DIY monster cello bag treats

We always like to give a little something special out on Halloween to the kiddos in the neighborhood that the boys play with. Last week I was browsing around and ran across some adorable ghost cello bags from The Gaines Gang. I immediately thought clever! And then the next thing I thought was how I could make my Trick or Treat collection monster pedestal candy dishes (tutorial coming this week) into cellos and give them out on Halloween.

The fabulous thing is, these aren’t only cute. They’re super simple. All you’ll need are pretzel cello bags from the craft store, I picked mine up at JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores, and a wide tip Sharpie! Crafting doesn’t get much easier than that.

Jack-o-lantern,

Frankenstein,

and ghost!

I just filled each with candies (orange gumballs for my jack-o-lantern, green and white sixlets for my Frankenstein and mini marshmallows for my ghost), tied them with pretty ribbons and done.

As always, I hope you’re inspired! {UPDATE: I made Thanksgiving turkey cello bag treats!}

Join us on facebook, signup for our newlsetter with weekly offers, follow us on twitter and pinterest. Participating in Tip Junkie’s Tip Me Tuesday.

you may also like:

decorating with white pumpkins

Growing up I remember orange pumpkins and gourds galore, but not so much the white pumpkin. And now they are everywhere and I LOVE how we can decorate with them. I admittedly subscribe to a ton of magazines and these are just a few of my favorite white pumpkin decorations found in their pages:

And this last weekend, when the boys and I were carving this pumpkin, we also made a Mickey Mouse pumpkin. Isn’t he so cute?!  

As always, I hope you’re inspired!

Join us on facebook, signup for our newlsetter with weekly offers, follow us on twitter and pinterest.

you may also like:

carving pumpkins with my boys

We live in Ohio so there are pumpkins galore this time of year and the kids always want to carve them. It’s not always the easiest task to keep the boys clean during that process, but they always have such a good time.

We picked up a few pumpkins at the nursery last weekend and the kids simply couldn’t wait so I let them carve one (we’ll save the others for a bit closer to Halloween).

We used these new Pumpkin Masters carving kits. The boys sat on the front porch for 30 minutes selecting which template to try and in the end the dragon won out. Although, we’re going to try these new eye and teeth (plastic) picks on our next pumpkins. They’re really neat because they stick right into the holes you’ve carved and they’re mostly clear so the candle light will shine through and make them extra creepy. Boys really like extra creepy! {wink}

My youngest wanted to use the crayon that comes with the kit first to draw on a smiley face.

Then, down to business. We taped on the stencil and he used the little hole punching/tracing tool to outline his dragon.

After our template was on, he wanted to color it in before we carved it out. And he wanted color so he went in the house and got a small can of crayons.

They didn’t work as well as the crayon in the kit, but he was determined. {proud momma smile}

Then came the real work… dipping the ick out of the pumpkin into a garbage bag. If you’ve not ever done this before… it’s really, really messy so be prepared.

The kids of course thought it was cool. And using the little scooper in the Pumpkin Masters kit makes the process a lot easier when you have to scrape the sides clean. (NOTE: If you spray the inside with a bleach and water mixture the pumpkin will rot slower.)

So now we’re back to my smiling little boy and his dragon pumpkin. Happy weekend everyone and as always, I hope you’re inspired to do something fun!

Join us on facebook, signup for our newlsetter with weekly offers, follow us on twitter and pinterest.

you may also like:

introducing Trick or Treat

I’m so excited to share our new Trick or Treat Halloween collection with you this morning!

We shot this collection and our new harvest collection, which I plan to share with you next week, in late July. Both were photographed by my good friend Angie of Angie Arthur Photography and both on an actual working farm, Freeman’s Farm, not too far from my home. There was tons of rain and super hot days in July leading up to the shoot and then the day of was a mild 82 and beautiful. Thank goodness for us and for our little monsters!

This collection was inspired by traditional Halloween costumes. You know. The ones we wore as kids. Witches, mummies, Frankensteins (or Frankette in this case) and vampires. Okay, so maybe I was a princess a time or two… and maybe Strawberry Shortcake… but I digress.

I love Halloween, but I’m more of a “treat” kind of girl than “trick,” so I wanted to style a fun party without the fright. The farm turned out to be the perfect backdrop, a large white barn, raw wood interior, there were even a few real bats living in the barn. I’m glad to report that they didn’t come over to investigate.

For the table décor, we hung large pumpkin lanterns. 

I asked Sew Jewell to create table runners and chair backers monogrammed with the collection’s screech owl. Both are available in the shoppe with the rest of the collection and through Sew Jewell!

We designed an entire printables collection full of placecards, beverage wrappers, napkins rings, favor tags, cello toppers, banners, and much more!

We crafted several DIY ideas like the cauldron centerpiece and spider forks. I found mod orange and white polka dot tableware with black crepe placemats (both available in the shoppe). And the little glitter pumpkins holding the placecards are last year’s find from the dollar store.

For the dessert table, I raided the candy store. I mean, it is Halloween, right?! {innocent smile}.

And we invited guest’s in with a witchy grin.

For the cupcakes, playing on the name of the collection, we created “trick” and “treat” printable designs. You’ll notice that the “trick” cupcakes are a little wiggly. {wink}

We also created cello toppers, perfect for bulk candy confections that aren’t individually packaged or homemade sweets.

And we teamed up with our cookie partners at Sweet Tooth Cottage. As usual, their yummy butter cookies were to die for!  

Not to mention, owl-dorable. {I kill me!} Both cookie designs are available in shoppe with the rest of the collection (Baked, packaged and shipped from Sweet Tooth Cottage. Shipping cost included in the price.)

But my absolute favorite craft for this project…

are my monster pedestal candy dishes. Super simple to make and a great focal point for any spooky fun you have planned this season!

And last, but in no way least, 

are the fabulous costumes created by Sew Jewell, from the capes, to the skirts, to the mummy wrapping, it all turned out perfect! You can find the witch, Frankette and the vampire cape in her Etsy shoppe in the next day or so.

 And with all this cuteness, you must get tons of pictures so we created a few photo props just for the occasion.

Shop custom invitations, table decor, printables, custom cookies, table runners, and even t-shirts in the shoppe. And as always, I hope you’re inspired!

Join us on facebook, signup for our newlsetter with weekly offers, follow us on twitter and pinterest.

you may also like:

marshmallow monsters

Playing around in the kitchen with my boys, I whipped up these marshmallow monsters. First I dipped all my marshmallows in green candy chocolate, available at most craft stores. I picked mine up at JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores.

For the witch, her hat is the bottom half of a Keebler Sugar Cone and a Keebler Grasshopper cookie (painted with purple chocolate). Her hair is a Starburst (melted, rolled flat and cut into strands) and her nose is a purple candy corn.

For Frankenstein, his bolts are Smarties and his eyes are just small round yellow candies. Both are frighteningly simple. {wink}

As always, I hope you’re inspired! And stop over at Snackpicks.com for more of my Kellogg’s ideas.

Join us on facebook and follow us on twitter and pinterest. Participating in Tip Junkie’s Tip Me Tuesday.

you may also like: