We are officially Harry Potter fans over here.

Quite literally as of a few weeks ago when Ella's class read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

I know...we were probably the only people on the planet who hadn't read the book or seen the movie(s).

So, of course, as Ella was reading the book with her class and Halloween was approaching, she decided she wanted to dress up as Hermione for her costume this year.

As you can imagine, I had to do some research and get help from my friends on Instagram to get the costume together. 

I think we pulled it off.

In fact, with Ella's input, she managed to jazz it up a bit and elevated the regular ole Hermione costume into a "hip" Hermione by choosing converse for shoes, a short sleeve white shirt, a black cardigan instead of the wizard robe and an "older Hermione" hairstyle with a simple, black barrette. 

My favorite part about this costume is that it's SMART and SIMPLE!

All of the clothing elements can be used in REAL life...long after Halloween has disappeared. (black pleated skirt, white short sleeve shirt, black cardigan, black knee high socks and the "hip" converse shoes). That makes me and my wallet happy.

I'll let the pictures do the talking and I've got sources listed at the bottom in case you are curious about any of the items and need to pull one together too!

She's a cutie pie. And she made a great Hermione.

She usually wears glasses but chose not to wear them on Halloween night...just to make sure she was really in costume. *wink*

PS - Let's stay cozy + connected in-between posts...find me on Instagram for daily inspiration.

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HERMIONE COSTUME SOURCES

Black Pleated Skirt - perfect...just wish it didn't show lint

White Short Sleeve Shirt - Wasn't super thin but Ella was still hot and it wrinkles easily.

Gryffindor Tie - it was fine for Halloween but not high quality - you get what you pay for.

Gryffindor Iron-On Crest - I pinned this on so I could remove it from the cardigan for Ella to wear after Halloween

Black Knee Socks - Walmart

Black Converse - linking to Amazon but we lucked out and found some at Kohl's

Simple Black Barrette - found ours at Target

Wand

KEEPING IT REAL

It's funny...Ella's older sisters, who have both read the book(s) years ago and are HP fans, have always told me Ella reminds them of Hermione. I used to just laugh...not knowing who Hermione was...but now I completely understand what they mean. Ha!!

The cardigan didn't last 5 minutes in our 90º Florida heat on Halloween night...but she was  pretty comfortable for a night of trick or treating. *wink*

RECIPE | Fall Snack Mix

Loving this lightly salted and slightly sweet snack mix.

We made some for gifting on our Phantom Pumpkin night and I'm packaging some up to send in to Ella's teachers for Halloween on Thursday.

You'll want to include the Maple Infused Walnuts I shared yesterday. Here's the link -> CLICK

The candy corn is what really makes this a "fall themed" snack so feel free to change up the candy to match whatever season you might be celebrating. Or how about adding those candy corn flavored M+M's. That sounds yummy too.

This can be for Halloween or part of your pre-Thanksgiving feast.

Create a large bowl, (or in this case, a pie plate), or fill small jars or clear cellophane bags to share with friends and family. Recipe is at the bottom.

walnuts, candy corn, Chex mix, cinnamon, pretzels, snacks

Yield: 6

Author: Pen + Paper Flowers - Jessica Lyn Kirkland

Fall Snack Mix

prep time: 10 Mcook time: 1 hourtotal time: 1 H & 10 M

Delicious snack mix to satisfy even the pickiest snacker. A little bit of sweet and a little bit of salty.

ingredients:

• 1 large egg white
• 3 cups cinnamon rice chex
• 1 + 1/2 cups mini pretzel twists
• 1 cup candy corn
• 1 + 1/2 cups maple infused walnuts - this recipe

instructions:

How to cook Fall Snack Mix

1. Preheat oven to 250º
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Whisk egg white in large bowl until frothy.
4. Fold in cereal and pretzels, coating evenly.
5. Pour onto prepared baking sheet, spread to create single layer.
6. Bake 1 hour, being sure to stir every 20 minutes. (twice)
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
8. Add candy corn and maple infused walnuts. Toss.
9. Store in air-tight container.

NOTES:

Ideas: -> midday snack at work. -> after-school snack. -> package in jars or cellophane bags to share with friends and family.

Calories
380.07

Fat (grams)
7.45

Sat. Fat (grams)
1.05

Carbs (grams)
89.78

Fiber (grams)
33.95

Net carbs
55.83

Sugar (grams)
31.70

Protein (grams)
5.57

Sodium (milligrams)
109.98

Cholesterol (grams)
31.00

https://www.pnpflowersinc.com/2019/10/Fall-Snack-Mix.html

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @pnpflowers on instagram and hashtag it #pnpflowersrecipe

Created using The Recipes Generator

I love when snack ideas are festive AND delicious. This one meets both criteria.
Sure hope you'll try it my sweet friends!

