Halloween Wishes

WISHING YOU A
SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN
AND A
WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

I Want My Mummy

I try to give my family a little holiday inspired dinner
every Halloween.

This stuffed bread mummy is one of their favorites.
It's really quite easy to make.
First, you'll need two loaves of frozen bread dough,
thawed & risen.
Flatten the dough.Cream 8 ounces of cream cheese with
enough milk to make it easy to spread.

Add fresh chopped or dehydrated onion to the mixture to taste.
With a sharp knife cut the edges of the flattened dough
into 1" strips, leaving 3" down the center of the dough.

Spread the cream cheese mixture down the center of the dough.Add your choice of sliced meat. We like ham &/or turkey.Pull the edges of the dough across the filling,
crisscrossing the strips.
You can bake the two braided loaves
or cut the loaves into sections and
assemble the pieces to look like a mummy.Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
Add olives for eyes, and enjoy your spooky treat.

Edited to add:
I've been boo-ed by Tidymom and Mrs. B.


THANKS SO MUCH, LADIES!!!

Bon Appetit!

On a rare occasion I will purchase home accessories at other stores than the thrift store. Last year I bought a little tin sign at a high end furniture store. They gave me a coupon for a percentage off of one accessory. I wandered the store picking up piece after piece looking for something I could afford, even with the discount. Finally I found this: I probably would have bought it without the discount because I really liked it. I've enjoyed displaying it on a wire easel in my kitchen.
Last week I decided that I wanted to make it a bit more substantial, as well as give it a more permanent home. I bought some molding and asked my supportive husband to make me a frame.
I then spray painted the frame black.
After it was dry, I spray painted it white.
I didn't do this because I changed my mind.
I gave it the two coat treatment because
I knew I wanted to sand it and distress it.
Sanding the white paint made the black show through.
Then I glazed it with a dark brown stain.
I used a hot glue to adhere the sign
on top of the frame.
I added heavy duty hook and loop tape
to the back of the frame and stuck it
to the granite back splash above my stove.
Now that's a substantial accessory
that looks like it came from a high end furniture store!

A Quick One

This little door shelf was our very first piece of door furniture---even though it was actually our second. We were in the middle of building our entertainment unit and things were going very slow. I was frustrated, so I brought out another old door, and various wood pieces. I told my husband that I needed a project with immediate gratification. I drew up a design plan and then left for a meeting. While I was gone, the sweet man I married started building. When I came home, a couple of hours later, the project was ready for me to paint. It was just what we needed. I had a project that I could work on while waiting for the completion of the entertainment unit, and since this project came together so quickly, it gave my hubby the excitement and confidence and to finish the next.
For years I used this piece in a corner of my kitchen to display antiques and other pretties. About a year ago I decided that I needed a change and the door shelf was moved to the basement. I walked past it last week and it caught my attention. It looked unloved and neglected. I knew, that with a little paint makeover, it could be a cherished piece again. So now it stands in it's glory, ready to live in my son's room (as soon as I paint the walls).
Let me tell you a little about it.
The back is an old door.
The legs are two stair balusters.
The top piece was a part of a crib headboard
I found at the thrift store.
We used fencing material to build the shelves.
It's rough and gives it a more rustic quality.
We added an old hinge above the door knob
to hide the hole left from a deadbolt. I painted it satin black,
then heavily distressed it with the sander.
I finished it off with a coat of maple stain.
I wanted it to look like it's been stored for years
out in grandpa's barn.
It's going to look great in my youngest son's room
and I won't have to worry about
the extra distressing it will get.

A Little Bit of Not Much

Today I'll be trying to catch up on a few projects. I'll be applying a paste wax to my new table. I used regular brush on latex paint so to help give it a hard finish, I like to rub in some wax. It will help protect it from cars being driven across it and shoes and bottoms being plopped on it.Many of you asked me the color. It was an oops paint. Saturday, I ran to the H Depot to see if I could find a close match. I am sorry to say that there wasn't one. The closest thing I could tell you is that it's a muddied version of Lemon Grass.

When it gets a little warmer, this afternoon, I'll be spray painting this:
Yes, it's also made from an old door. I'll be changing the color to a nice satin black (big surprise!). It will be going in my youngest son's room along with some other pieces of furniture that I'll be painting this week. Hopefully the weather will stay in the sixties so I can get a lot accomplished!