Everyone knows that Halloween isn’t worth it’s weight in candy if your little ones don’t get to visit a pumpkin patch.

This weekend, pumpkin patches across the country (list of participating pumpkin patches) will be taken over by the crew at Ice Age to help to get the season off right.  As part of a nationwide initiative, Fox will be hosting Family Fun Days this Saturday and Sunday, October 24 and 25, at various pumpkin patches in your community with professional pumpkin carving artists, movie giveaways and other festive activities that create the perfect fall outing for the entire family.

You will have the chance to win prizes including DVD copies of the first two installments of the Ice Age trilogy, and branded Ice Age glow sticks to keep Halloween night fun and safe.

Do you little ones need some color sheets to get in the spirit? The good folks at Fox have provided some Ice Age Halloween sheets that you can print and color (here’s the compressed file).

Did you know that you can actually make your own playdough?

Granted it won’t have that familiar PlayDough scent, but if you make it right, it just might smell good enough to eat!

Oh yeah, it’s actually edible too. Just be sure to store it in an air-tight container and it should last you quite a while.

Basic Homemade Playdough

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 cups water
Food coloring

• Put all ingredients in a saucepan and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.
• Stir constantly.
• Divide into batches and add food coloring.
• Store in an air-tight container.

Peanut Butter Playdough – this one doesn’t use food coloring, but it’s a fun twist on a fun activity!

Ingredients:

1 c. Smooth Peanut Butter
1/2 c. Honey
2 c. Nonfat Dry Milk

• Mix together the peanut butter and honey first.
• Add half of the dry and mix; then continue to add a little at a time until it feels soft and playful!
• Use less than 2 cups of dry milk if the clay seems to be getting dry.
• Store in an air-tight container.

Tip for the lactose intolerant: mix together the honey and peanut butter and then slowly add 8 – 12 ounces of corn meal a little at a time until your clay is the desired constancy.

Kool-Aid Playdough - no food coloring needed as it takes on the color of the koolaid.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
1 pkg unsweetened Kool-aid (just the dry koolaid, don’t mix it into juice)

1 cup boiling water

1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil

• In a bowl, mix flour, salt and kool-aid.
• Stir in water and oil.
• Knead with hands for about 5 minutes.
• Store in an air-tight container.

Do you need a quick and easy gift that you can make with the kids?  Decoupage is nothing more than gluing stickers or pictures onto something such as a box, an ornament or a frame.  You’ll spend more time heading out to your local craft store to pick up the (inexpensive) supplies than you’ll spend actually taking the time to create the project. It can be a fun way to add a personal touch to a favorite photo.
read more from "Decoupage – A Quick and Easy Gift Idea"

All My Memories Tote-ally Cool! Tote 2 - I can’t think of a scrapper wouldn’t love this tote (unless they’ve already got one). It’s the perfect size for the top of your scrap workspace. It holds pens, craft knives, scissors, and other small tools. There are 21 pockets and pouches, and a lazy susan on the bottom for easy access to all sides. It even has a pull out drawer and a place to hold your cell phone. It’s absolutely perfect!

Cherish by Jeanette Lynton – This book is fantastic, and a sure-cure for scrapper’s block. In it are 50 two-page layout ideas and step by step instructions on how to cut your paper and assemble each one. Great page designs, easy to create. It’s sure to give new life to your favorite scrapper’s pages!

Emschwar

Believe it or not, you can give people etched glass gifts this holiday season that you made yourself. It’s much easier than you’d think!

read more from "Glass Etching – It’s an Easy Gift!"

I’m making sets of these for each set of Grandparents (three – since I have step parents). They’re a very, very simple craft to make and are super cheap to make as well.

The coasters can be purchased at Home Depot, Lowe’s or your favorite home improvement store. They’re actually white tiles and are about 16 cents each. Luckily, I had an entire box of them just sitting in the garage. After buying some mod podge, I went in search of some pictures! I already had developed a number of pictures from our cruise, so these will make great gifts for mil/fil. So, I found a paint brush (we have these in abundance around our house) and a few paper bags (I have no idea why I had these, but I was thankful to find them when I was looking for paint brushes. I’m fortunate to have a paper cutter, so it was really easy to cut a straight line, but if you don’t have one don’t worry, scissors will work just fine.

