Fancy food

I've just been collecting some eye catching food on pinterest.

It's pretty amazing what amount of inspiration one great image holds. I now feel like baking today. 

Makes me want to throw a party, just because.

I love this idea of slicing apples and then dipping and dunking them in toppings. I can never finish the whole apple. A caramel apple toppings bar! Perfect for fall activities coming up. 

 Brownie Bowls!!!

 Satisfy that sweet and salty craving: mini marshmallows dipped in chocolate with a pretzel

Infused water recipes. The mint and strawberry/raspberry looks good.

 

Cotton candy cupcake toppers!

 

Whatever you are doing this weekend, baking or not, have a wonderful one!

How to: keep the kids entertained while Thanksgiving dinner is being set up

This idea can get pretty messy, so you may want to figure something out for the younger kids who make big messes. 

Get out your play-dough, or make some. 

Die the play-dough in colors related to Thanksgiving. 

Divide the dough equally to each child and let them create a Thanksgiving History Scene (or a turkey, an Indian Chief, Pilgrims, vegetables, etc). 

Choose a judge and pick a winner. 

The winner gets the first piece of pie and all the whipped cream they want!! haha.

This is what my daughter and I created for Halloween. 

Decorating with Autumn leaves

I just wish I had some colorful leave to get my hands on. The only fall leaves we get are the fake ones sold in stores. If you live near colorful fall leaves, don't take them for granted. 

A few things I'd make:

Waxed leaves from FamilyFun

Nature's stained glass from Sunset

 

Fall wreath from Sunset

or a swag

Image via flikr

[this one I can do]

 

Wreath seat holder from Martha Stewart Weddings

 

Tabletop collage from MS

Pressed-leaf place mats from MS 

Accents and place cards MS again

A different type of baby shower

I really love this idea of an evening outdoors woodland baby shower. 

My favorites...

the lighting:

the cozy decor and favors:

and the fall season details:

Hard to imagine it's a baby shower... it's perfect!

via dandee

Harvest Party

I spotted this Fall Harvest/Thanksgiving party a few days ago. 

I love everything about it. It has a rustic, natural, wood-sy feel... just as Fall should feel like. 

 

via kara's party ideas + anders ruff blog

Flyaway Favors

I know these are all across the internet/blogs, but every time I see them they make me smile. 

They'd be perfect for a Halloween witch party, or actually ANY Halloween party.

Make them with Martha.

Autumn Garland

I love the natural, simple look of this garland. 

I would make it (with instructions by Clover Lane) but we don't have any type of fall looking leaves nearby our home. Not ever. That is one thing I miss about the mainland.

(I wouldn't exchange it though. I love the beach and warm weather)

via ohdeedoh

Halloween Countdown

I love the holiday season (which starts with Halloween in my book). It's a fun time to craft, bake and make traditional treats, have traditions and create memories. 

I've only been married for (not quite) 4 years but we've done activity countdowns every since the beginning. 

Only thing about this year is we now have two kids and not a lot of time :(.

So this year our list is very simple. Here is our countdown from last year while living in Texas:

October Halloween Countdown 2009

01- Make Halloween sugar cookies

02- Go to the county Fair/Celebrate my husbands half birthday

03- Decorate house with bats and shadows

04- Paint/Draw portraits on mini pumpkins

05- Head to the Library, find 5 kid-scary books to read with Kai

06- Make ghost garlands

07- Make paper jack-o-lanterns

08- Attempt this easy apple dumpling recipe

09- Go to the pumpkin patch and pick out pumpkins

10- Cut out ghost sandwiches for lunch

11- Make caramel apples

12- Library, 5 more scary books

13- Make an autumn stew for dinner

14- Make a floral treat

15- Make martha's scary lady finger cookies again

16- Carve pumpkins

17- Make homemade slime

18- Make and play with green Jell-O

19- Library, 5 scary books

20- Black cat paw cookies

21- Create, make, think of, or get costumes

22- Watch a scary movie

23- I think we'll watch another scary movie

24- Corn maze + hay ride here

25-28th we traveled across the country to Utah

29- Make trick-or-treat tote- My half birthday! eat cake

30- Fast from any sweets and candy today because I'll be eating all of my daughter's candy tomorrow!

31- Trick-or-treat ☠

Caramel Apples!!!

I love love love caramel apples!!!

It's our family tradition to make them around Halloween time.

So lately I've been searching for some new mixtures and concoctions to make this year. 

These ones we made two years ago

 

they were drenched in caramel and soooooo good!

I've got my eye on these...

One Charming Party -actually shows how to make this yummy oreo, chocolate, caramel goodness

These look perfect!

from AllYou

(they have recipes too)

Chow.com has a fun salted pretzel caramel apple

I think we'll try this one this year

Love these twigs used as sticks

via

Fall has fallen

... or is at least coming closer.

I'm not sure where I got this image. I just found it in my collection. But it makes me want to be in the mountains (on the mainland) to spend a cool evening get together with family. Also, an easy way to decorate a table- very natural and woodsy.

Autumn corn garland

I love this festive garland for the fall season from Martha Stewart. 

It's made of colorful dried corn!