• easy washi tape pumpkin for kids
    crafts - Crafts for adults - Halloween crafts - handmade - Kids crafts - tutorial

    No-Carve Pumpkin ideas

    October 21, 2013 - By 

    As much as I love Halloween I never actually want to spend my time pumpkin carving. This year we’ve done things a little differently. We purchased our pumpkin from Waitrose along with a couple of cute munchkins (mini pumpkins) and they make a great display on our dining room table. The toddler has been going on and on about carving the pumpkin but instead of reaching for the knife I grabbed my washi tape collection instead. Easy No-Carve Pumpkin ideas How about using washi tape for a no carve pumpkin? No mess and you can change the expression as often…

  • crafts - Halloween crafts - handmade - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Spooky Halloween sun catchers

    October 16, 2013 - By 

    We like to make sun catchers for our windows so thought we’d make something fun for Halloween. We already have munchkins on the mantlepiece and a Happy Halloween banner. The toddler has made Lego pumpkins and ghosts but there are still so many things to make and do! I cut out some spooky houses from black paper using a self healing mat and scalpel. I did this the evening before as I didn’t fancy using a scalpel with the children around. The children tore out pieces of coloured tissue paper and stuck them to the houses with glue. The tissue…

  • competition

    Spooky cheesecake and Ella’s Kitchen giveaway

    October 8, 2013 - By 

    Packed full of 100 tasty recipes, the first ever Ella’s Kitchen Cook Book (The Red One) encourages kids of all ages to get hands on and messy in the kitchen and make mealtimes fun. The book is packed full of ideas, I reviewed it here, and we’ve been busy working our way through the recipes. Some of the recipes would be great for Halloween parties, and they’re great for all the family to enjoy making together, including a Swirly Whirly Cheesecake, Awesome Orange and Ginger Cake, and Smiley Spiral Apple Tarts. This morning we made the Swirly Whirly Cheesecake which can be decorated with…

  • simple toilet roll pumpkins
    crafts - Halloween crafts - Kids crafts - Recycled crafts - Toilet roll crafts - tutorial

    Crafty Halloween pumpkins

    September 16, 2013 - By 

    We still have a plethora of toilet rolls in our recycling drawer so I thought it was about time we used them. Halloween is fast approaching so what better than a Halloween pumpkin. Yes, it is possible! Simple toilet roll pumpkins First of all my 3 year old painted a couple of toilet rolls with orange paint. We left them to dry and I cut out leaves from coloured paper. We used our fab Ralph the Dog to stick the leaves to the tube. Ralph is the new fun Scotch Magic Tape Dispenser Dog from Scotch 3M. My son loves…

  • book review - Halloween crafts - tutorial - What I'm reading

    What I’m reading: Halloween Crafts

    September 15, 2013 - By 

    I’ve noticed that Halloween seems to be more commercial every year and colourful images are already creeping onto Pinterest. Halloween Crafts: 35 spooky projects to make and bake has recently been published and is packed full of fun projects to fill your home this Halloween. My children are just getting interested in Halloween. The last few years I’ve dressed them up and we’ve carved a pumpkin but this year I think we will be doing a lot more. This book gives you some great inspiration, from spooky decorations to creepy costumes and scarily sweet treats. There are a couple of…

  • baking

    Trick or Treacle?

    October 31, 2012 - By 

    Although we don’t take the children trick or treating I can’t resist making some sweet treats with them. This Halloween Lyle’s has revamped their traditional black treacle with the name ‘Trick or Treacle’ and turned the entire tin into a pumpkin head. It’s a really lovely collectable item so I snapped one up to go with my Lyle’s ‘Happy and Glorious’ Golden Syrup from the summer. They make great pen pots! Did you know you can use black treacle to make lots of yummy treats? There are some great recipes floating around for Halloween – how about Witches’ ribs with…

  • competition

    Win a Halloween party kit with Duracell

    October 19, 2012 - By 

    I’m sure we’re not the only family who go through a lot of batteries. The toddler has some really noisy toys and he often has a little pile of toys waiting for daddy to replace their batteries when he comes home from work. I was recently contacted by Duracell  to see if I wanted to take part in a fun Halloween challenge. We were sent a Halloween party pack with everything we needed to hold our own spooky party, including decorations, music and games to play in the dark made, which were made even spookier by using a torch, run…

  • spooky_marshmallows
    crafts - food review - Halloween crafts - handmade - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Spooky marshmallow treats

    October 13, 2012 - By 

    We’re not big on celebrating Halloween but I can’t resist making some Halloween treats. I received a box of Ghostbusters Stay Puft Quality Marshmallows from my favourite sweetshop Cybercandy and thought I would turn them into spooky marshmallows. The marshmallows were tightly squeezed in the box, so I emptied them out and let them breathe and regain their shape. I then sorted out the best, evenly shaped ones (size-ist, I know) and got to work with my edible marker pen. What do you think of my spooky Halloween marshmallows? A great quick craft for kids big and small! Ghostbusters Stay…

  • crafts - Halloween crafts - handmade - tutorial

    Scary robot tshirt

    October 31, 2011 - By 

    I’ve mentioned before how much I love Pinterest and find it really inspiring, and pinned quite a few fun Halloween projects. I loved making (and eating) Halloween cake pops and wanted my son to have his own spooky tshirt to wear at our Halloween party. I saw a fab design for shadow puppets in the latest issue of Handmade Living by minieco.co.uk. I thought that my son was too young for shadow puppets but the patterns would translate really well onto a tshirt. So I picked up some cheap tshirts from H&M and copied the scary robot template on to…