Paper Craft Halloween Decoration

I'm behind in getting out my Halloween decorations this year. I have put out my pretty Fall things - but I need to get out my more spooky fun Halloween things yet. When I do, I plan to do a  fun decoration home tour  to share with you all as well. But today I wanted to share this fun little paper craft decoration I made recently.  You remember my vintage French summer decoration here. Well I took off the frame and just left the standing back and put together this fun Halloween piece.

First, Halloween needs a nice full moon right? So I put this one together by gluing some lace around a piece of orange card stock.

Then I free form cut out an old fence from brown card stock.

Embellish with a little bit of brown scrapbook (archive quality) marker.

Then I took some gray paper as a "ground" back drop and ripped it for some texture. I glued on the moon and used my paper adhesive to adhere it and also the fence.

I forgot to take photos - but I found a silhouette of a crow on some clip art on the computer and reduced it and printed it off and cut it out and added him to the fence. There's always a spooky noisy crow on a scary Halloween night you know! And I had some black bat and jack-o-lantern stickers and added those too.

 

Do you feel spooky yet?

Then I added this "under a spell" sticker by the moon (seemed like the right spot as the moon mesmerizes doesn't it?). I might have added sparkles right now with my photo editor program. ;) 

For now I set it on my front door entry table, but not sure if it will stay there.

I kind of like it on my piano too. 

I'm linking with Brenda at Cozy Little House for Tweak it Tuesday.

And with Andrea of Scrapality for Scraptastic Saturday.

Happy Homemaker Monday

I'm back!! 

I missed you my blogland Friends. I got around to visiting some of you during the week I was gone, but I know I still have more catching up to do. It feels good to get back to my routine, although having our special Uncle Don visit was wonderful!! We packed a lot of fun into one week....which also included a road trip to Green Bay (home of the Packers) to have some fun with relatives there too. We didn't go to the Packer game (they won - yay!!), but we did go to a Green Bay Gamblers hockey game. And the road trip there was GORGEOUS as the colors are about peak right now. It was all lots of fun and went really fast.  

I'm ready now to get back to my routine and jump into this week.

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Definitely cooler than yesterday. It was beautiful yesterday and hit about 80* out! Today started out sunny but breezy. Now the winds are picking up and blowing in the clouds so it's getting pretty gray out there.  It's supposed to maybe rain a little later and hit high 50's or maybe hit 60* today.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

I had a piece of whole wheat toast and some pumpkin spice coffee with natural bliss hazelnut creamer. 

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

I can see the beautiful colorful trees waving around in the wind. The leaves that have dropped on our hill are swirling around at times, and the gray cloudy back drop makes it all look quite dramatic - and pretty.  If Pooh bear were here he'd say it's a blustery sort of day. Lol

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Relaxing as I sip my hot water with lemon and coconut oil (great health benefits) as I type this and watch the Today show. I'm also listening to the wind blow the leaves around as my wind chime sings out a constant song. My Mom took my MIL all day today so I could have a catch up day from all the traveling recently (so nice!) and I will take care of my MIL then all day tomorrow. I really could use this catch up day so I'm very grateful and ready to accomplish a lot!  

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Pretty tidy from being gone all weekend (my Mom stayed here with Ruby and "held down the fort" for us). Definitely have laundry to catch up on and some other "trip related debris" to put away. Lol  We didn't get home until last night so everyone left things were they were just to rest and decompress before going to bed and regroup to face a new busy week. 

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

House chores, catch up on my newspapers that have accumulated, tidy up some craft area things (& finish project to hopefully share this week), then go wash my car (lots of bugs on windshield from trip) and grab groceries for the week.

CURRENTLY READING:

I finished my Susan Branch book (it was SO GOOD!!) and I'm now reading Alice Sebold's  Lucky right now. It's kind of a dark memoir, but I find her a very fascinating writer. I read The Lovely Bones, several years ago, that she wrote and it was just a wonderfully haunting book (be a great one to read this time of year if you haven't). They made that one into a movie with, I think it was Stanley Tucci, but I never saw it.  I think I picked up this "Lucky book" at our local library's yearly sale a while back. It's been sitting in my nightstand so decided to dig in. 

