Maple Glazed Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

The other day at Costco I saw Krusteaz pumpkin spice quickbread mix and I snapped it up.  I love pumpkin bread and since Halloween marks the start of my busy season (Halloween, Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, and all 4 of our birthdays in a 74 day period) I like to make things easy when I can.  As a teacher myself, I know that it's always nice to get a little token of appreciation from the parents so when I volunteer in Jake's class I like to bring treats for the teachers.  This pumpkin spice bread was the perfect seasonal treat, but I wanted to make it a little fancier.  I decided to make it into a bundt cake and add a maple glaze.

This couldn't be easier.  Take 2 packages of Krusteaz pumpkin spice quickbread mix (the Costco box comes with 4) and mix it up with some water, vegetable oil, and four eggs.  Then stir in some chopped pecans because they are oh so good.  Pour the batter into a bundt pan sprayed with baking spray and bake at 350 for about an hour.

Let the cake cool in the bundt pan for about 10 minutes and then put it on a cooling rack to cool completely.  Once your cake is cool, whip up your maple glaze.  In a small saucepan melt together 2 tbls. of butter and 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup.  Once your butter is melted, whisk in a cup of powdered sugar until combined.  Pour immediately over your cooled bundt cake.  I recommend pouring the glaze on once it is on the serving plate.  I did it on a separate plate and then moved it once the glaze had set.  This left me with a few cracks in the glaze but it still tasted delicious. 

If you aren't feeling the maple glaze, I also made this quickbread as a snack cake for a little Halloween party (1 package of mix and 1/4 cup of pecans baked in an 8 inch pan).   To make it more festive I used my silhouette cameo to cut out a little pumpkin stencil.  After cutting my snack cake into squares I laid the stencil on each and sifted a little powdered sugar over the top.  Lift off the stencil and you have pumpkin decorated pumpkin bread.

 

Maple Glazed Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

• 2 packages Krusteaz pumpkin spice quickbread mix
• 1 cup water
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
•  2 tbls. butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup powdered sugar

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 and spray a bundt pan with baking spray.
2. Mix together quickbread mix, water, oil, and eggs until combined.
3. Stir in pecans and pour into prepared pan and bake for 50-65 minutes (until a tester comes out clean).
4. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.
5. To make glaze melt together butter and syrup.  Whisk in powdered sugar until smooth.  Pour onto bundt cake and let set.

I'm linking up with Two Cup Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Whimsy Wednesdays, and Wednesday Whatsits,  Thrifty Thursday, Cook it Craft It Share It, Weekend Social, Best of the Weekend, Link Party Palooza, Best Recipes, Weekend Potluck, and Pinworthy Projects. 

Last Minute Infant Robin (the boy wonder) Costume

I was so excited to dress the boys in coordinating Halloween costumes this year.  The only problem was that Jake kept changing his mind.  He finally decided on Batman and Robin.  He loves the old Adam West Batman show so I instantly envisioned the costumes I would make.  When I started to describe my plan to Jake he looked at me and then broke my heart.  "Mom, I don't want that, I want the black Batman costume with muscles."  So... I wouldn't be making Jake's costume but I could still make Luke's.

This costume couldn't have been easier.  The hardest part was finding a dark green onesie to put underneath.  I had some leftover red and yellow felt from the capes I made for Jake's amazing Superman party last year (If you haven't checked the party out, you definitely should here: 1, 2, 3).  I picked up a sheet of black felt and some liquid stitch at Michael's and I was ready to go.

Full disclosure, I actually made this costume twice.  The first time around I traced the onesie to make the pattern and then I couldn't get Luke's arms into it.  The second time I learned my lesson and traced about an inch outside of the onesie and I had plenty of room.  Luckily the entire thing can be made in under an hour so it wasn't a big deal.

Start out by laying your onesie on top of a piece of doubled over felt with the shoulders on the fold of the felt.  Use the onesie as a guideline to make your pattern (about an inch away from the onesie).  You are making a vest so you don't need sleeves.  Cut it out and then eyeball cutting the neckhole.  Keep in mind that the front should be a deep v because it is a vest.  I also curved up the bottom on the front because that is what the old school Robin's costume looks like.  When you are finished you will be left with something like this:

 

Now I will be the first person to tell you that I cannot sew.  I am absolutely terrible at it, but I did do a little bit of sewing on this costume.  I flipped the pattern inside out and just hand stitched the side seams (don't sew up the arm holes).  This is the inside of a Halloween costume for a baby so you don't need to stress out about keeping your seam perfectly straight or your stitches even, at least I didn't.

