blowing, the sky was dark and the rain was coming down in sheets.  It was the perfect day for spookifying your house.  

I made myself a hot cup of apple cider and went to work.

My theme this year is "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe.

You may remember my "Thom Pixie" from several years back. I simply took a photo of my son as a baby, photocopied it onto card stock and turned him into a pixie.

The wreath was made by rolling book pages and hot gluing them together. I drew a silhouette of a raven on coffee stained paper for the center.

I love the way these Victorian collars turned out for the candle holders.  They were also made using book paper. I stamped out scalloped circles, folded them over the end of a pencil to create little cups and glued them tightly together on a form.

The rats are from the Martha Stewart collection. The glittery spiders that I absolutely love are from Z Gallery.  Sparkly pumpkins and skulls are available at Target. I bought the banner download from House of 3.

I used an entire book to create this mantle. My apologies to the author, but I tired to get into your book. It just sucked.  Better luck next time.

Edgar Allen Poe

The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -

Only this, and nothing more.

harvest mix

Oh good glory be it's here. Halloween is upon us. And I couldn't be more happy about that.

The costumes are all ready for the kids. The mantle is decorated.  Candy corn is purchased. Yes, I am that one individual that loves candy corn. Oh, the Sugar Daddy does too.  You know the harvest mix Brach's puts out every Halloween? We buy it. Like five bags of it. It's amazeballs* mixed with peanut M&M's.

I really do love the fall. The fashion. The food. I love it all.
For me it's a little like Christmas Spirit come early.  It puts a skip in my step.

The Sugar Daddy has been bitten by the harvest bug as well. Which, if you knew him,  you'd realize this is a huge step in the right direction.  He generally hates anything in the least bit commercial or where people run around with big stupid grins on their faces. What can I say? He's a wee bit grinchy.

But the other night he announced that instead of Halloween candy, we are going to hand out shave ice. Did I mention he bought a shave ice machine? He did. I was flabbergasted at first, then curious, and now I'm allllll over it.  We have like a kabillion flavors and it is now our new family tradition.  Thom had a huge bowl of shave ice with candles instead of cake for his birthday.  Clearly God knew I just couldn't get a cake made this year with the babies and all,  so he blessed us with a shave ice machine. He works in mysterious ways.

So we are handing out Hawaiian shave ice cones. Which could be a huge hit or a huge disaster.  We'll see. Parents may hate us.  Live and learn. Live. And. Learn.

So there's that. The shave ice news and also  I bought the most amazing pair of pointy-toed, sling-back heels at an antique store last weekend.  Talk about amazeballs. They make me feel like I just might be Jackie O. reincarnate.   I'm sure I'll be sharing pictures of them down the road sometime.

Speaking of down the road, we are packing up and heading out of town on Sunday which means I will be forced to do some wash so everyone can have clean knickers for the trip.  Which in turn means I must get in the right frame of mind to do this most dreaded of all domestic chores.  No love lost there.

It's going to be a busy busy week my friends and I'm wondering if I'm really up to it all. I'd much rather sit around and eat Harvest mix.

Here's my Halloween mantle from last year. I'll share this year's mantle later this week.  Stay tuned. This week's gunna be a doozy.

* This word belongs to one Margie Romney-Aslett, but I have stolen it, and I claim it as my own from now on.

Also, will spell check ever learn that I like to make up words and to just roll with it?  Enough with the little red dots already.

photo credits 

boo!

I finally finished off the spooky decor on my mantle and I nearly scared myself to death. Not because my decorations are freighting, but because it dawned on me as I was sticking up the last bat that the year is nearly over.

In just two weeks I'll be taking all this down and getting ready for Thanksgiving.

You know what I say to that?

Shut the hell up.

No way is this year almost over. No. Way.

I wasn't even going to decorate the mantle this year. I'm so completely exhausted these days. Can I just tell you that within a twenty-four hour period I have been barfed on by both my children, more than once by Birdie, agreed to watch a friend's dog over night, chased said dog all over tarnation to get her to come back in the house, mopped up an over flowing toilet, changed no less than six poopy diapers, wiped up dog pee and scrubbed black icing cupcake barf from my carpet?

Believe me, you haven't seen scary until you've been to my house.

So I wasn't going to decorate. But then I thought of Thom and how these are the years he will remember and how festive stuff is the pumpkin spice of life. How could I deprive my children of that?

So the mantle was decorated and after I got over my panic attack of realizing that 2009 is almost gone, I sat on my couch and made a plan to take things as they happen and enjoy the ride.

I will just mention though that there are only 10 weeks left until Christmas. If this alarms you, take deep breaths, go to your kitchen and find something to calm you down.

Like camomile tea or Oreos dipped in peanut butter with whipped cream on top.