Happy Thanksgiving!

In my own humble opinion, this pumpkin pie looks good enough to eat – but you might notice the hardware that’d make it a tad hard to swallow! That’s because this isn’t real pumpkin pie….they are charms made of polymer clay!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday - anyone who calls my house on TG gets a turkey greeting (I have a mean gobble, thank you very much)!

Anyhoo - I made a bunch of these for some of the ladies in my life that I not only adore, but get to see at Thanksgiving time. I love working with polymer clay – and being the food addict that I am, my favorite thing to make with the clay is…food ;-)

I made the tiny pies then made wire loops and inserted them into the back crust. Once they were baked, I attached a ring and strung the charms onto black cord necklaces.

Because I didn’t want the recipients to wear the necklace only a few days, I also made Christmas charms - not all food…

....and let each wonderful woman...
...pick the one they wanted most.

This first batch of charms were given this past weekend……then I went home and went kinda charm nutty and made……

…all of these! Somehow my hands worked liked the wind and I busted all of them out in a couple of hours.

I’m not sure which one is my fave…the hubs likes the presents the best. I really like the ‘Christmas Pudding’ though and the poinsettia ;-) I think my big sis will snag one of the Christmas Lights charms but what anyone else will pick is…well…anyone’s guess!

I had all the stuff on hand to make all of these charms, but should you choose to do some yourself, it doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. Watch for coupons to your local Michael’s, Joann’s or other craft store and you can save big!

With that I’ll wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving ;-) Here’s hoping you don’t get too full and that you make warm family memories to take you into this joyous holiday season!

By the way - to all my family and friends...I love all of you! I am so lucky to have you in my life. All of you are what I'm thankful for every day of the year.

Double the Pleasure – Double the Fun!

My very beautiful, smart and talented niece, Samantha turned 21 last week. We had her birthday with family on her special day. This is the ‘ice bucket I painted for her in some of her fave colors and it was filled with 6 different fun-n-fruity wine coolers and a bunch of silver, tinsel ‘ice’. Niece was nice enough to snap this pic a few days after her b-day…the wine coolers are gone – although I’m SURE their in the fridge and not all consumed…..right Darlin’??
Then, on the weekend, a few of us ‘already-21ers’ (or should I say over 21ers…WAY over 21ers!) family members went out to have a few drinks with her to ring in this new phase of her life the right way ;-)

About mid-drink #2, we learned that my big bro and his girlfriend of many years were going to get married…..the day after next (Sunday)! They’d been talking about it a lot lately and finally decided to ‘do the deed’ and make it official. It was another fun thing to drink to that night.

The next day (Saturday), I had a free afternoon/evening and wanted to do something fun for the soon-to-be-married couple. Since they’d planned a very private affair between just the two of them, I assumed they had no wedding cake or special sweet to conclude their happy day, so I thought….mini wedding cake? And this is what I made, start to finish in my kitchen Saturday evening (and secretly left on their doorstep at 7:30 Sunday morning) ….a 6’ 1/2 inch, 4-tier wedding cake that was white with lemon curd filling and creamy vanilla icing! I scrolled their initials on the top along with a tiny heart. The cake was simple, pretty and small – a heartfelt gift from me to them to put a literal sweet ending to their wedding day.

Now – as I’ve stated before, my phone stopped sending pics a month+ ago – but with a little extra effort, I found that if I send a pic over and over (read: one million times), it WILL eventually send! Had I know that ahead of time, I’dve had more than these two pics – which are essentially the same.

Here’s one of the inside of the cake (thanks for sending me the pic, new sis-in-law!) – and it’s taught me a lesson……sliver-shave the golden brown flat bottom off the cake! How much prettier it would‘ve been if only the light, yellow of the lemon curd was showing. Oh well….best part is that my bro and now-sis-in-law said it was “soooo good!” That means everything –‘cuz if it looks good but tastes like doodoo – then, what’s the point?!

