Monster Brownies & Halloween Costumes

I saw these SUPER cute Monster Brownies over at Amanda's Cookin' last year...and I have been waiting for a reason to make them ever since! I can't remember why I didn't make them for Halloween last year, but I knew they would be the perfect treat to take to our annual Halloween gathering this year! 

 I started with a box brownie mix. I know a lot of people who say they LOVE homemade brownies, but I've never made homemade brownies {and I've tried lots of times} that taste as good as Duncan Hinds Chewy Fudge brownies! I mixed my brownies according to the chewy {NEVER cake-like} instructions, let them cool, and then cut them into squares and rectangles. Then I made a quick icing from powdered sugar, water, and green food coloring. I piped a border around the the edge of each brownie, let it harden, and filled in the inside with the same icing. Then I got busy making some monsters with M&M's, mini marshmallows, licorice, and colored icing. Pretty cute, SUPER easy, and the perfect treat for the kiddos to help with! Make sure to head over and check out Amanda's Monster Brownies...they are WAY cuter than mine:)

 Here's a BIG little sneak peek of the boys' Halloween costumes for this year: A shark and a surfer dude!

You may notice that we are a man surfer dude down...that's because Grant has been sick since Friday. I finally took him to the doctor Sunday afternoon {thank goodness for after-hour and weekend sick appointments}, and he has pneumonia! Needless to say, he wasn't feeling up for costume night at Awana's last night! He started on antibiotics yesterday, and he is already feeling a ton better. I'm hoping to get a picture of all three boys in the costumes this afternoon...and I'm hoping Grant is feeling well enough to trick or treat at a couple of houses too!

Have a safe and HAPPY Halloween!

Shutterfly: Christmas Cards & So Much More!

Last year on my blog, I raved about how much I love Shutterfly! I loved them even more after I got my 50 free Christmas cards in the mail and I saw how awesome they were...seriously the best quality cards I have seen in my 6 years of ordering photo Christmas cards! So I'm going to spend a little time this year telling you about how great Shutterfly really is....and then I might just tell you how you can get some free cards too:)

Here are a few of my favorite photo cards from this year...though it is pretty hard to top our Shutterfly card from last year!

Can you tell that I love the look of a square card:) Now I need to get busy picking out clothes and planning a photo session!

I love the great quality cards that Shutterfly offers for the holidays, but did you also know you can get some really awesome photo gifts to give to aunts, uncles, and grandparents! My mom has already requested a photo book of my boys as a Christmas present for this year:) I'm fine with that, because I know she will love it....and I will have a great time designing it on Shutterfly's website.

If you are planning a holiday party in the coming months, you can check out the great selection of invitations that Shutterfly has on their websites too! I'm thinking it would be really fun to host a cookie swap, and I would love to send out some of these fun invitations:

I'm off to browse Shutterfly's amazing selection of cards, and try to make a decision about which card to chose for this year!
Which Shutterfly Christmas card do you like best?

*I received a code for 25 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly for sharing about their cards with you. All opinions are my own. If you have a blog and you want to join their blogger program, click HERE.*

Friday Flashback: Candy Corn Edition

I love decorating with stuff that can be used for multiple seasons and holidays. I love that instead of sitting in the attic for 11 months out of the year, that I can change some of my decor up and use it year round. So when I started working on new decorations for Halloween/fall I knew I could figure out a way to makes something that would work for Christmas, Valentine's Day, and maybe even Easter.

I started with some clear glass bottles that I have been saving for three years. I knew at some point I would find a good use for them:)

 I used my Cricut and cut out some vinyl letters.

 I used some transfer paper to attach the letters to the clear glass bottles.

 I lined the bottles up to make sure that the letters were even...the "d" is a little high, but not enough to worry about.

 I spray painted the lids white so they would match almost any holiday decor.

 Then I filled the bottles up with CANDY CORN...

 ...and lined them up on my kitchen counter.

This was a SUPER inexpensive project...all I really bought was the candy corn. Now when fall is over and Christmas decorations start going up, all I will have to do is empty out the candy corn and add in some red, green, and white M &M's!

**This is a post from last year that has been one of my most popular through the year. I actually have the same jars sitting on my counter right now...they just aren't filled with candy!**