I am super excited to host a spooky early Halloween dinner tonight for three of my most favorite people. Joining my husband and I will be my cousin Lindsey and her husband Gino. Lindsey and I were very close growing up and she is like the sister that I never had. We spent many Halloween's together as kids, often being forced to eat hot dogs at our grandma's house for what seemed like an eternity when what I really wanted to do was canvas the neighborhood for candy. We lived in the country and houses were really far apart, so if you wanted to accumulate any candy at all, you really had to get a move on.

Anyway, it's so fun now that we are both married gals because the only two people that might have more to talk about than we do are our husbands. The four of us always have a great time, and it has been years since Lindsey and I have gotten to spend Halloween together. So this year, to mark their autumn visit to Asheville, one of our activities for the weekend will be a spooktacular dinner party.

Here is a little preview for you. Behold the tablescape!

Here is a little preview for you. Behold the tablescape!





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I whipped up a few paper luminaries, which I have been a little addicted to lately, but the real show stopper is the bat tree centerpiece. This could not have been easier or less expensive and the pictures do it no justice. It came out so cool, I could not be more excited about it!

I picked up two twigs from the yard, sprayed them off in the sink and let them dry, cut small bats out of black card stock, arranged the twigs in an orange glass vase that I had on hand and strung the bats from them with black string. When the candles are lit in the luminaries below, the heat from the flame makes the bats flutter about. The effect is impressive, especially for how totally easy it was to construct. Oh, and a big thank you to the Graphics Fairy for the awesome images!

Happy haunting this weekend!

Red velvet is delicious cake and fun for many special occasions, especially Halloween. Check out these devilishly delicious cupcakes:



This trio of treats from Meghan's Cakes and Cookies, Brain Cupcakes straight from the mad scientists' lab of Salt Says, and Dracula's Bites from Parenting, are all excellent examples of how creative you can get.

So hit up this classic red velvet cake recipe from the Joy Of Baking and whip up some spooky holiday fun of your own this weekend!

Here is a fun little project I came up with today, candy corn party hats:



Party Hat Tutorial:

Party hats are really easy to make, especially after you've made the first one.

Your will need:

Free Candy Corn Party Hat Template
a color printer
8.5x11" white cardstock
2 lengths of narrow white ribbon
double sided tape
scissors
a hole punch

First print the template and cut it out along the yellow edge, so that you have a semi circle. Then trim along the small black half circle on the straight edge. Use a hole punch to punch out the two. small black dots in the yellow stripe. Using the double sided tape, join the straight edges to form a cone. Thread one length of white ribbon through each hole. Tie a knot on the inside ends to secure the ribbon to the hat.

I hope you enjoy this fun little project and I would like to say a big thank you to Lizzie-Lou, my weimaraner and reluctant hat model

The pumpkin carving party was a success and a good time was had by all, including the hostess. I thought I would share a few photos and some recipes for the treats I whipped up. The pumpkin sugar cookie cut-outs were a hit. I had a wonderful time baking and decorating them. I used the classic Crisco sugar cookie recipe and made my own royal icing for decorations. I love the royal icing for sugar cookies because it sets up really nice and makes it easy to display or package the finished product.



The dining room looked ready for pumpkin carving fun with my paper jack-o-lumiaries and paper table cloth with spider web runner.



And the treat table, with candy corn and Martha's candy corn cookies, along with the pumpkin sugar-cookie cut outs, was a crowd favorite. I made the paper scroll "TREATS" sign as a last-minute addition. I printed the text our onto a piece of parchment card stock, trimmed it like a ribbon and used the closed edge of a pair of scissors to curl the paper enough for it to stand on it's own.

Everybody really got into the carving



We had some pretty creative guests and the final result was impressive

Just in case you had sparkle pumpkin envy real bad, the brilliance that is Twig and Thistle has come to your rescue. Behold, the DIY candle holder version of the foam glitter pumpkin that I picked up at Michael's a few weeks ago. Thank you Twig and Thistle!

I great idea for entertaining this fall is to host a pumpkin carving party. I am planning one for this Sunday afternoon. It's a great party to have with children, but you are never too old to carve a pumpkin! We are having all adults at our party, so we might skip the apple bobbing, but I have plenty of fun in store for my guests.

