Adventures in free motion quilting
I couldn't find the neutral colored sprinkles and I wasn't sure what taffy tape was ... so I just used cream cheese frosting and made the leaves from icing sugar and water.
They were so easy to make and apparently quite popular at school with kiddies and teachers alike!
Hope you all had a good weekend too.
I have been dying to make these Heart and Lollypop Flowers every since I purchased Martha Stewarts Homemade Holiday Crafts. Well Valentine's Day is nearly here and I thought they would be very cute for Bunny #1 to give to her class mates. Of course - I can never tackle a project without making some 'improvements' of my own. Here is my version of this project. 
I didn't know whether this post should be a 'pillaged but much improved idea from Martha Stewart' post or an honest tutorial. I'll let you be the judge! But here is what you will need:
- lollypop
Fold your paper hearts in half and then fold the sides down again - to make little arrow/airplane hearts.
Thread these onto your lollypop stick - rotating their position as you go.
Cut out your leaf shapes and score a line down the middle of each leaf. This line does not need to be straight. Put a hole punch in the end of each leaf and thread onto the lollypop stick. A field of valentine lollypop flowers.
I learnt my lesson with little fingers tugging apart the Candy Cane Mice and this time I have wrapped each lollypop flower in some cellophane, with some pink ribbon and a little heart gift tag.
I made a couple of adjustments. I used bobbly wobbly eyes and folded the ears ...
... while hooking the candy cane through the ear loop at the back - which made them perk up a little. The mice are in browns and greys, with little red rudolph noses and colored ear inserts which match the color of their tails.
They are just as cute as I dreamed they would be.
I have also been decorating our front porch for Halloween. Last year I went to Michaels (after Halloween) and stocked up on craft pumpkins that were on sale. This year I discovered that Target sells craft pumpkins too at an even better price point. All the pumpkins have been sitting in our basement waiting to be carved and recently I managed to carve a few for our porch. I have used a mixture of craft pumpkins and real pumpkins for our Halloween display this year and orange fairy lights rather than real candles. I hope our craft pumpkins will be used year after year after year. 
I like the way it looks - but I feel I need lots more pumpkins ... here is a closer look.
Above is a spiders nest - I used a pack of 100 plastic spiders on the inside of the pumpkin and a little bit of the fake spider web. The faces below are an idea from Martha Stewart Pumpkin and Carving Decorating ideas. Each pumpkin has a hole drilled in the back of it and I put about six fairy lights from the string into each pumpkin.
This chap my lovely sister carved for us when she was recently here on a visit - it is supposed to be a portrait of her boyfriend. I stuck a carrot in the pumpkins nose hole - but this is no comment on what I think of my sister's boyfriend - he is very nice! And below is another idea adapted from Martha Stewart. I added black paint to my pumpkin houses and I love them - I shall be making some more for next year - perhaps we will have a whole pumpkin village!
Above is another take on a Martha Stewart idea - but I used a black pumpkin and a bat rather than a vulture. I was a bit disappointed with the mouse house pumpkins below. Maybe too many mice?
I love Halloween. Thanksgiving is my husband's favorite and luckily for him that is right around the corner too!
