Better-Than-Canned Pumpkin 101

Last week I had the opportunity to share a guest post over at The Green Kids Guide (edited 2012: Green Kids Guide is now Healthy Home Magazine. This link below has been updated). If you are like me and are always looking for ways to help eliminate BPA exposure (or just like learning new cooking techniques), come check out my post, "A BPA-Free Halloween is as Easy as...Pie!" where I'll teach you how easy it is to make fresh pumpkin puree instead of having to get it from a BPA-lined can.

PLUS you'll get my recipe for chocolate pumpkin spice cake....which is a fabulous way to sneak some fresh veggie nutrition into your husband's or child's diet and they will love you for it!

The Candy Fairy

 Halloween can be a funny holiday. I have never enjoyed the creepy, gross-you-out, super scary things that some people like to do for Halloween. But I do love pumpkins, leaves and costumes (non-scary ones of course).  As mom to a little guy, though, Halloween brings a whole new dynamic....what to do with all that candy?!

Last year, we didn't go trick or treating. I made K a Yoda costume, Joe was a Jedi and I was Princess Leia. We went to a Halloween party and K was so little we just wore him around in the sling all night. We had a blast but because we didn't go trick or treating, there was no need to worry about piles of candy when we got home.

Halloween 2010 - K is 5 months old

This year was a little different because K can walk and could actually go trick-or-treating. K's friend Evie came over and we took them out trick-or-treating. Evie was a cheerleader and K was a monk (You can even check out my monk costume tutorial), although he was also frequently mistaken for being a Jedi. We just went around our block but still came home with a nice little bag of candy.

Halloween 2011 - K is almost 18 months old

So now, what to do? We have a bag of candy and we don't really eat candy. K, especially, doesn't eat candy. I got a lot of "let him have one piece a day" advice (and a lot of looks from people who thought I was nuts for wanting to avoid giving my 1 year old candy), but I just didn't feel comfortable going from one piece of candy or a bite of a cookie about once every 10 days or so to once a day. Why? Primarily because most candy has high fructose corn syrup as a main ingredient - which is made almost exclusively from genetically modified corn. Most candies also include artificial food dyes, which studies are starting to show can cause behavior problems in some children, especially those with an intolerance to food dye, like my nephew. So, uh, no thanks.  

But back to my original question....what are we going to do with the candy?  Enter...

The Candy Fairy!

I read about the Candy Fairy online and thought it was such a genius idea that we decided to adopt it. The Candy Fairy, you see, is a cousin of the tooth fairy. Her job is to help her cousin's mission of pristine teeth by removing excess candy from homes post-Halloween. Once you are done trick-or-treating, you can pick out one thing from your bucket for every year old you are. Everything else gets left for the candy fairy. She comes overnight and takes the candy away and leaves a cool toy in it's place!

The Candy Fairy is also industrious enough to wrap presents in a blankie and  ribbon from Mommy's studio

Whoa! Cool alphabet toy!

What do you do with all your Halloween candy? Does the Candy Fairy visit your house? Do you bake it into cupcakes? Do you give it away?  I'd love to hear about it!

The Littlest Monk: A Halloween Costume How-To

I had these great plans for Halloween in my head. Fancy costumes for our whole family including hand-sewn retro style dress for me. Fabulous! Until it was 3 days before Halloween and I had neither time nor a Halloween costume budget. Snap! What to do?

When I was talking through my conundrum with my husband he suggested we make K a monk. And while it sounds like an odd choice, our son does have a physique to pull it off....a cute little toddler belly and so little hair on the top of his head that he almost looks bald. It also has the added geeky appeal of it doubling as a "Reformation Day" costume (Luther is one of my husband's favorite movies. Ever.).

It was cheap and easy to make. Less than $10 in material and less than an hour of time. Depending on how you accessorize this, you could be a more specific character (St. Francis of Assisi? Luther? Friar Tuck from Robin Hood?), too

You'll need:

• About 1 yard of brown polar fleece (In my stash. Purchased months ago for $3.99 on sale at Jo-Ann's)
• 1 1/4 yard of upholstery cord ($4.39 at Jo-Ann's without a coupon)
• A long sleeve shirt, a pair of pants and a hooded jacket or coat that currently fit your child (for sizing the pattern pieces)
• Brown Thread
• Sewing Machine

Cut Out Your Pieces

The monk habit is only 4 pieces: a front, a back and a 2 piece hood.  To cut your pieces:

1) Lay out your material, folded in half (the way it came off the bolt). Grab a long sleeve shirt and a pair of loose fitting long pants that currently fit your child and lay them out on top of the fabric. 

2) Cut around the outline of the clothes. Give yourself about 1/2 inch allowance along the upper edge of the sleeves. Cut the cuff-end of the sleeve to end where the shirt sleeve ends. For the bottom edge of the sleeves and along the sides, give your self a 2 inch buffer.