PS - Let's stay cozy + connected in-between posts...find me on Instagram for daily inspiration.

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KEEPING IT REAL

I've made this 3 different times in the last 2 weeks. 

Haven't been able to snack on any of it.

Only 10 more days until my 44 day challenge is over. Pressure is on. 

IDEAS | Fun + Easy Halloween Food + Snack Ideas

I've got a round up of fun + easy Halloween food ideas for you today!
Each image will contain a brief description on how I created the treat - and some will even have a link to access additional details.

Most of these treats and food ideas are brand new and a few are some favorites I've shared in the past.

All of them are meant to inspire you to get creative for the Halloween season while saving your energy for the big night of Trick or Treating! Enjoy sweet friends!!

HALLOWEEN CHOCOLATE BARK

White chocolate with melted orange chocolate swirled in.

Topped with pretzels, googly eyes, sixlets, icing skulls and Hershey's miniatures.

FRANKENSTEIN TREAT BAG

Green party sacks, black construction paper faces and glued on googly eyes. Fill with candy.

BEWITCHING CUPCAKES

Store-bought cupcakes, re-frosted -> recipe HERE. 

Witch shoe cutouts - free printable here

and DIY broom sticks - found here. 

HALFWAY HOMEMADE HALLOWEEN CUPCAKES

Store-bought cupcakes + chocolate candy, chopped + cupcake toppers.

(PICTURED: Rolos, KitKats, Reese's cups, mini Heath Bars and mini Hershey's bars)

EASY KIDS FRANKENSTEIN THEMED HALLOWEEN DINNER

Hotdogs, French fries and a shake...all of the free Halloween Food Printables -> HERE

POPCORN + PEANUT BUTTER CUP HALLOWEEN MIX
Store-bought caramel popcorn, chopped peanut butter cups, 
drizzled chocolate and pre-made icing ghosts.

KITTY CAT TREAT CUPS

Clear plastic cups, 2 festive napkins and your favorite candy.

Slide into a treat bag...or not.

MONSTER EYE COOKIES

Store-bought cookies, melted orange and green chocolate wafers, and a googly eye.

MONSTER TOES ON-A-STICK

Wood skewers and mini paydays candy bar

HALLOWEEN TREAT BAGS

Clear cellophane bags, foil covered Hershey's kisses, FREE printable faces -> HERE!

PHANTOM PEANUT BUTTER CUPS

Peanut butter cups and googly eyes

EASIEST HALLOWEEN BROWNIES

Store-bought chocolate frosted brownies, orange and green sixlets and ghost icing decorations

WICKEDLY DELICOUS MONSTER COOKIES

Full blog post with FREE tags -> HERE!

Two store-bought chocolate chips cookies sandwiched together with store-bought buttercream frosting, (both from the grocery store bakery), dipped in chocolate, sprinkled with crushed cookies, sprinkles and finished with optional googly eyes. 

MONSTER MILKSHAKES

Any of your favorite chocolate candies used to top off any milkshake flavor of choice.

Tip: Add a large googly eye to a peanut butter cup and gently add to wood skewer 

before adding to milkshake. Gives it added height and keeps it from sinking.

I hope you LOVED this round up I put together.
I even created my first IGTV video using these ideas and will be sharing it on my Instagram feed later today! It was so fun putting it together!!

As always, if you try any of these ideas...please come back and share your results!
I'd love to hear all about it!!

PS - Let's stay cozy + connected in-between posts...find me on Instagram for daily inspiration.

Subscribe here to have new blog posts delivered right to your inbox.

KEEPING IT REAL

I know this is going to sound nuts to some of you but I put some Christmas decor up over the weekend - even though it's not even Halloween yet.

Here's why: After a not so enjoyable November and December last year, my goal this year is to have Christmas up by November 1st so I can actually enjoy the holidays this year. I'll be able to bake and wrap gifts and just "BE" instead of running around like a crazy person. That's the goal anyway. 

LIFE | The Kind-of-Sort-of Halloween Costume

I interrupt this regularly schedule programming of all things Fall + Christmas for a quick Halloween costume recap...because I just can't not share, even if it's a couple of weeks late.

