Some Halloween Treats

Sunday, like I said, was the 7th annual pumpkin carve at Mike's parents. I usually make something to take over...last year I made pumpkin spice cupcakes with pumpkin icing. They were good but I thought I should try something new. I found this recipe in the Parents magazine I picked up at the doctors!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

  Ingredients

• 1/2  cup salted butter, softened
• 1  cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1  teaspoon vanilla
• 1  cup canned pumpkin
• 2-1/4  cups all-purpose flour
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 1  teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2  teaspoon salt
• 1  cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
• 1/2  cup chopped walnuts

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/2  8-ounce package reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1  cup powdered sugar
• 2  tablespoons salted butter, softened
• 1  teaspoon vanilla

  Directions

  
  

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl beat 1/2 cup butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and pumpkin until combined.

  2. In a medium bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add to pumpkin mixture and beat until combined. Gently fold in the cranberries and walnuts.

  3. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake about 10 minutes or until edges start to brown. Remove and cool on wire racks.

  4. For frosting, in a small mixing bowl beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla until combined and smooth. Spread frosting over cookies.

  Here is how mine turned out:

  

  
  

    So, would I make them again!? Well, they were ok....I hardly tasted pumpkin at all. I don't know if it was the icing over powering the pumpkin taste but I couldn't taste it at all. They were pretty bland with sweet icing. If they didn't have icing they wouldn't taste very good, that's for sure! So i don't think I would make them again unless I altered the recipe!!!

  
  

  I also made the Rolo Pretzel Delights but instead of a pecan I used candy corn. They are always a hit!!! I still have canned pumpkin in the fridge so I need to make something else! Any suggestions?

  
  

  Ashley

  P.S - Today is my last day of work!!! This baby is coming soon!!! Yikes!

What I made on a Sunday Afternoon

Yesterday we had the 7th annual pumpkin carve at Mike's parent's house! We started this way back in 2006 and have done it every year since. I knew I wanted to wear one of the pumpkin shirts I posted on here but of course, knowing me, I left it to the very last possibly second. This literally took 10 minutes (at the most) to make and turned out pretty cute!

I found the t shirt at the dollar store for $2.00 and the felt was 3 sheets for $1.00....so for $2.33 I made this:

I literally cut the shapes out of felt (free hand) and used hot glue to stick them on!!! I don't know if you can tell by the side of the shirt, but it was WAY too big...so I cut up the sides and tied them together to make it more fitted. I also cut the collar off because it was too tight. The chest area is still a little big but I think it turned out really cute! :) I am looking (and feeling) like a pumpkin!!! I am 37 weeks tomorrow!!

Here's how our pumpkins turned out this year:

 Always lots of fun!!!

I also quickly made this album to post the pictures from every year's carve. It originally had flowers on the inside of the plastic cover...I used an exact o knife to cut on each side of the spine and pulled the flower paper out. I replaced it with Halloween scrapbook paper I had.

 I just put the photos in and used number stickers to put the year of each carve. It is funny to see how much everyone has grown since then!!! Now we can add to it every year! ( I can't believe next year there will be a baby in the picture!)

It was a great night, as always!! Sometime later this week I will show you what I made to take over there! Yum Yum

Ashley

Spearmint Baby!!

Have you heard of the blog Spearmint Baby?! I found it halfway through my pregnancy and now read it daily!! I love it! Shari features soon to be moms and their bumps, photos of the day, DIY's, different baby related toys and items and her own kids!! For the Moms to be and the photos of the day people submit their photos and stories!! I decided I should send her my story! She featured it on her blog today!

To see the rest of the article, go visit SPEARMINT BABY....and check out all the other fun stuff over there too.

Ashley

My DIY "Baby Briefcase"

One day while shopping with my (also pregnant) cousin Chrissy we found this thing called The Baby Briefcase! It was pretty cool. It was basically a file folder with different tabs where you could store paperwork and lots of other important info. We both thought it would be a good thing to have! Then I saw the price. $24.99. After researching it I found out that was a good price for the briefcase because on the actual site they were selling it for $29.99. But you know me, you know I am thrifty and I thought I could make it for less and I did!

I went to Staples....right to the Martha Stewart Line. If you haven't seen this section before you will be amazed! Or maybe that is just me because I am a dork and I love her....but anyway, she has lots of beautiful things there...I always go in and want one of everything! I grabbed a cute turquoise file folder and some stuff to add to it.

The file folder is an accordion style, but can stand up on it's own! It has 13 tabs

On the outside of the baby briefcase it has a spot for their name and pictures so I grabbed these:

A package of sticky, plastic pockets I will insert a picture in....also sticky, metal bookplates I will write our babies name in when we know it! :)

So here is what it looks like now...just waiting for a baby picture and name...it is not crooked in real life I swear!

I didn't fill out all the sections but I did a few. I added sections like : hospital paper work, immunization records and manuals/receipts/warranty. I like that I can change these or add new ones at any time!

I love how it turned out. I am thinking of getting a matching one and keep it tucked away for school! I know that is a far way away but I would love them to match! There is a section for each grade (including high school)...for report cards, class photos and more!

It was less then the baby briefcase, but not by too much. With tax it came to $21.44 but I have 5 leftover bookplates and pockets. I like that I did it myself as well...that adds a special touch! And if I make one for school...I will only need the file folder which was $9.99! I am very happy with how it turned out!

Now it is time to have this baby! Less then a month until the due date!!! I am 36 weeks this week and starting to get a little nervous.....

Ashley

DIY costume Ideas for pregnant mamas!

