Spooky Forest in the house!!!!

Sneak Peek! Here is a little bit of the Spooky Forest Halloween Party I did for my daughter (2012) I will eventually come back to this post and add more pictures and how I did it tips:) I place large 12'-14' dead trees in the house decorated. It was a blast! I loved the candles (here) I am still using them!
 

Goodies Station! On the left in the Halloween cups I made "microwave cupcakes' I found the recipe on a blog.....FAIL! They were so cute but that was it.

 

 Caramel Apples to go!

 

Spoons with white chocolate and candy pressed in

 

There's those PB & J sand-WITCHES

  

Drink Station

I used cut wood to display food items

Oreos dipped in white chocolate and black icing writing

Vials filled with skull and crossbones candies topped with a cork

19 things my daughter will hear from me!

I treasure my daughter, I cherish her, I love her, she is absolutely amazing to me. I am also protective, I know I cannot protect her from everything and maybe that's why I am a little more protective of her when I can be. I could not feel more blessed then being her Momma. I love to tell her how proud I am of her, how smart she is, how she is making good choices the list goes on and on. We talk, or I do to her, a lot. So after reading this I am excited to have more things to talk about with her :) I love you boos.

 

1. I love you! There is nothing that will make me stop loving you. Nothing you could do or say or think will ever change that.

 

2. You are amazing! I look at you with wonder! Not just at what you can do, but who you are. There is no one like you. No one!

 

3. It’s all right to cry. People cry for all kinds of reasons: when they are hurt, sad, glad, or worried; when they are angry, afraid, or lonely. Big people cry too. I do.

 

4. You’ve made a mistake. That was wrong. People make mistakes. I do. Is it something we can fix? What can we do? It’s all over. You can start fresh. I know you are sorry. I forgive you.

 

5. You did the right thing. That was scary or hard. Even though it wasn’t easy, you did it. I am proud of you; you should be too.

 

6. I’m sorry. Forgive me. I made a mistake.

 

7. You can change your mind. It’s good to decide, but it is also fine to change.

 

8. What a great idea! You were really thinking! How did you come up with that? Tell me more. Your mind is clever!

 

9. That was kind. You did something helpful and thoughtful for that person. That must make you feel good inside. Thank you!

 

10. I have a surprise for you. It’s not your birthday. It’s for no reason at all. Just a surprise, a little one, but a surprise.

 

11. I can wait. We have time. You don’t have to hurry this time.

 

12. What would you like to do? It’s your turn to pick. You have great ideas. It’s important to follow your special interests.

 

13. Tell me about it. I’d like to hear more. And then what happened? I’ll listen.

 

14. I’m right here. I won’t leave without saying good-bye. I am watching you. I am listening to you.

 

15. Please and Thank You. These are important words. If I forget to use them, will you remind me?

 

16. I missed you. I think about you when we are not together!

 

17. Just try. A little bit. One taste, one step. You might like it. Let’s see. I’ll help you if you need it. I think you can do it.

 

18. I’ll help you. I heard you call me, here I am. How can I help you? If we both work together, we can get this done. I know you can do it by yourself, but I’m glad to help since you asked.

 

19. What do you wish for? Even if it’s not yet time for birthday candles and we don’t have a wishbone, it’s still fun to hear about what you wish for, hope for, and dream about.

 

19 Things we should say to Children

Valentines Day Craft! Perfect for Kids!

I have been working on my 14 Valentines day ideas and crafts for this blog and I decided to try this one out today with my daughter. We had so much fun I had to share now, I couldn't wait!!!! (I'm not good at surprises either:) It is very easy, great for kids and I'm sure you already have the supplies! My daughter had a blast she's so proud it's hanging in her room!

All you need is paper, we used red construction paper, paper slicer (or scissors and a ruler) and glue! ***side note I just got a tip to use a stapler!!!

I cut the construction paper long ways into 1" strips, I made 30.

Fold the strips in half

Glue the cut end of the paper down into a V this gives you your heart shape :)

*Put a drop of glue on the inside on the inside of the bottom of the heart and pinch together (I took the picture to soon)

Now glue on the outside of the bottom of your first heart the cut stripes of paper, one on each side. Make sure your fold is pointing down before you glue.

Continue each step until you have your desired length.

Use multiple color combinations, alternate colors, or use similar shades for an ombre effect!

Ok you are going to really have to really wait for the rest :) February 1st will be the next of the 14 Valentine's Day post! You won't want to miss one!

My Handy Helper (AND A GIVEAWAY)

 My handy helper bracelet!!! Not only a huge help but stylish also!!!!! I use it when I'm hanging pictures, banners, sewing doing my hair, the list goes on! It will hold my bobby pins, small nails, thumbtacks, needles and more. Keeps my mouth clean...... yes you know you hold that stuff in your mouth too.