Once you have your seams sewn, turn the vest right side out.  Now it is time for the embellishments.  I used this photo to model my costume off of.

 

I took my black sheet of felt and cut out a black rectangle to serve as the belt.  Then I traced a small cup to make the circle patch.  I used liquid stitch to glue those on.  Then I used my yellow felt and cut out the little yellow rectangles to simulate the lacing on the front of Robin's vest.  I cut out the R, then laid it on the black circle, and then trimmed it a little to make it fit.  I used liquid stitch to attach these as well.

Finally it was time to make the cape.  Since this is for a baby, I didn't want anything that went around his neck.  I free-handed the cape shape, then trimmed the neck a little and used liquid stitch to just attach the very top of the cape onto the back of the vest.

That's it.  Some felt, a tiny bit of sewing, and some liquid stitch layered over a green onesie and you have the perfect Robin costume for your little one.

I'm linking up with Thrifty Thursday and The Weekend Social.

Easy Halloween Snacks

When the sign-ups for soccer snacks came out I knew that I wanted to be snack mom for the game closest to Halloween.  I love holidays and everything that goes along with them.  The decorating, the crafts, the food, I love it all.  I had so many ideas and as the day of the game approached I knew that I needed to narrow it down and make some decisions.  I had originally planned on making something homemade, but I know that a lot of people are uncomfortable with homemade treats these days so I decided to go with pre-made foods.  Just because I was using pre-made foods did not mean I couldn't add a fun holiday spin to our snacks.

I had seen people make butterflies by filling a ziploc with grapes and clipping it with a clothespin for the body so I decided to use the same method to make little bats.  These turned out so cute and while they did take a little bit of time, they were super easy.  Start out by getting some clothespins and painting them black.  If you can find black clothespins, even better, but I couldn't so I just painted them.  Once the paint was dry I used a white paint pen and a black sharpie to draw the eyes and the fangs.  Then I cut little triangles out of black construction paper and glued them on for the ears.  Each snack size ziplock got 4 Halloween Joe Joes (Oreos are perfect too if you don't have a Trader Joes near you).  Then I just bunched up the bag in the center and clipped it with the clothespin.  Halloween bats made of Joe Joes, check.

I had a sweet snack so now I wanted something savory.  Cheez-Its are one of Jake's favorite afternoon snacks and since they are orange they were exactly what I needed.  I picked up a box of the little fold over plastic bags and drew jack-o-lantern faces on them.  Then I filled them with Cheez-Its and used a little piece green pipe cleaner to close it up.  I also curled the end of the pipe cleaner to make it look like a piece of the pumpkin vine.

Jake doesn't like Gatorade so I knew we would be bringing juice boxes.  A little white duct tape wrapped around, a couple of googly eyes glued on, and a wavy line from my sharpie and we had mummies.

The final part of our snack was the mid-game fruit.  The traditional orange slices were a no go because my picky eater doesn't like oranges.  He does like cuties though so we just peeled them, cut a little "stem" out of celery and our snacks were ready to go.  Mid-game pumpkins followed by post-game bats, jack-o-lanterns, and mummies made the perfect Halloween themed snacks.  Any or all of these would be perfect additions to any Halloween celebration!

I'm linking up with Tasty Tuesdays, Whimsy Wednesday, Wednesday Whatsits, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Create It Thursday, Cook It Craft It Share It, Pin Junkie, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Pin Junkie, Pin It Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, and The Weekend Social.