Anyhoo….I had a fun weekend celebrating my wonderful niece and baking up a very special treat.

Road Trippin' Lytle Style - The Curtain Call

The hubs, daughter, her BFF and I went camping for Spring Break this year (as we usually do). It turned out to be a ‘farewell trip’ as we decided upon our return home that we’ll be selling our trailer which we love because the economy still sucks at our house! :-( But that’s a whole other post - which, actually, I probably won’t be posting about! ;-)

Anyhoo – We had a great time on our trip – which should’ve been to Oregon’s high desert country (read: dry and mostly warm & sunny). However, we had to change plans at the last minute because the mountain pass we would’ve had to traverse became covered in several feet of snow thanks to the biggest storm of the whole last year, just two days prior to our vacation! Grrr… So – to the beach we went. The coastal weather in Oregon, in April, is sketchy at best – but over 4 days we donned coats for only two! That was a terrific surprise :-) All in all we had a super fun time, but life isn’t perfect - and as can happen, a few hick-ups popped up to challenge us.

Although we went coatless for half of our stay, two other days (and clearly prior to our arrival), it was rainy…really rainy! Of course, the spot right outside out trailer door was a mud pit and out door mat’s size wasn’t quite sufficient to span the gloppy mass. Thank heaven for a plethora of pine cones and twigs!

Not only did this mat-extending project work like a dream – it was kind of a piece art too! I found I enjoyed seeing it every time I exited the trailer :-) Besides…I love pinecones and sticks…..oh and rocks too. ;-)

Another kink in our plan was that we had no running water in the trailer – long story short, the water pressure at the park first popped the water line to the toilet (which wasn’t a deal-breaker as we can shut off the water line to the pot and still be able to use it via cups of water in the bowl, and flushing to the holding tank). However…we found we can’t shut off the water to the shower faucet which was the next thing to blow! So – with all water shut off, we had no water save for the 5-gallon bucket now sitting in the tub for toilet usage, and for boiling so I could wash dishes. Um…..yeah….washing dishes with a pot of boiling hot water is a pain in the ass – not the mention the hands! So, we used as few dishes as possible and when it came time to cook something that normally would’ve required scrubbing a pot or pan, we either scrapped the idea or……I made disposable cookware

With a hearty flame lapping underneath, this triple layer foil ‘pan’ worked wonders! The bacon cooked to a perfect crispness and was as tasty as ever on our cheeseburgers. Scratch that….cooked on an impromptu foil pan….it was even better. And the hubs? He thought I was a marvel :-)

For us, camping means a fire gets sparked up every day by about 4 o’clock. While I don’t build or tend it, I do like to poke at it with a stick...get the end all aglow-n-such. Well, on day two a flat and clean cut of wood called to me.

So, my charcoaled poking stick became my pencil and I branded the log with the family name thus christening our fire as the official Lytle Evening Flame.

Later, as the hubs was about to once again stoke the fire, I shouted, “Wait!” I pointed to the burning wood, “Look...a heart!”

There it was in plain sight…a heart in our fire. We just stared at it for a moment, I snapped the pic and more wood was put on to keep us warm, thus pushing the heart further down into the embers. I was glad I’d taken the photo then…but even more so now. I didn’t know at that time that we were experiencing our last camping trip. That heart will forever represent the fun we always have when we take the trailer on the road for family fun. Camping is about togetherness, adventure and love. From the very first trip in our very first trailer (a pop-up. 7 years ago) when I made t-shirts emblazoned with the motto, “Road Trippin’ Lytle Style” to this latest outing that left us water-challenged, every trip has been unique and given us memories that will last a lifetime. There will be no ‘tent-camping’ trips in our future….we’ve done our time in tents…. It will be fun to take the next step and go on to other kinds of vacations. We’ve loved our trailer camping trips….but out there somewhere….new adventures await.

TP & PT @ TG!

What do toilet paper and paper towel rolls have to do with Thanksgiving? Everything when you can create an entire Pilgrim Population out of them!

