Computer out of commission

Test post to see how it is blogging from my phone. What I really want to know is how big the photo will be since I can't figure out how to change the size. 

Last Year, Halloween Mail

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to send mail for. All these photos are from last year when I had a little Halloween party with a mail art component. Some of these I sent, and some of these my friends made and sent to our friend Ian, who moved away.

 front and back, above and below

 This was a cool thing I bought at a Halloween sale the year before when everything was half price after Halloween. Holographic image.

 Clay has had a book of R. L. Stine's Goosebumps postcards forever. So this year I commandeered it.

Fun, fun, fun!

Transition your castle for the new season!

For those of us with a small budget, the changing season offers a challenge to transition our summer castles over to a more appropriate look for fall and Halloween. 

Here's a simple how-to for revamping your look!

First, find that castle you've been enjoying all spring and summer with those bright blue skies and flower pots out front

 With a few simple supplies I can show you how to transition into fall.

- a black sharpie (it goes much faster if you have one of the King Size ones)

- orange glitter glue




First, using the Sharpie color in those blue skies and flower pots.

Next, trace the outline of the castle with the orange glitter glue.

Ta da! A Halloween castle, made from simple things you can find in your craft closet at home!

If you want to layer on some more accessories, don't forget to wait until the glitter glue dries.

Fun letterhead

I got some fun paper at the IDEA store several months ago. There were a few sheets of this:

but only one of this awesome one:

I sent it to Donovan and Cathy of the LWA along with a note about a book I found and am reading- The Pigeoneers. If you don't know about the LWA or their Pigeon Post, go check it out.

Second batch of outgoing

First real batch of outgoing from the new house

First Baking Adventure at the Maple Maison

Right off the bat, you should know that this did not end well. So don't get too excited.

The first thing I tried to make when we were first moved in to our new house was a Quiche Lorraine from my Julia Child cookbook.

For a while I thought that all quiches had cheese in them, and since Clay hates cheese I never made them. But a Quiche Lorraine is basically just bacon, eggs, and cream.

 It has these weird directions where it suggests soaking the bacon to get rid of all the flavor. I skipped that step.

I decided to brown some onions to put in it too... YUM.

So. The catastrophe was that whoever lived in this house last had the baking rack in the oven put in in the wrong direction. So when I pulled the quiche out to check it, the back of the rack just plummeted down and the pan slid back and fell, dumping liquidy quiche all over the oven.

There was some swearing and crying, but Clay and Anna heard me scream and were terrified that I had been horribly burnt. So there's that. No horrible burns. And we went out for sushi instead which made me happy. In the past 2 or 3 months I've discovered that I like sushi! The first time I really got it, was just amazed at how delicious it was, was when I got a spider roll. Delish.

So... even though it didn't work out, the quiche smelled amazing and I'm definitely going to try it again.