Do you have any favorite memories of Halloween from when you were a child? One of the memories my kids already talk about is Grandma George’s popcorn balls. She hands out homemade popcorn balls to every trick-or-treater that visits her doorstep. They are the perfect consistency, just a little gooey and sticky, not too hard on your teeth. My kids look forward to receiving this special treat from her each year. This year I thought it would be a great idea to take a picture of her with the infamous popcorn balls alongside my kids dressed for trick-or-treating.

I was also able to get her recipe and share it with all of you.

*****************************************

Grandma George’s Popcorn Balls
Ingredients:

• 8 quarts of popcorn or 6 quarts popcorn and 2 quarts peanuts
• 1 cup of sugar
• 3/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/8 tsp. of salt
• 1/4 cup of butter (sliced into small pieces)
• 1 tsp. vanilla

1. Pop the popcorn.

2. Combine the sugar, corn syrup and condensed milk in a pan and melt  together until it reaches 230 degrees. (Use a candy thermometer to  measure temperature.) Take the mixture off of the heat and cool slighty.  Add the salt, butter and vanilla to the mixture.

3. Pour the mixture over your popcorn and form into balls. Make sure  you coat your hands with lots of butter to keep the mixture from  sticking to your hands.
*****************************************

As for the rest of our Halloween night, a great time was had by all of us. After visiting Grandma and Grandpa George and Aunt Tammy’s house we headed back to town. The kids are getting old enough that walking house to house has become a lot easier. Steve and my sisters took the kids and their Smith cousins around the block. I rested back at the house. Charlie was loving it and said “trick-or-treat” at every door. He kept a tight hold on his candy bag. Lorelei examined all her candy once back at Grandma’s house. I am sure she has accounted for every piece and will know if we swipe one from her bag.

Here are some pics from Halloween. You can click on the thumbnails to enlarge them.

Robin Hood, Aladar and Lava Girl

Elliana, Alanna, Charlie, Maddie, Lorelei, Allan

Hope all of you had a great Halloween night! Boo!

*******************************************

The post Our Halloween | Popcorn Ball Recipe appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Here is a free download for Ghost Cupcake Wrappers and Boo Toppers.

How To:

1. Print wrappers and toppers (free download below).

2. Cut out wrappers on dotted line. Wrap around frosted cupcake and use a small piece of tape to secure ends of wrapper in place.

3. Use a 1” or larger circle paper punch for toppers. One that has a scalloped edge would be fun!

4. Sandwich a toothpick between both sides of the ghost topper circles using double-sided tape.

5. Add topper toothpick to cupcake.

So easy! Hope your Halloween cupcakes end up spookily cute.

*Find the download here:

Halloween | Boo Ghost Cupcake Wrappers and Toppers Download

**********************************************************

The post How To | Halloween Ghost Cupcake Wrappers and Toppers appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

I must confess this was not my idea. My sister discovered it on another blog (Not So Idle Hands) and I thought it looked like a great way to use some of the jars in our recycling bin. So check out her tutorial or follow along with mine below!

Supplies:

• Decoupage Medium
• Foam Brush
• Jars
• Tissue Paper
• Scissors
• Tea Light (I use battery operated ones)

How To:

1. Cut strips of tissue paper about 2 inches longer than the height of your jar.

Add Decoupage Medium

2. Using your foam brush apply a thick line of decoupage medium onto your jar. Next adhere your tissue paper strip by aligning the top of the strip underneath the threaded part of your jar and smoothing the paper down onto the jar.

Add Tissue Paper Strip

3. Continue to add decoupage medium and strips all the way around the jar. My strips overlap each other a bit.

4. After the sides are done, put decoupage medium on the bottom of your jar and fold down any tissue paper that is left overhanging. Smooth it all down on the bottom and place the jar upside down to dry.

5. Cut out the faces for your jars from tissue paper and adhere with decoupage medium onto your jar. Let dry.

Cut Out Face Shapes

6. Add your tea lights and watch your lanterns glow!

My kids enjoy having them on their dressers at night. They make a festive night-light.

************************************************************************************************************

The post How To | Halloween Jar Lanterns appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Sunday was a beautiful day here at our house. We headed off as a family to enjoy some time at the Zoo dressed in our costumes. Interestingly enough neither Lorelei or Allan wanted to wear the costumes they are wearing on Halloween. Hmmm, decided to let them choose and they wore their costumes from last year.

This is the first Halloween that Charlie actually understands what is happening. At the first candy stop in the zoo he picked his piece of candy out of the bucket and then I tried to show him how to put it in his bag. He would not let it out of his hand. He did this until he had acquired about 5 pieces and could not hold anymore. I had to work hard to convince him it was alright to put it into his bag. I am sure he thought I would put it in the bag and then he wouldn’t get to eat any of it.

We enjoyed the Boo Tunnel together. Charlie made this his uh-oh face for us before entering. He understands that Halloween has some spooky parts and he will point at Halloween decor and say uh-oh or make a scary ohhhh sound for me. Lorelei told me afterward that it wasn’t too scary, but she had her eyes closed for most of it! Steve said Charlie was shaking slightly. It had no eery noises or people jumping out, so it was pretty mild, but when you are very small the line between real and pretend is hard to define.

The kids also enjoyed the straw maze and a few games, all of which had prizes at the end. It was a beautiful day to be outside and I made it through, pregnant belly and all.

The post Boo at the Zoo appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

This is me 36 weeks pregnant and big as a pumpkin. We went to Boo at the Zoo and I decided I needed some sort of costume. I bought this shirt at Target in the Men’s section for $4.99 and turned it into a baby bump pumpkin shirt.

It’s easy to do, all you need is some black fabric paint, a paint brush, the shirt and the template.

How To:

1. Print out the template/stencil (free download below).

2. Cut out the face from the template/stencil using a craft knife. Put the shirt on and align the stencil in the correct spot on your baby bump. Tape it in place (I used double-sided tape on the back side of the paper stencil). Remove the shirt and lay it out on a flat surface.

3. With your stencil taped in place, paint over the open spots with black fabric paint. Let paint dry.

4. Follow the directions on your fabric paint. After the paint dries you may need to heat set the paint with an iron.

5. Wear your shirt for Halloween to accentuate your baby bump!

Here are two templates/stencils for free download. One is for a pumpkin face and the other is a ghost face. If you only have a white t-shirt you could make a ghost face on your baby bump instead!

Maternity Costume Baby Pumpkin Face

Maternity Costume Baby Ghost Face

*************************************************************************

The post How To | Maternity Pumpkin Shirt appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

DQCXTRU2828G

Today we made spider webs out of pipe cleaners, yarn and pom-poms. It was a little advanced for Allan who couldn’t actually wrap the yarn and isn’t too handy yet with the glue. We are letting the spiders dry on the web as I type. Lorelei and Allan can’t wait to hang them in their rooms.

Supplies:

• 4 black pipe cleaners
• 12 ft. piece of black yarn
• 2 pom-pom balls
• 2 googly eyes
• 6 inches of embroidery floss
• glue
• scissors

How To: Lay out the 4 pipe cleaners so they overlap like spokes. Twist the pipe cleaners around themselves in the center so they are all held together. (Fig. 1)

Fig. 1

Knot the piece of yarn around the center of the spokes. (Fig. 2) Trim off the loose end close to the spokes so that it can’t be seen.

Fig. 2

Start at the center with the ball of yarn and wrap around each spoke one time. Continue to work your way outward. As you go hold the spokes an equal distance apart. If you pull the yarn to tightly the web will have a tendency to cup inward as you get toward the end. (Fig. 3)

Fig. 3

If you don’t have enough yarn, just tie another piece onto the spoke where the previous piece ended. When you have gone all the way around the spokes leave a 10″ tail of yarn to glue a spider to.

Create your spider legs by cutting 4 pieces of embroidery floss. Lay them out side-by-side and knot them together in the center with another piece of floss. (Fig. 4) Glue the googly eyes to the front of one of the pom-poms. Glue the legs to the back-side of that pom-pom ball. The legs will later be sandwiched between the two pom-poms.

Fig. 4

Keep your two pom-poms separate but have them ready to glue onto the web. (Fig. 5) Add some glue to the web (Fig. 6) and adhere both sides of the pom-pom together with the legs and web sandwiched in the middle. (Fig. 7) Add a spider to the yarn tail hanging off the web in the same manner. (Fig. 8) Let spiders dry on web. When the glue has dried tie a loop to the top of the web so you can hang it up. Add a Halloween message using paper and glue it onto the web.

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

FIg. 9

*****************************************************************************************************************

The post How To | Spider Web Decorations appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

We have three main spots in our house that are decorated. At the top of the page is a picture of the top of our entertainment center. (I know we still don’t have a flat screen TV, much to my husbands disappointment!) The next spot is on an end table that holds my feather tree during different holiday seasons. The last spot is across our mantel.

The kids are always excited when we bring out the decorations. It doesn’t matter what holiday is. Who doesn’t love to decorate with seasonal items?

The post Halloween | Our Decor appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Lava Girl Halloween Costume

My daughter recently discovered the movie The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl and made the request to be Lava Girl for Halloween. Here is a simplified version of how to create your own Lava Girl costume using felt, puff paint, markers, a shirt and pants.

(You can now view and add your own pictures of Lava Girl costumes to my Lava Girl Costumes Flickr group. Visit the group here.)

Supplies:

• Matching shirt and pants
• Coordinating yardage of felt
• Coordinating thread (If you don’t sew use a Felt Glue, not just a fabric glue)
• Tulip Slick Dimensional Fabric Paint in Fluorescent Orange
• Sharp sewing scissors
• White Chalk Marker or Chalk Wheel
• Sharpie Marker in Black Super Permanent
• 8.5 x 11 foam sheet in bright orange
• Sticky or sew on velcro
• Pink wig
• Picture of Lava Girl for reference

Lava Girl Costume Finished Shirt

The Shirt: To start I had my daughter try on the plain pink shirt and I held up the piece felt to her with the shirt on. I then used the chalk wheel to mark the cuts I would make on the main felt piece. (My costume only has felt on the front side of the shirt and pants.) I made sure that I was marking the width of the felt to match the side seams and the length of the plain shirt.

I then had her remove the shirt and I laid it out flat on the counter and once again laid the felt piece with chalk marks on the shirt to double-check the width and length before I cut. I referenced the Lava Girl picture to see what shape to cut the felt piece along the top and marked it out using the chalk.

Using my sharp scissors, (felt can dull a pair of so-so scissors quickly and you won’t get a clean cut) I cut on my chalk marks. Next I laid the cut felt piece back onto the plain shirt to make sure it was a match in width and length. While the main cut felt piece was laying on the shirt I cut out more felt circle/lava rocks to be added along the neck and shoulders of the shirt, again referencing the Lava Girl picture while assessing how much space I had between the top of main felt piece and the plain shirt neckline.

The Belt: To make the “belt” that goes across the shirt, I cut a strip of felt the same width as the main felt piece. I laid the cut rectangular strip on top of the main felt piece and used my chalk to mark the shape of the belt piece I wanted to cut. I then cut out the belt piece. Next I used the chalk to draw a circle shape in the center of the belt and a series of smaller circle shapes to the right of the center circle. I cut these shapes out with my scissors. To give a belt some dimension I used bright orange foam and cut it slightly smaller than the overall shape of the belt. I laid the foam underneath the belt and pinned it onto the belt. Then I laid the belt in the position I wanted it on the main felt piece and pinned it down (only pin it to the main felt piece, not to the plain shirt). I then sewed the felt belt + foam underneath to the main felt piece. (The main felt piece is still not attached to the plain shirt.)

Main Felt Piece with Fabric Paint Applied

Lava on the Shirt: To add the “lava” to the main felt piece I used my chalk to mark where I wanted the lava to flow. I then carefully started at the top of my main felt piece and applied the fabric paint to the correct spots on the felt. I was careful to work from top to bottom and then left to right so that my hand did not smear any of the fabric paint I had already applied. Set this piece aside to dry, preferably overnight.

Add Burned Edges to the Felt

Burned Edges: When the fabric paint was completely dry I used a black Sharpie marker to add a burned look to the edges of the felt. I carefully rubbed the marker along all the edges of the “lava”. Next I added marker to the outside edges of the lava rock pieces and main felt piece. I used a paper towel to keep my finger tips from getting black while I held the small pieces.

Finishing Up the Shirt: Once the burned edges where added to all the shirt felt pieces I pinned everything onto the plain pink shirt. Next I sewed all the pieces onto the shirt. If you can’t sew, use a good Felt Glue to adhere all your pieces onto the shirt. A felt glue is important because it actually adheres to the felt and makes it stick to the fabric. My past experience with regular fabric glue on felt has resulted in a sticky mess and the felt didn’t stick to the fabric well at all. Check the glue bottle and make sure it is recommended for use with felt.

Lava Girl Costume Finished Pants

The Pants: To cut the felt pieces for the pants I laid the pants out flat on the counter. The plain shirt I bought is long enough that it covers the top of pants, allowing me to leave the waist of these pants untouched. This was good because these pants have a drawstring inside and I wanted to leave them adjustable. I used the same technique to cut the felt pieces for the pants as I did for the shirt lava rocks. I laid the yardage of felt over the pants and used my chalk to mark where I wanted to cut. I used the Lava Girl movie picture as a reference to see what size/shape pieces I needed. My top piece goes along the entire width of the pants. The other pieces fit only into each pant leg. As I marked with the chalk and cut my pieces out I pinned them in place on the pants. This made it easier for me to see what shape to cut the next piece.

Lava on the Pants: Once all the pieces where cut and pinned in place I sewed all the pieces onto the pants. Next I used the fabric paint to apply lava to the pants. When I was finished I set them aside to dry overnight.