So, I set myself some room on the dining room table and set to work. You can see my set up here:

Each coat takes about 15 minutes to dry, so I did them one at a time. I’d cut a picture and then glue it on the tile. Then, I’d cut another picture and glue it. After a few of these, I was ready to start my first coat. So, I just cycled through like this. All told, I spent less than an hour on 11 of them (I ran out of room on my paper bags!). After they finish drying, I’ll glue some felt to the bottom so that they don’t scratch the surface of anything that they set on. You can buy felt at any fabric store for fairly cheap, but I recommend looking in the remnant bins at JoAnn’s as anything less than a yard is half price (at least at my local store). Because I won’t be using a ton, this is a good solution.

Don’t think I thought this up myself, I found this on another message board – sewingmommas.com. A woman there had made them – she didn’t give a ton of details, but the mod podge, felt and small tiles was enough information for me.

Jennylou

Knit Knit Knit
Originally uploaded by le happy.
When I was about 7 years old, my mom taught me how to knit, just as her mother had taught her to knit, and so on through the generations. Of course, it being the ’80s, my first project were some multicolored leg warmers. (They can’t all be winners.) After a while, I took a long hiatus from it and picked it up again as an adult. It’s become one of my favorite ways to unwind after a long day or spend some down time when I’m feeling stressed out. There have been quite a few studies that compare the peace and contentment knitting can bring you to the benefits of meditation and yoga.

I love finding time to sneak it into my daily routines, too. I enjoy having my hands busy while I watch TV or a movie, for example. Or I’ll bring it in the car for those occasions when my toddler falls asleep on the way home and I don’t want to wake up her by getting her out of the car! And I have to say, there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of seeing a finished project. You can use your creativity to make your own patterns, switch out colors and alter patterns, once you get some practice.

So you know all the reasons to do it, but how do you get started? Well, if you’ve been missing out on the recent knitting revolution and don’t know where to begin, maybe this will encourage you to jump on in. I’m going to answer some of the most common questions I get about learning to knit.

read more from "Knitting 101"

Originally uploaded by omnicollective. I’ll admit it. I scrapbook. It’s my addiction (well, aside from CC). So every June, my fellow scrapbooking friends and I head down to Chantilly, Virginia for the Great American Scrapbook Convention. It’s a scrapbooker’s paradise!First, your general admission gains you entrance to the vendor area – an entire convention center filled to the brim with people selling scrapbook stuff! It’s heaven (well, not for the bank account)! Just about every scrapbook manufacturer has a booth there, including several you’ve never heard of.
read more from "Scrapbook City!"

 

Del Monte Fruit Chillers are not the kind of thing I’d ordinarily give a second glance. But when my husband offered me a sample of his Arctic Strawberry Fruit Chiller, it was love at first bite. They taste exactly like sorbet and come individually portioned just like a fruit cup, offering both portion control and the ability to eat them on the go. Brilliant.

 

Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook by Debbie Stoller is my new best friend. As a brand new knitter, I constantly have questions and doubts about my projects. I turn to this book every time and have not yet needed to look anywhere else for an answer. It’s also filled with many hip projects of all skill levels. I can’t imagine a need to own another knitting book for quite some time.

 

Martha Stewart Crafts, Martha Stewart’s new scrapbooking product line at Michaels. I might as well out myself as a lover of everything Martha, and these products are no exception. My mind is spinning with possibilities and projects.

 

My local farmer’s market and all the wonderful fresh food. To find a farmer’s market near you, check the Local Harvest website.

 

Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky, the latest release from an awesome band. I’ve had the first single “What Light” on repeat since I first scored the free download on their website. The rest of the album is equally intoxicating. It’s the perfect accompaniment for a summer night with friends, the grill and a cold beer.

lawyerlee