Halloween Memories

Because Halloween 2011 is already just a memory. And I know that, in what seems like only moments, Halloween 2025 will be only a memory. We had a slew of 1-4 year olds running through our house this morning, and the squeals and giggles were priceless. Some of my favorite moments from this day and how I wish I could live it all over again...

And as a gift to my readers who also happen to feel that time is slipping through their hands faster than they really appreciate...I discovered an amazing new-to-me blog while browsing Pinterest (yes - I'm on there and one of these days I'll figure out how to do the whole Pinterest button on blog thing, but that will have to wait until another day). After reading several posts about photographing Halloween, I just knew that this was a must follow. So, if you're looking to preserve some of your memories, head over and visit Katie Evans Photography. And for your future photography tip needs, I've added a link to her blog on my sidebar.

She happens to be running a contest right now, and while my photography is amateur at best, it seems to be getting better every day, so I'll be sending my memories as entries...you should join in on the fun too! Directions for how to submit your entries can be found on the blog. And just a note - I've included the tips that inspired each shot just for your info:)

UPDATE: You can vote for my pics by liking them on Pinterest. They're the ones from belle-n-bee.blogspot.com (obviously:).

Entry 1: Moving beyond the traditional pose

Entry 2: Capturing the details

Entry 3: Getting behind them

Hold tight to those memories in whatever way you can! Happy Halloween:)

Trick or Treat

We'll be sporting brand new treat bags as we make our rounds this evening!

They were supposed to feature an applique monogram in the open space at the top. But, Belle can't seem to make up her mind which one she wants, so I figured this way we can trade as often as we need/want. Maybe next year I can add a pumpkin and a spider to jazz them up, but for now I quite like them as they are.

And have no fear...my sweet children will not have their long-term health sacrificed to the candy monsters! Oh no...the hubs and I will take care of eating most of that candy for them:) Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Our Autumn Fairy Village

Belle picked out our pumpkin this year...a tremendously large, bumpy, WHITE pumpkin! When it came time to carve it, a plain old jack-o-lantern face just wouldn't do. This pumpkin called for something really special...a Fairy House!

Belle gathered a bucket full of natural items (twigs, acorns, leaves, pine needles, etc.)

We put our three heads (Mommy, Daddy, and Belle - poor Bee always sleeps through the all the fun) and came up with this amazing fairy village. Daddy was in charge of architecture. Mommy was in charge or architectural detail...and Belle was in charge of all things fanciful. Did you notice the flowerpots in the windows??? All Belle!!!

We were hoping that the warm glow and special creature comfort details we added (a pile of firewood, a soft moss door mat....) would attract some autumn fairies.

This morning we found this small bundle on the front porch next to the fairy village. Tied to the top was a tiny scroll with even tinier hand-writing. It was a thank you note for Belle from the Autumn Fairies: Scarlet, Maize, and Goldenrod.

And they made her this very special doll so she would know what they look like. They said they can only stay a few days, but we are hoping to exchange gifts with them again before they leave:)

A Baby Butterfly is a...

CATERPILLAR!

mmmm...PIE!

We took a trip to the local pumpkin patch and brought home this gourd-geous gourd! Of course, I forgot to take a pic of it before we baked it:( And I forgot the variety name:( So, I'm no help whatsoever:( But ask the farmers at your local stand which of their pumpkins will make the best pie...that's what I did.


We cut it into fourths and scooped out all the stringy stuff and seeds. We separated the seeds and bagged some for planting next year and some for roasting. The pumpkin hunks went into a 350 degree oven until they were ultra-smooshy. I think ours were in the oven close to 2 hours...we had a BIG pumpkin!



When it came out we scooped the pulp, and boy was there a lot of it!

So last night, I dug out my grandma's pumpkin pie recipe. Remember my rather sketchy soup recipes...well, you're about to see where I get it:)

A little fresh whipped cream and YUMMY!