ON THE TV TODAY:

We caught a few of our shows in the hotel this weekend, but we have The Amazing Race to catch up on and I have some Hallmark Movies taped and some cooking shows. I watched The Good Wife last night - goodness I LOVE that show!!!

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: my hubby is requesting corn dogs (don't know why- Lol) and we'll just do chips, pasta salad, raw veggie platter with it. I have wallyball so I'll go get some exercise to make up for all the eating I did this weekend!! 

TUESDAY: meatloaf, cheesy potatoes, green beans and dinner rolls

WEDNESDAY: slow cooker homemade chicken noodle soup, ham & cheese roll-ups

THURSDAY: leftovers or easy pick up as my Crew has hockey and my daughter has volleyball this night...plus it's my birthday so I'll take a break from cooking

FRIDAY: french toast casserole with cinnamon apples and sausage/bacon

* I picked up a mix I'll bake this week for pumpkin bars with a gingerbread crust 

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

Working on a Halloween decoration, plus I have some jewelry projects lined up! Also, picked up a fun kid's stitching project book with my daughter and there's some fun things we'll be working on together.

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Nothing is a really new recipe, but will probably share chicken noodle soup recipe this week or corn chowder one I made a previous week or both.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Try drinking a cup of warm water in the morning with some lemon juice and coconut oil in it. I still need my coffee in the AM, but I'm now trying to drink this warm coconut drink later in the AM for its health benefits. Both lemon and coconut are fat flushers, plus the lemon has huge vitamin C benefits and the coconut will give you an energy boost. I keep a big jar of raw, cold pressed organic coconut on oil for it's wonderful health properties - from a hair mask to helping my rough feet and heels get better. I pinned some of this info on my pinterest page here. - here's a passage:

Coconut oil is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, and may even be able to fight the spread of cancer. There are many uses for coconut oil. It can kill a wide range of infections, and may also help your body get rid of parasites like lice and tapeworms. It can kill certain viruses, and your body can easily digest it to absorb all its nutrition. And of course it is natural and side-effect free.

FROM THE CAMERA:

Here are some photos of some of the Fall beauty by my house and on our road trip to Green Bay as well as some of the fun we had with Uncle Don:

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. 

Hebrews 11:6

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Five on Friday: Favorite parts of a Walk

Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year to be out walking! It's so cool and crisp - yet not freezing, and of course all the colors are getting amazing out there now. It's a great time to get on the walking shoes and breathe deep and take it all in! Here are my top favorite parts of a walk:

ONE

From this summer - look at that sky!

at our local park

our bay the other night at twilight

Taking in all the beauty right in my own backyard. Right now there's gorgeous Fall colors, lovely crunchy leaves to walk in, and beautiful roads and parks so close to my home.

TWO

It can be some quality family time. It's a wonderful outlet for my MIL with Alzheimers. When I'm caregiving for her during the week she can be restless at times and we both just love getting out for walk! We both love the time together, and she likes "helping me" take Ruby for a walk.  It's also times when my daughter and I will just go, or with some of her friends bike riding... and we'll all have fun together. Sometimes we'll have good talks, sometimes it's just getting to the park and having fun!

THREE

part of our local marina - I forgot the photo with all the docked sailboats

Japanese garden close by my home 

information about our sister city in Japan

love this sweet little cottage house decorated for Fall

this house is very close to ours - my kiddos think it's creepy - I just find it sad that's it's been neglected too much

There are so many wonderful sights to take in along the way. We have gone to a park across town that is by our local marina and it's so pretty to go along the walk way and there's even an old ship that's been permanently beached and you can tour it. 

Also, there's a little park close to our larger local park that is decorated like a Japanese garden and shares information about our "sister city" in Ami, Japan. 