Here are a few DIY maternity Halloween shirts I could make:

SKULL CUTOUT TEE

 FREEZER PAPER STENCIL SHIRT

CUTE PUMPKIN TEE

This one was more of what I had in mind! So cute!

We will have to see what I come up with!

Ashley

Halloween Costume Ideas....for one big pregnant mama!!

I was thinking I would just make a Jack-o-lantern tee and wear it on Halloween to work...but some people actually paint their bellies....is that weird?! Anyway, here is some of the stuff I found when looking up my costume idea: ( all of these are pre-made!)

 ETSY

ETSY

 ETSY

ETSY

 

CAFE PRESS

The last one is more of what I was thinking. I think I could re-create that, couldn't I?! The other shirts are super cute, but you are only going to wear them once so why spend $30+ to get one shipped to you?! That is just  me though...I am THRIFTY after all! :) I will continue hunting for a good DIY project....we'll see if I can find one! If not, I might have to create my own!!!!

Ashley

Our Halloween Decor

I was a little sad to take down our "fall" mantel but after I decorated for Halloween it was ok! I searched the blog and realized I have never posted about a Halloween mantel. I don't think I have ever done one. Last year I had some sticks in jars and put some crows on them...but I think that is it! I found this picture from my cellphone:

 I do see cheesecloth there...so maybe I did something but I have no idea!

All the supplies I used for this year's mantel are ALL from the dollar store!!

Here it is:

I bought 3 boas from the dollar store and made a feather wreath just like my sister in law. Her blog post on the wreath is HERE

The crows are from the dollar store too! My dad bought me the two little crows on the sticks last year at Michaels for so much money...these were only 1 and 2 dollars! Do you like the black cheese cloth!? I had white up there before but you could hardly see it!

For the banner I made...I found the tutorial HERE. It is super cute, and super easy too!

 

The skull under the cloche is from the dollar store as well.

 Here are some branches with crows on them too...I think I should have spray painted them again though, you can hardly see them!

So there is is! Halloween mantel 2012!!

Ashley

OUR NURSERY REVEAL! (lots of pics!)

This nursery transformation has been so much fun. I was lucky enough to have the summer off so I could work on it a lot and have it ready for when the baby is finally here! I started pinning ideas a while before on Pinterest. Soon my folder was full and I had TOO MANY ideas! As soon as I decided on a colour scheme (AQUA, YELLOW, GREEN) and on a theme (OWLS) it all seemed to fall into place!

I thought it would be fun to show the journey of the room! So here is the room when we moved in:

and here was the room after we made it an office:

(There is our old cat, Hazel)

We cleared all the office stuff out and moved it down to my craft room. (Which is working out just fine!)

Here was the room after we wallpapered and painted, as well as painted the floor!

 Anyway, here is the room today through the beautiful screen door Mike made:

And here is the nursery:

What do you think?! There are so many little DIY projects in this room, it makes it feel even more special!
In the corner is the little reading area. I think it is my favourite spot in the whole room!

The rocker, shelves and light are all from Ikea! And the fabric pennant is a DIY project!

That is the pillow Jaclyn made, and my first teddy!

There are some cute owls sitting on the window sill...The one with red I got as a gift, and the turquoise one is another DIY project! (felt handmade owl)
Beside the chair is the little toy box  I made filled with lots of cute toys and Mike's first bear! I also added fabric to the curtains to make them a little longer!





 In the corner to the left is the change table, the art Jaclyn painted and some DIY tissue pom poms

Isn't the owl beautiful!?

I also wanted to show you the little knobs I got at IKEA. I think it just adds another punch of colour to the dresser!

On the right hand wall is the crib!

We found the cutest owl bedding at Babies R US.
The hoops above the bed is another DIY project!

 Here is Shan's beautiful handmade blanket!
 I added a shelf to the little wall by the door but I am still tweaking it! It doesn't look perfect yet! My friend Amanda made the art.

And my friend Brenda bought the baby the cutest owls!

Behind the door I bought three more picture shelves from Ikea. I printed out some free printables and got some that weren't. I added an ultrasound picture, the card Jaclyn painted and some other little toys and blocks. Soon I think I will switch some of the printables out for some baby pictures!


beside that is the cube I got at Zellers.

The pennant is a DIY project, as well as the cute DIY owl art.
 I also updated the  fabric drawers by adding some fabric numbers to them.
 
The white bear at the top is another one of Mike's bears! The potato head at the bottom was mine!

So that is the tour! What do you think? It is my most favourite room in the house and I can't wait to spend a lot of time in there with our sweet baby! Now we just have to wait! It won't be much longer now!

Ashley

P.S- There are a few people Mike and I wanted to thank for helping to make this nursery happen! First off I would like to thank my parents for all the hard work they put into the room! (They wallpapered and painted and helped hang anything I needed help with! I couldn't have done it without you! Thank you for buying the wallpaper too) I would also like to thank both of our parents for all the furniture! Mike's family for the crib and dresser, and mine for the rocker! (that includes Kayla too!) Thank you to my friend Sharon for all the lovely books and toys (and lots of other baby essentials as well)! It made the room feel more like a real nursery as soon as I put all of that in there, so thank you! Thank you to Jaclyn for the painting and pillow and Shannon for the beautiful blankets. The baby will love them! And thank you to everyone who got this little babe gifts! I am sure you can see a lot of the them in the room. The ones you can't see are in the dresser and cube! This baby is so spoiled with love already it is crazy! I hope I didn't forget anyone! If I did, you can blame it on the pregnancy brain! I really do appreciate everything though!!