I {Heart} Pumpkin

This is by far one of my all time favorite Thanksgiving decorations

I feel like it does a pretty good job explaining my LOVE for pumpkin!

I'm pretty much obsessed with it!

 Back in nursing school, it was such a delight to find out that my 3 close friends all loved pumpkin just as much as me. One day, my friend brought a whole book of pumpkin recipes to pharmacology class and so of course we all spent the whole class period copying down recipes. I even made my other friend get a little teary eyed when describing Cold Stone's pumpkin pie ice cream combo. So great!!

So since it's Thanksgiving week, I thought I would share our favorite pumpkin pie recipe. 

It was made very clear by my dear husband that his mom's pumpkin pie was his favorite and the only one he would truly love. After 5 years of perfecting it, I would agree- it's pretty delicious.....

So here it is....

Extra Good Pumpkin Pie

1 1/2 c canned or mashed cooked pumpkin

3/4 C sugar

1/2 t salt

1 t ginger

1 1/4 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t cloves

3 slightly beaten eggs

1 2/3 c evaporated milk (one can)

Combine pumpkin, sugar, spices, salt. Add eggs, mix. Add milk, blend. Pour into a 9 inch pie crust. 

Bake 400 for 15 min then reduce to 325 and bake 45 min longer

 or until knife inserted comes out clean

Pumpkin pie not your thing?? (btw... I feel sad for you :) !!)

Here are some other pumpkin recipes that may fill the void.....

 Dana from the MADE blog made my life when she posted about her love for pumpkin and had a Submit your Pumpkin Recipe series- you can find SO many great recipes here

Also, we had these last night- they were very tasty!!!

here is another amazing pumpkin list

and

I made these Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls last week- (recipe found here at Idea Room)

and they didn't disappoint!

I better stop now...

Happy eating!!

Thanksgiving Banner

 My mantle was looking pretty plain this year after putting all my Halloween decor down. Even though it is a short time until we will put up our Christmas decorations, I decided to make something to spruce it up.

I pulled a couple ideas I have seen recently together and came up with this

This was pretty simple, just took a bit of time to put together.

I cut each of my squares 6X8 (however now measure 5X7 after front and back pieces sewn together) 

As you can see, this is not hanging up on my little mantle- it was way too big but I like it this way- so you can  obviously adjust your square size to fit where you want it to go

My letters are felt and embroidered on using a back stitch

I originally planned

 on attaching rings onto each little panel through an eyelet

and then threading some sort of rope through but

in the end decided on using ribbon to attach everything together

-I still may change it later on, but for now, I am happy!

Fall Rose Wreath

Ok a break from all the soup for a sec

I had to post this great project!

My friend showed me a wreath she had made last week 

and the minute I saw it I knew I had to make it too.

It's such a fun quick craft and perfect for the fall season

(actually, like always, I want to make one for every season!)

You can find the tutorial here

and another persons take on it here!!

{F.Y.I - For our wreaths, we used 1/4 yard yellow fleece, 1/4 yard green fleece and 1/4 yard brown felt. It was the perfect amount!!}

(just dont even mind the ridiculous amount of shine in some of these pics k!)

Happy Fall

Cheesecloth Ghosts!!

{I have been wanting to put up some Halloween ideas for such along time.

So excited the season has finally arrived!!! }

A couple of years ago for my ward's Super Saturday, I was given the assignment to make and help assist others make cheesecloth ghosts. This idea comes from none other than Martha and is such an easy and fun decoration to get you into the Halloween spirit. Some of you may have even made these in Elementary school. I figured my blog wouldn't be complete without a little post about these ghosts!!

So...... if you are interested.... here are the steps

First off you need to gather these supplies

Next you will need to make the "body" of your ghost. This is the one that I used to make mine but you can use whatever you want!

As you can see for this one I used a toilet paper roll. You can also use a paper towel roll or a water bottle depending on the size of the ghost you want.
With the body established, you can now add your arms. We used straws which worked really well. I have also seen pencils or wire used, so it's up to you. 

Then I made the head out of aluminum foil and stuck it in at this top. (note.. I put a piece of saran wrap over top the foil to prevent the foil to stick to the cheesecloth)
Next, tape it down to a piece of cardboard or something that could act as a temporary base. (cutting strips at the end of the roll made it possible to fold out and tape down a lot easier)

Now for the messy part. Get your cheesecloth (which is practically the same thing as gauze which can be found at any grocery or craft store) and drape it over your "body". Do this before the glue so you can plan out how you want it to look. Then take the cheesecloth off and drench it in glue. The more the glue, the stiffer the ghost. I have seen some people apply glue to the cheesecloth while it was on the "body" and others, including me, put it on after. There are many ways you can do this (dipping it into a bowl of glue, folding it up and then pouring glue on) Basically, whichever way works.

Now, if you didn't do it earlier, drape the saturated glue on the "body" and form it however you like. 

Next add the eyes. I used felt for mine, however marker, paper,stickers etc.. can work as well. You can also add a mouth if you like. Let dry overnight or for about 5 hours.

 After ghost is dry, remove the ghost from the base as well as the "body" and you are done!!

Despite being stuffed and squashed into storage year after year, my ghost has kept its form and remains one of my favorite decorations!
I have been wanting to make a little ghost family but we will see if that ever happens!!

Fabric Pumpkins

Have you made yourself some fabric pumpkins yet this year??

I have been wanting to for along time now and finally, thanks to my awesome crafty friend, I made some!!

I used the tutorial over at the Idea Room and they were a lot of fun to make!!

Such a fun project to get you into the fall season!!

I love this time of year!!