Jack-O-Lantern Pops

This was the perfect little Halloween snack, and I loved it the moment I saw it. Here is the original recipe. I altered it slightly, since I didn't have vanilla, and I added nutmeg. One thing to note is that it is pretty time intensive, so don't make this if you are in a hurry!

Serves: 12
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients:
-½ cup pumpkin puree
-2 refrigerated pie crusts
-8 tablespoons sugar
-3 teaspoons butter, melted
-2 teaspoons beaten egg (crack an egg open, beat it, and use 2 teaspoons for the mix and the rest for coating the pops later)
-¼ teaspoon vanilla
-½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
-¾ teaspoon cinnamon
-dash of nutmeg
-cinnamon sugar
-popsicle sticks
-pumpkin cookie cutter

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

3. Beat the egg in a bowl and set aside.

4. Mix together the pumpkin puree, sugar, melted butter, 2 teaspoons of the beaten egg, and all of the spices (except the cinnamon sugar). Set mixture aside.

5. Roll the dough out onto the cookie sheet. Use the cookie cutter to cut as many cookies out of the dough as possible. Keep in mind you will need an even number of cookies, because you need one for the front and one for the back.

6. Set aside half of the cookies. This half will be the back of the cookies.

7. With the other half of the cookies, use a paring knife to cut little faces onto them. Set aside.

8. Lay out the back of the cookies onto the cookie sheet. Spoon a teaspoon of the pumpkin mixture onto the middle of the cookie.

9. Press a popsicle stick onto the mixture, and cover the stick by spreading the mixture over it.

10. Place a front face cookie on top of each back cookie, lining up the edges. Pinch the edges together to seal the mixture. Use the very edge of the tongs of a fork to seal the edges even better.

11. Using a baking brush, carefully spread remaining egg mixture over the top of each cookie. Finish by sprinkling cinnamon sugar over each cookie.

12. Bake from 15-20 minutes in the oven, or until edges are golden brown. Enjoy!

These turned out delicious! I would try this again with other fillings, like cherry and apple!

Skeleton Shirt

I loved this easy, halloween DIY shirt idea. I got the idea from Martha Stewart's website, although the way I executed this craft (due to the materials I had) was a little bit different. I also only did front ribs on my t-shirts.

Materials:
-shirt (any color will do)
-fabric scissors
-ribs stencil (http://www.marthastewart.com/265451/rib-cage-t-shirt )
-fabric marker or pen
-Scotch tape

1. Print the stencil from Martha Stewart's website. Cut out each rib to make the stencil. You will also need to trim the first page on the solid line, match it to the dotted line on the second page and tape it.

2. Lay the shirt flat on a hard surface. Because I was working with a V-neck shirt, it was really easy to find the middle. Line the front ribs stencil up so that the solid black line on the right hand side corresponds with the bottom of the V-neck.

3. Trace each rib with a fabric pen or marker.

4. Flip the stencil over to the other side. Line the stencil up so that the solid black line on the right hand side corresponds with the bottom of the V-neck.

5. Trace each rib with a fabric pen or marker.

6. Carefully cut out each rib with fabric scissors. Make sure not to cut through the back of the shirt! Also, depending on how stiff the fabric is will determine how big the ribs stretch. A stiffer, thicker shirt will allow tighter ribs. This fabric was kinda stretchy.

No bones about it, this turned out AWESOME! Can't wait to wear it!

Skeleton Man

Once again, that crafty and foxy lady friend of mine, Jennifer, and I were at it again--crafting like mad women! She saw a picture that inspired this craft, and we just got creative with it. Enjoy!

Supplies:
-Wooden shapes of all sizes
-Acrylic paints
-Paint brushes of varying sizes
-Hot glue gun
-Ribbon
-Black fine tip marker

1. Paint and decorate the wooden shapes however you would like--the possibilities are endless! Make full use of the craft supplies, and any other extras you would like to add (glitter, gloss, etc). That's it! Here are the skeleton men we made:

Boo Cups

Being that fall is my favorite season of the year, I decided to do some fun halloween crafts and treats, and this was one of the cutest I have seen, possibly ever! Here is the original recipe, courtesy of Pinterest. Please note that for this post, that I only made half of this recipe, because I wanted to give them a test run first, so the quantity listed here is for the full 15 cups.

Serves: 15

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

-3 1/2 cups cold milk

-2 packages of Jell-o chocolate instant pudding

-1 8oz tub of Cool Whip, divided

-20 Oreo cookies, crushed and divided

-1 package of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

-9oz clear plastic cups or smaller 

1. In a large bowl, combine the milk and dry pudding mixes and stir well.

2. Add in half of the Cool Whip and half of the crushed Oreos, and mix well. Set mixture aside.

3. Crush the Oreos using a rolling pin or can of soup. You can crush the pieces as big or small as you would like.

4. Spread out the plastic cups. Add a small amount of the crushed Oreos to each cup (approximately 1/4).

5. Add in the pudding mixture to each cup (approximately 1/2 of the remaining space in the cup)

6. Add a final layer of crushed Oreos on top. You can fill all the way up to the top of the cup (I didn't only because these cups were BIG!)

7. In order to be able to pipe the Cool Whip on top in a ghost-y fashion, put Cool Whip in a Ziplock bag and cut the corner of the bag off. Then, pipe Cool Whip making a circle about the size of a golf ball and spiraling smaller circles on top until a ghost shape is made.

8. Lastly, gently place 2 mini chocolate chips next to each other in the Cool Whip ghost for eyes.

Ta-da! Pretty easy, huh?