Burned Edges: When the fabric paint was completely dry I used a black Sharpie marker to add a burned look to the edges of the felt. I carefully rubbed the marker along all the edges of the “lava”. Next I added marker to the outside edges of the lava rock pieces, in this case they were already attached to the pants, so I had to be careful not to get too much marker on the pants.

The Wrist Guards: To complete the costume I made wrist guards. I started by measuring my daughters wrist and forearm, then I made a paper template. I used the paper template and wrapped it around her arm to get the shape I wanted, making sure there was enough overlap to add the velcro. I placed the paper template onto the yardage of felt and traced around it with my chalk. I cut out the felt pieces and then added lava using fabric paint and let the pieces dry overnight.

The next morning I added the burned edges. I then cut sticky velcro strips and added them to the wrist guards.

All the Pieces of the Finished Costume

The crowning touch to the entire costume was the pink wig I found at JoAnn’s. My daughter is in love with the entire costume. I am sure it will be comfortable and warm for her to wear for her Halloween party at school and on Halloween night!

The post How To | Lava Girl Costume appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

This felt pumpkin ornament was handcrafted by Alanna George! You can find more of my craft work at: www.flickr.com/photos/alannageorge

These cute creations were made by Colleen MacDonald.

These spooky ornaments were made by Valita Baxley!

Ornament by Stephanie Oyler. Visit her at: www.crownsandpearls.blogspot.com

Ornament by Shawn Street. Didn’t she do a beautiful job soldering the lid?

Tree skirt by Sara Velder. I am in love with her idea to make us all a tree skirt to lay under our trees. LOVE IT! You can find more of Sara’s work here: www.acornridgequilting.com or www.acornridgequilting.blogspot.com.

Ornament by Robin Sanchez. She is a Multi-Media Artist and pictures of her work can be found at: www.flickr.com/photos/ltlblonde.

Ornament by Rachel Velder. Visit her blog at: www.rach-ology.blogspot.com

Ornament by Melissa Danner. Visit Melissa at her blog: www.melissadanner.typepad.com.

Halloween ornament by Julie Baxley.

Ornament by Jessi Nagy. Visit her at: www.scrappyjessi.blogspot.com

Ornament by Hope Ellington. Beautiful cutting and soldering Hope! Visit her blog at: www.vintage-whimsy.blogspot.com.

Ornament by Heather Rowley. Visit her and purchase her vintage treasures at: www.speckled-egg.com.

Ornament by Bianca Gaspard. Visit her at thepaperplayground.blogspot.com.

Thanks girls for participating and for all the goodies you sent me for hosting. You are all too generous!

The post Halloween Ornament Swap appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Whew! We made it through Halloween this past weekend. It seems the Fall has flown, blown and rained its way past us. With all the colds, flu and doctors visits we have had little time to accomplish much this season. Luckily I shopped Ebay and Craigslist early on this year to find our Halloween costumes.

What a fun time we have had wearing them. The kids have enjoyed wearing them at home and pretending to be their respective superheros. Allan loves to demonstrate his speed around the house, usually ending in a slip and fall at some point (pesky socks on hardwood floors).

We got lots of compliments last weekend at the trick-or-treat in the mall and at the school costume parade, to which neither Steve or I wore our costumes. But the best was Saturday when we all donned our apparel for Halloween and set off to trick-or-treat.  The kids were actually agreeable to taking a few family photos. It would have been nice if the weather would have warmer (a little less wind please), but we made it through. We cut the trick-or-treating route a little short this year and headed South down the street at my Mom and Dad's then went straight on over to Uncle Nick's house. The kids received treat bags from Nick and Stacy and he served the guys some adult beverages. Afterward we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa George's for a visit, then back on to the Smith house to put the kids to bed.

Lorelei told me this morning that she didn't think we went to very many houses to get candy. She's right, we didn't, but the lack of candy does not bother me. All they have been  doing this morning is begging to eat more candy. The answer, "No." results in a lot of whining and an incessant string of pleases from Lorelei until I am tempted to let them gobble the whole bag until they puke.

Earlier last week we carved pumpkins. Lorelei loves to draw her own face on the pumpkin for Steve to carve. The hang up was that all the washable markers were dried out and not usable so she had to use a pen, not conducive to washing away the mistakes. We also tried to make them scoop out their own pumpkin guts. Allan didn't like the squish of it. Lorelei actually did a fair job of it by herself. It is fun to see how much their participation in holiday activities changes from year to year. Charlie of course was just enjoying taking it all in while he sat in his highchair at the table.  

I hope you all enjoyed Fall it seems winter winds are heading our way!

The post An Incredible Halloween appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.