I mean – is this just one of the cutest little guy ever?! You can make him for yourself with the empty rolls, some construction paper, a black felt tip pen and some glue! I have to admit, my daughter and I made these years ago – but they are sturdy and store easily for use year after year. I don’t have patterns for you, but just eye-balling these is pattern enough really… I don’t remember where I originally saw this fun project…in a magazine? Online somewhere? Wherever it was, my daughter and I were able to easily create our own little village of people!

The turkeys are made with small pinecones and a few of those sponge/foam sheets from your local arts-n-crafts store. It’s good to have a hot glue gun for the turkeys too.

I know times are tight – so if you don’t have the meant to get the materials for the turkeys (you might already have everything on hand...I did!), the smiling Pilgrims and Indians will bring smile to your diner’s faces all the same.

And…..

You can even make napkin rings!

I adore these and they are So perfect on my Thanksgiving table!

This is the perfect weekend arts-n-crafts project for the whole family – and you’ll have a super fun, homemade centerpiece for Thanksgiving come Thursday!

Like I said, I don’t have exact patterns for you but here are directions from my head. Please…don’t over-think any of this. It’s an easy project and there’s no exact way they have to look – just have fun with it!

Materials for Pilgrims/Indians
6 empty toilet paper rolls (to make 2 Indians, 2 girl and 2 boy Pilgrims)
Construction paper – various colors:
light pink or flesh/tan (for skin)
black & white (for Pilgrim clothing & hair)
yellow, orange & brown (for Indian clothing & hair)
Black, fine tip, felt tip pen
Pink felt tip pen
All-purpose glue

Cut a 1 ½ inch wide strip of paper long enough to wrap around the TP tube for the character’s face and glue it in place (tip, I cut all the pieces – faces, clothing, aprons etc. - out first then glue everything on assembly line style). The piece used for the clothing obviously needs to be big enough to cover from the bottom of the face to the end of the tube and needs to wrap around the tube as well. The black on the Pilgrim can be left plain as you’ll glue a ‘bib’ on each and an apron on the girls. On the Indian’s clothing, use the black felt pen to draw on a beaded necklace. For the apron on the girl Pilgrim, you more or less cut a half circle and give it a scalloped edge for decoration - make it join in the back. Cut an oval, then cut the oval in half for the ‘bib’ part of the Pilgrim outfit. Draw little black buttons on with the felt pen. Also draw on the facial features – you can be detailed or simple like the ones shown above. For rosey cheeks, color the tip of your finger with a pink felt tip pen and lightly blot your finger on each cheek. For the hair on the girls and Indians, cut a rectangle 2 ½ inches long and wide enough to span from one side of their face to the other – make vertical cuts for the ‘strands’. The boy Pilgrim should have bangs and shorter hair – so cut a 2 inch long strip that wraps around the tube, then cut out a section for bangs so his face will show, then make the vertical cuts for the ‘strands’. Lastly, headgear… For the Indians, cut one or two small feather shapes and glue in place. Then, cut a ½ inch strip that will wrap around the tube. Before gluing in place, use the black pen to draw a zigzag decoration. For the girl pilgrim, cut a rectangle 4x3 inches and fold a ¼ inch ‘cuff’ along the 4” side. Bend the shape into a cone by overlapping & gluing the two 4” corners opposite the cuff side. Let dry. When dry, squeeze a thin line of glue along the top rim of the girls ‘head’ and place her hat on her head, gently pressing. Let dry. For the boys hat, cut a 2 ½ inch tall strip long enough to wrap around the tube. Glue in place. The trickiest part is brim… Draw the circumference of the tube onto the black paper. Draw a smaller circle about an 1/8 of an inch inside that circle and a second circle ½ outside of it. Cut out using the outside circle as your guide, then cut out the middle using the inner most circle as your guide. Then, every 1/8 inch or so, make tiny snips from the inner circle to the original circumference circle line. Bend all the snipped ‘tabs’ up in the same direction and slide onto the Pilgrim boy tube, stopping where his face begins. Bend out each tab and put a tiny dot of glue on each, then press the tab in, attaching it to the form of the hat. Decorate the hat with a white strip and yellow buckle. Let dry.