This girl wanted to be a Greek Goddess for Halloween this year.
So I walked into Party City a couple of weeks before Halloween and bought the dress she spied online, a goddess headband, a gold snake arm band she specifically requested and gold bangles for her wrist. All in less than 5 minutes mind you. #momwin

Halloween night came...she got all dressed up in her dress, we fixed her hair, I added a little gold shimmer to her cheeks and a splash of lipstick and then she chose not to wear ANY other goddess accessory she had requested or picked out. What?!

Yeah...so...she kind of sort of looked like a goddess. *wink*
What can I say...
The girl chose comfort over costume...she's pretty smart like that.

With some friends by her side she had a pretty great night.
Second year trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood...
in our new town...
in our new area...
with new friends...
and new experiences.

It's feeling a little more like home.

Truthfully though, with the pillowcase she was carrying to collect candy, all wrapped around her shoulders in this picture...
well...she kind of looks more like a princess.
Or like she's going to another daddy daughter dance. *wink*
Regardless...those freckles of hers are darling and she's definitely the cutest sort-of-kind-of greek goddess I ever did see.

I hope you all had an enjoyable Halloween with your kiddos as well.
xoxo,
Jess

KEEPiNG iT REAL
I am SO glad I did not pursue finding the golden wrap-up-your-entire-calf-to-your-knee sandals she originally wanted. Pretty sure she would've never even put those on.

Oh...and all of that Hershey Halloween Candy I've been sharing on my Instagram stories was a hit with the neighborhood. We got rid of almost all 200+ pounds of it.

Oh! And scroll back up to image #3...
see those black things in the planter behind Ella?
Those are dead plants. Plants that died from the ridiculous Florida heat.
So...with it being Halloween, I just left them as part of the decor.
Yes...I tried to pass off dead plants as intentional Halloween decor.
It actually kind of worked.
Although it would've been more convincing had I followed through on creating the "Dead Head" Flower Shop sign idea I had in my head...to hang or put in front of the pots. Clever, right?
Maybe next year. *wink*

FUN | Spooking Season

It's Phantom Pumpkin Season! Ella and I are on top of our game this year and we've actually already started our annual family tradition of "spooking" unsuspecting neighbors by leaving treats and surprises at their doorsteps.

This year I did something a little different for the homes with kids. I created a printable Halloween Bingo game and left a bag of black, orange and white Hershey kisses for the game pieces. So fun! And PS - you can use these adorable assorted kisses instead which are incredibly adorable too - check out images 4 + 5...look familiar? *wink*

These would be so fun for a Halloween party or how about a fall CLASS party too!!

I actually designed the bingo game using a combination of images I had previously designed for various projects so it was fun mixing them all together to create something new.

Of course there are some neighbors who are empty-nesters so we kept things sweet and simple by leaving cute treat bags behind. I mean look at how frightfully adorable they turned out! (below)

Again, using an idea I came up with while doing some work for Hershey's I decided to turn the creations into these printable jack-o-lantern, ghost, and spooky cat faces available as free printables for YOU. (see what I did for Hershey here - images 2, 3, 4, 5 + 6)

All you need is a cellophane bag, the color foiled kisses of your choice (black, white or orange) and a twisty tie. (or a cute ribbon as shown on the spooky cat). Print your faces, cut them out and stick them on with double-stick tape. Done!

I think the spooky cat is my favorite. *wink*

And not just because it's got the cute orange ribbon.

I hope this inspires you to get out there and spook some of your own neighbors and friends or if anything, create some adorable halloween treats! 

I know if you and I were neighbors...I'd certainly be spooking you my friends.

love you guys!

xoxo,

Jess

KEEPiNG iT REAL

It was just Ella and I this year.

And we broke tradition and did it during daylight hours instead of after the sun went down.

I was the getaway driver and she was the runner.

We made 5 deliveries on our first round of spooking.

Unfortunately, when we tried to finish the 2nd round of spooking a couple of days later,

Ella rolled her ankle as she was running back to the car. *tears*

Needless to say we called it a night.

With Ella back to 100% we have 4 more spooks left to do.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE PRINTABLES

Phantom Pumpkin Spooking Sheet Set

Phantom Pumpkin Treat Tags

Jack-O-Lantern Cut-Out Faces

Ghost Cut-Out Faces

Spooky Cat Cut-Out Faces

Halloween Bingo Game Cards - Set 1

Halloween Bingo Game Cards - Set 2

Halloween Bingo Game Cards - Set 3

Halloween Bingo Game Cards - Set 4

Halloween Bingo Calling Card Tags

Halloween Bingo Playing Pieces Treat Tags

ALL of the Halloween Bingo + Phantom Pumpkin Printables

ALL of the Halloween Cut-Out Faces

HALFWAY HOMEMADE | Halloween Monster Cookies

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 These links allow me to easily share with you the same or similar items and tools I use for recipes, crafts or projects. 
These links also provide me with a small commission should you decide to click on them and purchase something. 
The commissions, collectively, allow me to continue sharing ideas and content with you.
Thank you in advance for your ongoing support of my blog and small business.  xoxo, Jess

You know I love baking from scratch.
I also love to save time in a pinch when necessary.
Combine the two and you've got something I call "Halfway Homemade" or "Pretty in a Pinch".

