happy halloween from our baby macaron (formerly shrimp tempura sushi handroll)

I just had to put an end to this extended hiatus right on my 35th birthday.  We have lots of catching up to do.   Hope you’re still here.

Introducing Lara.  Today, she is a stack of macarons at 14-1/2 months old and was a shrimp tempura sushi handroll last Halloween and has been keeping me quite busy.

gory brain cap

The latest article I wrote for Craft is available today!  I know, I know, another caulking project from me?!  I couldn’t resist, especially because it was so easy to turn a regular fitted ball cap into a bloody brain with my caulking gun.

This article had awesome timing.  I finished it off here in Toronto before my vacation in California where I managed to get O.T. to agree to model it for the world.  And how appropriate that the brainy wears a brain cap.

Did I ever mention O.T. is a computer chip designer in Silicon Valley with 3 patents to his name (one for each consecutive year from 2009 to 2011) and 4 more patents for approval?  He exercised his brain from the age of 4 to 28, the years he attended school, unstoppably, from kindergarten to a doctorate (a fellowship, at that!) in both computer science and computer engineering.  I love this chic geek of a man!  Happy 32nd birthday, O.T. (it was his birthday this weekend and, yes, we’re only 2 weeks apart!).  And thank you, O.T., for all your brilliant algorithms.

Head over to Craft to read my gory brain cap article so you can fashion one this Halloween.  P.S. Goes great with the hipster glasses.  ;p

carved butternut squash skull

Everyone, meet Gord!  For the holiday,  I’ve carved this Halloween skull lantern out of a butternut squash, with a chunk leftover for some scrumptious soup (my fave kind of all time, not just du jour!).  Yes, I do love pumpkins.  But, of all gourds, butternut squashes are tops.

There’s no better shape for a carved skull than the butternut squash.  It is bulbous, hollow in the bulb (perfect place for a tea light), and has a narrow shaft (appropriate shape for the jaw line).

This is my second go at butternut squash carving, all done with my trusty paring knife.   Last year, my carved butternut squash flower centerpieces took half the effort and a fraction of the time as this one lone skull.

I figure it will be a challenge to explain the process into words, so I’m going to skip the long-winded tutorial and leave you with step-by-step pictures only (there is some interpretation to be left in between steps).

The key steps are towards the end of the process.  It is important that the sides of the squash be sliced off and the forehead shaved down to a flatter shape, otherwise the skull will look more like an alien.  I realize my skull balloons last week are looking like aliens…I must do something about that…

 

 

skulls and crossbones balloons

Tonight, amidst my packing frenzy (off to my home away from home, California, for eight days!) I quickly doodled on some regular and long balloons to make these smiling skulls with their crossbones.

I am going through a skull phase this Halloween.  More skull projects to come!

fall and halloween d-i-y ideas

I cannot wait to work on fall and Halloween crafts for October, but before I do, here’s a recap of the fall and Halloween ideas I designed last year.  If you didn’t get a chance to make any of these creations last year, I hope you try them out this season!

My most favorite post was the one with the Halloween balloon body parts.  Doodle on balloons to create creepy eyes, bloody brains, and witch’s fingers:

Make cute little phantom place cards by drawing faces on pumpkin seeds:

Cut out and fold an itsy bitsy spider treat box with the very first printable I designed and shared on this blog (and it was my very first tutorial ever):

Grab a tupperware bowl, four corks, scraps of paper, a pen, and some raffia and create this witch’s candy-filled cauldron with broomstick:

You know I love me my packaging, so here’s another printable!  Fill this harvest corn treat box with…you guessed it…candy corn!  (I think this is still my favorite treat box out of all treat boxes I’ve designed for this blog to date):

Your little ones can make art of autumn grains with this wheat and corn décor made of exactly that: wheat (pasta) and corn:

And the most popular fall tutorial I made last year was the carved butternut squash centerpieces:

Oh, and I almost forgot: I did a whole week of pumpkin experimental recipes last year:

         

My favorite from pumpkin week was the pumpkin panna cotta:

And, I almost forgot, I designed and baked a ginormous woven cornucopia cracker for Thanksgiving:

Enjoy!  More fall and Halloween ideas from me coming up in October!  And I have a birthday GIVEAWAY coming to you this weekend!  paper, plate, and plane is very soon turning 1.  And I am very soon turning 1 year older.  I am excited to host a special giveaway to celebrate the occasion(s).  Stay tuned!!!  😀