Pumpkin Bars

I found the yummiest recipe for Pumpkin Bars!  Enjoy!

1 package yellow cake mix

1/2 cup melted butter

1 egg

Combine and press into a greased 9x13 pan, reserving one cup for topping.

Step 2

3 cups pumpkin pie mix (be sure to by the mix and not plain pumpkin)

2 eggs

2/3 cup evaporated milk

Mix until smooth and pour over crust.

Step 3

1 cup cake mixture

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Combine and sprinkle over filling. (It says to keep adding sugar until it crumbles, but it seems like I can never get to that point, so I just pull it into pieces and distribute them on top of the filling)

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes until the pumpkin layer is done.  An easy way to tell if the pumpkin is done is to insert a knife and when it comes out almost clean, its done.  We like it best refrigerated and served with cool whip. 

Little Turkeys

 So I saw this cute idea for little edible turkeys to put by the side of everyone's plate at Thanksgiving, and they look cute in real life, but the camera just couldn't quite capture it.  The body is a creme filled chocolate or a chocolate covered cherry, the tail feathers are half of a fudge striped cookie and the head is a candy corn, with chocolate frosting holding it together. I think if you use a chocolate covered cherry, the body will be bigger and would be cute if you used a whole cookie as the tail feathers and another cookie underneath it kind of as feet.  Yum!

Give Thanks

This cute holiday plaque was so easy to make.  Here is what you'll need:

12x12 Board (I got mine at Roberts for $3)

12x12 scrapbook paper

vinyl saying

embellishments

mod podge/foam brush

sand paper

I first painted the wood a dark brown and then I mod podged the green paper to the wood.  Don't trim the paper to size, leave just a little edge of the paper (atleast an 1/8 of an inch) hanging over the edge of the wood (the board says its 12x12, but it was really only 11 3/4 square).  Then using the sandpaper, sand the edges of the paper off by sanding along the edge of the board and the excess paper will come off in a nice little strip and then your paper will fit your board exactly.  I chose to rough up the corners and a few spots on the front of the paper with the sandpaper to give it more of a worn look.

Next I put on the vinyl letters and I cut leaves out of a piece of scrapbook paper and glued those on.  Then I mod podged over the top of everything. 

 Last of all, I added ribbon (using glue dots) and a little jewel where the ribbon crossed over itself to get the finished product and voila! A super easy decoration!

Fall Card

This card is easy to make. I found this cute fall paper at Michaels in a fall pack. The nice thing about buying paper in packets is that you get pieces with different patterns that coordinate in color.

Fist I took five pieces of paper and tour them into strips. 

* To help tear your paper wet the area where you are tearing, then tear it.

 I layered my stripes onto the card base and glued them on. Then I trimmed the edges.

Next I embosed this stamp of a tree, and inked the edges of the paper.

 To add some embellishments to my card I used ribbon and a button.

No shoes please

I got this idea from another craft blog on how to tell guests not to wear shoes in the home. And because I have a baby in the house she is constantly picking up and eating anything on the ground. So this is what you will need to make this darling Bare feet only picture frame.

1 wood frame ( I bought mine from Michaels for $1)

wood Acrylic paint (use a paint that will match with your paper)

1 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper (the thicker the paper the less it will bubble)

Mod podge

A picture of your family or kids with bare feet!

First measure the frame onto the paper. Then cut out your paper, I made mine a little smaller then what I measured so I could have a painted edge.

 Paint the frame, it isn't important to paint the part of the frame that the paper will cover.

 Then I mod podged the paper onto the frame. I learned that if you glue the paper to the frame first, then let it dry before you mod podge over it, it made less bubbles when it dried. I also smooth out the bumps the best I can with the back of a butter knife. I used the paint to dust the edges of the scrapbook paper using a stencil brush.

 My sweet brother in law took the picture of all of our feet! I think it turned out pretty cute. I hang this on my door with a wreath around it, that way when people come they know to take off their shoes, without me having to ask!

Happy Birthday

I needed to make a couple of cards that I could send to nephews.  Lacking any ideas, I ran to Roberts and found this cute airplane paper.  I used a blue card base and cut a airplane to glue on.  I printed up the Happy Birthday banner on the computer.  I used a plain green for a stripe with some thin green string that I had on hand. It turned out cute.  I was also thinking some white clouds instead of the stripe would also look good.  The nice thing is that the airplane paper I bought was covered with planes so I can get several cards out of 1 piece of paper.  Change it up to use what you have on hand and have fun!

Thanksgiving napkin rings

I decided to make Thanksgiving napkin rings.  After searching all over for rings I could use and not finding any, my husband came up with a good idea for using PVC pipe that you can buy at Lowe's or Home Depot.  Its super cheap and you get a long piece of pipe.

 I cut the pipe into pieces that fit my orange ribbon so the whole pipe would be covered.  I used 2 different ribbons, 2 leaves in slightly different sizes and colors, a pine cone, a hot glue gun and Mod Podge.  I had some tiny pine cones I got at my in-laws, that I picked up off the ground that were just the right size. 

I bought the ribbons on sale and layered them together to get the look I wanted.

I spread a thin layer of Mod Podge on the pipe and attached my orange ribbon and then my brown ribbon on the top.

After I let the ribbon dry I hot glued on everything else.  I cut some more ribbon and twisted the ends together with a twisty tie cut in half.  I glued that on, followed by both leaves. Then I covered the ends of the leaves and the twisty tie with the pine cone. 

That's it.  It was really easy.  I spent about $8 and made 20 napkin rings.  Not to bad.  Using a centerpiece that has pine cones and leaves in it, the napkin rings should look really pretty for Thanksgiving.  I think I might go back and add some berries for some more color.  That is the beauty of these rings.  You can glue on whatever you want and make them whatever size you need.  Happy creating!