Grandma's Pumpkin Pie Recipe:

2 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1 can pumpkin (when using fresh, eyeball it - put about 1 can worth of pulp in)

1 small can evaporated milk

pumpkin pie spice (I asked, "How much?"...she said, "enough.") - I went with a generous sprinkling approx. 1-2T

pie shell

Stir all ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour into shell. Bake at 375 degrees. I asked, "How long?" She said, "Till it's done." I think it takes about an hour...but have I ever timed it? NOPE! You'll know it's finished when it is firmly set. Cool before serving. Serve with whipped cream. And that pic above...that was my first scoop of whipped cream. I FIRMLY believe that you should have a 1:1 ratio of cream to pie, but that's just me:)

Orange and Black Wrap Dress

Remember this? Here's the more sophisticated, grown-up THREE YEAR OLD version:)

Made with a simple wrap dress pattern, but let me warn you...wrap dresses and pinafores are made such that when turned the entire body of the garment must pass through that tiny, narrow, little shoulder seam. Decorator weight fabric does NOT make this easy! But well worth it in the end:)

A Sweet Treat

Belle and I made this delicious candy corn trail mix with part of a bag of candy corn that she quite literally STOLE from her Neeny (my MIL).

The Recipe: All quantities are to be determined by the eating parties. We kept the sweets to a minimum and loaded up on the cereal...no sugared up kiddos allowed around here.

Ingredients:

crispix cereal, pretzels, peanuts, dried cranberries, golden raisins, marshmallows, and CANDY CORN (orange and black m&m's would also be quite yummy now that I think of it!)

Directions: Stir:)

Do You Decorate?

We don't. At least we never have before. But this year, our neighborhood is having a decorating contest. Did this make me want to decorate? NOPE! But, it apparently made lots of our neighbors want to decorate. Which in turn, led to Belle asking about all the decorations.

And OF COURSE, wanting to decorate our house. Since I had no real excuse why we couldn't...we did.

We started by doing a google image search for ideas. I made sure that I entered search words that would lead to the kinds of things that I would actually put on my front porch and that wouldn't terrify my sweet, little 3 year old. We saved a bunch of pictures that we liked and then went back and looked at our digital collage.

With those images in our minds, we hit the "projects store." We gathered supplies and came home and got to work. Belle painted the skeleton mask while I cut out paper rats for our stairs (they met an untimely death when I forgot to bring them in before it rained...we'll be sure to replace them soon).

I used some of our left over fabric for the wreath alternative on the door...and yes, that is packing tape holding it up. I couldn't reach the wreath hanger and my husband wasn't home to get it for me. I promise we will fix that too!

A couple of pumpkins and a mum finished off our simple look. Will we win? HA! But at least Belle is happy:)

Beautiful Butterfly

As promised...more costumes!

I bought these hand-painted wings here.

And boy did I learn A LOT making this tutu! You know those go-to designs that you make time and again? Well, it turns out that they are "go-to" designs for a reason....THEY WORK! So next time you think that adding two extra layers of fluffy stuff won't change your go-to design at all...think again! It will...and you will get frustrated...and there will be a little girl standing at your side begging to wear it...over and over and over again. So after some modification to my go-to design, we finally ended up with a wearable result.

And why, you might be wondering, is that child staring off into the distance in every single picture?

She's watching tv...how else do you get a butterfly to stand still?

Presenting....

ABBY CADABBY!


These petals were KILLER! But totally worth the extra effort.



Now, is it for Belle or Bee???

NEITHER! This little number is for our neighbor, M. And guess what that means....more costumes to come!

AAARRRGHH!

A lovely little pirate! For a lovely little gal:)

Sorry for my absenteeism...crazy busy and crazy sick, AGAIN! Trying to get back on track! Hopefully a couple of new tutorials coming in the next week or so...and the BIG unveiling:)

From the Cutting Room Floor

Who doesn't love a good teaser?

Halloween Art - A Product Recommendation

No - I'm not getting paid for this endorsement! But, I do SERIOUSLY love this product!

Belle has some new "pens." [Thanks, Nana & TT!] We aren't really sure what to call them because they draw and color like nothing else. The color is so rich, so smooth, so vibrant, so...

Anyway, save your pennies and make sure some of these are in your little one's stocking (oops...wrong month)!

You can find them at most mass market and craft stores or here.