WAIT HOLD UP!

So I am not going to put the tutorial up until I get 50 followers, yep that's right I said FIFTY! I have been getting an average of over 150 visits a day to my blog, but why no love???!!!! BUT WAIT, once I get fifty followers I will give away this bracelet too!!! So to encourage you to be part of my blog, try something new, leave a comment, yep that's right I'm bribing YOU!!!! It's doesn't really work well with my daughter but hopefully it will work for you!!!! So join the club and this awesome bracelet could be yours! 

My followers now each have a 50% chance to win, lets made those odds a little harder :)

 

*****Don't want to wait??? You can purchase one for $30 and start putting it to use! Contact me at catescastle@gmail.com
 

Where else can you find me? :)

CONTACT INFORMATION PROVIDED IS FOR BLOGGERS, FOLLOWERS, FAMILY, FRIENDS, APPROVED FRIENDS! IT IS NOT OK TO SPAM!!! DO NOT USE THIS INFORMATION FOR OTHER PURPOSES OUTSIDE OF WHICH IS STATED! THANK YOU!!!


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Tea for two and an apple for you

It's been raining these past few days, I like it :) It's not too cold, there's actually humidity and it makes sleeping in, easier. I like my coffee iced but my flavored tea on days like this needs to be steamy hot. My daughter and I had tea together this morning she loved sipping out of the apple :) So grab an apple and let's have a cup of tea.

 

Hollow out your apple of choice, I used Red Delicious. Brew your tea and then I added a squeeze of lemon, pressed some apple in my garlic press for it's juice, a little honey and a cinnamon stick to stir.

 

Does an apple a day really keep the Doctor away? If you aim right???!!!!! te-he-he

ENJOY!!!

Yo Gabba Gabba!

My daughter was so in love with Yo Gabba that her first Birthday party was appropriately, Yo Gabba to the extreme! Yo Gabba was the only show/DVD that she enjoyed. The signing and dancing would get her going! Since I'm a bit extreme I sent save the dates and invitations for her first birthday (which was not the first party for her :) we already had a half birthday party, a dedication party, a welcome home party, you get the idea). I created the invitations in Photoshop which I just love! Would you all be interested in a free personalized printable giveaway and or a free printable that I created? Here's a peek at the skillzzzzzzz......


Save the Date :)



Front

Back



This was one of her favorite decorations at her party! This wreath was heavy! I pinned balloons onto a straw wreath (plastic on) and then glued scrapbook paper on the letter N, trimmed the paper with a sharp knife painted the edges and the number one red and then glued the 1 on the letter N. I looped ribbon at on the top for the bow. This little welcome decor got a lot of attention, it was a great welcoming to her guest!

 

Her high chair all ready for her first birthday cake smash!

 

Banner over the fire place (no string, just glue dots)

For this large banner I used 12"x12" card stock and ribbon for the letters and to connect.        Above the cake table I

painted the frames with the Yo Gabba coordinating colors and then placed each characters face I created inside, they are still hanging in her play room:)

I punched out polka dots using all my leftover paper for around the walls.

I filled glass containers on each side of the cake with matching candy, wrapped in ribbon and characters.

The utensils were so cute! I wrapped them with a napkin and curling ribbon, the spoon, fork, and knife were different colors in each set. This was a colorful party!

I covered animal cracker boxes with a DJ Lance boom box I printed out. I used wrapping paper for the table cover.

For my followers
if you would like these DJ
Lance boom box animal
cracker covers, let me know!
I will email you the file!!

For the cake stand I wrapped my orange cupcake carrier in wrapping paper. Easy and it looked so cute!

Inside the goodie bags were huge sugar cookies that I hard iced with white frosting. For the kids activity I had edible markers for them to color their cookies with. It was a hit!!! They loved their edible art!

*on the right side of the picture I customized Yo Gabba plates with my daughters picture and a message :)

It's not a party without tissue paper poms!!!

 

Breakfast Cupcakes??!!!

My cupcake maker isn't just for cupcakes!! On hot summer days I don't want to turn my oven on! I turn to my cupcake maker which heats up fast, cooks fast and doesn't make my house any hotter! I use the same ingredients as I do when I make a breakfast casserole and then put the ingredients into a cupcake wrapper (I use reusable silicone cupcake wrappers so they don't stick)

 

 

I mix in the bowl eggs, cheese, green chile, bacon, onion, garlic, salt and pepper! It's that easy! You can use any meat that's cooked prior, also what about adding bell peppers, or just crab and avocado! YUM!

Scoop the mixture in the wrappers and cook it in your cupcake slash makes whatever you want it to maker!

