Remember this Spiders + Spirits themed Halloween party I styled and shared for Tuesday Morning a few years ago? 

Well I got to thinking about the fact that I've never shared all of the photos here on the blog and since it's still one of my very favorite themes for a Halloween party...well...it's just time the details were no longer kept under wraps..."mummy" wraps in this case since it's a Halloween party.  *wink*

Besides, I wanted to make sure you had access to the FREE "Spiders + Spirits" sign and matching food labels in order to make hosting your own party easy peasy lemon squeezy.

And let me just say, I'm not even a drinker and yet these Pumpkin Bourbon Milkshakes slay me. ("slay" is the current trendy term used to imply you are impressed or amused by something - my kids keep me on point folks). 

Links to the FREE "Spiders + Spirits" sign and food labels along with the recipes for the milkshakes and pumpkin bars are all at the bottom of the post!!  

Did you love all of the details?

Sure hope you're feeling inspired to host your own Spiders + Spirits themed party?

Or at least try out the spooktacular recipes for some added Halloween fun! *wink*

xoxo my sweet friends!!

Jessica

LINKS I KNOW YOU'LL WANT:

Pumpkin Bourbon Milkshakes Recipe <-------click

Whiskey Caramel Glazed Pumpkin Bars <----click

Spiders + Spirits Dessert Bar 12x24 Sign  <---click to download

Spiders + Spirits Dessert Bar food labels <----click to download

KEEPiNG iT REAL

Aside from wanting to provide you with the free printables from this party, the main reason I decided to post this on my blog is because the links to the original post on the Tuesday Morning site don't work anymore and although I was able to finally find it, who wants to have to do all of that digging around every time you want to see it again? *hand raised*

STYLING | Halloween Poem Poster

If you aren't following my Instagram feed then you probably missed seeing how things turned out with how I displayed the Halloween Poem poster I designed.

I definitely wanted to share it here because I'm completely in love with how it turned out.
I ended up altering the size of the poem to be a 32x40 - which is the exact size of the large affordable foam board pieces at Hobby Lobby. I had the Halloween Poem printed at my local Office Depot (for under $5) and used double-stick tape around the edges of the poster to attach it to the piece of foam board. If you use the Hobby Lobby app you can get the foam board for 40% off making it around $3.50 + then with the printing you've only spent about $8.50 for some AWESOME decor impact.  I, myself, think it's pretty awesome anyway. *wink*

I kept the decor around the poster really simple by using a couple of blue mason jars to house some orange floral berry branches I had in the attic. I just stuck them right in and left them. Then I added a couple of pumpkins and called it done. I like the clean look keeping the focus on the poster but having the splash of Fall colors in the florals to accentuate it.

The foam board art is great because it's lightweight and can easily be displayed on a mantle or piece of furniture as a backdrop and it can be moved around easily too. I change my mind A LOT and love that I I don't leave behind holes in my walls from when I decide to change things up on a whim.

You can get the 32x40 Halloween Poem poster RIGHT HERE if you love it too.
You get both background styles: Chalkboard Background AND White Background with black text.

Hope you love how it turned out!!

KEEPiNG iT REAL
I have had this blog post as a "draft" for nearly three weeks while trying to get the files to load properly on Etsy. I've given up and will just email the files directly to anyone who purchases them! It's almost Halloween for crying out loud!! *wink*

CRAFT | Mini Monster Milk Jars + Cricut Explore®

DISCLOSURE: This project is being considered for a prize from Cricut.

Are these not the cutest Mini Monster Milkshakes you've ever seen?
I'm in love with them!! The adorable bottles from The TomKat Studio are the perfect backdrop for creating these Mini Monster Milk Jars using your Cricut Explore® - or a pair of scissors…if you have the patience for the intricacies of the "Frankenstein" faces. *wink*

Yep! You guessed it. It's time for another Cricut Design Space Star Challenge.
My team and I chose a "Black and White" theme for our projects to go along with the pre-determined Cricut topic: Holiday Home Decor + Gift Ideas.

I thought these mini milk jars were perfect to share as they not only add some fun decor to your Halloween celebrations…but they'd make super cute favor jars filled with colored Sixlets® as well!! (these jars come with lids too - yes…yes they do!! - 4th picture from the bottom of the post).