For the napkin rings, cut 6 to 7 equal size rings from two, empty, paper towel rolls. Cover each ring with a strip of paper - make them all the same or use all different fall colors! Cut out fall leaf shapes by hand or use a small cookie cutter as a pattern. Cut out one acorn shape for each ring from brown paper, then draw the top of each acorn with a black felt pen. Glue two leaves on to each ring (make sure the leaf colors are different fro the ring!) then glue on an acorn to each ring as well. Let dry.


Materials for turkeys:
One pine cone for each turkey
Hot glue gun and slue sticks
Sponge craft sheets – red, yellow, green, orange, white & brown
Black felt tip pen

Cut five ‘feathers’ for each turkey – one from each color. Cut two white eyes per turkey as well as one wattle (that hangy red thing), one yellow beak and one head. When cutting the head shape, make it approx 3 inches long with a rounded head shape at one end and a tapered straight edge at the other end. Glue on the eyes, wattle and beak – draw pupils on the eyes. Set each pinecone on its side on your work so it sits still and sturdy. Once level and sturdy you now know what will be the bottom and top of your turkey. Using the hot glue gun, pipe a blob of glue near the front of the pinecone, down inside the ‘shingles’ and push the tapered end of the head shape into the glue and hold till set. Pipe blobs of glue toward the back of the pinecone, again down inside the ‘shingles’ and stick a ‘feather’ into the glue and hold till set. Follow by more glue and another color fo feather, slightly overlapping the first feather and repeat until all five feathers have been attached (you might want to stick the feathers in the pinecone to dry set them before gluing them). Let dry.

Have fun!

Fun 21.....

There’s really just one type of gift for someone turning 21 – alcohol – for those celebrants who choose to imbibe, that is.

This past weekend was one of my niece’s 21st birthday – well, she’s not really my niece – she’s the daughter of my husband’s aunt (after 20+ years of marriage she’s my aunt too!) – but because she was born rather late in my aunt’s life, she’s very close in age/the same generation of all the other nieces in my family, so, I think of her as a niece. Besides...I really don’t know what she is...one of those cousin kind of relations… Second cousin or something? I dunno – to me she’s my niece – so there! Anyway… My husband and I knew we wanted to get her a bottle of something fun to celebrate her ‘legality’ and since slamming tequila shots has it’s own little, fun ‘process’ we decided on that.

Now, times are kinda tight so we wanted to watch our dollars – but I was able to put together a really fun gift for a nominal fee and got to get creative at the same time – which helped make the gift a little more fun and personal too. I like to make a gift complete – so we put together a whole straight shot ‘kit’. We got a fifth of Jose Cuervo and got a classic, heavy-weight, plain shot glass at the liquor store as well. A lime at the grocery store rounded out the items we purchased and I already had the arts-n-crafts portion of the gift at home. I’d previously bought a plain glass salt-n-pepper shaker so I could use my glass paints on them for a fun art project on some random rainy day. Well…although we’ve had plenty of rain since the time I bought the set, I’d never gotten around to painting them – so this gift gave me the perfect opportunity! I used just one shaker and used some puff paints to decorate it. I woulda used actual glass paint, but I’d taken them on a summer camping trip and inadvertently left them in our trailer. We don’t keep the trailer at our house so….no glass paints. Improvisation makes you test and push yourself to make do with what you have and I gotta tell ya…I think this shaker turned out better with the puff paints than it woulda with the ‘right’ paint! It had dimension and the colors were great – it had a little personality! I wrote ‘Tequila’ on one side, ‘Salt’ on another and painted little lime wedges accented with tiny yellow and orange dots on two other sides. The colors are ‘citrusy’ and seem kinda juicy and fun.

