DIY: Sugar skull candy bowl

Yep, it's that time of year again!

I had so much fun making my Halloween apothecary last year that I've decided to get creative again this year.

Halloween is one of my favorite time of year to do crafts and decorate. There's just so much creative freedom. You can get as wild as you want and no one will blink twice.

I actually started this project last year but never got around to finishing it. You know how it goes right? You start a million projects on an inspiration wave, then you loose it and half of those projects get forgotten in a distant corner of the house for a few months...and sometimes more.

Does anyone else do that?

I've also been known to go into a craft store for a very specific thing and come back out 3 hours later with half the store in my bags. Oh, did I mention my very awesome and patient husband was waiting in the car the whole time?

Yea, he doesn't come anymore. 

Back to my project. So I saw this skull at the dollar store and I immediately thought it would be fun to turn it into a sugar skull to decorate my living room.

When I shared my idea with my husband, he mentioned it would be cool if it was a candy bowl. I swear, he's totally a creative inside. So off he went to drill. Awesome right?

So anyway, this super skull is chilling on my table right now, but I took out all of the candy because otherwise, my toddlers will at them all in a single sitting.

Have you created anything for Halloween? Are you making your own costume? What will you dress up as?

My boys and husband have asked to be the 3 musketeers so that's what my next project is going to be. If you're looking for me in the next 2 weeks, I'll either be raiding the dollar store or at my sewing machine.

See you all next week! :)

Materials

Plastic skull
Acrylic paints
Paint brush
Palette
Artificial flowers
Glue gun
Candy (!!)

Steps

1. Paint the entire skull white. I used spray paint but you can just as easily use a paint brush and acrylics. 
2. Cut a hole at the top to insert your candy. I asked my husband to do it with his hand drill, it took him about 2 minutes. 
3. Paint the eye sockets, nose hole and teeth outline in black. You can use any color you want at this point, have fun and be creative! 
4. Decorate with pretty patterns around the eyes, the forehead and chin. You can embellish with faux jewels or even glitter! 
5. Cut some artificial flowers and hot glue them around the head to form a flower crown. I glued them around the hole. 
6. Fill with candy and enjoy!

A quick + easy Easter center piece

Add a punch of color to your Easter festivities with this easy center piece.
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Today I want to share a super quick and easy Easter center piece idea with you guys. I love adding small touches of color around my house for special holidays and seasons. I always find it refreshing to mix things up and modify parts of my home without changing everything around.

I was shopping at the dollar store for some plastic eggs to use in my Easter egg hunt game and I stumbled across this super colorful and shiny Easter grass. I ended up buying it on an impulse not really knowing what to do with it. Then I remembered I had this big empty vase and figured I could stuff it with the grass and turn it into a center piece for my dinner table. Who doesn't like inexpensive and quick decorations?

MATERIALS:
Easter grass
Glass vase



Like I said before this is a super easy way to decorate you table. All you need to do is layer the Easter grass in your vase and bam! you've got yourself a pretty rad punch of color.



If you have any plastic eggs left over from the Easter egg hunt, you can randomly place them on the table when you set it for your Easter dinner. I also put some in the wine glasses. If you're hosting a more adult-friendly dinner, you can always hide some mini chocolate eggs in the plastic eggs you put in the glasses instead of playing the egg hunt game. I'm sure everyone will love a sweet treat.



How do you decorate your home for Easter?

In case you're wondering what the center piece looks like on my table when it's not set for dinner... ;) Who said plastic flowers from the dollar store couldn't be fancy?

The ultimate Easter egg hunt

Let's rock it with this ultimate Easter egg hunt.
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Hey guys!

I'm writing from Mexico! I'm on vacation right now with my in-laws and having a blast. I have a whole bunch of posts lined up for you guys about my trip but first, I wanted to share a few of my Eater ideas with you.

My kids are growing up so fast and I've been looking for fun holiday related games to play during family events. I hope to turn these into traditions that they'll grow up to love and remember. Anyway, Easter is coming up fast, and I wanted to do an Easter egg hunt but I didn't want to do just a basic "search and eat".

So I came up with a couple of fun twists to the traditional egg hunt.

What kind of games do you play for the Easter holidays?



MATERIALS:

Plastic eggs
Mini chocolate eggs
Paper
Scissors
Pen



1. I started by cutting strips of paper and writing simple instructions on them like "behind the couch", "under a pillow" and "on a chair". These will serve to make the game more interesting rather than a simple "find and eat" egg hunt.



2. After making the tags, I filled some of the plastic eggs with tags or chocolate eggs.



3. Play the game! :)



INSTRUCTIONS:

Preparing
Put aside some empty plastic eggs.
Fill some of the plastic eggs with 1 or 2 chocolate eggs.
Put a written tag from above in a few plastic eggs. 

Setting up
Hide all of the plastic eggs, including the empty ones.
Hide some chocolate eggs by themselves.
Hide small bundles of chocolate eggs according to the tags from above. For example, if the tag says "in a cabinet" then you hide a bunch of chocolate eggs in a cabinet. These will be like a bonus stack for people who find them!

Playing
For a set amount of time, people search for the eggs (chocolate or plastic).
Whoever has the most of both types combined wins a small prize. 

Last minute Christmas party favors

A week or so ago I hosted a family Christmas gathering. Something small, just to see everyone before the holiday madness. I wanted to send everyone home with a little gift but I thought about it too late and had to come up with something last minute.