DIY Lego Movie Halloween Shirt & Free Cut File

I love dressing my kids in themed clothes for holidays so at the end of September I started looking for Halloween shirts for the boys.  I quickly found one I liked for Luke but I wasn't having any luck for Jake.  I found a couple that were okay but they were long sleeved and it's still pretty hot in Southern California.  The bigger problem I ran into was that a lot of the shirts were downright rude.  I've noticed  that once your son transitions out of the toddler section and into the boy's section the shirts are rude.  I must be in the minority here, but if I wouldn't let my child say something to me because it's rude, I certainly won't let him walk around with it on his shirt.  We were out of town this weekend and were near an outlet mall so I dragged the boys into four different kids stores and struck out at every single one.  Finally Josh suggested that I just make him one.  Why didn't I think of that?!?

I loved how my Pregnant Skeleton Halloween shirt came out last year and I always get complements on the Ninja Turtle onesie I made for Luke so I knew that I had my solution.  Jake is OBSESSED with all things Lego and the Lego Movie is no exception.  I decided to do a play on the theme song "Everything is Awesome" and make his shirt say Halloween is Awesome.  Then I made a jack-o-lantern Lego head and I was ready to go.

Once I had my cut file finished I gathered my supplies.  You will need some freezer paper, a black t-shirt, orange fabric paint, and a sponge paint brush.  Cut a piece of freezer paper to 10 1/2 by 12 inches (that's the size of the cut file page) and put it on your cutting mat with the shiny side facing down.  Cut out the stencil.  Make sure to save the little pieces that go inside the As and the Os as well as the features of the jack-o-lantern.

Turn the t-shirt inside out and iron a piece of freezer paper with the shiny side touching the shirt.  This will protect your shirt from any paint bleeding through to the back.  Then turn the shirt right side out and iron the stencil on.  I ironed on the main stencil first, then carefully placed the little pieces and ironed them on.  I was rushing so I had a few bubbles in my stencil, you want to do a better job ironing.  Bubbles in the stencil equals places where the paint can bleed outside of the lines.

Use your sponge brush to dab the paint on.  You don't really want to brush it on.  It looks better if you dab it.  After you have finished your first coat let it dry.  I was trying to get this all done during one of Luke's naps so I cheated and used my hair dryer to dry it for about 5-10 minutes.  Then I folded a load of laundry and by the time I was finished it was dry enough to do the second coat.

Use the same dabbing method to sponge on the second coat of paint and then let dry completely before peeling off the stencil.  Happy Halloween!

Halloween is Awesome cut file

For those of you without a Silhouette (Add it to your holiday wish list, I love mine!), here is a PDF if you want to get crazy with your exacto knife:
Halloween Is Awesome PDF


I'm linking up with Wednesday Whatsits, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Whimsy Wednesday, Cook It Craft It Share It, Pin It Thursday, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Create It Thursday, The Weekend Social, Pin Junkie, Creativity Unleashed, Link Party Palooza, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Best Recipes, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Pinworthy Projects, Show Stopper Saturday, Inspiration Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Craftastic Monday, Busy Monday, Munching Mondays, Two Cup Tuesday, Lou Lou Girls, and Mad Skills Party.

DIY Spider Wreath

So... I had planned on making this wreath last Halloween but I was working full time and super pregnant and I only got as far as buying the foam wreath.  This year, I was determined to actually make it.  Then when I took Jake to Michael's to buy a poster (he's Star of the Week this week) I saw the perfect yarn.  Having made a yarn wreath before I knew I wanted a thick yarn because it goes much, much faster.  This yarn is nice and thick and is black with a shimmery/sheer white layer encasing it.  I also picked up a package of fake spiderwebs.

This spider wreath is super easy and cheap to make.  I've seen on pinterest that some people have cut a pool noodle and duct taped it to make a wreath  If you've got extra pool noodles that would make this even cheaper.  I used a 40% off coupon last year so it was pretty cheap anyway.  I used another coupon to buy the yarn.
 

Start out by looping the yarn around your wreath and tying a double knot to get it started.  Trim off any extra yarn hanging off of the knot.  Then start wrapping your yarn around the wreath.  This is sort of time consuming but not too bad since it is a thick yarn.  Just turn on the tv and you will be finished before you know it.  It won't be in perfectly straight lines because the inside of the wreath is thinner than the outside but it will still look great.  I did two layers.  Once I had wrapped all the way around I just kept on going wrapping right on top of the first layer.  When the second layer is finished, tie another double knot and trim off the excess yarn.