 

They are perfectly sized for a left over snack, kids and of course brunches! Enjoy!

Deer, is it done? White Silhouette

A couple of summers ago I decided to hop onto the deer, antler, animal trend. I think it looked better in store front windows and in pictures personally then in my house. But there I was sculpting antlers, painting empty frames to hang and creating a deer silhouette.

I free handed a deer on black card stock while looking at a picture I liked. I then used a projector to blow up the image onto a board. Now I wish I knew what this specific board is called I get it from the construction store and is kinda material like on one side and slick on the other let me show you......if you know the name please let me know! Left is what I call the material like side right is what I call the slick side.......how do I survive????

 
So on the material like side I painted my silhouette white. That was it!!! I hung it in our living room wall so proud, it did look a little out of place but I created it so I was pretty confident of myself. As soon as my husband got home I went into this blabbering one sided conversation about the deer and how this stuff is the rage right now, how it looked good with the other antlers, frames and pictures (he was just starring at me and occasionally glancing at the deer) I then spilled into how I was making bookends to match and they were going to be metal colored. Finally I noticed I was the only one talking. Well I said? His response, "Is it done?" Ugh I shessed, "You don't get art.........I'm also framing it." Side note....My husband is an artist :) So now my Deer makes his appearance from the garage at Christmas and sometimes in my stairwell until I can find something else for him :)

The silhouette is about 9.5" across and 18" tall, his name is Casper.

Paper Flowers, Book Pages??!!! What??? NO!!!

So once upon a time there was this craze, it was crafting with book pages. Ok so that statement kind of hurts my ears. Tearing pages out of a book??!!! Not that I haven't seen parties and gathering with really creative decorations and ideas all using book pages but I just didn't think I could do it, until......... My Grandmas house. I found a book in their shed under a skyscraper of spiders and their webs, laying in a stale puddle of water, torn in half. There it was that book that I just might be able to craft with. Wait though not until I tried every possible technique to salvage this book. I was unsuccessful in saving the book. Out of the over 500 pages I was able to sentence about 50 pages to doom for my use. After lots of thought and consideration of how I was going to use these precious pages I decided paper flowers. Beautiful paper flowers that the words on these pages could live forever.....aw so sentimental. After the first agonizing scissor cut through the page I became desensitized and in my own world of creation I cut, rolled, shaped and glued all the pages into my lively flowers. (saving every scrap for future use) I had a leftover branch from our Halloween party that I had about 20 visions for prior to this idea but this time I was going to use it! This was its purpose :)

 

I messy cut in a circle all the way in a circle to the middle you can also cut in a spiral with no mess. The one on the left is the clean edge spiral cut the one on the right is a messy cut. I did all mine free hand with scissors :) I put an X on what I refer to as the glue tab (you can barely see the X but it's there :) 

 

Book pages measuring approximately 6"x10"

 

Some pages I cut in half and made two flowers per a page other pages I got one flower out of it.
 

Here's how I did it..............
 

I started at the outside of the circle I cut where the point was and rolled the paper until I got to the center

 

 

 

I gently let go of the rolled paper holding it in place with my hand until I liked the shape 

I put a dot of glue on the "tab" that was the center of the circle 

 

 

And wham my paper flowers.......from a book :)

When I glued the flowers onto the branch I used that same glue tab to wrap the flower on the branch to hold the paper flower in place

*TIP I used my high temperature glue gun, going back I would have used a low temperature one to keep the glue from dripping 

 

It's going in my stair well when I'm done!!! (to hang out with Casper)

How To Make Spooky Halloween Candles

Candles.......another obsession actually it's more of a candle holder obsession. Take a peek below. For my daughters Halloween par-tay I needed candles with the I'm so scary with the wax dripping everywhere look. I don't burn candles like that normally, so I created it! I spray painted with some leftover paint I had in our garage 8 bottles white and 8 bottles black. I collected the bottles from friends over the week, I used wine, beer, soda and salsa bottles. I had a teensy bit of gold paint left in a can so I randomly sprayed it on the bottles untill it was gone. They didn't take long to dry. They were pretty, a little to pretty not that I'm so scary with the wax dripping everywhere look. I went to my candle bin and fished out a broken white candle. I melted the candle on the stove while I placed all the bottles on foil because I knew it was about to be game on! While holdin the bottle over the pan of melted wax at a slight tilt , I used a spoon to "drip" wax down the bottles. I used the white wax on the black bottles and then I added black dye to the rest of the wax and dripped the black wax onto the white painted bottles. I repeated the drip on each one until I achieved my desired effect. Not to shabby, just the right about of spookiness I was going for :)

 

Halloween Candles (side note I have been using them ever since the Halloweeen party changing the candles and I just love it!)