When you're done, it should look something like this:

3) Remove the clothing and cut a swoop for the collar line

4) Because you had your fabric laid out double, you should now have 2 identical pieces that look like this:

5) Cut out the hood pieces by laying the hood of a coat or sweater that already fits your child on top of 2 layers of fabric so the front edge lines up with an edge like so:

Cut around the outline of the hood, giving your self 1/2 - 1 inch of buffer. Cut the bottom edge of the hood at an angle, following the line of the seam on the garment you are using for a template. Like so:

You should end up with 2 identical pieces that look like this:

Let's get Sewing!

Thread your machine with matching brown thread and set your machine to do a long, straight stitch.

Next, you'll want to decide which side of the fabric you would like to have facing out as your child wears it. My fleece had a fuzzy side (usually considered the right side) and a flat, boring side (usually considered the back side). I wanted my monk to look plain, so I chose to have the boring side out and the snuggly, fuzzy side in. Decide which side you would prefer to having showing and proceed.

1) With (what you have decided will be) the right sides together, sew the body pieces as marked with the yellow lines. Now, turn the body right-sides out so the seams are inside. optional: You may choose to hem the cuff ends of the sleeves and the hem if you would like. I chose to hem just the sleeve and leave the hem raw.

2) Next, with right sides together, sew the hood pieces as marked:

Turn the hood right-side out. 

optional: The raw part of the seam will be inside the hood BUT if the hood is hanging and not on your child's head, you will see the raw seam. Decide if this bothers you. If it bothers you (it bothered me), with the raw seam turned inside the hood now (right side of the fabric facing out) sew along the same edge with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. This will contain the raw seam. Again, this is optional.

3) Attach the hood to the neckline by first inserting a pin to mark the center, back of the neck. Then lay the hood on the body, lining up the center hood seam with the pin.

Moving from the center seam out, pin the hood to the body.

With a 1/4 inch seam allowance, sew the hood to the body, removing the pins as you go.

optional: If the raw nature of this seam bothers you (it bothered me...apparently I'm neurotic), you can stitch down the inside of the raw seam with a wide zig zag stitch. Once you have stitched the seam open with the zig zag, you can trim any excess raw edges, being careful not to clip the threads.

Get Dressed.

Slip the little robe on your kiddo. Don't they look snuggly and warm?  Tie a knot in each end of the upholstery cord you chose to use for a belt and wrap it around their waist. That's it! Enjoy your cute little monk!

I'm linking up with these great parties...

* Made By You Mondays at Skip to My Lou * Mad Skills Party at Mad in Crafts * Get Your Craft On Tuesdays at Today's Creative Blog *

Playing with Silhouettes

Did you guys know that I Heart Faces now has their own web-based show hosted by My Craft Channel? Well they do! I was checking out the latest I Heart Faces episode and they talked about how to use Picnik or Photoshop to turn a photo into a silhouette that you could use for all kinds of crafts. I'd seen silhouettes in magazines and in craft blogs but have never actually made one myself.

So, inspired by the show I spent part of my afternoon playing around with photoshop and a great side profile picture of my son and my cousin's daughter and got this:

from this: 

(okay, this one is cropped a bit for modesty since it was a super hot day and Lillian is just wearing a diaper)

If you crop a bit to focus on just my kiddo, I've got this one now, too:

Love it!

I feel all kinds of crafty and accomplished and I haven't even done anything but make the graphics yet.  Amy and Angie (the I Heart Faces ladies) had some fun ideas for framing the silhouettes against fun patterned paper. I think they might look fun on a pillow or as a Christmas ornament of some kind, too. Or since halloween is coming up....maybe a pumpkin carving stencil?

So many ideas...so little time!  I'll keep you guys posted on what I decide to do with my fun new graphics. But won't you join me? Follow their easy instructions and get your own tutorial and let me know what you decide to make with yours!

As usual, I'm linking up with some fabulous parties:

* Made By You Mondays at Skip to My Lou * Creative Creations Tuesday at Nothing but Country * Get Your Craft On! at Today's Creative Blog *

Fall Wreath Round Up

I love me some fall decor! And while I love seasonal decor, I'm also lazy. I want to decorate for fall but I don't want to have to swap out my fall decor until I'm ready to put up my Christmas stuff. Which means I like fall decor that is generic enough to last from September through the end of November - not anything too Halloween or Thanksgiving specific.

I showed you my current fall wreath a couple weeks ago but wanted to share a few of my other favorite fall wreaths from around the internet for your crafting (and in one case, purchasing) enjoyment...

Autumn Wreath from In His Grip

Judy from In His Grip crafted this fabulous fall wreath using burlap strips, jute twine and other scrappy embellishments. She shows you step-by-step what she did so you can make your own fabulously rustic looking monogram wreath for your door, too.

Ombre Effect Wreath on Every Creative Endeavor

Bev from Flamingo Toes shares a guest post over at Every Creative Endeavor for how to make this beautiful ombre rosette wreath. It's a complete tutorial including how to make the fabric rosettes and how to print on fabric (it's surprisingly easy) to make the cute little bunting.

