Halloween Pumpkins

That little pumpkin has a slightly happy face...I wonder what the rest of them will turn out to look like. Yes we do have an arsenal of carving tools as you can see, you know just in case the pumpkins decide to get a little unruly!! muhahahaha!

Here is my little guy working his carving magic. I let him use a steak knife this year because all of our pumpkin carving tools bit the dust from a few years of carving amazing pumpkins!

He made me nervous a few times but with some direction he did GREAT!
& you know what happens when you carve these babies out & give them lively faces.....yep you know it...they reward you with beautiful & delish seeds!!

WE love pumpkins seeds at this house!

This year I made them with garlic salt! DELISH!! So delish in fact I am not sure we will have a whole lot left for Monday night's Annual All Hallows Eve Gathering.

For any of you out there who have never made your own roasted seeds because it scares you....well I am here to tell you its super easy & you should try it!

Here is how I do mine:

~after scooping out the seeds you wash them off really well removing any pumpkin gut remnants

~I find dumping all the seeds in a colander works well for washing

~after you have washed them off I lay them out on a clean dish towel that absorbs liquid well

(you know how some towels don't do quite get the job done)

~once they have been payed out in a nice even layer I sprinkle my seasoning on them

~You can use any flavor combo you like, you could do a ranch or taco season on them, that would be YUM!

~Once seasoned leave them on the towel for about 45 minutes then dump them onto dry cookie sheets into an even layer

~bake them in an oven set at 225 anywhere from an hour to an hour & a 1/2 depending how wet they were when they went in & how done you like them

That's it...easy peasy!

these guys here look like a motley crew!! but they yielded a ton of seeds. They gave us more seeds than the 2 large ones did!

Our large pumpkins are still waiting to get faces because my oldest son & the Mr. cant decide what to do with them yet.....but when they do you can be sure I will share!

Don't they look so spooky all lit up? I especially like that I can enjoy their illuminated faces while listening to Halloween Radio on Pandora! It amazes me just how many spooky songs are out there!

You should check it out when you get the chance!

Oh & one more thing before I head off to a Halloween dream land...

I would like to say THANK YOU to one of my Besties Tami!!

She made me the MOST AMAZING collection of Halloween magnets ever!

(She crochets & I absolutely can't!)

When I look at them I cant help but smile!

Because they make me so Happy I want to share them with the world because maybe you can find some happiness in them too! You know spread the love!

See???!! Aren't they the cutest!?!?!

I love them all BUT Frankie must still be may fave because every time I look at him I literally giggle & get giddy!

On that HAPPY note I am off, until the next project....Happy Creating!

my honest opinion

Ok . . . .so I remembered the name of this tool. . .The Crop-A-Dial. Now that I have had the chance to thoroughly use this tool I want to say I Still L-O-V-E this tool BUT

(YES there is a BUT in there)

you cant slide a paper more than 1 & 1/2 inches into the mechanism to crimp an

eyelet, snap or grommet!!

I was working on a project for a Christmas gift & much to my surprise I had to adjust the size on my paper flower just so I could use the the Crop-A-Dial to crimp an eyelet on. Insert sad face here because I am totally in love with how easy this tool is because it has everything built right in, including 2 different size hole punches! Maybe I just wasn't smart enough to pay attention to that when I bought it or maybe I was just so excited to get it. . .either way I felt a little disappointed. Luckily it worked out of for this particular project BUT I was heartbroken because if I want to place a snap or eyelet onto a larger paper I will have to buy a separate tool to take care of the job. UNLESS one of you out there know something I don't know. . . . .it is possible I just don't know what I'm doing! The outer packaging said to read the instructions inside but there were no instructions in the hard plastic packaging (you know the kind. . .the ones you have to be a an engineer to open) there was only a simple chart on the back package & some vague wording.

As you can see...my paper flowers came out super cute, I just wish I could make bigger ones for some other projects I have in mind. The largest circle used here is 2 inches.
The Crop-A-Dial is a VERY easy tool to use & I will definitely be using mine for ALL the smaller projects I work on just for the simplicity of it!
I especially like to use this tool for the ends of my paper banners because it ensures that the ribbons don't tear the paper!

I am looking forward to using this tool on fabric & I will definitely let you all know how it does!

I wanted to give my honest opinion of this tool in case anyone out there was interested in it.

So in light of what I have learned YES I would totally recommend this product to crafters for smaller projects & if any of you out there in blogland have a trick to use this tool for larger projects please let me know...I would love to hear from you!

Until then...Happy Creating!

Girly Banner

Let me just start by saying . . . I L-O-V-E this new tool!! It is the best thing ever to set grommet's, eyelets & snaps!!! Easy to use all in one tool! I got mine at Michael's with a 40%off coupon & worth every penny! The name escapes me at the moment but when I think of it...I will post it! lol I used my new tool to set this cute little dragonfly eyelet. . . isn't it so cute??!

It goes so perfect with my girly banner!

I then tied a white satin ribbon through, making it look like a little rose (well sorta).

I used ribbon on the end pennants for easy banner hanging.

This glue is some amazing stuff too! I use it on all kinds of projects where metal or glass are involved because once it sets. . . that stuff doesn't budge!

I used it tonight to glue little purple gems onto plain old brads!!!

I think affixing them to the plain brads just added that extra something special!

(for a very special girl I might add)

I figured since i was using fun girly paper, it might as well have some bling on it too!

Hence the glitter paper as well!

I also hand folded strips of pretty paper into the rosettes & hot glued them to the pennants.

the letters were store bought glossy black chipboard. The were the sticky kind but I had to hot glue them to the glitter paper. . . .they weren't sticking to the glitter very well as you can imagine!

Here is the finished product!!

The girly banner for the very special girl!

I was able to give the banner to her tonight & it was so good to see her bright smile!

She moved away from us & we miss her a lot! BUT we are glad she can come for a visit every now & again!

While I was busy making a girly banner, my rough & tumble creative boy was busy making something for ME!!!

Isn't it so bright & pretty?!! I love my bracelet! it is cheery & colorful just the way I like things to be! I am so glad he is not too manly man yet to take time to make something from his heart!

yep. . . . .this guy right here, little Mr.

Thank you my little love for making me feel extra special today!