Monday, October 31, 2011

Jumping on the Bandwagon - Book Page Wreath

Well, I did it...I jumped on the book page wreath bandwagon...and I'm SOOO glad I did!  I have been seeing these all over blog land and really like them but when I finished mine I was THRILLED.  I LOVE the result.

I do have to tell you My Better's Half's part in all of this.  He was running to town and I asked if he would stop at the thrift store and pick me up an old book to use for this project.  I told him the size I wanted and that I wanted it to have brownish pages and sent him on his way.
He came home very proud of himself...
 Gotta love him.  I did throw the book in the garbage however, it was too trashy to hang it's pages on my wall.
So, after getting a new book, this is what I did:
First I ripped the pages out of the book ( that's how I saw how nasty the other book was). 

Next, I very loosely rolled the pages and then hot glued one end.  I then glued that end to my cardboard circle.


 Then I began layering them on the cardboard ring and filling in any empty spaces.

On the last layer, I rolled the paper and then gently folded it in the center.  When I hot glued these, I glued the center of them instead of on either end.

 Finally, I rolled some pages the short way and tied three together.  Then I just randomly glued these all over the wreath.

I added a bow from my 120 spools of ribbon deal that I picked up.  It added color and I can change it up with every season.



 
Blessings,

Friday 
The Shabby Nest
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday 
Wednesday 

Friday, October 28, 2011

Frugal Fall Food and Fun - Last Minute Halloween Costumes

I know that Halloween can be somewhat controversial but we do let our kids go Trick or Treating.  They love to get dressed up and of course love getting all the candy.   I  am always pretty last minute and refuse to spend much if any money on Halloween costumes however, so we come up with many from stuff we have in our closets.  Here are a few ideas:
Indiana Jones
Military Man
Secret Service
Cowboy

Paint Baller

And then of course my Princess' dress up box is always a plethora of possibilities.
Here are a few:
Alice in Wonderland

Ballerina

Of course, any one of the Disney Princesses
This costume was intended to be Laura Ingalls but with the stockings, you could easy throw in this hairstyle and go as Pippi Longstockings.

If you are still looking for a costume, I hope this helps.
Have FUN and MAKE MEMORIES!!
Blessings,

Linking up to these parties:
Friday 
The Shabby Nest
Saturday
Sunday
Monday

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Frugal Fall Food and Fun - Award Winning Maple Frosted Pumpkin Cookies

In our area there is a Pumpkin Festival held the first weekend in October.  The past several years we have gone to the festival because our church has a booth set up and we like to volunteer there.  This year we decided to participate in the Festival by entering their baking contest.  My Princess baked Pumpkin Bread but didn't place.  She didn't care...she got a participation ribbon and was happy enough with that!!
My youngest son however, entered a simple Pumpkin Cookie topped with Maple frosting and took Third Place.  He was so excited as was I.  An award winning baker...he's gonna make someone a good husband one day!!
Here's the recipe he used.
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
  3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then frost. 
THE BEST PART OF THESE COOKIES IS THE FROSTING 

This is the Maple Frosting recipe he used.  It's from another cookie I love to make...but I'll save that cookie recipe for another day.
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup boiling water
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. maple flavoring
 

Add the water in slowly to get the consistency that you like for your cookie.  I like my frosting nice and thick so I may use a little less water.
Mix all ingredients well and spread over cookies.

These are super yummy...just a little note of warning...YOU CAN'T EAT JUST ONE!!
Here are the other posts from Frugal Fall Food and Fun Week...Taffy Pull, Popcorn Balls, and Bobbing for Apples
Blessings,

Linkin' up to these delicious parties:
Friday 
The Shabby Nest
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Wednesday 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Frugal Fall Food and Fun - Bobbing for Apples

I'm combining my Wednesday's What I Found with my Frugal Fall Food and Fun this week.
On Halloween, my mom and dad would bring a big wash tub into the kitchen and my brother, sister, and I would bob for apples.  My princess must have seen this done somewhere because since we went apple picking she has been begging to bob for apples.
 I didn't have a wash tub so I just filled a big Tupperware bowl with water and added apples.
Three of the four kids tried it and loved it!!