Now….had I known before the birthday party that my niece doesn’t ‘do’ shots, we’da bought some other kind of liquor! However…maybe she can entertain with this fun, little set. With the way some people started downing shots the night of her celebration, I don’t think this kit will sit idol for long. Anyone recognizing themselves here??? ;-)

Thanks for a great evening AD!!! And happy 21st SRS!!!

Looks good enough to eat.....

After I made mini turnovers on Sunday (see a post or two below), I made these! If you haven't figured it out yet, I have a food OBSESSION ;-) I think about food pretty much 24/7, so making tiny foods out of Sculpey/Fimo, is totally up my alley. Clearly, I was thinking about sweets on Sunday as no meat-n-taters was formed from the colorful clay - but I can pretty much bet some pizza slices and s'ketti will be sculpted soon! Food items aren't the only things I like to make....but they are the most fun - everyone likes miniature nibbles! They saturate the marketplace!On a recent birthday, I got a gift certificate to Joann's Super Store from my mom and I quickly went out to buy new clay blocks and a pasta machine for clay work as well. I could hardly wait to get my hands on the fresh, bright, soft blocks so I could get busy molding the images that were in my head. I think this chocolate cake almost looks good enough to eat! Doesn't it look so totally chocolatey?!? Makes me crave a big ol' glass of ice cold milk!

Although I'm not a huge blueberry fan, I had to make this blueberry pie. But dang....that sucker took tons of tiny balls! My fingers were tired! And then to make a cherry pie too?! I was clay-crazy!

I'm not making these tiny treats just for fun - this past spring our neighborhood had a street faire. I sold cookies-n-creme truffles (see recipe post around 11/08) and I'm happy to say they were a hit! As soon as we sold out I knew I wanted to participate in next year's faire but wanted to sell something people could buy and keep - not just eat. I'd made magnets from baking clay before and knew right away I wanted to do so again. It's a great hobby and fun to do while my husband watches football - I like the sound in the background - sounds like fall :-) Anyway...I'll attatch magnets to the backs of these and all the other ones that I create over the coming weekends. It's so fun to have a project to do - especially once the rain comes...makes me feel cozy... I can't wait to see what my hands make next!

Mmmm....what smells so good?!

Ahhhhh....I got my house back. Halloween is fun and all - but I SO entirely love the day that all those witch figurines, paper skeletons and pumpkin candy dishes take solace in their tissue paper tombs and get stored away in their boxes till next year.
With fall being my favorite season, I like nothing better than to gather the pine cones and rocks and other natural elements I've collected over the years (my sister gave me some monster pinecones a couple of years ago that I adore!) and place them with candles and other items that help our house feel warm, cozy and dressed for the season. With all the candles aglow, I feel extra secure, safe and appreciative of the home we've made for our little family.
This kind of decor is totally 'me' and gets me in the mood for baking treats and cooking yummy dishes. One thing my daughter and I really love is simmering a pot of wonderful, seasonal scents on the stove. Just fill a small saucepan with water and add cloves, cinnamon (sticks or ground - whichever you have on hand), ginger and *orange peel (scrape off the white pithy part, then score the outside of the skin to really release the fresh orange scent). Bring the pot to a boil on your stove top, then set the pan's lid askew atop the pan to allow the sweet vapors to escape. Turn the heat to a very low simmer - soon, your house will be filled with a wonderful 'cider' smell and the aroma of fall and Thanksgiving. It's heaven! Warning...check the pot every so often and replace the water that has evaporated with hot tap water. You won't need to reboil the water as it will soon simmer once again on it's own.
*Each time you eat an orange or satsuma this season, save your peels in a plastic sandwich baggie in the fridge - that way you'll always have peels on hand for yourt simmer pot!
There's nothing better for making your home warm and cozy - give this a try soon!

Time to Carve the Pumpkins!

