Happy Halloween! Hot Chocolate For You!

Hi, Creative Friends-

First, today is National Chocolate Day! Happy best day ever to all the chocoholics out there. Second, Halloween is Monday and you are trying to come up with ways to celebrate both the love for chocolate and Halloween, this week’s post is for you.

Make Halloween Delicious And Joyful With These 3 Creative Ideas…

1. Cheers To Chocolate Chaud: What is a better way to bring the love of chocolate, Halloween, and fall together than whisking up a warm and sweet cup of comforting hot chocolate? Molly J. Wilk Pastry has a perfect, yet simple recipe for Chocolat Chaud which makes a great way to sip away two delightful holidays.

2. Hey, Halloween Hot Dog!: This one is more trick than a treat but this recipe for Halloween Finger Hot Dogs is a delicious, joyful, and gross way to celebrate Halloween. Pair this devious dinner with a Chocolate Charcuterie Board which is easy with these instructions from Taste Of Home.

3. Devil’s Food Delight: If you are a cake lover and creating the perfect chocolate cake recipe is always a challenge, Alton Brown’s Devil’s Food Cake is the best! It’s moist, delicious, and brimming with chocolate. Make a few white chocolate ghosts and feel the Halloween chocolate joy that abounds from the sweet creative fun!

Drop me a message and let me know what you are working on or what kind of treats or tricks you will make to celebrate chocolate and Halloween!

Also, thanks for reading along. This newsletter takes some time to pull together. Consider showing your support by forwarding it to someone who might need some inspiration or buying some of my artwork at INPRNT or Society 6.

If you are seeing this newsletter/blog for the first time and want to keep seeing content subscribe here.

Keep going, creative friends!

xoxo,

Andra

Black Cat Cookie Recipe From Land O’ Lakes

Hi, Creative Friends-

Halloween is quickly approaching. Are you ready to make Halloween the most Spooktacular and exciting day ever? Well, that kind of enthusiasm might be overkill but let’s…

Make This Weekend Exciting With These Creative Halloween Ideas…

1. Black Cat Bake-Off: Baking up something sweet for a holiday is always exciting. Whipping up a batch of “Black Cat Cookies” from Land O’ Lakes is a simple and fun way to get excited about the spookiest and sweetest holiday, Halloween! And can anyone think of a better use for candy corn? Nope.

2. “BOO!” For You!: Have you ever “BOOED!” a friend or neighbor? Giving and getting a “BOO” is a great way to keep the ghostly spirit of Halloween alive. Just purchase and print out the “You’ve Been BOOED!” bundle, add your own packaging, as well as treats or tricks and then quietly drop the bundle at a friend’s door! Being “BOOED!” is a great way to spread the excitement of Halloween!

3. Costume Conundrum: If stressing out about a Halloween costume is making things bleak, try one of these "95 Easy Last-Minute Halloween Costume Ideas” from Good House Keeping. The idea of having a costume ready before Halloween sounds pretty exciting and will make the weekend Spooktacular!

Drop me a message and let me know what you are working on or how you will make this weekend exciting with some Halloween fun.

Also, thanks for reading along. This newsletter takes some time to pull together. Consider showing your support by forwarding it to someone who might need some inspiration or buying some of my artwork at INPRNT or Society 6.

If you are seeing this newsletter/blog for the first time and want to keep seeing content subscribe here.

Keep going, creative friends!

xoxo,

Andra

Hello. Hello. It's the day before Halloween and how many of us are scrambling to put together a last minute costume? Me too! After all the days of making Halloween stuff, I have just realized I need a costume. The brilliant thing about creativity is it comes in handy. When we need to make something out of nothing and are pressed for time creativity is our ally.

A last minute costume is always stressful and can never be made fast enough. After rummaging through drawers, knick knacks and costumes, I found some old stuff from my days of living in Chicago. Since the Cubs are killing it in the World Series, I started thinking about my time in Chicago. My memories took me back to the summer of 1989 and sitting in the seats at Wrigley Field. The tween me, didn't care much about baseball but I sure did like to people watch. It was about the 5th inning when I spotted a few portly men in front of me. Observing them, I realized there was something very special about these men. They were donned head to foot in Cubs gear. One wore a silky blue Cubs jacket and the other an authentic looking Cubs jersey.

Leaning in closer, I could hear their thick Chicago vowel shift. They talked in short spurts about the game and the game only. The chugged beers. Their crowded plates held grease filled pizza slices and brats. One of them devoured the pizza. Using the crust like spoon, he sopped up the remaining pooled grease with the crust. I watched them for the entire game transfixed. Little did I know a few years later "Bill Swerski's Super fans" would become one of the most funny and beloved sketch comedy routines ever done on Saturday Night Live. Who doesn't know the phrase "Da Bears?"

Let's get back to talking about last minute costumes. Today, create the greatest Super Fan costume from the stuff you have on hand. Pick your favorite team and blow out your super fan spirit. Bring on the pom poms, body paint and jerseys and go wild.  Make the fastest and best last minute costume ever.

The Best Last Minute Costume. By The Way, The Hat Lights Up.

Well, I am off to prepare for Halloween and root on the Cubbies. Until tomorrow Super Fans! By the way, Da Cubbies are going to win Da World Series. Go Cubbies!!!

Greetings Earthlings! It's Sunday and this project is a quick one. Halloween is a week away and who still doesn't have their Halloween costume ready? Yep, me too. Here is a project that is cool, costs pennies and just down right fun. Imagine answering the door in bopping alien invasion headband! The trick-o-treaters are going to love you forever and the fact you are going to hand out full sized candy bars. You are going to hand out full sized candy bars, right?