And look at what they can do! Belle has a seriously light touch so most of the time she ends up with super pale drawings...not with these! We have a stack of about 30 different drawings on the counter because she loved drawing with them so much. I didn't think anyone else would want to try to decipher the subjects of the entire stack (ok - grandparents excluded), so just the October themed ones made the cut...hope the subtitles are helpful:)

Pirate Dinosaur (see...he has a tail!)

Witch on a Broom

Pumpkins and Ghosts

Soup's On!

Nothing says fall like the return of the soup pot to its cozy home on my stovetop! Here are two of my favorite soup "recipes." You'll quickly discover that I don't actually follow recipes, refuse to measure, and never replicate the same pot of soup in exactly the same way...EVER! But, I think you will easily be able to recreate these much loved pots of yummy deliciousness:) Just trust your gut and season till it tastes good!

Chicken Noodle Soup:

In a large stock pot, saute onion, garlic, carrots, and celery seasoned with S&P. Add previously cooked chicken whacked into bite-size pieces (I usually use leftovers from roasted chicken, but you can easily grill up a breast to use if you'd like). Saute briefly. Add low-sodium chicken broth/stock and water. Season with dried thyme, minced rosemary, a bay leaf and more S&P if you desire. Bring to a rapid boil. Add wide egg noodles. Simmer 15 minutes.

Beef and Barley Soup (my fave!):

Cut stew beef chunks into bite-size pieces. Season with S&P. Heat a tiny bit of olive oil in a large stock pot, add beef and sear on all sides. Add onion, carrots, celery and garlic and saute until soft. Add a couple of good glugs of balsamic vinegar and worcestershire sauce. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add a carton of low-sodium beef broth, a large can of tomato puree, and a can of water. Season with a bay leaf, minced rosemary, a sprinkling of Splenda (or sugar), and more S&P if you desire. Bring to a boil. Stir in approx. 1 cup of pearl barley (NOT THE QUICK COOKING KIND!). Simmer 30-45 minutes, stirring regularly. Once the barley starts to release starch, the soup will thicken (YUM!), but it will also start to stick to the bottom of the pan and burn, so be sure you stir every few minutes.

MMMMMmmmmmm.....

The Inmate Pinafore:)

On a mission to find fabrics for our newly decorated family room, I found this gorgeous yumminess at Ikea.

I had 2 yards of each in my cart in an instant. I love the heavy canvas-like feel of the fabric for fall. It seems more substantial and therefore warmer. Even though it is often still in the 80's for most of the month of October here, it still seems important that our Halloween clothes be warm. So I just knew this would be perfect for October/Halloween outfits, but I wasn't totally sure what I would do with it.

I scrolled through all of my new patterns (oh, there are so many that I can't wait to share!) and decided a sweet little pinafore would be perfect for Bee. Short sleeves, long sleeves, no sleeves underneath...just right for the up and down temps we often have at this time of year in NC.

I used this pattern from...you guessed, it Heidi and Finn. I omitted the pocket because I didn't want it to interfere with the fantastic bird print. It's totally reversible...if Bee wants to dress up as a sweet little white collar criminal:)

Scary Skull Skirt

A while back I made a mountain of skirts for Belle. I had the worst trouble keeping this one secret! Luv it, luv it, luv it:)

Find the how-to details here Basic Skirt Tutorial.

Halloween Crayons - An Oldie But a Goodie

I have a thing about old crayons...I don't like them. Once the papers get soiled, the tips are worn flat, and pieces start to break off, I just can't use them. Wasteful...I know, but I have come up with a three-part solution:

1. Ignore - just choose not to see the broken, dirty, used up crayons in the box...use all the ones that still look pretty.

2. Retire - Once they can no longer be ignored, hide them away. I keep a bag of old crayons in the bottom drawer of our art supply cabinet. They just hang out waiting for their chance to be reclaimed, given a face lift, made new again.

