Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup

It seems that I have lost my blogging mojo lately.  My entire household has been sick since Halloween, so it's been difficult to find the time to do any sewing or crafting, let alone blog about it.  But with Thanksgiving only two days away, I wanted to share a few recipes that would be perfect to add to your holiday table.

The Pioneer Woman's Dinner Rolls - I made these for Christmas Eve dinner with the in-laws last year and they received rave reviews!  I'll be making a batch to take over to my sister's house for dinner on Saturday.

Pumpkin Crunch Cake by Cara at The Picky Apple - This custardy pumpkin cake will be another of my contributions to our Thanksgiving dinner.  I cannot wait to dig into this dessert!

Melissa's Brussels Sprouts - Having eaten these too many times to count while pregnant with Jake, I can vouch for this amazing brussels sprouts recipe, also from The Picky Apple.  I may need to make a pan of these to bring along to our family dinner too.  They are delicious!

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes by Sweet Pea's Kitchen - A new twist on the traditional sweet potato casserole, these individual stuffed sweet potatoes would make a great side dish for your holiday turkey or ham.

And finally, a little crafting for the kiddos...

Flower Turkeys by Our Best Bites - These adorable little turkeys make from artificial flowers would be a great project to keep the kids busy while you're in the kitchen.  I think these little guys are too cute and would make a great table decoration or napkin ring.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families and friends!

Wordless Wednesday

Trick or Treat!

The Bat Cave

Our house has become a bat cave!

Just like the Spooky Spider Web, this idea is courtesy of Dana at MADE.  And just like the Spooky Spider Web, this project is simple, inexpensive, and makes a big impression. 

Last night, using black cardstock leftover from my days of stamping and card-making, and the bat template (found here), I spent about 30 minutes cutting out the bats while watching Mad Men (a recent discovery via Netflix...love it!).  This morning Bailey helped me hang them up in the living room.  Our bats are flying in through the window above the front door. 

Spooktacular!  Bailey loves them because they are spooky, but not scary.  After Halloween, it'll be a piece of cake to take them down and save them for next year.  Only 3 days until Halloween...are you ready?

Silly Slime

 Slime, goo, flubber...whatever you call it, this stuff is just plain fun!  As soon as I saw this post over at The Picky Apple, I knew Bailey would love to make some slime.  Boy did she ever!  In the past month we've made three batches for her...yellow, pink, and green.  She can't get enough of the stuff! 

 

All you need to make your own slime is glue, Borax, water, and food coloring.  Borax can be found in the laundry aisle of just about any grocery store.  Dissolve a few tablespoons of Borax in a small cup of water.  Pour the glue into a bowl and thin with a bit of water.  Add your food coloring to the glue and mix well.  Now it's time to make the slime!  Add in a bit of the Borax mixture and stir with a spoon.  The glue mixture will immediately turn into a gooey blob.  I continue to add in the Borax mixture until all of my glue is "blobby."  You can always pour off the excess water after you're finished mixing.

At this point I give the blob to Bailey and as she plays with it, it begins to dry out and gets oozy and stretchy.  When she's finished playing with the slime, I put it in a Ziploc baggie and save it for another day.  It seems to keep indefinitely.
 

When I asked Bailey what kind of treat she wanted to take to her Halloween party at preschool, she immediately said "Slime!"  So this morning I mixed up a big batch of orange slime for her to share with her friends at school.  I packaged the slime in small 1/2 cup plastic containers and added some stick-on googly eyes.  I hope her classmates enjoy the Silly Slime as much as she does!

Boo! Wreath - Part Deux

My younger sister recently moved back to Texas after living in California for a few years.  I decided she needed a feathery Halloween wreath just like mine for the front door of her new house.  Jake and I made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby and found a wire wreath form, a black feather boa, a small wooden Boo! sign, and a package of glittery purple spiders.  This time around I used small pieces of black pipe cleaners to twist-tie the boa to the wreath form.  They blend right into the feathers and you can't even see them.  I used a few dabs of hot glue to attach the Boo!, the spiders, and a few of the glittery black bats leftover from my wreath.  I thought about attaching a big black gingham bow at the top, but couldn't get it to look right, so this wreath is ribbon-less.    

I'm still finding tiny black feathers all over my kitchen, including inside my toaster!  But my sister loved the wreath and it looks great on her front door, so this one goes down as a crafty success.

Beware!

I have wicked pipe cleaner craft skills.  Oh yeah!