Happy halloween everyone!

I just love these old Disney films!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkhxjzc9uuE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8LiPoIpxnk

Pumpkin Surprise!

I went to a friends baby shower recently and they had the yummiest treat there.  I just had to have the recipe!
It is called pumkin surprise.   I made it last night for my family and they loved it too and it is so easy!
Thanks Erin for sharing your recipe with me :-)

Here is the recipe

PUMPKIN SURPRISE

2 c. canned pumpkin

1 can sweetened condensed milk

3 eggs, beaten

½ tsp. salt

1 c. sugar

2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

(If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can use: 1tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. ginger, ¼ tsp. nutmeg, ¼ tsp. ground cloves = 2tsp. of pumpkin pie spice)

1 ¼ butter, cold

1 white or yellow cake mix (I like yellow)

Conbine the pumpkin, salt, milk, sugar, eggs and spice. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle the dry cake mix over the top. Slice the butter very thin and cover the dry cake evenly with it. Bake at 350 for 45 min. Serve either warm or cold. Whip some cream the way you normally would and add a little bit of nutmeg, OR serve with vanilla ice cream.

(note: This calls for a lot of butter so I cut it down to 2 cubes and it worked just fine.) You could cut out some of the sugar too because it is pretty sweet.  I think I will only put in a half a cup of sugar next time.

Pumpkin carving family fun!

We carved pumpkins for Family Home Eveing last night.  It is always fun to see how they turn out each year!

This is the only pumpkin that grew in our little garden.

Yes that is snow on the that bush!  We woke up to that this morning.

More Advent Calendar ideas!

Found some more advent Calendar ideas that I like! 

How great is the idea of a Mini muffin tin to hold fun treats inside.

Find this one at http://fromthebottomofmypencilcase.blogspot.com/2008/11/mini-cupcake-pan-advent-calendar.html

Next there is a great 3D countdown Calendar by Karen Foster you can add your own decorative elements to it.  They can be sold everywhere for about $19.00 plus shipping, but I found a geat deal at Scrapbooking Wharehouse.

 http://store.scrapbooking-warehouse.com/376405.html

They are on sale right now for $11.99 with shipping it comes out to around $17.00

Another cute idea I am loving is a Matchbox Advent Calendar I found this one at

http://themessycrafter.blogspot.com/2008/11/matchbox-advent-calendar.html

This one is fun it is made out of small tins like you can find at Ikea.Here is the link

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/advent_calendar/

So anyway I hope that some of these ideas inspire you as much they did  me!

I love Advent Calendars!

    I have been looking for a cute Advent Calendar idea for this year.  I have found several  fun ideas.  If any of you out there have any of your own advent Calendar ideas please comment and let me know.
 Here are some different cute ones I found.


I thought this  paper cone advent tree was so cute! You can find it at The Red Thread. http://theredthreadblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/advent-calendar-tuesday-tah-dah.html

This advent Calendar is so adorable!  I found it at the Scrap Colors etsy shop.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_5&listing_id=17535268#

This is close to what I am looking for. You can find this one at All Sorts http://allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/2007/11/advent-calendar.html

I like how this one has a more clean contempoary feel. You will find it at

The Purl Bee

 http://www.purlbee.com/the-purl-bee/2008/11/20/embroidered-felt-advent-calendar.html

I have a couple of my own ideas after being inspired by these creative crafters!  I will post later what I came up with.

Sweet Pea Boutique

If  you are ever in Tooele Utah There is a great little store here  on main st. called Sweet Pea Boutique.  They have gently used clothes that are so cute! And the prices are reasonable.  Similar or better than D.I. prices. They have strict guidelines on what they will take so Everything is in good shape and name brand.  My little girl was in need of warmer clothes so we made a little stop by Sweet Peas a couple of days ago.  This is one of several cute outfits I found there.  Almost everything I got was Gymboree.

3D crystal lacquar

I had posted a while back about making pendants with diamond glaze.  Well I stumbled upon another product called 3D Crystal Lacquar.  It is cheaper, it hardly creates any bubbles and it dries faster.
 I taught how to make the scrabble tile and washer pendants at my last craft club and everyone prefered the crystal lacquar over the diamond glaze.  Here are some Pendants I have done with it and I think it looks just as good as the dimond glaze. Has anyone else used this product?  If so tell me what you think!

I am so excited!

I just discovered that one of my favorite, favorite, favorite stitchery designers now has a website!

http://www.macadoodles.net/

 A lot of her stuff is at a store I love called Pine Needles at Gardner Village in Utah.

Here are a couple of her designs she has on her site.

Twin stitchers freebie

If you love doing stitchery like me, or you have never tried it there is a great simple FREE pattern that Twin Stitchers is offering on their blog. Check it out!  Here is the link. http://twinstitchers.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-cute-are-these.html

Finally!

After a much unexpected delay I finally have my etsy shop up! Yay! My store name is called Bug a boo Crafts and here is a link.  bugaboocrafts.etsy.com

Book pick for October

Wow! I almost forgot to post my October bug a boo book pick!  I know that you were all just sitting on pins and needles waiting to find out I'm sure!

I picked the book "Persuasion" by Jane Austin.  We have all read Pride and Predjudice and we  have all read Emma and Sense and Sensability, but not many have read Persuasion which happens to be one of my all time favorite books! If you love classics I know you will love this book!

Fun treat!

Saw this idea a while back and have wanted to try it, but keep forgetting to get Jolly Ranchers at the store.

1st- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper

 

2nd- Put Jolly Ranchers together in groups of 3 and give yourself enough room for your sucker sticks

3rd- stick the cookie sheet in a pre-heated 275 degree oven and leave in for about 6 minutes (If you leave them in much longer than  that they will melt really thin and make weird shapes) 

4th- remove cookie sheet from oven and stick sucker sticks in the melted Jolly ranchers.

5th- Allow time to cool.  Once they are cooled they should pop right off the parchment paper.

Enjoy! 

P.S. this last batch we put the Jolly Ranchers in a triangle and they melted into these cool designs that my kids say look like peace signs

Preview of Nativity puzzle

I am so excited to give  a preview of the Nativity puzzle that I am going to sale on Etsy!  My amazing and talented brother helped me revamp the puzzle design because there were some features that bugged us in the old design.  We also made it smaller.  The old design was bigger, and more akward. This one is about the size of an 8 1/2 by 11 paper. We felt that the smaller size would be easier to display on a piano etc.  I'm planning to have my Etsy store up and running buy the end of this weekend. I will be offering completely finished and painted puzzles and unfinished puzzles if you would like to paint them yourself.  If you are not used to painting fine detail work this project might be a little difficult for some people. The unfinished puzzles will be $18.00 and I am still deciding on a price for the finished puzzles. Here is a link to my Etsy shop  Bugaboocrafts.etsy.com If you find it is an empty shop keep checking back and it should be ready soon.