Halloween Spirit!

Eddie's Pumpkin

My Carving

Steve and I all dressed up!

Eddie and I, were so thrilled when we opened our mail today! We received an award from our community for Halloween Spirit! I'll post more pics as soon as the sun goes down.

The spider

Love him!

Me & Max

(My hubby) Eddie and his carving!

Steve and visited the homes from the movie Halloween! This is the house where Mike Myers was on the baloney.

Here is the Babysitter house where all the murders took place.

The house looks much scarier at night....

Most kids are afraid of her.....

Skully Bride

Our first Trick or Treater - Quinn the Skunk!

Women's Day Magazine Radio Interview - Listen Live! -

We will be live on October 31st - Noon (eastern) on Women's Day Magazine's new radio show. Click Here To Listen Live and learn about our last minute Halloween costume ideas.

Video: Spooky Candles and Halloween Jars

Video: Mod Podge Recycled Candy Bowl

Learn how to make Mod Podge Candy bowls with recycled grocery bags

Tune in or Tivo: Fall Harvest on HGTV

Witch Crafts - Fall Harvest Episode

HGTV - Thursday Morning

We are full of crafty autumn ideas. They share some classic tricks and new ideas for jack-o-lanterns, cook up delicious meals of hearty fall food and show you how to set the table for a truly bountiful autumn feast.

Click Here for project links:

Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin Tips

Fall Harvest Wreath

Rustic Table Runner

Candle Holders

Apple Spice Pouches

Hearty Grilled Cheese

Butternut Squash Soup

Witch Crafts Marathon Airs Tomorrow

Friday (10/24)

Witch Crafts Marathon on DIY Network
All 5 episodes back to back - begins at 2:00 pm eastern
(Dish subscribers get a free preview of DIY for the month of October!)

Check out the Creative Juice goof on Style Network's The Dish

loves it!

Hanna Montana Stamps in QVC

Tuesday (10/21) on QVC
High School Musical & Hanna Montana Rubber Stamps
4:00 am eastern!!! I will be so sleeeeeeppppppyyyyy.

Visit this link at QVC to view or purchase the kit - click on the video link and you can see me the last time I was on.

This week in the Press - Real Simple & LA Daily News

Click to enlarge!

Pick up the November issue of Real Simple for our tips on creatively cutting costs this holiday season. In November and December - I will be blogging ideas for making a Thanksgiving dinner on a budget and more $ saving ideas for the holidays.

Over at the new website Totallyher.com we contributed to a piece for easy costume making.

Cyndi from the Santa Clarita Craft Lab gives me a shout out in the Los Angeles Daily News! Many Thanks!

We did a piece for the Knox News on how to preserve your pumpkins after carving.

Bake it: Zucchini Bread

Bake it: Zucchini Bread
from the Mini Gifts Episode of Creative Juice

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel
1 cup, packed, shredded zucchini (approximately 4 small zucchini)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Steps:
1. Grease and flour two 5-3/4" x 3" x 2" loaf pans and set aside. Steps:

2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, ginger, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add oil, eggs, lemon juice and peel, shredded zucchini and chopped walnuts. Stir to blend; don't over-mix.

3. Spoon batter into the prepared loaf pans, filling each about three-fourths of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

4. Cool the zucchini bread in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out the loaves and let them cool completely on the rack.

5. Slip each of the cooled loaves into a cello bag and wrap with a sleeve of natural-fiber paper or kraft paper. Use hole punches, raffia, tags or beads to embellish. Include the recipe for a gift that can keep on giving.

Witchcrafts Marathon on DIY Network!

Oh Lucy......
Don't forget about the Witchcrafts Marathon!
DIY Network
October 24th at 2:00 eastern

Visit www.witchcraftstv.com for more information and to preview clips!

make it: Dollar Store Halloween Candles

Spooky Candles

You can easily trick-out dollar store candles with just a few simple supplies. They are prefect for lining a walkway on Halloween night!

Supplies:
Three tall glass enclosed candles
4” wooden letters, spelling “E-E-K,” or “B-O-O”
Craft paint
Paintbrushes
Perfect Pearls embellishing pigment kit—by Ranger Ink
Spray bottle filled with water
8 mm jump rings
E6000 glue
Chain
Needle-nosed jewelry pliers

Steps:

1. Paint the wooden letters with craft paint and allow them to dry. An eerie mix of green and black paint or a ghostly white work well.


2. Rub the pad of Pearlizing Perfect medium on each letter. Use a paintbrush to dust the patina powders included in the kit on each letter. Spray with water from the spray bottle to set the pigments, and allow them to dry.


3. Use E6000 glue to attach an 8 mm jump ring to the back of each letter in the center and at the top. Position the jump ring so that approximately half of the ring is exposed at the top of the letter. Allow the glue to dry for at least 8 hours.


