October 26, 2008

BigSis has already said that she isn't a “Halloween Celebrater”. I, on the other hand, love to decorate for Halloween and love to host Halloween parties. I have just found it a little hard this year to get into the “Halloween Spirit” because it has been so unseasonably warm here in Southern California. I had this weekend set aside to get the yard and front porch all decorated. “Best laid plans!”

We found out that HayHay had his first surf competition yesterday. So, instead of decorating the house, I drove down to Mission Bay for a day at the beach to watch surfers compete! “You do what you gotta do, right?” HayHay came in first place so now we have to be back down at the beach at 11:00 this morning. I really don't know when I'm going to get this house decorated!

I've been “surfing the net” trying to get some new, quick, and easy ideas.

I NEVER eat sweets, but for some crazy reason, I LOVE CANDY CORN! So, of course I love this entire “Candy Corn inspired” theme from Hostess with the Mostess!

I JUST LOVE THE CANDY CORN DECOR!

(Maybe I won't be tempted to eat the candy corn if it's in a vase with a candle or flowers!)

I don't like scary stuff so I don't like any of the “skull & crossbones” party themes. I was really happy when I found this “Playful Mod” theme. It's perfect for adults and children. I have a bunch of fun Halloween candle holders from PartyLites that will match this theme perfectly, so I'll do something like this for Friday night at our house. I've even seen some neon Halloween-themed lights, so that could be good too. Those lights from www.neonfilter.com can be personalized to say whatever you want, so you could make it as spooky as you like. That could be a great addition to Halloween decorations.

I LOVE THE ORANGE, PURPLE, & GREEN COLOR COMBINATION!

I think these spider toothpicks will go well with this party theme!

Cute little Spider Toothpicks!

There are recipes galore for very cute, “bat shaped” cookies and candy corn cookies and intricately decorated cupcakes, but those recipes are for those of you who are more prepared than I am this year. At this late date, I'm looking for fun, quick, and easy. I found this recipe for Scary Spiderweb Cupcakes on Betty Crocker. I love that the web is just made with the black decorating gel and the spiders are made from gumdrops. Looks easy enough; even for me.

Scary Spider Cupcakes

I love this Chocolate Marshmallow Ghost Cake! One of Martha's readers said that she simplified it by using two white cake mixes, instead of starting from scratch. I might have to do that…

Ghostly Marshmallow Cake!

Check out this great idea for a Witch's Curtain! You just use trash bags!

Easy Witch Curtain

Every year, we sit aside one night for a Family Pumpkin Carving Competition. “Yikes!” It just snuck up on me this year. We'll do that either Tuesday or Wednesday night and if they turn out “worthy of being photographed”, I'll post some photos on Friday. I like this Pumpkin Totem idea from Martha.

I really like this pumpkin totem!

I hope this helps those of you who need some new, quick and easy ideas for this Halloween! Happy Halloween Decorating!

~LilSis

October 20, 2008

I can't believe it's October already, much less 2/3 of the way through the month!  Before we know it, Thanksgiving will be here, then Christmas, then 2009!  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's not fast-forward to November just yet.

I'm not a Halloween-celebrater myself, but lots of people are, including Martha Stewart.  As with everything else she does, Martha covers every possible aspect of this topic: food, decorating, costumes, pumpkin carving, party ideas, anything you can imagine.  If you need help with Halloween, Martha's your woman!

Do you have a hankering to carve a lacy design on your pumpkins?  No problem.

Are you desperate for costume ideas for the family?  No worries.

Maybe you're dying to make a centerpiece that looks like rotten eggs and worms!  Gotcha covered.

Or perhaps you'd like to make cute decoupaged treat buckets for your little ones?  Here you go.

I think these Ladies Fingers and Men's Toes are hilarious and if I were doing Halloween, this is the kind of thing I'd make.

And these little petit four ghosts are too cute!

People love to bash on Martha, but I for one see nothing bash-worthy about the pursuit of excellence and cuteness in the things you do!  And if you have Halloweenish things to do, check out Martha!  She's got you covered.

~BigSis