What's surprising is that although all of these faces are unique…they were created from only two simple facial designs…a ghost face and a frankenstein face. I just mixed up the different elements (eyes, mouths) and even changed the size on a couple to create some real "monsterpieces". Ha! (I'm such a dork).

I think the Frankies are my faves!!

The bottles are filled with milkshakes…vanilla for the Ghosts and mint chocolate chip for the "Frankies". A little ice cream + splash of milk…blend it up and pour it in. You could also do healthy green smoothies for the Frankies too!!  And of course…don't forget to add a cute party straw. (cut a normal straw in two).

WHAT YOU MUST KNOW
Before I get started on the "How-To" for creating the monster faces…please know that you can make them using black vinyl OR white card stock. I made mine using black vinyl…BUT I wanted to experiment with the brand-new "Print the Cut" feature on the Cricut Explore® - which allows you to print an image onto your home printer first and then feed it into your Cricut Explore® for cutting! Yeah. Pretty freaking amazing.

So…the images you see here were cut from black vinyl but you could totally do it with card stock too. The card stock isn't moisture-resistant like the vinyl but would work just fine if the jars were filled with candies!

So…enough with the ghoulishness…let's get on with the how-to for making these fun Halloween treats.

SUPPLIES NEEDED
1 set of printable Mini Monster Milk Jar Bottle Faces - Pen N' Paper Flowers
1 set of 12 Mini Glass Jars - The TomKat Studio
1 Cricut Explore® Cutting Machine
12x12 Standard Cutting Mat
White Card Stock or Black Cricut® Vinyl

STEP ONE

Upload saved image to Cricut Design Space

STEP TWO - SELECT & DELETE

Use the "Select & Delete" option to erase the white background of the image.

Just click anywhere on the white background and it will disappear

STEP THREE - ERASE

Use the "Erase" tool to erase the black text on the image - push "Continue" when done.

Leave behind only the portions you want the machine to cut.

I figured out later I could've probably used the "Crop" feature (upper right) to select the images I wanted to cut instead of the "Erase" feature but hey…I'm still learning the ins and outs of the machine! *wink*

STEP FOUR - SAVE IMAGE

Save the image after naming it and adding tags in the boxes over to the right.

STEP FIVE - SIZE IMAGE

I made sure mine was about 8" wide (see below)

STEP SIX - PREP FOR PRINTING 

In the layers box, click on the tiny printer icon. 

This opens the pop-out window to the left showing the "print" feature.

***Skip this step if you are cutting from black vinyl and will not be printing***

Vinyl users can just push the "Go" button and load black vinyl into machine for cutting.

STEP SEVEN - PRINT & CUT

After you've printed your image using your personal printer, place your paper on your Cricut® Cutting Mat and follow the onscreen directions to load and cut your image. I used white card stock.

See those 3 L-shaped marks on the paper I printed? Those are a really important part of the Cricut Explore® "Print then Cut" feature. They are what the machine reads to ensure proper alignment before the cutting process begins. It's pretty cool…and amazing! See more photos below.

If you are using the new Print & Cut feature for the first time you will have to calibrate your Cricut Explore® machine first - the software walks you through the steps to do that. 

If you have ANY issues at all you can call Customer Support at 877-7CRICUT 

See that little beam of light shining onto the paper from underneath the cutting carriage? 

That's the machine reading the crop marks…prepping for cutting. It starts with the crop mark on the top left, moves over to the top right crop mark and scrolls down to the bottom left one. 

It's so cool to watch it in action!!

And now it's cutting…look at how precise the cuts are? 

Maybe you can't even tell what parts have already been cut because the cutting detail is amazing?

Here it is…all finished cutting. 

I peeled up the white card stock and left the black images stuck to the mat.

STEP EIGHT - MIX & MATCH

Mix and match the assortment of eyes and mouths to create a variety of faces.

Just by angling/tilting them a little differently makes a big difference in their appearances too!

For those of you who don't have a Cricut Explore® you can still print the FREE printable Mini Monster Milk Jar Bottle Faces onto a piece of card stock and then use a pair of handy scissors to cut them out. Use your favorite adhesive to stick them on.

Hope you love the project, friends!!
I'll be sharing the rest of the fun, creative things Team 14 came up with….soon!!


KEEPiNG iT REAL
I think I kept these in the freezer for a week before I was able to actually photograph them!
You'd never even know!! Ha!!