I've used this technique many times throughout the years to create delicious things to eat by combining something store-bought with something homemade. (ex. Salted Caramel Mini Apple Pies, or these Chocolate Peanut Butter Mini Oreo Pies, and this Pretty In a Pinch Cake).

It's kind of the same thing as buying pre-packaged pastries or baked items and then making them feel homemade by removing them from their bulky, plastic packaging and placing them in a cute basket lined with a pretty linen napkin. If you're going to a potluck adding a handwritten label to identify the baked goods adds even more charm. I've done this plenty of times.

So...today's example of Halfway Homemade are these monster-sized cookies which I appropriately named "Wickedly Delicious Monster Cookies".

You are essentially taking chocolate chip cookies and elevating them to an entirely new level. They are comprised of store-bought chocolate chip cookies, store-bought frosting in the middle, one side dipped in melted chocolate and sprinkled with crushed cookies. Wicked good my friends.

The finished product looks impressively homemade or even like something you'd find in a made-from-scratch bakery. I love that.

The idea behind these cookies is to gift them during the Halloween season. So I'm also sharing how to package them up to make them frightfully cute too - including the FREE Wickedly Delicious Monster Cookie Tags I made. I used these for our Phantom Pumpkin night but these are also perfect as sweet treats for teachers, co-workers, and friends too.

I shared this idea about 5 years ago and thought I should update the post to include even more straight-forward instructions and additional ideas for simplifying the process. (for instance, substituting the homemade buttercream with store-bought).

So let's get going...

SUPPLIES NEEDED (makes 5 monster cookies)

The Cookies
12 - oversized chocolate chips cookies from the bakery section of your grocery store
       2 for every cookie you want to make PLUS 2 or 3 cookies crumbled
Buttercream frosting from the bakery section of your grocery store
       they sell it already mixed up in tubs - one tub should be enough
1 - 12oz. bag of chocolate chips for melting + dipping - semi sweet or milk chocolate
Wax Paper to cover your work area and cookie sheet PLUS for wrapping finished cookies.
Cookie sheet for transporting cookies to and from freezer
                     make sure it'll actually fit inside your freezer first.

The Packaging
These items can be found at your local craft store but I've included some Amazon links here for those of you who prefer online shopping.

Striped black and white bags
Wax Paper or Parchment paper for wrapping cookies
Ribbon for finishing
Wickedly Delicious Monster Cookie Tags

INSTRUCTIONS
Cover cookie sheet with wax paper.
Arrange 6 cookies bottom-side up
Spread on buttercream frosting on all 6 cookies - enough so it will show after being sandwiched.
Top each cookie with another cookie.
Freeze for 10-30 minutes.

Melt chocolate chips using double boiler or microwave
Dip one side of frozen cookie into melted chocolate.
Place dipped cookie on wax paper and top with cookie crumbles.
Cool until set - approximately 30 minutes.

Wrap set cookies in parchment paper - secure with tape or twine if necessary.
Slip wrapped cookie into favor bag and fold to close. - tape if you'd like.
Wrap with ribbon.
Print + cut Wickedly Delicious Monster Cookie tags
Tape to bag as a finishing touch.
Done!

I hope these simplified instructions inspire you to try them out this year - if you haven't already.
Halloween is right around the corner...let's get freaky my friends!

xoxo,
Jess

KEEPiNG iT REAL
I thought I coined the term "Halfway Homemade" but then googled it.
There's a cookbook called Halfway Homemade. *eyeroll*
BUT I do have to say most of the things I'm seeing are from 2017, 2018 - sooo...since I used it back in 2013 should I still get the credit? *giggling*

PS - Not a lick of Halloween or fall decor out yet.
Wrapping up a Christmas project for Hershey and THEN the decorating will begin!!
Oh! And Ella wants to be a "goddess" for Halloween this year. I'd better start figuring that out.
Except she has me all pre-occupied with her double-digits birthday party coming up in November. *wink*