The party I am hosting is BYOP (P stands for pumpkin). If you are feeling like an outing to start the festivities, meet friends at a local pumpkin patch to start the fun by selecting the perfect pumpkin. If you don't know where to find a pumpkin patch near you, here is a great source for locating a pumpkin patch in your area.

Another option is to provide pumpkins for your guests. Maybe you had a bumper crop yourself this year or you know a local grower that will give you a great price on pumpkins, either way, use hay bails, mums and maybe even an wheelbarrow to set up a cute display by your front door and let party goers pick a pumpkin on the way in.

Next step is to prepare for some carving. Pumpkin carving can get messy, so plan to cover your table with newspaper or, to make things even more festive, take this tip from me and use brown craft paper. I used a sharpy marker and a ruler to draw a spider web "table runner" on the craft paper for added cuteness:



Have some pumpkin carving tools in place, like a variety of kitchen knives, a few pumpkin carving kits, and some Sharpie markers, and some trash bags for the pumpkin guts.

And what is a party without some snacks. The menu at my house is popcorn, toasted pumpkin seeds (of course) and pumpernickel pretzels with pumpkin dip. For dinner we are having vegetable soup and whole wheat rolls. And for dessert: Martha's candy corn cookies, pumpkin sugar cookie cut outs, and of course, pumpkin pie. For drinks, I'll serve local apple cider and a local Octoberfest beer.

As with any party, it can be as simple or as detailed as you would like to make it, but a pumpkin carving party is a great reason for friends to get together this time of year. You can put on scary movies or watch some football. You can get creative and make the carving a contest and offer prizes for the winner. Or you can simply take a photo of the finished products, all aglow, at the end of the evening. Regardless, guests are sure to relax and have fun at this casual fall -fun get together.

I made some delicious Pumpkin Butter this morning and the recipe was to tasty not to share!

Pumpkin Butter
Gina's Skinny Recipes
Servings: 14 • Serving Size: 1/4 cup • Points: 1.5 pts
Calories: 88.2 • Fat: 0.3 g • Protein: 1.0 g • Carb: 27.3 g • Fiber: 2.5 g  

• 3 1/2 cups pumpkin puree, or 1 (29 ounce) can (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup apple cider or juice
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2-3 cinnamon sticks
• 1-2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (to taste)

Combine pureed pumpkin, vanilla, apple juice, spices, cinnamon sticks and sugar in a large saucepan; stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 - 40 minutes or until thickened. Stir frequently. Adjust spices to your taste.

Head on over to Gina's Skinny Recipes blog where you can find this super easy recipe for Pumpkin Butter. And she has other recipes to use your freshly made pumpkin butter in, everything from a Pumpkin Spice Latte to Pumpkin Spiced Pankakes with Pumpkin Butter topping. Enjoy!

How cute is this little guy?! I was on a quest for cool table number ideas and I came across this tutorial from Intimate Weddings, which gave me a great idea--why not make jack-o-luminaries to decorate my house for fall? I love how they turned out and this was an easy and fun project. It would be great for kids too, with a little supervision on the cutting part.

For this project I used three 12x12 sheets of orange card stock and one 12x12 sheet of black card stock (which made four 6x6 luminaries). I also used my paper cutter, an excato knife, a pencil and a glue stick.

To get started, cut each sheet of 12x12 paper into four 6" squares. Draw your jack-o-lantern face of choice on one of the orange squares and use the exacto knife to 'carve' it. (Please note: the side that you have drawn on becomes the 'back' of the square, so that it faces the inside of the cube on the finished luminary.)

Next, fold over a 1/2" flap on one side of the orange square that has your jack-o-lantern face, two additional orange squares, and one black square. Apply glue to the 1/2" flap on each square and glue them together to form a cube.

Be sure to put the orange square with the face cut out on the front, the black square on the back, and the plain orange squares on each side.

Place over a tea light in a glass holder and enjoy!

I thought I'd share a few fall touches that I put around the house so far. In the dining room:

I found the big glitter pumpkin at Michael's today and it was a must have item. Love it.

and I redecorated the front door vine wreath with some silk leaves and glittery orange ribbon:

Hooray for sweater weather!!