Pumpkin Carousel

I am loving this idea from Martha for turning a faux pumpkin in to a witch carousel:

You can get the directions for the pumpkin carousel HERE.  And I wonder if you could do it with a regular pumpkin for your doorstep?

Pumpkin Photo Holder

Once Upon A Holiday has a great tutorial showing you how to decorate your pumpkin with photographs:

You can see her tutorial HERE:

I love that you can use any picture, but if you put pumpkin patch pictures it will be perfect for Fall, and you can put pictures of your kids in their previous costumes to make it perfect for Halloween! 

Brooms

Garlands:

Goodiebags:

Cookies:

and Snacks:

Penny Tiled Desk

Remember the nickel floor:

I thought they were clever, but I would never actually tile my floor with nickels.

But a desk:

Maybe!!

Bat Art

Kristen Duke is a wonderful local photographer.  I found her blog after my daughter received this Valentine's Card from a friend at school:

These cute little photo Valentine's Cards were created by Kristen.  And that cute little girl in the bag is a friend of my daughter.

I started reading her blog and soon she popped up over at The Idea Room with her photography tips.

Every once in a while she gets a little crafty and posts a project on her blog, and the most recent craft is one that I love:

The inspiration came from a small card and she recreated it on a much larger scale (24" x 26") to display over her mantle.

My favorite part?  It GLOWS IN THE DARK!  If that doesn't make a fun Halloween decoration, I don't know what does!

You can see how she created this piece (and see the images of it in the dark) HERE.

Leaf Art Carving

You need to go check out this Leaf Art from Nature's Art

I found them on Craft Magazine and you can see how she makes them HERE.  How I wish I could even make a basic shape on a leaf, let alone a gorgeous picture.  You can see the rest of her pieces HERE.

Skeleton Invitations

Another fun invitation for your Halloween party are these skeletons from Martha:

It isn't so much the skeletons that I love, it is more that they are stuffed in black envelops that remind me of coffins.  You can see the tutorial and get the template HERE.

Even if you aren't having a Halloween party, the skeleton template could come in handy!!

Halloween Cookie Pops

How Does She has instructions on how to make all of these cute cookie pops:

and you can see them HERE.

Fandelier

I see a ton of gorgeous chandeliers in peoples bedrooms and am always a little envious.  We have always had a ceiling fan in our bedrooms and always will.  Texas and Arizona have one thing in common and it is the need for a ceiling fan in every room of the house.

That is why I love the idea of combining the two into a fandelier:

I love House*Tweaking for planting the idea in my head!

Ruffled Candy Corn Shirt

Naptime Crafter is guest posting over at C.R.A.F.T. with a tutorial on how to make this cute ruffled candy corn shirt:

I am pretty much in love with all thing candy corn, so of course I love this.  I think the ruffled candy corn would look cute on a hand towel or an apron too!  You can see the tutorial HERE.

Scrapbook Paper Baskets

Fall is when the official season of baking and treat giving begins and it lasts until the new year.  I love to bake, but we always end up eating too much of them.  The best way to avoid this is to give them away.  If you are like me, than you want to make the presentation cute, but don't want to spend a lot of money on disposable containers or worry about getting your good containers back.

This paper basket from Then She Made is a great way to dress up your goodies to get them out of your house, but won't break your bank or cause you to part with your dishes:

It is made from one sheet of 12x12 paper and some ribbon.  Something you might already have around the house, and super easy to customize for any occasion!

You can find the templates for these HERE.

Your Best Chili Recipe

image source: McCormick

So in three weeks we are having a party that involves a chili cook-off.  The only problem is that I have never made chili!

What?

I know!

So I need you to give me your best chili recipe!  If you have them typed up on your blog, you can leave a link in the comments for shoot me an email.  If you want to add it to your blog in the next couple of days and do the same, that would be great.  I will feature all of the recipes submitted in a post next week.

Thanks!

Ghost Towels

Love these cute towels from The Long Thread:

You can download the template for the faces HERE.

So Easy It's Scary

I found something from The Pink Peony on 320 Sycamore that I love:

The whole display is really cute, but I love the framed sign that says boo.  I love how simple it is!  So easy!  So easy it's scary!

Useful Gourds

I love these ideas from Better Homes and Gardens that I saw on Wedelicious:

A vase:

a candy dish:

and a candle holder:

I love how useful pretty Fall gourds can be!

