Wishlist Wednesday–Leftover Halloween Candy Recipes

 

Well, it’s here…Halloween! I’m a little sad because I’m out of town this week again for work and I won’t be home to hand out candy to Trick-or-Treaters. This is the first Halloween in our new house and it’s been quite a few years since I’ve lived somewhere where there are Trick-or-Treaters. Oh, well – I’ll just have to wait until next year!

And since Halloween involves lots of candy, I figured this week’s Wishlist Wednesday should be all about candy too! I’ve put together a collection of recipes that you can use your leftover candy in – that is if you have leftover candy. I looove candy, so I probably wouldn’t have any leftover and just have to buy the candy to use in the recipe ;)

Twix Caramel Popcorn from Two Peas and Their Pod

 

Rolo Pretzel M&M Cookies from Something Swanky

 

Skittles Marshmallow Pops from The Decorated Cookies

 

Smores from Babble

 

Snickers Cupcake from The Domestic Rebel

 

Monster Cookies from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

 

Tootsie Roll Fudge from Food Blogga

 

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies from Picky Palate

 

Skittles Meringues from Real Simple

 

Peanut Butter Bars from Shugary Sweets

 

Kit Kat Rice Krispie Treats from A Sweet Baker

 

Peanut Butter Kit Kat Ice Cream Sandwiches from Inside BruCrew Life

And there are always these recipes I shared a few weeks back :)

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween!

Weekend Wrap–up…Halloween and more!

 

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was too short (as usual), but filled with some fun stuff. And forgive the picture quality – all I had with me was my iPhone.

On Friday night, we went to a Halloween party at a friend's house. And yes, we went as a baker and a cupcake :)

I had bought the chef costume and a cupcake costume last year, but we didn't end up using them. I didn't really like the way the cupcake costume looked on, so I decided I was going to make my own. I actually used the bottom part of the costume and put the material around a round laundry basket (that we cut the bottom our of). I bought 5 yards of pink tulle and rolled it around some batting. I then hot-glued it to top of the laundry basket. I topped it off with some pastel glitter pom-pom balls for sprinkles :) 

It wasn't the most practical costume (couldn't really sit down...haha!), but it seemed like it was a hit!

The food at the party was awesome too! There was pumpkin guacamole...get it :)

and Munster cheese sandwiches with test tubes filled with tomato soup...

and Twice baked potatoes and string cheese mozzarella sticks...

and my favorite, Jack-o-Lantern drinks...complete with mustache straws! I’m not exactly sure what was in them, but they were delish!

My husband also gave me this amazing picture for my birthday! It is a collage of pictures from our wedding. I absolutely love it and need to figure out the best place to hang it.

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And don’t forget to enter my first giveaway….it’s my way of thanking everyone for helping me reach over 100 Facebook like! If you win, you have your choice between Ban.Do shoe clips or a Wilton Cookie Press :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

How was your weekend?

Did you go to any Halloween celebrations? Did you dress up?

DIY–Candy Corn Hurricane Glass and a Giveaway!

I promised earlier in the week that I would post the tutorial on how I made those Candy Corn hurricanes I used in my Halloween mantle, so here it is.

I picked up the glasses at the dollar store. The glass paint is from Martha Stewart’s plaid paint (similar to the paint I used to make these glasses and this gift). I wrapped painters tape a third of the way down from the top of the glass and a third from the bottom of the glass. I painted the bottom yellow and the top what I thought was white. I must not have been paying attention when I bought the paint because instead of white paint I grabbed clear paint. I’m not sure why you would want clear glass paint, but that’s what I bought nonetheless. I didn’t realize it though until I already painted on the glass and it dried clear.

Luckily, I had bought some glow-in-the-dark paint a few weeks back so I decided to paint over the clear paint with that. I did 3 coats of the yellow and glow-in-the dark, waiting at least 1 hour between coats. Once the paint was dried, I removed the tape and then did 3 coats of the orange paint.

The paint didn’t cover quite as well as I had hoped, so that’s why I ended up doing 3 coats. You could really see the paint strokes, so you just have to make sure the paint in even and not too thick.

These were super easy and I think were a nice touch to the mantle.


