Monday, October 27, 2014

Halloween Wine Bottle Decor

Some projects come out much better than expected while other projects are nothing like you the picture in your head.  The other day I had a great idea (or so I thought.)  I wanted to make Halloween wine bottles for decoration.  It seemed so promising….did not turn out the way I had hoped.

I first cut the bottoms off the wine glass by scoring the bottom and going back and forth pouring boiling water and ice water on the bottom of the bottle.  This took a little time and I will have to practice this a little more in order to make the cut even at the bottom.  After the cut was complete I sanded down the bottom to get rid of any jagged edges.


I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut a few Halloween shapes out on contact paper.


Next, I set up a spray paint station in the garage and got to work. I did at least 7 coats on each bottle.  I wanted to make sure there there wouldn't be any light peaking through in any other place than where I wanted.



After giving the bottles ample time to dry I peeled the contact paper off the bottles.  I was really excited to see how it came out but I was so disappointed when I put the candles inside and realized the light was not bright enough to show the design.  I tried every combination I could think of but unfortunately nothing worked.  There was also a problem with the candle not staying light in one of the bottles.



I picked up mini halloween lights at the dollar store and they work better than the candles but it is still not the look I was hoping for. It is a cute decoration and the boys seem to think its neat and they are really the only critics I care about.






Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Weekend Baking Round up

Every year around this time I feel the overwhelming need to bake.  I think its not only ingredients that are in season (apples, pumpkins) but also the cool air.  I can't stand turning on the oven in the summer but when the temps start dropping it feels so homey to have something baking in the oven.  As I have said before, I am addicted to Pinterest and discovering new recipes.  Over the weekend I decided to give a few a try.  


-Mrs. Fields Oatmeal cookies mix (Found it Christmas Tree Shop) but I added white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.

I love these Pumpkin cookies.  They are on the healthy side, very little sugar, whole wheat flour and no butter.  There are some chocolate chips so this really satisfies the sweet tooth but I do not have to feel guilty eating it or packing it as a snack for my little guy.


I was really excited to try out this spider chocolate chip cookies idea.  I decided to stay with the recipe provided because I wanted to make sure it was a flatter cookie that would be easy to put the spider on.  My husband LOVED these cookies and I think they are a really cute festive idea for this time of year.  I am going to make them for a fall festival bake sale at my sons school.



I also made these Healthy Carrot muffins from Martha Stewart.  This is actually the second time I have made them.  They satisfied everyone in my house which is amazing.  My kids loved them for breakfast, I love them and my husband (who is not always the easiest to please especially when something is healthy) enjoys them.  I found a Jack-O-Lantern cupcake mold I forgot I had and made half the muffins using it.  The boys loved it and probably half the reason they eat them!

All in all the weekends baking was a success.  I would 100% recommend trying out any of these recipes.



Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Initial Artwork

Recently my husband painted our basement and we have been trying to be creative and repurpose stuff we already have for wall decor.  We came across a few canvases that were a DIY project gone wrong from a few years back.   We spray painted them white and I decided it would be the perfect project for my little guys.  

I first used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out their initials with contact paper.  I put their initials in the middle of the canvas and set them up to start painting.


I decided to have them use finger paint instead of regular acrylic.  They loved it.  They used their hands, toes and about 10 paintbrushes.  


Painting complete!



Once the paint was dry, I peeled up the letters and we had our masterpieces.  The boys were so proud of their work!





I think it looks really cute on the wall in our basement!



Thursday, October 9, 2014

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

The past month has been crazy.  Between vacations, the start of school and my little guy's second birthday I have been very busy with little projects and trying out new recipes but I have been awful at sharing everything.  Now that life has finally calmed down (a bit) I am going to try my hardest to post at least once a week. 

Dan, my 3 year old, has been asking for cookies a lot lately.  For me, cookies are my diet downfall.  I can not walk past a batch of chocolate chip cookies without grabbing 1…or 5.  When I came across this recipe for Oatmeal Coconut Flour Cookies  on Pinterest I decided to give them a try.  I had just bought some coconut flour (without knowing what I was going to use it for) and this seemed like the perfect recipe to try out.  


They came out delicious.  They do have a mild coconut flavor from the coconut flour and oil.  For not having any of your "typical" cookie ingredients like butter, white flour or sugar, these cookies were amazing and I can not wait to make them again.  I feel a little less guilty eating 1 or 2...