Halloween Decoration Ideas

  I have said before, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to decorate for.  I really don't like the creepy skeletons, bloody hands or things like that , but I love the cute pumpkins, witches, and ghosts.  I really do try to add to my collection every year.  I have gotten with my sisters to see what ideas they have for decorations this year and this is what we have come up with!

Let's Get Batty!!

My friend had done this on her front door a couple of years ago and I fell in love!  She gave me her template and I finally got the bats made this year.  I just used cardstock and taped them to my front door windows.

Pumpkin Patch

Arizona is really big on recycling, which is nice and it also helped to spark this idea.  As I was throwing away multiple glass bottles, such as spaghetti and pickle jars, I got an idea to save them and use them as pumpkin decorations.  I just painted the outsides of the jars orange.  I painted the lids and  the little pumpkin segment lines brown.  One of the pumpkins I painted over the orange with a beige color, leaving the pumpkin segment lines orange.  I used a sharpie marker to draw on each pumpkins face and finished it with some raffia or Hemp String around the lids.  My kiddos really like them too!

Trick-or-Treaters

Here is a picture of my little Trick-or-Treater group!  I wish I could say I made all of them, but just the little girl with the ghost head is my contribution.  (You can buy one of them in our store if you like her too!)

Gliding Ghosts (and a bat)

Another one of the kids favorite is our flying glow-in-the-dark ghosts.  We have a bat amongst them (my oldest son made in 1st grade a couple of years ago).  The glow in the dark ghosts can also be found in our store or on the blog as a tutorial!  I attached these by using fishing string and hooks in the wall.  I put them up as high as I could reach and just tied slip knots on either end of the fishing string.  Then I attached fishing string to the heads and bottoms of the ghosts and bat (2 strings each) and did a slip knot for each string onto the string strung across the room.  I hope that makes sense!  I think it turned out pretty cool.  (I, Stacy, really shouldn't be taking credit for hanging them though because Michelle actually did it for me!  Thanks so much!!!)

Here is a close up of the bat.  It is just made from a black nylon hose with the end stuffed with cotton.  Tie it off at the length you want your bat.  On black cardstock, draw the bats wings, head and ears and then hot glue it onto the bats back.  You can also add additional googly eyes if you want!

~Stacy~

Witches Hat Garland

This is a project Michelle is going to be doing this week.  It is this really cute Mini Witch Hat Garland.  Click on the link for the tutorial!  I believe Michelle is making the hats garland!

~Michelle~

Halloween Garland

Here is Rachel's Garland she made from scraps of black, white and orange material.  It was a quick and easy project she did with her kids this weekend.  Rachel is also going to make some cute little witches hats for some center pieces at her Witches Night Out Party.

~Rachel~

Don't Forget to Enter!

  Don't forget to enter your name in for the "Halloween Decoration Package" giveaway!  There are only 3 days left to enter!  It is simple, just:

1.  Follow us on this blog (if you already do, it's a free entry)

2.  Follow us on Pintrest

3.  Like us on Facebook

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks again for all your support and looking at our stuff and good luck!  We will announce the winner 9/14/13.  Good luck!

~The Sissies~ 

Giveaway!!!

We are so excited that we have reached 100,000 views!!!  We want to celebrate by having another GIVEAWAY!  This time it is going to be a Halloween Package.   This will include 3 of our new Halloween products, a Glow in the Dark Ghost, a Trick-or-Treater, and a little pumpkin.

To be a winner, you have to: 

1.  Follow us on this blog (if you already do, it's a free entry)

2.  Follow us on Pintrest

3.  Like us on Facebook

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks again for all your support and looking at our stuff!  We will announce the winner 9/14/13.  Good luck!

~The Sissies~ 

Glow in the Dark, Halloween Ghosts

I love Halloween and I am trying every year to add cute decorations to my collection.  These are the cutest ghosts!  I am so excited to add them this year.  I know it is a little early for Halloween, but why not get prepared early.

This is a fun project to do with your kids.  For the project you will need a 3' X 36" cheesecloth pack, fabric stiffener, glow in the dark paint (in the craft section), a 2 L bottle, 2- 16oz bottles, a 3" Styrofoam ball, and E-6000 glue.

1.  First you will take the cheesecloth out and unfold it all the way out.  Next, fold it into thirds.
2.  In a medium sized bowl, mix 8 oz of fabric Stiffener, and 4 oz of the glow in the darkFill paint together in the bowl.  Crumple up the cheesecloth into a ball and stick it in the mixture.  Stir it around until the cloth is completely covered.  Let it set for 30 minutes.
3.  Take the 2-L bottle and cut 2- 1 1/2 inch ovals in the front towards the middle.  (You will attach the arms there so cut them where you think the arms would look the best).  One will be at 10" up and the other at 9".
4.  Attach the 2- 16 oz bottles into the holes and secure with hot glue.
5.  Fill the 2-L bottle about a 1/3 of the way with water.  Attach the styrofoam ball on top of the bottle.
6.  After 30 minutes, squeeze the cheesecloth out as much as you can.  Spread it out and on top of the plastic bottles.  Move the cloth around the arms and head so you can see some definition.  Also spread the bottom out so it will be able to stand on it's own once dry.  Allow to dry over night or several hours.
7.  Using black or dark card stock, cut out 2 oval eyes.  Attach on the inside of the ghosts head using E-6000 glue.
8.  Light it up or leave it under the lights for a little bit and then turn off your lights and let it glow!!!