And now for the Giveaway...
My little blog reached a milestone this week - over 100 followers on Facebook! I really didn't think I would get to 100 followers this quickly and it's all thanks to all of you! And to say thank you I'm doing a giveaway of some of the things I've featured here at The Pink Flour over the past few weeks

The winner will have their choice of either shoe clips from Ban.do or a Wilton Cookie press.

I posted about the shoe clips when I showed you some pictures from our wedding a few weeks back. I used the cookie press when I made my Almond Joy Cookies.

 

The contest is open until Friday, November 2, 2012 at 9pm (PST). You can earn one entry for being a Facebook follower. Additional entries can be earned (see below).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post may be linked up at the following: Tatertots & Jello, Whipperberry, Serenity Now, Positively Splendid, Skip to my Lou, Tidy Mom, I Heart Nap Time, and Six Sister’s Stuff.

Recipe – Grown-up Caramel Apple Cider

Before we get into today’s recipe, I want to give a big thank you to Online BlogCon (I posted a little about it a few days ago) for a wonderful conference. I still have some posts to finish reading, but everything I have gone through so far has been so helpful and very insightful. It really gives me motivation to keep growing this little blog!

I really wish I didn’t have to write this post from a hotel room tonight – otherwise, I would be drinking one of these cocktails as I write this. If you’ve had the Caramel Apple Spice at Starbucks, I would consider this the adult version of that drink :)

I really love our Keurig! I love that we can make all sorts of different drinks with it…coffee, tea, lattes, iced tea, hot chocolate and apple cider. I wanted to make a cocktail that was perfect for fall and when I saw this apple liqueur at BevMo over the weekend I wanted to try it. I also saw the same Evan Williams Apple Liqueur at Target, so you can get it there too!

This cocktail is super simple to make. All I did was use one of the apple cider k-cups for the Keurig and brew it into a mug on the smallest setting (6oz). Then I added 2 shot glasses of the apple liqueur. I then just topped with whipped cream and caramel.

It was a wonderful treat for a cool fall day. Hope you enjoy!

Click on the recipe to download.

This recipe may be linked to the following: Crazy for Crust, The 36th Avenue, Something Swanky, Chocolate, Chocolate and more, The Frugal Girls, Keep Calm & Link Up, Tatertots & Jello, Whipperberry, Serenity Now, Positively Splendid, Skip to my Lou, Inside BruCrew Life, Chef in Training, Tidy Mom, I Heart Nap Time, and Six Sister’s Stuff.

Wishlist Wednesday - All About Tights

I can’t believe it’s time for another Wishlist Wednesday already. I’ve been traveling a lot of work lately, so it seems like the weeks just fly by.

I’m currently in Los Angeles working and have enjoyed being back near my old stomping ground. I went to college at Loyola Marymount University and lived in LA for a total of 7 years. I think, like many people, I have a love/hate relationship with LA. I love how much there is to do in LA and how diverse everything can be (especially the food…I really miss all the options LA has!) But I do not like the LA traffic and how compacted everything is. I’ve learned that I really like living in a place that is spread out and not all concrete and asphalt. I am glad though that where we live now really isn’t that far from LA, so we can visit pretty easily (that is if the traffic cooperates :)

For this week’s Wishlist Wednesday, I’m all about tights. I love wearing skirts and dresses and as the weather gets cooler tights are the perfect thing to allow me to keep wearing them. I love all the fun colors and patterns tights come in now. They really can add some flair to an outfit. And for those of us that are blessed with Irish skin, they help hide un-tanned legs!

via Hue

via Spanx

via Nordstrom

via Anthropologie

via Forever 21

via H&M

via Express

via The Limited

via HUE

via Banana Republic

What are your thoughts on tights? Love em or hate?

Décor–Halloween Mantle

Some of you may have noticed that I have a little badge in my sidebar that says “I’m attending Online BlogCon.” Well, this is the week of the conference and today was Day 1! I’ll go into more detail after the conference is over, but in short, it is a conference for bloggers entirely online which includes posts on a variety of blogging related topics. It also has been a wonderful way to network with fellow bloggers and develop some great relationships.

There was a post today on Blog Design from the conference creators, Ashton from Something Swanky & Dorothy from Crazy for Crust and I already used some of what I learned to update my header. I’ll probably be updating some other things over the next few days, so let me know what you think about the changes.