Guess what my daughter and I did yesterday? ;-)
What a great time we had carving pumpkins! Sure, it gets a tiny bit tedious near the end and your hand can start to ache a little, but once a pumpkin is aglow - it's all so totally worth it, isn't it? A jack-o-lantern says 'Halloween is here!' in the best way.
A few of these were done with those patterns you get in a kit with the all-time best sawing tool. Granted, they're not original....you might see one at another house a block or two over, but, you have to admit, they are super neat. The first three here are from patterns -my daughter did the tree and I did the skull and 'Welcome' sign. The homemade moon and stars is mine and my daughter carved the funny face after her hand stopped trobbing from an the tree sawing! Provided they don't get soft at all, these five pumpkin lanterns will greet the neighborhood trick-or-treaters to our porch on Friday night! Maybe a nice cool-down in the fridge will keep them hauntingly happy till then.
Of course, with five pumkins, comes lots of pumpkin seeds! Oh boy did the house smell delicious as they were roasting in the oven! Roasted pumpkin seeds are a fun snack and although I've never had a store-bought pumpkin seed from a package, there's no way they could top homemade. I don't have an exact recipe to share - I think most pople just wing-it on their seeds. But in case you have zero idea on how to make them, here's what I do....
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds ~
As you clean out your pumpkin, separate the seeds from the goo and place them in a bowl. Try to keep them as goo-free as you can. Once you have all the seeds from all of your pumpkins, dump them into a colander and rinse them well with water, turning through them a lot with your hands. Drain the seeds as well as you can, then pour them out onto a large kitchen towel (or towels) and pat them dry with an addtional towel. The seeds will kind of stick to the 'patting towel' so as you blot them, flick/pick them off. Once seeds are fairly dry (don't sweat it if they're not super dry...they're going on the oven anway), sluff them off the kitchen towel onto a sheet pan or into a lasagna pan (any large pan that allows them to lay in a mostly single layer). Pour approximately 6 tablespoons (like 1 tablespoon of butter per one cup of seeds) of melted butter over the seeds and use a rubber scraper to stir them well to coat. If you like, you might also like to shake a few squirts of Worcestershire sauce on them at this time too. Next, sprinkle the seeds with salt, garlic powder, onion powder - as well as a little cayenne pepper or some other spice rub seasoning if you wish. Roast the seeds in a preheated 275-degree oven. I check and stir them after every 15 minutes until they are dry and golden brown. This can take upwards of an hour. You can turn up the heat a but and they'll take less time, but you may want to check them more often as once they begin to brown, they can really take off. Once done, let them cool on a rack for about 15 minutes and serve them warm or once totally cool.
Enjoy this seasonal treat soon! Yum!

Lighting Up Halloween.....

I sure wish these photographed better - they look so wonderful all lit up in my living room. My daughter and I, along with my sister and her two daughters painted a bunch of these Halloween candles a few years ago. They were relatively easy - and we learned some great tricks to make them better - after we'd painted them, of course. But that's the lucky part for you - 'cause I can pass on the tips so yours are even better from the get-go! I'll share other art projects we've created as they fit the seasons or my mood :-)
These candles are some of our most prized Halloween decorations in our Halloween 'lot' Each year, as they're unwrapped from their tissue paper 'tombs', my daughter and I get to remember the night that all of us girls sat around our dining room table painting and laughing as these Halloween spooks came to life.
Art projects are such a fun way to while away the autumn hours and they don't have to break the bank - which in this economy, is a real bonus! Also, if you make an 'arty-party' out of it with friends or family, you can share the expenses for the paint and other supplies. An activity like this is great for kids parites too - not only can the kids have fun painting and creating their own masterpiece, but they also end up with a one-of-a-kind party favor to take home and keep forever!
There are no patterns to follow for this project and you're only limited by your imagination! So, below, I've listed the basic supplies you'll need and a few tips to make them turn out beautifully :-) Have fun!!