Grab a little bit of your fake spider web and stretch it across your wreath until it looks how you want it to.  The web will stick pretty well to the yarn on its own, but I used a couple of straight pins to tack it into the back to make sure it stayed in place.

Next grab your spiders.  I used these little clip back plastic spiders that I picked up at Party City.  Full disclosure, I originally used a big spider and hot glued it on.  I loved how it looked.

Unfortunately, by the next morning the spider was on the ground, it was just too heavy.  I probably could have found a way to make it stick but I just changed my plan and got the little ones instead.  They have a little clip on the back so Jake helped me slide them onto the web and we were finished.

I'm linking up with Moonlight & Mason Jars, Whimsy Wednesdays, Wonderfully Creative Wednesday, Create It Thursday, Pin It Thursday, and Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Pin Junkie, Creativity Unleashed, Link Party Palooza, Weekend Potluck, Pinworthy Projects, Bakerette, Show Stopper Saturday, Best of the Weekend, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Saturday Night Fever, Weekend Social, Mad Skills, Lou Lou Girls, Two Cup Tuesday, and Create Link Inspire.

Easy DIY Ghosts

Today's post is a Halloween themed craft that even the self-proclaimed craft challenged can make.  If you can draw an oval and color it in, you can make these ghosts.  I was recently at a mom's group and one of the mommies had brought some puffs.  All of the mobile babies were clustered around her like pigeons on a statue.  She mentioned that she had a bunch of empty puffs containers at home and I instantly thought of these milk jug ghosts we made last year.  I suggested she make these little puffs container ghosts when she got home.

She claims she can't craft, but she went home and made these and they turned out so cute that I decided to make some myself and post it here for you all.  You need exactly two things to make these DIY ghosts: empty puffs containers and a sharpie.  First you need to peel off the labels.  I had already done this because my child is part dog and likes to eat the plastic label so I have to peel them off right away.

Once the labels are off, use your sharpie to draw and color in your ghost faces.  I made this open mouthed ghost but you can get as creative as you like.  These would be great to do with your kids.  I made mine during nap time but as soon as Luke polishes off another container I'm going to give it to Jake to make his own ghost.  Happy crafting!

I'm linking up with Moonlight & Mason Jars, Thrifty Thursday, Creativity Unleashed, Link Party Palooza, Weekend Potluck, Best Recipes, Pinworthy Projects, Best of the Weekend, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Pin Junkie, Show Stopper Saturday, Saturday Night Fever, The Weekend Social, Inspiration Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Craftastic Monday, Busy Monday, Monday Funday, Mad Skills, Create Link Inspire, Lou Lou Girls, Two Cup Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday,  Whimsy Wednesday, Wonderfully Creative Wednesday, Create It Thursday, Pin It Thursday, and Showcase Your Talent Thursday.

DIY Bat Pumpkins

For the last couple of years, Jake and I have made these little bats with mini pumpkins but then we had to remake them every year.  This year, I decided to use the little fake pumpkins from dollar tree.

 

This was such a good idea because now I won't have to make them year after year, plus it is way easier to stick a toothpick in a styrofoam pumpkin than a real one.

I started out by spray painting the pumpkins black (technically Josh did this so I wouldn't be breathing in the spray paint fumes).

Once they were dry, Jake and I taped toothpicks onto the back of the foam wings we had saved from last year and stuck them into our pumpkins. 

 

Then we used white glue to stick some googly eyes onto the front.  We used the same toothpick method to attach the little ears. 

Finally I used a paint pen to draw on the little fangs.

Other than drying time, this project took about 10 minutes.  I used a 50% off coupon to buy the spray paint and the pumpkins were from dollar tree so this whole project was about $7, plus I still have a lot of spray paint to use on another project in the future.

I'm linking up with Flashback Friday, Weekend Social, Retro Pin Party, Whimsy Wednesday,  Moonlight & Mason Jars,  Real Family Fun,  Create it Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Pin Junkie, Link Party Palooza, Less Laundry More Linking, Show Stopper Saturday, Best of the Weekend, Snickerdoodle Sunday, Sunday Linky, Mad Skills Party, and Marvelous Monday.