3. Recreate - Turn those old dirty stubs into fabulous, new, designer crayons.


I bought this mold at our local craft store. It was about $10, but we will be able to use it for baking as well as crafting, so it was worth the splurge. You could probably get these in the after holiday sales if you're smarter than me, but I couldn't wait that long:)

Belle and I spent a rainy afternoon peeling and breaking those old crayons. We sorted them by colors and dropped them into the mold. I wasn't so sure about the blue cat, but she insisted and she was right...non-traditional, but pretty fantastic!

Pop the pan into the oven on 200 degrees. Be sure to turn on your oven light so your little one/s can watch them ooze! Pull them out when they are 99% melted. If you let them become totally liquidy then the pigment and wax will separate some and you will end up with a colorless wax layer on the back of each crayon. I let ours go too long, we have colorless wax, it's not a big deal except that only the front side of the crayon colors well, so it can be a little frustrating for small hands. Oh well!

This project has been around a while...nothing new here, but cute and fun none the less! Enjoy:)

IT'S OCTOBER!!!!

I love fall and the month of October in particular!

I'm a jeans and boots kind of gal, so those first cool nights of fall make me giddy. I'm the one pulling out sweaters when it's still 80+ degrees, because fall just isn't long enough in the South. And the PUMPKINS!!! Need I say more? I mean, what's not to love about a chubby, orange, gourd with a lop-sided grin and crooked eyes! Come on, you know the mere thought of it is making you smile:)

So in honor of my favorite month of the year, I'm going to be sharing as many fall-themed projects, recipes, and inspirations as possible. I'd love to tell you that I will have something new for you every day, but let's be realistic...have you met my children??? Anyway, I'll do my best and have a ton of fun along the way.

Have any great fall projects of your own??? Link them to this post...I'm always looking for new ideas!

R U CHICKEN???

Belle is:) Literally and figuratively! She was terrified of this costume and wouldn't go near it for weeks. On the BIG day, I was convinced that we would never get it on her. Our back-up plan was to carry the costume around on a hanger and make her wear a sign that said, "I'm too chicken for my costume!" Thankfully, we distracted her enough to get it over her head and once she was in it, she loved it:)

Quick Halloween Costume Tutorial - THE CHICKEN!

You will need:

1 super large hooded sweatshirt...ours hangs past Belle's knees

several feather boas - the number will depend on the size of your sweatshirt and how closely you stitch them on...we used 6

thread

needle

an outside space to work...trust me on this one!

patience

tights

dye (if, like me, you can't find yellow or orange tights)

shoes

yellow felt (the stiff kind)

red felt optional (also the stiff stuff)

1/4 elastic

To make the chicken:

Optional Comb - Cut a comb for the top of the head from red felt. Stitch it to the top of the hood. It doesn't matter that the bottom edge is visible...it won't be soon:) Our comb doesn't even really show, so you may want to make this pretty large if you want it to show out from under the feathers...or skip it altogether.

GO OUTSIDE (or in your garage)! Stitch the end of one boa to the bottom edge of your sweatshirt. Snake the boa up and down the sweatshirt, tacking it in place as you go. There' s no easy way to do this. You will itch, you may sneeze and you will be covered in feathers. The floor will be covered in feathers; the chair will be covered in feathers; your toes will be covered in feathers. If you are inside your house, your husband will NOT be happy! Keep stitching anyway. Be sure you are snaking up and down, NOT around the sweatshirt. Otherwise, all your little tacking stitches will tear out when the shirt stretches. When the sweatshirt is covered, use the same method to cover the hood.

To make the legs/feet:

If you couldn't find yellow or orange tights, then you will need to dye some. Follow the package directions to do this. THEY WILL BLEED IN THE WASH! No matter what the package says, you will find yellow spots on your favorite dress, the cutest pajamas in your house, and that adorable little skirt you made for going to the pumpkin patch.

For the feet - we magically had a pair of yellow fake Crocs (Thanks, Neeny!) already in our house. I used stiff yellow felt to cut out feet. I attached a piece of elastic to the edges of each foot so that it would slip over Belle's shoes.

The matching baby costume was a simple onesie with "egg" appliqued to the front. She got her own yellow tights too:) At just 6 weeks old, this was as close to a costume as she needed! But isn't she the cutest...I miss my BABY!