Happy Halloween from Raggedy Ann!
All Hallows’ Eve Monday, Oct 31 2011
Halloween and Mattie Windsor 8:20 pm
Cookie Monster Monday, Oct 24 2011
Autumn and Baking and Halloween and Mattie Windsor 7:22 pm
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Jed recently bought Mattie Windsor and I a pair of Halloween cookie cutters. I took his not-so-subtle hint and decided to take the opportunity to try out a new sugar cookie recipe from Cook’s Illustrated. I used food coloring to dye half of the dough orange for pumpkins and left the other half white for ghosts. Then I rolled out the dough and allowed Mattie Windsor to take over. She had a blast cutting out the shapes and placing them on the cookie sheets, but her favorite part was gobbling up her freshly baked confections. She truly is my little cookie monster.
Autumn Days Monday, Oct 17 2011
Autumn and Craft Projects and Halloween and Mattie Windsor 9:20 pm
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The days are sunny and mild, and the evenings are turning chilly. The leaves have just started to change color and are already collecting along the ground waiting to be crunched by little feet. There are an assortment of pumpkins and mums on every front stoop. Autumn has finally arrived!
Here are a few photos of the fall decorations around the Hurt household. You may recognize some items from craft projects that I have made in years past. This year I added a trio of fabric pumpkins using a template that I found on marthastewart.com.
Happy Fall!
All that Glitters is not Gold Saturday, Oct 8 2011
Halloween and Painting Projects and Sewing Projects 9:31 pm
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During our first few months in our new abode, we have been quite busy painting over the bright colors on our walls. Our burnt sienna dining room was no exception and came with one very special attribute. It sparkled. Yes, I mean that there was actually glitter mixed with the paint on the walls of our dining room. I must say that it was subtle but it was definitely there. Upon further investigation, we even found the leftover glitter amongst the paint supplies left behind by the previous owners. (It is free to a good home if anyone is interested in embellishing their walls with glitter.)
Jed and I are not exactly “sparkle people,” so we decided to paint over the burnt sienna walls – sparkles and all. Our other challenge was that the dining rooms also has the only textured walls in the entire house. We were up to fighting glitter but not texture, so we selected a paint with a matte finish rather than the eggshell finish that we usually prefer. Our color choice was ”London Coach” by Valspar. It is a darker gray than “Silver Satin” and has a touch of brown to keep it from appearing too cold.
New paint meant that I had to make new cushions for our bench and dining chairs. I was extremely fortunate to find this Moroccan print at 1502 Fabrics. The five and a half yard fabric remnant was just enough to complete the entire project and cost less than $24.
I also made a few other additions. First, I relocated an antique fridge (from the basement) that I rescued from a neighbor’s curb several years ago in Richmond. It provides the perfect spot to proudly display this smug bust of the Thomas Jefferson (the world’s second coolest red-head) that Jed gave me for my birthday this year. Finally, I incorporated a few of our Halloween decorations.
Bon Appetit!
Double Vision Sunday, Oct 31 2010
Halloween and Mattie Windsor and The Hurts 8:40 pm
Hey, hey, hey Thursday, Oct 28 2010
Halloween 6:48 pm
. . . It’s Fat Albert. When we purchased this fine specimen at a recent farmer’s market, we were informed that this pumpkin was better known as Fat Albert. Apparently, this farmer lovingly names all of his pumpkins. I must say that I feel honored that Fat Albert came home with us.
While we are on the subject, be sure to check out this other cute pumpkin.
Boo! Saturday, Oct 23 2010
Craft Projects and Halloween 9:28 am
Okay , okay . . . I am officially a dork when it comes to Halloween. I made these incredibly spooky ghosts using cheese cloth and fabric stiffener. I stole the idea from the October issue of Country Living but you have to admit it is wickedly fun.
Spooking it up! Saturday, Oct 31 2009
Autumn and Craft Projects and Halloween 12:57 pm
These are two tried and true Halloween projects. While neither is exactly a novel idea, they are both simple and inexpensive.
First, I took advantage of a half off sale on Halloween decor and purchased two faux pumpkins. I used a foam paint brush to cover each pumpkin in craft glue that I diluted with a little water and then doused them in fine green and orange glitter. Since the pumpkins are not specifically for Halloween, I plan to continue to decorate with them throughout the end of November.
Second, I used scraps of muslin to cover lollipops for trick-or-treaters. I used some string to secure the fabric and a black marker to draw ghostly faces. Now it is time to hand out candy and enjoy the parade of costumes at our front door.
Happy Halloween!
“Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore.’” Wednesday, Oct 21 2009
Autumn and Craft Projects and Halloween 7:54 pm
I believe I have already waxed poetic about how much I love autumn but it truly is the best time of year. Autumn kicks off the holiday season and I LOVE decorating for the holidays. First up is Halloween. It is the only time of year when it is perfectly acceptable to hang up a garland of skeletons, set out a black glittery skull and cover the walls with spider webs. This year, I decided to create a new addition using an idea for a project that I spotted in the October issue of Country Living magazine.
The magazine gave instructions for making a Halloween-inspired diorama. For the most part I followed the directions but I did make a few minor adjustments. The magazine suggested turning large glass jars upside down and gluing all of the objects inside to the lid. Instead of regular jars, I decided to utilize my bell jar and a glass dome that I had purchased at a yard sale. This way I could make the dioramas larger and give them a less home-made look. I cut circles from a cardboard box to use as bases for both and I bought three plastic spiders as well as a couple of birds at the craft store. Then I got out the spray paint and doused the birds and cardboard bases in black. Per the instructions, I collected sticks from my yard to use as perches but decided to leave them natural instead of spray painting them as was described in the article. Then I simply used my glue gun to assemble the spooky arrangements and completed the look by using moss to cover the cardboard base. I made my own addition of fake spider webs to increase the eeriness factor.
