Pumpkin Carving – Jolly Roger

 

My son loves getting to pick out the pattern for our pumpkin every year.   This year it is all about pirates.  I found a jolly roger pattern online and we were ready.  We don’t use fancy tools or anything just a pattern and small knife.   

I did learn a cool tip this year.  If you coat the inside top of the pumpkin with cinnamon it is supposed to help with the lid shrinkage.  I will let you know how it works.  I can tell you it smells wonderful when the pumpkin is lit. 

 

   

Candy Cake – Kit Kat & M&M’s

I love this cake recipe it is so easy to make and a hit with everyone.   You can use any flavor of cake and the candy options are endless.  For Halloween, I used Harvest M&M’s and Kit Kats, you could also use candy corn.  The red and green M&M’s are great at Christmas. 
Anybody can make this cake, it doesn’t have to be perfect.  The icing doesn’t have to be neat, the cake doesn’t even have to be perfectly even it is all covered by candy. 
For this cake you will need a 2 layer cake and butter cream icing.  I use a cake mix spruced up for most of my cakes.  I use Duncan Hines cake mixes, I add an extra egg, use milk(buttermilk if you have it) instead of water and I add one box of instant pudding.  This makes a better tasting cake and gives it a bit more body. 
I used devils food chocolate cake with peanut butter icing for this candy cake.   Here is the recipe for the peanut butter icing I use. 

Peanut Butter Icing
1 stick of butter
1/2 C. of Crisco
1/2 C. of creamy peanut butter
4 C of powdered sugar

Cream together the butter and Crisco until well blended.  Then add in the peanut butter, completely mix.  Slowly add in the powdered sugar. 

After the cakes have cooled stack and ice.  I can’t believe I am showing this but, I mean it, the icing does not have to look good at all, you can throw a heavy crumb coat on there and call it done.  You don’t need a ton of icing with all the candy the cake is more than sweet enough. 


Place your kit kats around the cake, I add a dot of icing on the back of the kit kat to help hold it to the cake.  I also break the kit kats into 2s, it makes it easier to go around the cake.   Next you can tie a piece of ribbon around the cake for added decoration.  Lastly add the M&Ms  to the top cake.  Serve with milk. 

For this cake it took 5 king size packages of Kit Kats and  1 bag of M&Ms.






I linked up with these great blogs.






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Post It Note Tuesday - Christmas Crafts

Pumpkin Topiary for Fall Thanksgiving

Pumpkin Topiary - $40.00

Hi everyone, sorry I have not posted in awhile but I have had a sick family, first my husband, then son and now I have bronchitis.  As you know family comes first, we are all better or getting better in my case so hopefully I will get to work some projects this week. 

I wanted to show this pumpkin topiary I made last year.  I wish I had detailed pictures of how I made it but I don’t.  It is not hard to make and makes a wonderful Fall to Thanksgiving decoration.   Here are the supplies you will need:
SUPPLIES
Pumpkins 3 sizes – I brought mine from Michaels at 50% off and they were still $27.00 for the set.
Wood Dowel – $.49
Fall leaves & flowers - $5.00
Hot glue
Flower Pot – $8.00 Mine is a 14” clay pot

To assemble the topiary cut the stem off the 2 largest pumpkins but NOT the smallest one.  Next you will need to drill a hole in all 3 pumpkins for the wood dowel to go through, I think I used a 1/4” dowel.  Drill the hole just to the side of where the stem was, it will be so much easier than going through the stem. The middle pumpkin will need a hole on both the top and bottom.  After drilling your holes, insert the dowel in the largest pumpkin and add hot glue to stabilize the dowel. Repeat for the other 2 pumpkins.  Once the glue is dry you are ready to decorate.  Just hot glue leaves and flowers around the pumpkins until you are happy.

For the clay pot, this year I wanted to add a personal touch.  I used a regular old clay pot and spray painted it black.

We then all added our handprints to the pot. I used a antique gold paint(the picture makes it look yellow).  My 6 year old loved getting messy for the project and my husband went along with it. 

I then used my Cricut to cut out the words GIVE THANKS, I used the cut outs like a stencil and painted the words in antique gold. I used repositionable stick glue to attach the paper to the pot for painting. 


It is an easy project that will last years and can go so many places, from a corner to the front door.



I linked up with these great blog parties.



Metamorphosis Monday

Polly Want A Crafter

Wood Monogram Wall Letter

Chunky Wood Letter Monogram - $1.00

In an older issue of Country Living, there was a photo showing off a table and in the background there was a huge wood letter F in the background.  I thought it looked so rustic and chunky.  It was not like the ones you can buy at the craft store that are thin and expensive.  I knew it would fairly easy to make one, I just needed to decide if I wanted to use a 4x4 or 2x2 for the wood.  I decided on the 2x2.  
This project literally took about 5 minutes plus dry time.  It would make a great gift and I have some ideas for whole words for the upcoming Christmas season.  

Supplies Needed
1 2x2 – $1.97 this is enough wood to make 3 letters
Stain or paint
Glue

To make your wood monogram decide on the height of the letter, I picked 12”.  I think 18” would work well also.  Next measure and make your cuts.  These are going to boxy square letters, so while most letters can be done keep in mind the curves of a “S” or “O” will be squared.  To  make a letter with a slant such as “N” or “Z” you will need to cut your wood at a 45 degree angle.
 

Set up your letter so you can set your placement of each piece of wood.  Mark the place you want to glue on each piece so you can line up your letter.

Next glue and clamp the wood together.  I did use Gorilla glue and honestly not sure the clamp was necessary. 

After the glue dries, I gave it a couple of hours, paint or stain the wood.  I used my favorite English Chestnut stain by Minwax(you can tell by the photo well used  ).  It is a perfect dark brown stain with no red or yellow in it. 
 
Since it is made with 2x2 it will stand up on a tabletop or can be hung on the wall. 




I have linked up with these great blog parties.
Polly Want A Crafter



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