It was a lot of fun and a memory we will not soon forget.
After we bobbed for apples my Better Half found this amazing curbside beauty...
Can you imagine how many apples we could fit in here???
I can't wait to put it to use.
It may have to wait until after winter...hmmm, or will it??!!
 If you're looking for other Frugal Fall Food and Fun ideas, I posted about our Family Taffy Pull and Popcorn Balls earlier this week. 
Blessings,
Linking up to these fun parties:
Friday 
The Shabby Nest
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday 
Wednesday
Someday Crafts

Frugal Fall Food and Fun - Popcorn Balls

If you're just joining me, this is my Frugal Fall Week.  I'm sharing frugal fall fun and food from my childhood with my kids and wanted to pass it on to you.  If you missed our Family Taffy Pull, you can see it all here.
Today's yummy thing we did was to make Popcorn Balls.  My mom used to make them every Halloween and we would pass them out to the neighbors.  They are still just a yummy as they were 30 some years ago (oh dear...did I really just say that out loud!!??)
This is how we made them:
Ingredients:
2 quarts popped popcorn
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup dark corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions:
Place popcorn in a large bowl; set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, combine brown sugar, water, corn syrup, butter and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Continue cooking, without stirring, until 270 degrees F.
Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.  pour over popcorn; stir until evenly coated.  When cool enough to handle, quickly shape into balls.
As you can see there are some lighter and some darker popcorn balls.  We tried some with brown sugar and some without.  The ones with the brown sugar were the best.

These are really good.  You do have to do some extra teeth brushing though when your done!!
Blessings,

Linkin' up to these yummy, fun parties:

Friday 
The Shabby Nest
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday 
Wednesday 
Someday Crafts

Monday, October 24, 2011

Frugal Fall Fun and Food - Taffy Pull

Instead of going trick or treating when I was growing up, we used to have a fall party at home.  After sharing some of the fun things we used to do with my kids, they wanted to try some of the food and fun things themselves.  This week, I've decided to post Monday through Friday, each day sharing one of the fun ideas with you.
Our first Frugal Fall Fun and Food activity included both food and fun....oh, and it was frugal and we did it in the Fall.  ANYwhooo,  We had a Family Taffy Pull.
I've been wanting to try this for many years and now that my kids are getting a little older, I knew we would have plenty strong muscles to make this work.
Here's the recipe I used:
Saltwater Taffy
2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
1/4 teaspoon flavoring
(let me say that we used way more then 1/4 teaspoon of flavoring.  We divided our taffy into 4 different flavors and used probably 1/2 teaspoon of flavoring in each to get a nice bold flavor)
1 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
Butter a 15x10x1 inch baking pan; set aside.  Butter the sides of a heavy 2 quart saucepan.  In saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt.  Cook and stir over medium-high heat to boiling.  Clip candy thermometer to side of pan.  Cook over medium heat, without stirring, to 265 degrees (this took almost 40 minutes to get to this temperature).  Remove saucepan from heat.  Stir in margarine.  Stir in flavoring and coloring, if desired.
Pour into prepared pan.  Cool for 15-20 minutes or till easy to handle.
 Butter hands; divide candy into four pieces.  Twist and pull each piece till it turns a creamy color (about 10 minutes).


Candy is ready if it cracks when tapped on counter.
 With buttered scissors, snip taffy into bite-size pieces. (do this quickly as the taffy gets hard...fast)  Wrap in clear plastic wrap.  (This is very necessary...we didn't do this and our taffy started sticking together.)
**This is not the soft, chewy taffy you get at the grocery or at the ocean.  It is more of a taffy that you suck on for a while.  It was really tasty though and we had fun and made memories doing it.  Don't forget to stop back tomorrow to see more Frugal Fall Fun and Food.
Blessings,

Linking up to these frugal, fun, parties:
Friday 
The Shabby Nest
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday 
Wednesday 
Someday Crafts
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