$10 Fall Wreath from Shanty 2 Chic

Whitney from Shanty 2 Chic is due to have a baby any day now but it hasn't stopped her from crafting up a storm. This cute wreath is made from Hobby Lobby finds and looks super high end but cost less than $10! Love that! Go check out her tutorial and wish her luck with her new little bundle of baby.

Mossy Pumpkin Wreath from Etsy Seller TwoInspireYou

Want a super cute wreath but you're out of time with the Halloween frenzy coming up next week? Pop over to Etsy seller TwoInspireYou's shop and pick up this cute mossy wreath with little pumpkin accents and burlap ribbon hanger. Adorable!

I hope you guys enjoyed my fall wreath round up! If you love wreaths like I do, I'm always adding more to my wreath board over on Pinterest. Also.....if you were featured, please feel free to grab a button!

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Vanilla Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes

I love me some tasty chai. That warm, spicy, vanilla flavor is like a big hug on a cool fall day. I love translating great flavors into cupcakes. These would be great for a fall potluck or to pair with a cup of coffee.

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/3 cups vanilla soy milk
• 1 Tbsp loose OR 3 tea bags of Chai Spice tea
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Cream cheese frosting (purchased or I like this recipe)
• Cinnamon for garnish

 Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin tin with cupcake papers.
   
   
2. Heat soy milk in a small sauce pan over medium heat until it begins to bubble (keep an eye on the soy milk while you're warming it up as it's easy to scald it if it boils up too much). Remove from heat, add tea and cover. Allow to stand for approximately 10 minutes.
   
   
3. While the tea is steeping, sift the three kinds of flour together in a medium bowl and set aside.
   
   
4. When tea is done steeping, pour through a strainer (if using loose tea) or squeeze tea bags gently to retain as much liquid as possible. Measure out 1 1/4 cups of the tea milk. If you come up short, add more soy milk to equal 1 1/4 cup. Set aside.
5. Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer. With mixer still going, add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, salt and baking powder.
6. With mixer still running, add 1/3 of the tea milk, once incorporated, add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Alternate back and forth adding a portion of tea milk and then flour until all ingredients have been incorporated. Continue beating on low speed until batter is smooth and shiny.
7. Divide batter evenly between 24 baking cups. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
8. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. Add a generous dollop of frosting to the top of each cupcake to simulate foam on top of a hot latte. Garnish with a dash of cinnamon.

This is an original recipe designed for non-commercial use (bake sales are ok....if you own a cupcake shop or bakery and want to use my recipe, let's talk). This recipe is also available through my BakeSpace account.

I'm sharing this recipe with these great parties:

*Made by You Mondays on Skip to My Lou * DebbieDoo's Blogging and Blabbing * Get Your Craft On * Cast Party at The Lady Behind the Curtain * Permanent Posies * Cupcake Tuesday at Hoosier Homemade * Blue Cricket Designs Show and Tell Party * What's Cooking Wednesday at The King's Court IV * Linkin' with Lil' Luna every Wednesday * Nothing But Country *

My recipe has since been featured on...

Carissa's Creativity Space on Facebook + Button Love!

We've done a little but of a tune up over here at Carissa's Creativity Space and have some news to share (no Mom, I'm not pregnant).

News #1: Carissa's Creativity Space is now on Facebook
You spend tons of time each week there anyway, so why not spend it with me? You'll be able to keep up with the newest stuff happening over here plus see links to projects from other really fabulous bloggers.

News #2: We've got our own button
Want to tell the world how much you love me? You can now add a Carissa's Creativity Space button to your blog.

<a href="http://creativecarissa.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAUNDcB-4KFplg2XNXFNEBFPUIBBPMlY01TxF8CaDEugrjJ67sBHm7HqqJSA22RgVEk6kbS7Pj6Rd5ZCerSDDmeRE08nvysw-IBMcj5Aipzzq_nZzDttK5u3MAOOgh0QrVbrM-HZ4iMe4/s150/button%252520150%252520px.jpg" alt="Carissa's Creativity Space" width="125" height="125" /></a>

Thanks for letting me share some of the newest bloggy stuff happening over here.  But don't worry! It's not just self promotion day. I've got a tasty fall recipe I'm sharing in my next post.

Easy Fall Wreath

I love Autumn. The gardener in me is a little sad that it's time to put my garden to bed for the winter (minus the   limited fall gardening I do). The crafter in me gets excited because now I can spend my gardening time doing fun fall and winter crafts.  Of course Fall has not officially begun until I hang a seasonal fall wreath on my door. So today I'm happy to announce...

Fall is Officially Here!

Does this count as a Craft Fail?

A couple months ago a blogged about how I made a book box for my son. To decorate it a bit, I wrapped some leftover black yarn around the top of the box.  Apparently what I saw as decoration, my son saw as "leash." I was working the kitchen the other day and turned around and saw this:

Lesson learned: Firmly secure all decorative items before putting them anywhere near a toddler.