Alien Invasion Headband

• 1 adult sized headband
• 1 black Sharpie marker
• 1 color Sharpie marker
• 1 pkg silver pipe cleaners
• 2 ping pong balls
• a drill and a small drill bit

Step 1: Draw the eyes on the ping pong balls. Draw a color circle first and then overlay the black pupil on top of the color.

Step 2: Drill a small hole in the bottom of the ping pong ball. Use a vice to hold the ball in place and safety goggles to protect your eyes. Safety first even with aliens.

No. This isn't safe. Use something to hold the ball in place!

Step 3: Bend two pipe cleaners so the ends make a "V" shape. Push the pipe cleaner "V" into the hole on the ping pong ball.

Step 4: Wrap the headband in the pipe cleaners and attach the eyes to the headband.

Alien Invasion ready! See you tomorrow at Area 51.

Hello foxy loxy. This post is going to be like candy corn today, short and sweet. Halloween costumes can be a stressful item to create. However, it doesn't mean we need to make them from scratch. Sometimes we need to be sly like a fox and gussy up a store costume or pull something from the back of our closet to get us through the Halloween hustle. Some of my favorite costumes were ones I threw together from stuff that was lying around the house.

As I stated in a previous post, our family had a hard time this year agreeing on a theme for this years Halloween. My son in particular kept changing his mind. When we spotted these fox accessories he thew them in the cart and we both said "done!"

However, we both agreed they needed a little extra fluff and fuss to make the sly fox in him come alive. We picked up a few inches of faux fur and fired up the glue gun to make his sweet little costume complete. Today, create easy for yourself and pick up a pre-made costume or dig through stuff in the back of your dresser drawer. Pull together a Halloween attire with stuff that doesn't need a ton of time or effort.

Enjoy creating an easy Halloween costume for yourself or friend. I'm off to scare up some pumpkins for tomorrow's post. Until then.

Hello to all you trick-o-treaters to be. Isn't it hard to come up with a costume for Halloween and make it extra special? Every year I ask my kids what they want to be. We usually brainstorm as a family and throw out ideas to one another. One year our entire family was a pack of wolves. Another year 3 of us were vampires and one member was an excavator. We have been witches, a shark and a zombie surfer and little bunny foo foo. By this time each year, we usually have nailed down the theme and our costumes are done.

Not this year. For some reason this year, we can't seem to agree on any theme. We talked about being breakfast but no one wanted to be the sausage. Who does? We talked about going as fighter pilots but the little girl wouldn't have it. There were astronauts on the list, dinosaurs and a box of donuts. The list just kept going.

However, one of our family members put a stake in the ground. Out of the blue my 5 year old daughter said she wanted to be no not a princess, or a cheerleader or a head of state. No my 5 year old stated she wanted to be sushi this year. Yes, sushi. Look, I tried to talk her into being a big pink donut or Rapunzel but she wouldn't have it. She insisted on being a sushi roll. A salmon avocado to be exact. 

Her persistence lead me to do a Google search. It turns out there others who have dressed up in some pretty awesome sushi costumes. Challenge accepted little one. Today we made her a sushi costume and today's project to start to create a handmade costume for yourself. That is to say today, pick a theme or a character and get to work on a homemade costume that is original, handmade and will be the talk of any party. Don't be shy about digging through your closet to locate some props or clothing from a bygone era. Or using the shipping boxes stored in the garage. Usually, we have materials all around us that can get our creative juices flowing.

As for the sushi costume, it still needs a little refinement but here is the material list and steps to inspire your own sushi costume or other frilly frock.

Salmon Avocado Sushi Roll Costume Supply List

• a paint brush
• green and white acrylic paint
• 1/8 yard green fabric (I used polar fleece)
• 1/8 orange fabric (I used polar fleece)
• a measuring tape 
• 1" foam material
• 2 yards imitation leather fabric with texture
• 1 roll of quilt batting
• A hot glue gun and glue sticks
• safety pins
• sewing pins
• green ribbon {optional}
• ginger colored ribbon or trim {optional}
• 2 barrettes or a headband {optional}
• a set of chopsticks

Step 1: Cut the green and orange fabric in half so there are 4 pieces. With the white paint and a small paint brush, make salmon stripes on the orange fabric. Mix the green and white paint together and paint a lighter shade of green on the green fabric to look like avocado. Let dry overnight.

Step 2: Measure yourself or the person who needs the costume. Think about proportion and how the person will wear the costume. Cut the foam accordingly to the proportions. Trim the fabric leaving an extra 3" on each side. Lay the fabric face down on the floor. Place the foam on top. Fold 3" of the fabric over on to the foam and secure with sewing pins all the way around the foam.

Step 3: Warm up the hot glue gun and glue the fabric to the foam on the edge. Remove the sewing pins as the hot glue cools in place. Place the quilt batting inside the foam fabric roll and cut a hole the slightly smaller than the costume wearers torso in the fabric, foam and batting. Flipping over the foam, fabric and batting secure the two ends of the foam and fabric together. You now should have a roll.

Step 4: Pin the orange and green fabric to each end of the sushi roll. Using the hot glue gun, glue the green ribbon and ginger trim to the barrettes or headband.{optional}

Wiggle feet first into the costume and done! Sushi roll costume complete. A word about construction, if you are finding the safety pins are not holding the roll together, stitch the two ends of the foam and fabric together using a big stitch.

Well, this 5 year old is ready for trick-o-treating. Are you? See you tomorrow kids!