Marshmallow Ghosts

Marshmallow treats are relatively easy to make and they can be changed for any season. All you do is soften 1 packet unflavored gelatin in 1/3 cup of water. I do this in a stand mixer to prevent unnecessary dirty bowls.

Then in a sauce pan mix one cup sugar and 1/4 cup water.

Bring it to a boil and let it cook until it reaches soft ball stage.

Immediately add it to a stand mixer and begin beating. Beat until peaks form and can hold there shape.

While it is beating put sugar on a baking sheet or plate. If you want your marshmallows to be colored then add food coloring to it first.

Sorry for no pictures of this step but you have to move fast. Put your marshmallow mixture into a piping bag with a large circular tip. I used a 1/2 inch. Then make your ghost shape. Use more pressure at the bottom of the ghost. Let up at the top of the ghost to form the "head". Sprinkle with sugar.

Then melt some chocolate chips in a bag.

Snip off the corner and add your ghost face. That is all there is too it. There are so many possibilities of different marshmallow treats you can make.

-Karen

Halloween Shadow Candle Holder

I save containers. I can't help but thinking I will have a use for them at some point. Probably because that is usually true. In this case I had a small glass cylinder which originally had a candle in it.

I used a sponge to paint the glass starting with a thin layer of white. (Don't pay attention to the fact that it is slightly tinted orange. I had orange pain on my hands from something else I was doing.)

Then I did a stripe of pink.

Then blended in purple.

Then continued on with blue and navy blue. Then I let it dry. I used some black paint and a fine paint brush to paint a Halloween silhouette the entire way around. You could use a pattern. Or even cut it out of vinyl.

I covered the entire thing with a few coats of glue thinned with water. After putting in a battery lit candle I was left with this cute little Halloween decoration.

-Karen

Almost All Natural Fall Wreath

I love fall. I love the cooler weather. I love the gorgeous colors. I love the crunch of the leaves and the fall aroma in the air as you're walking through the woods.

For some reason this fall I was all about using leaves as decorations. The  first thing I made was a wreath made almost entirely out of things you would find in the woods.

The first thing I did was collect a bunch of sticks. They have to be green which means that they are off the tree or just fell otherwise they won't be flexible enough. I cut any little tiny pieces of brands are coming off of the main branch off. Sometimes I wonder what normal people would think if they walked into my house while I was working on some of my projects. Why in the world would anyone have a pile of sticks laying on the floor?

Next I took one of the slightly larger branches and formed it into a circle attaching the two ends with a zip tie.

From there I just kept wrapping new branches around it, zip tying when needed.

I kept going until I decided it look just right.

I let it dry for a few days and then I took some less noticeable wire and replace the zip ties. After a while the branches will dry like that and it won't be necessary to have zip ties or wire holding. Since I wanted to use it pretty much immediately I left them on for now.

I had preserve some leaves in glycerin just for the this. Using a few small pieces of twigs that I had leftover from the wreath I got to work on my leaf decoration. I glued a few leads on to the main stick.

Then I started putting some small twigs over top and gluing leaves to those twigs.

This gave it a little more dimension then a single layer of leaves would have.

Then using a zip tie hidden behind the leaves I attached the decoration to the wreath. That way if I get bored with the decorations as they are now I can easily cut the zip tie off and reuse the wreath.
There you have it a almost free wreath made using things I found in my yard.