Specimen Bats

Remember this cute display from Jen at Tatertots and Jello:

My favorite piece is the bat specimen chart on the bottom.  I found another one like it at Sweet November:

A few larger bats in some great black and white patterns!  I love them both!

Acorn Lanterns

This picture from Pottery Barn makes me really excited that I have acorns in my front yard:

Pumpkin Cupcakes

What isn't to love about a cupcake that looks like a pumpkin because it is covered in frosting!  And it helps when they are as cute as these little pumpkins from I Am Baker:

You can see how she makes them HERE.  And you can see how she made the cute jack-o-lantern cake in the background HERE.

Printable Haunted House Village

My sister-in-law, Annie, has the Department 56 Halloween Village:

(this isn't hers, I borrowed this picture from here)

As much as I love this village, I am just too cheap.  These pieces are $60 a piece.  I am not the patient person that can buy a piece every year, I am all for the immediate gratification!

So to get a full village, I will have to stick with something a lot cheaper, like these cute printable house I found on Paper and Cake:

You can download the three different houses, Creepy Casa, haunted House, and Maniacal Mansion HERE.

Cookie Monster Party

Freckled Laundry put together the cutest Cookie Monster Party:

If you have a cookie monster fan in your house you have to check out all of her cute ideas, HERE.  I think a lot of the ideas could be adapted to Halloween by making the monsters green and orange too!

Vampire Invites

I love these vampire invites from Paul Downs:

I am still debating on my Halloween party plans, but that doesn't stop me from planning out the entire thing in my head!

Cupcake Liner Topiary

I was admiring the Halloween decorations over at Craft-O-Maniac when I came across this:

I don't know how I missed that cute cupcake liner topiary back in August when she posted it, but I went searching for the tutorial and found it HERE.

I also found this one from Reel Crafty Girl:

If you look really close you can see she used glitter:

I love the glitter!  I think it would be fun to do an all orange one with glitter.  Or all black!

Pretzel Caramel Apples

I have a confession.  Two actually.

1) I love chocolate covered caramel apples.  They are probably my favorite Fall treat.  I love them more than pumpkin pie or pumpkin cookies, or pumpkin anything.  I can't think of any treat I would rather have on Halloween.  

2) I know that seasons aren't supposed to be capitalized, but every time I try to type Fall without a capital F it just seems wrong.  So if it is bothering you I apologize, but I just can't bring myself to not capitalize it.  Same goes for Spring and Summer and Winter.  Autumn even.  Although that Autumn was supposed to be capitalized because it was at the beginning of a sentence.  But I can't reword all sentences so that the season is at the beginning.  Of course you probably don't care.  If you were the type of person that cared about grammar and punctuation you probably wouldn't be reading my blog to begin with.  Or maybe you come, but you just look at the pictures.  I bet you are looking at the caramel apple below RIGHT NOW!

And you should be, because it is taking all of my will power not to go down to the kitchen and make one of these pretzel chocolate caramel apples from Charm of the Carolines (that I found over at Craft Gossip) right now:

Well, willpower and the fact that I don't have any caramels in the house.  But these will be made.  And SOON!

Ghost Leaves

These ghost leaves from Moody Fashionista are really stinking cute:

Make me want to find some inexpensive fall wreath, spray the entire thing white, and put eyes on it!

Bamboo Lampshade

I love this lampshade from Esprit  Cabane that I found on 10marifet.org:

They made it from a bamboo mat.  Because I am in a Halloween mind frame, I think it would be neat to spray paint it black!  Or even orange!  But if you are looking for something neutral and natural, the original bamboo might do just the trick!

PS - Don't you just love Google Translate! I now have a couple million more blogs to read because I can read them in any language!  Oh wait...maybe that isn't a good thing!

Costumes and Luminaries and Eyeballs, Oh My!

Pirate Tutus from Glitter to Gumdrops:

Halloween Luminaries from Crafts By Amanda:

Ghost Lanters from Janet of All Trades:

Eyes Fries from Then She Made:

Show and Tell Wreaths

So if it isn't obvious, garlands and wreaths rank #1 and #2 in my favorite holiday decorations.  They are pretty foundational holiday pieces.  And with so many cute ideas from Show and Tell Saturday, What's not to love!

Clumsy Crafter:

Wanna Be Crafty:

Uncommon:

A Ruffle in Town:

Crafts & Sutch:

Amazing Grace:

Apple Valley Girl:

Generally Creative:

Rusen's Diary:

Even if I hung one on every door, I wouldn't have room for all these wreaths!