4. Wrap chain around the lip of the candle glass. Link the chain together to form a loop of chain around the top of the candle with a tail of chain.


5. Use the needle-nosed pliers to attach another jump ring to the jump rings on the letters. Attach this second jump ring to the chain.

Make it: Spooky Halloween Tree

Spooky Halloween Tree & Ornaments

Start a new Halloween tradition with this spooky tree perfect for hanging frightening photos and scary souvenirs. This project is from Witch Crafts, our Halloween Mini Series.

Spooky Tree
Supplies:
Medium to large urn or container
Plaster of Paris
Water
Disposable mixing bowl & spoon
Dead tree branch
Low tack painter’s tape
Glossy black spray paint
Black & silver glitter glue
Faux spider webs
Dried flowers
1/4 yard silver or grey tulle
Battery operated light strand

Steps:
1. Find a dead tree branch, clean it of dead foliage and spray paint it with glossy black paint. Allow the paint to dry.

2. Fill the urn with water to determine the volume of liquid needed to fill it ¾ full, then empty it.

3. Mix the appropriate amount of Plaster of Paris needed with water according to package directions. Be sure to blend until the mixture is smooth with hardly any lumps. It will be the consistency of cake batter.


4. Fill the urn with the Plaster of Paris mixture and immediately place the tree branch in the center of the urn. Use low-tack painters’ tape to secure the tree in place and leave it to dry. The plaster will have a firm set within 30 minutes to 1 hour, but it will take 24 hours to completely dry.



5. Add eerie detail to the tree by outlining the branches with black and silver glitter glue and twisting faux spider webs across a few branches.





6. Hot glue some dried flowers that have been painted with glitter. Insert battery-powered twinkle lights and hide the plaster with silver or grey tulle.

Make Some Spooky Tree Ornaments from Found Objects

1. Transform an old cake topper by painting the face and hands a ghoulish green and string a noose around the neck.

2. Add bits of black or silver lace wrapped around a miniature Popsicle stick and decorated with rhinestones and painted feathers.

3. Use Scrapbooking typewriter letters to spell out “B-O-O” on a black paint-washed filigree jewelry finding.

4. Make a banshee made from a doll head and a cheesecloth ghost body, sprayed grey and black.

5. Make a haunted house silhouette: Cut two house shapes from black scrapbook paper. Cut out windows and a door with craft knife. Cut one house shape from silver paper and sandwich between black pieces. Highlight windows and doors with a silver marker.

Make it: Tissue Transfered Candles

Tissue Transfered Candles

Transform plain candles with a few stamping supplies. Great for holiday gift giving and decorating! From the Medieval Lights episode of Creative Juice.

Supplies:
Light colored pillar candle
White tissue paper
Scissors
Rubber stamp
Ink pad – black
Purple embossing powder
Embossing gun
Luminarte Twinkling H2Os watercolors
Paintbrush
Parchment paper
Small scrap booking eyelets
Candle paint pen



1. Cut a piece of tissue paper that is large enough for your stamp. One side of the tissue paper will be slightly glossy. Ink your rubber stamp and stamp onto the glossy side of the tissue paper. If you’re using a larger stamp, place the inked stamp rubber side up on your work surface, lay the tissue paper on top of the stamp, and gently rub the paper to fully transfer the image. Gently lift the tissue paper from the stamp.


2. Sprinkle embossing powder on the image on the tissue paper and tap off the excess. Work over a manila file folder so that you can easily funnel excess embossing powder back into its jar. Heat the powder on the candle with an embossing gun until the image is embossed.


3. Swirl a wet paintbrush into the Twinkling H2O and color in the background of your stamp. (If you don’t have Twinkling H2O watercolors, any other type of watercolor will work.) Make sure your paintbrush is not too wet or your tissue paper may tear. Allow to dry (drying takes about ten to twenty minutes).


4. Cut a piece of parchment paper that is large enough to cover your image and wrap all the way around the candle, plus an extra several inches of length. Trim the excess tissue paper around the edges of your image. Place the image onto your candle. The embossed side of the image can face in toward the candle or outward, depending on your preferences. We placed the embossed side inward for a more antiqued look. Wrap the parchment paper tightly around the candle, using the excess parchment paper in the back as a handle.


5. Move your embossing gun over the image to melt the tissue paper into the candle. You will be able to see the wax melting through the parchment paper. Once you see the wax melt in one area, move the embossing gun to another area so as not to melt the candle too much. When the entire image has melted into the candle, carefully remove the parchment paper.



6. Add details to the candle using scrapbooking eyelets and candle paint pens. While the candle is still warm from step 5, press eyelets into the candle at the corners of the image. Add dots and lines with candle paint pens and allow the candle paint to dry for 24 hours.

enjoy!