I found these super cute advent calendar mini bags at IKEA and ended up using them as party favor bags.

I wrapped up some of my gingerbread cookies and added one in each bag.

Then I filled some mini plastic bags with a single portion of my homemade hot chocolate mix (I'll be sharing the recipe soon so make sure to check back later!), labeled them with pretty handwritten tags and added those too.

I also added a few mini chocolates and a little candy cane. Nothing fancy, but I totally enjoyed the homemade touch.

What kind of little trinkets would you like to receive in party favors?

Halloween apothecary

I am so unbelievably psyched right now (and a little ahead, but I just couldn't wait!). I've been thinking about this project for EVER and it's finally done. Isn't it just cool? Magic potions guys. MAGIC! Anyone want to fly? Fall in love? Well...you're in for a treat because today, it's all possible! Just don't drink the poison ok?

I've been collecting all sorts of different glass bottles. Ketchup bottles, essence bottles, oil dispensers, maple syrup jars, soya sauce bottles, fizzy water bottles... even alcohol bottles (that others give me because I don't drink).

With a sprinkle of Fairy Dust and a Unicorn's Tear, let me present to you my new favorite Halloween decoration, the Apothecary, magical potions included! Right now I'm using it as a table center but come Halloween, this baby's going to be next to my big cauldron full of candy.

I love Halloween. It's the only time of the year where you can get crazy creative and have no one judge you. Always wanted to be a princess? No problem. Prefer being a naughty nurse. You got it. Secretly think you're a spy? Live it out! Personally, I'd love to dress up Steampunk with a big pouffy dress.

What's your favorite Halloween costume?



MATERIALS:
Glass bottles
Water
Food dye
Glitter
Beads
...and anything else you'd like to put in your bottles




TOOLS:
Paper
Tags
Baker's twine
Scissors
Pen
Tape



1. The first thing you want to do is fill your bottles and jars. I filled mine with beads, dried flowers, glitter and of course, colored water. I left some empty as well, just for decor.



2. Next you want to identify your bottles. You wouldn't want to confuse the Poison with the Love Potion! I used tags for some, and for others I used props.



For the poison I added a skull on top of the jar. I got a whole bunch at the dollar store for a buck.



I added a simple tag with pretty lettering for the fairy dust. Glitter!! Don't you just love glitter?



And for the the flying potion I added some wings!



So there you have it. A super cute and fun Apothecary! This Halloween DIY is super easy so even kids could jump in and decorate a few bottles. You could use a few plastic ones if you're concerned they might break them. You could even paint them. Be creative! :)



What kind of decor will you be making this Halloween?

DIY: Easter bunny hard boiled eggs

I have always wondered why people empty the eggs before coloring them. They are so much more fragile and harder to work with. Is it because they last longer? I personally like to hard boil the eggs first, that way, they are easier to work with.

MATERIALS:
Hard boiled eggs
Colored felt
Scrap cardboard
1 cup Water
1 tablespoon Vinegar
20 drops food Coloring


TOOLS:
Glue
Scissors
Spoon


1. Mix the water, vinegar & food coloring. Dye the eggs.


I broke the pink one. It made me sad.

2. While the egg is drying on the spoon, cut the felt into shapes (ears, eyes, nose).


I didn't need the scrap cardboard (kleenex box) because my felt was strong on it's own. Otherwise you can use it as back support for the ears.

3. Glue the felt parts on the eggs. Serve with breakfast, eat & enjoy!


I served them with bacon, toast, tomatoes and coconut fried potatoes. Use your imagination!

I've been pretty busy lately. I kind of over booked myself on activities with my son. I gave birth to him 3 weeks after we moved into our first house. I felt a bit lonely and secluded, so I scheduled a whole bunch of activities for us. We had swimming classes, mommy craft classes, baby musical activities, stroller workouts & lots of mommy/baby dates... it was fun while it lasted, but before I go back to work in 2 months, I want to spend as much quality time with my son as I can. alone. Just him, and me. It's hard to believe he's almost 1 already. I'm going to miss him being a little mister.

DIY: Valentine's day lover's dice

I'm so excited!! Valentine's day is coming up soon & I have to say, my hubby & I are really looking forward to having some "us" time. God knows we really need it. I've never been one to spend lots of money on "commercialized" holidays, but I still like to enjoy them, so I came up with a quick, easy & free way to enjoy lover's day!

If you're looking for something fun & different to do for Valentine's day, something that doesn't cost anything & will spice up the romance in your life, you're in for a treat! How about some action dice?

MATERIALS:
One 8.5'x11' colored cardstock
Ruler
Pencil
Eraser
Exacto knife (or scissors)
Glue


1. Starting at a corner (along the 8.5 inch side) make marks at 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 & 4 inches. Do the same on the opposite side of the page. Starting at the same corner (along the 11 inch side), make marks at 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 & 5 inches. Do the same on the opposite side of the page. Next, draw a grid by connecting the marks. Draw triangles in the cells shown below (these will be used to glue the cube shut). Lastly, erase the extra lines.


If you want to skip this step, download the template.

2. Cut, then write actions on one cube & body parts on the other.


3. Fold & glue.


Roll-em and do-em! Whoop whoop! Have fun! (:

What will you be doing for Valentine's day?