We will also have these listed in our More Sister Stuff Shop, if you would rather just buy a finished product!

~Stacy~

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!!

Truly, Halloween is my favorite holiday.  It really does fall before Christmas and Thanksgiving even.  It has always been and I think I am the only sister who loves it this much, I could be wrong though.  I have to wait until Oct. 1 to get all of my Halloween stuff out because I would totally annoy my husband otherwise, but I would have it out way before and way into November if I could! 
  Anyhow, tonight, my boys and I carved our pumpkins.  We have to wait until the very last moment in the south otherwise they will get moldy and gross before Halloween.  My boys chose 2 difficult ones and I ended up carving all of the parts but one, but oh well, I love it!  They turned out awesome!!!  Here are the pics!

Our Bat                                                                  A Dementor. . .AAAAAAH!

Here is the final outcome of our night of fun!

~Stacy~

Projects

We have a craft fair that is coming up in Idaho a week from today!! We have been swamped trying to get everything done for it! Now that we are FINALLY...almost there, and feel like we can breath, we thought we would do a little sneak preview of a few of the projects we will be selling. We are in LOVE with the 2 x 4's with vinyl on them!

--Michelle--

20 Favorite Halloween/Fall Decorations

With Halloween coming up we thought we would do a post of our favorite Halloween Decorations, so we can have them all in one place.

Decorating for Halloween can be so much fun!  With pumpkins popping up in stores everywhere you can feel festive without having the scariness of ghouls and monsters if you prefer not to.

1. Pumpkin decorated with ribbon.

2. Pumpkins in tulle.

3. Toilet Paper pumpkin.

4. Pumpkin Spider.

5. Halloween Banner.

6. Front Porch



7. Fireplace Mantel



8. Fireplace Mantel



9. Ghost Jars 

10. Hanging Ghosts

11. Name Holders

12. Homemade Rootbeer

13. Glow Stick Steps

14. Glow Stick Balloons

15. Front Door Decoration

16. 4x4 Pumpkins

17. 2x4 Pumpkins

18. Shabby Chic Pumpkin

19. Halloween Lantern

20. Outside Light

Mummy Cupcakes

Everyone was saying they wanted to know how to make these so here you go:
You will need:
1 cake mix
Chocolate frosting (I just bought mine)
tic-tacs (orange or green)
fondant icing (recipe below)

The fondant icing is best made the night before and stored in the fridge, but I didn't realize that and made mine when I was ready to frost the cupcakes, so I made it and put it in the freezer for 1 hour and it worked great too. Make your cupcakes according to box directions and let cool. When your fondant icing is ready to use, roll it out thin, then cut strips using a pizza cutter. After I cut one way making thin strips of all sizes (thicker and skinnier strips), I cut the other direction the length of a cupcake (about 2-3 inches) so they were all strips fit perfect for a cup cake. Frost your cupcakes with the chocolate frosting. Put tic-tacs on for the eyes, about 2/3 of the way up on the cup cake so it's equivalent to a face and then layer your fondant icing around it. It is so easy to do, if you make your fondant the night before, once your cupcakes are cooled I bet you could be done rolling out fondant and decorating cupcakes in a half hour tops.

For the fondant:
You will need:
1/2 bag of mini marshmallows (16 ounce size) use a good quality brand
2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1-2 1/2 Tablespoons water
1/4 cup Crisco (for greasing hands and counter top)

Melt marshmallows and a tablespoon of water in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and continue microwaving 30 seconds at a time until all melted. It takes about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes total. Grease your hands and counter top generously with Crisco. Place 2 cups of powdered sugar in a pile on the crisco-d countertop and pour melted marshmallows on top. Start needing like you would bread dough. This stuff and sticky at this stage, and be careful because it's hot at the beginning. Continue regreasing hands and countertop as needed. Add the rest of the powdered sugar (1/2 cup) and knead some more. Regrease when the fondant starts sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is too dry so add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time and knead in). It usually takes about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing easily. Form it in a ball and put a small coating of Crisco around it. Wrap twice in plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight. It sounds more complicated than it is, it's really easy.

Hope you guys enjoy!
Heather

More Halloween Fun

The Bats and Pumpkins

The Mummies

The whole group together with the twinkie mummies

and an oreo spider!

   My boys and I had some friends come over to make mummy cookies and twinkies.  This turned into making bats and pumpkins too.  It was really fun and I was impressed with how creative the kids could be.  My oldest made pirate pumpkins and put "stitches" on the mummies for effect.  The recipe below is for the cookies and the frosting we used.  The cookies are so soft and delicious.  I will often add just a little bit of vanilla to them also, but you don't have to.  For this recipe it made about 6-7 dozen cookies.  We had to make double the recipe for frosting and I still ran out, so it makes a lot!

Soft Sugar Cookies

2 C Sugar
1 C Butter, softened
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
3 Eggs
1 C Milk
4-6 C Flour

Cream the sugar, butter and eggs.  Add the baking powder, soda and salt.  Then add the milk and slowly start adding the flour until the dough is no longer sticky.  Refrigerate for easier rolling.  Roll out to 1/4 to 1/2" thick.  Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes.


Sugar Cookie Frosting

4 oz Cream Cheese
1 Cube Butter, softened
1/2 tsp Vanilla
4 C Powdered Sugar

Combine cream cheese, butter and vanilla.  Add powdered milk until frosting is the consistency you would like.  If it gets to thick, add a small amount of milk to thin.  Separate into bowls to mix colors.
Stacy