And I especially love looking at all the beautiful houses right in my neighborhood. It's fun when the holidays come around and I can see how everyone decorates. Also, finding little treasures like a perfect mushroom that my daughter is certain fairy folk will be dancing under later. 

FOUR

Of course there's the benefit to my health! A good walk helps me put on the fitbit miles and work to be a stronger and healthier me.  Not to mention, it often helps my sanity and peace of mind. When I walk on my own it's my good talk to God time, or sort out my thoughts time.

FIVE

And one of my favorite parts of a walk is when I come back and reward myself! In the summer if it's hot it would be with a good cup of iced tea or lemonade. In this cooler crisp weather it's a nice hot cup of tea or cider and curling up under a warm cozy throw and reading a good book. Thanks for sharing my love of walking today!  Do you love a good walk too?

*Just a reminder that my special Uncle Don will be visiting this next week, so I will be taking the week off from posting. Have a wonderful weekend, great week ahead and I'll be back soon!

I'm linking with Amy of Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.

Cooking Thursday: LoveFoodies Mini Chicken Pot Pies

Hello All! 

Could someone please tell me what happened to September? I seemed to have blinked and it disappeared. I swear the days have been flying by me lately! I guess that's what busy days to you.  

Here I am late again with a post, but I thought I'd still get it out. My mornings have been filled lately, so I'm not able to get to my computer until the afternoon. I didn't get a chance to make the mini chicken pot pies this week that were on my menu, but many of you seemed very interested in the recipe. So I thought I'd share the pin off of my pinterest board where I have it saved. I liked the looks of this recipe because it looked easy, yet hearty and really cute! Always a nice bonus with dinner. Lol

Here's a photo of them from when LoveFoodies Blog put them on Pinterest. I love how she cut out the dough with flower shapes to make the top crust. See? - super cute!  When I make these I plan to just use a glass to cut out a circle for the tops. But then I'll top it with a few decorative pie crust leaves use the technique I like for making them. I don't have a mini leaf cookie cutter either, I cut them out myself. I've used them before when I've made apple and spiced peach pie. When I do make them I'll share photos.  For now -here's the recipe I pinned:

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 35 – 45 minutes

Yield: 12

You will need: 12 hole muffin pan

Ingredients

The Pastry:

12 oz / 340 g Shortcrust pastry
See here if you would like a recipe to make your own. You will need to DOUBLE the ingredients for the pastry recipe to get 12 mini pies.

The Filling:

1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey meat
1/2 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup mixed vegetables ( I used carrots, corn kernels and peas)
1 beaten egg (for the egg wash at the end)

Instructions

1. First make the pastry if making your own, divide into 2 balls and wrap with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge whilst you prepare the filling.
Then prepare the filling as follows:
2. Put chopped chicken or turkey, mixed veg and cream of chicken soup in a bowl and mix well. Add a pinch of pepper. No salt needed as I find the soup is already salty enough. Set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C and grease a 12 hole muffin tray.
4. Roll out one ball of pastry and cut rounds to fit the muffin tray.
5. Fill the pastry cases with the chicken mixture.
6. Using the remaining pastry, roll out and use a flower shape cookie cutter and cut out as many flowers as you can. You can of course use any shape cookie cutter, such as stars etc.
7. Slightly overlap the flowers to cover the top of the filling and top with a flower.
8. Brush the top with the beaten egg and bake till bubbling or golden brown about 35-45 mins.
Cool completely before removing the pies from the tin

When I make them I also intend on using store bought pie crust to make them even easier. That's part of the reason this recipe appeals to me - it can be done quickly and easily.

I think some of you seemed concerned about putting the crust in the muffin pan too. I think the easiest thing would be to roll out your dough (or store pie crust) and cut out circles large enough to go all the way up the sides of the muffin pan. Then when putting circles on the top you can pinch a little over the top edges of the bottom crust.  I even think store bought biscuit dough would work well if you rolled the pre-done circles out wide enough. If you make it before me let me know how it goes! 

I'm linking with Sandra from Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Cooking Thursday.