Ok, I’m sure I’ll be sharing more about Online BlogCon later on, but now we’re onto what I have for you guys today – my Halloween Mantle!

I’m mainly drawn to autumn/harvest type décor during these months (remember my fall tablescape?), but I wanted to create a space that was fun for Halloween. One year, I want to go all out with outdoor Halloween decorations, but this year it just wasn’t in the cards…So I settled on a mantle.

I picked up the big wire pumpkin in the back and the candy corn in the dollar bin at Target. I don’t think I can ever get through Target without getting something from the dollar bin at Target – I have no self control, especially when it comes to any type of holiday decoration!

Most of the items I have just collected over the past few years. I love shopping the day after a holiday to get things 50-70% off! I picked up this little guy from the Pottery Barn awhile back. It’s a tea light candle holder :) Too cute!

If anyone is wondering – the picture on the mantle is from our wedding. My best friend made it for me last year for my birthday. Isn’t it awesome?? I know it’s not Halloween related at all, but since it was black and white I thought it kind of worked.

We haven’t actually used our fireplace since we have moved into our house, but I can’t wait to try it in the upcoming weeks as it gets colder. And I’ll let you in on a little secret…well it’s really not a secret because if anyone walked into our house you would notice it immediately…we don’t have living room furniture. So if we want to use the fireplace we’ll have to sit on the floor, but that could be fun, right? Maybe a little indoor picnic :)

Anyways, I hope you like the mantle. I’ll be back later this week on the details on how I made these  candy corn vases.

What is your favorite way to decorate for Halloween?

Anyone go all out with outdoor decorations?

Halloween Printable

Can't believe that Halloween is less than 2 weeks away...where has October gone??

Today, to get you in the Halloween mood (just in case my Oreos & bark didn't!), I have a Halloween printable for you. 

My family loves the movie Elf, it's become somewhat of a Christmas tradition in that we watch it sometime during the week of Christmas. I think my brother knows every line from the movie. And the one I used for this printable is one of my favorites. Even though Elf is technically a Christmas movie, who says this quote can't work for Halloween too?

Hope you enjoy! Just click on the image to download :) Click here to find out my suggestions for printing.

I'll be sharing this at the following link parties this week and next:

The 36th Avenue, The Frugal Girls, Keep Calm and Link Up, Tatertots & Jello, Whipperberry, Serenity Now, Thirty Handmade Days, Positively Splendid, Skip to my Lou, Sugar Bee Crafts & Itsy Bitsy Paper.

Decor - 19 Ways to Display Towels

I had a friend recently ask if I could do a post on ways to display bath towels. I always want to know what you guys would like to see on the blog, so feel free to let me know. I really enjoyed putting this post together.

If it hadn't been for my mom showing me how to fold bath towels, I would probably have no idea how to store and hang them. I'm sure there are tons of other ways to fold them, but I've put a quick tutorial together on how I like to fold towels.

 Here are a few ideas for ways to display towels in your bathroom:

Wine Rack 

Once you've folded the towel into thirds, roll towels up and place in a wine rack on the bathroom wall.

via Rustic Living

via Centsational Girl

Hooks

Just install some hooks and hang the towels on them...no folding or rolling required.

via Shanty 2 Chic

via Ducks in a Row

via This Old House

Unique Towel Racks

Why settle for the standard towel rack, when there are these fun options?

via Better Homes & Gardens

via Martha Stewart

via Pretty Handy Girl

via Funky Junk Interiors

Shelves

Folded and put on shelves along with other bathroom necessities makes this a practical and easy option.

via HGTV.com

via Pottery Barn

via A Beautiful Mess

Layered

Layer towels and then tie with ribbon

via Create Something Pretty

via Worthing Court

Rolled Up

Use baskets or other containers to store rolled up towels.

via I'm Busy Procrastinating

via Real Simple

via Better Homes & Gardens

Other Ideas

Hang wire baskets and stack folded towels in them.

via Mini Manor Blog

Mount towel rod and then hang baskets off of them for towel storage.

via Simply DIY 2

All these fun ideas make me want to go update our towel storage in our bathrooms. I always like to tie some festive ribbon on the towels during the holidays. I'll make sure to show you guys when I do :)

Do you have any other ideas for towel storage?
What is your favorite way to fold towels?