Painted Glass Halloween Candles
Supplies -
*Glass vessle of your choice - the ones shown above are 6" 'tulip'vases from the dollar store.
*Glass Paints - Opaque white is a must (details on that to follow), other recommended colors for Halloween candles are green, orange, purple, yellow & black
*Black, glass paint pen - or, in a pinch, a medium-tip black Sharpie pen
*Pencil
*Paint brushes of various sizes - but at leat one small one for detail work and one larger one to cover large areas.
Instructions -
The best way to begin this project would be to paint each glass vase with the white, opaque paint (only to the 'neck' of the vase...not the 'tulip' part round the top). If you'll notice in the picture above, the mummy candle really glows well - this is because of the white paint. The other candles seem to 'shine' more than glow - they also took many coats of color to be vibrant. If you paint a white undercoat on each candle first, their color will glow and the candle inside won't be as noticeable either (the candles aren't as noticable in 'real life' as they are in the picture above). This undercoat is a personal choice....but if we'd known then what we know now.....well, you know the rest ;-) Anyway, the paint dries pretty quickly so once that happens, you can lightly pencil your design onto the vase. Using the paint colors you've chosen, begin painting your desgin onto the white-coated vase. As each feature/area is finished and dried, you may decide to paint another coat to make the color darker/more vibrant. Once the design has been fully painted and the vase is fully covered with color (no clear spots!), use the black paint marking pen to outline the design. This makes the details really 'pop'. You can also add even finer details like moles on a witch or scars and stitches on a Frankenstein....things that can be a bit difficult to paint.
Once your candle holders are finished, drop in a votive or tealight candle and light'em up! You're new spooky 'friends' will warm your hearth and heart this Halloween and every Halloween to come!

Welcome October!

My daughter and I recently had an arts-n-crafts day and this is the result of our efforts! A 'fall-y' wreath with cute, little ghosts tucked in here and there. It was easy to make and pretty inexpensive (using a coupon for our local fabric store). It totaled about 11 bucks for everything from the wreath, the leaves and the tootsie pops inside each ghost. We made a wreath last year too but used a few different fall/halloween fabrics to cover the ghosts - however, the non-white ghosts blended in so much with the leaves, they were almost invisible...so this year, we stuck with traditional white. The wreath is super welcoming each time we come through the front door - and knowing we made it ourselves makes it even better! If you should make one yourself, be sure to wrap the tootsie rolls inside the ghosts, in plastic wrap before covering them with fabric. We didn't do this last year and over time, in storage, the tootsies 'weeped' and bled through the fabric. So, although it was super fun making a new wreath this year...the goopy, stained ghosts from last year were the real reason behind our new creation :-). Wanna make a fun wreath like this? Here's how!

Supplies:
1 grape vine wreath
1 wreath door hanger

2 to 3 kinds of silk leaves (to include berries, small pumpkins etc.)

5 to 6 Tootsie Pops

Plastic wrap and tape

1 black felt tip marker

5 to 6, 7x7" squares of fabric of your choice

4 pipe cleaners, cut in half (best if they match the color of your fabric)

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Hang the bare wreath from your wreath hanger - turning it this way and that until it hangs most pleasingly to your eye. Leaving the hanger in place, lay the wreath/hanger onto your work surface (this way, you know always know where the top of your wreath is which is good to know when placing the leaves and ghosts etc.). Cut the leaves, berries, pumpkins from their plastic 'vines' and set aside. Wrap tops of tootsies in pastic wrap and secure with tape around the pop stick. Cover each tootsie with a fabric square, gathering the fabric at the base of the pop and securing with 1/2 length of the pipe cleaner. Draw eyes on each ghost with the black felt marker. Place/stick tootsie ghosts into the wreath - space them any way you want - it's your wreath! Next, place the leaves into the wreath the way that pleases your eye - and lastly, place the berries and pumkins here and there for accent. Once everything is where you want it, start at one point and begin hot gluing each piece in place until all pieces have been secured all the way around the wreath. Lift the wreath by the it's hanger and make sure all pieces are in place and nothing is loose. If all is good, your wreath is ready to hang!

Enjoy walking through your own front door the whole fall season!