Fun DIY Halloween Tutorials

FOR KIDS
- Make Believe Animal Ears Headbands - by: Hart and Sew
- Last Minute Owl Costume - by: Alpha Mom
- Little Bearded Gnome Costume - by: Disney Family Fun
- Peter Pan Costume - by: Make it and Love it
- Jet Pack - by: Been There, Pinned That

TREATS & GOODIES
- Spider & Owl Krispie Treats - by: Cookies and Cups
- Ghoul Punch - by: Taste of Home
- Glowing Kryptonite Candy - by: Becky Stern
- Ghostly Pizza - by: All You
- Candy Corn Jello (non-alcoholic) - by: Jelly Shot Test Kitchen
- Candy Corn Sugar Cookies - by: Kathie Cooks

DECORATIONS
- Celestial Pumpkins - by: Martha Stewart
- Eek, Shriek and be Scary Printable Halloween Collection - by: Wants and Wishes
- Glow Stick Lanterns - by: Lil Blue Boo
- Free Halloween Party Printables - by: Clickable Party
- Trick or Treat Felt Decorations - by: Paper and String
- No-Carve Pumpkin Ideas - by: Various Contributors

COSTUME IDEAS
- Book Fairy Costume - by: Lilliedale
- Gumball Machine Costume - by: Country Living
- 80's DIY Halloween Costumes - by: Meg Allan Cole
- Easy Last Minute Costumes - by: Real Simple
- 26 DIY Costume Ideas - by: Various Contributors at C.R.A.F.T.
- LEGO Man Costume - by: Kaged Kombat
- Where's Waldo Costume - by: Inhabitat
- 50 Cheap and Easy Halloween Costumes for Adults - by: Various Contributors

Candy Corn Manicure Tutorial

Want to do something cute and fun for Halloween? Not into dressing up, or your work won't let you? Check out this cute candy corn manicure tutorial from "The Beauty Department"

TOOLS
Orange nail polish
White nails polish
Yellow nail polish
Clear top coat
Tape
Scissors

STEPS
1. Paint your nails with 2 coats of orange nail polish. It’s really important that you give these coats enough time to dry. I would suggest allowing a few hours to be sure. If you would like to play it safe, trying painting them the day before and rocking orange nails for a day. (That’s what I did)

2. Cut tape into strips of tape that are about 1/3 the width of the length of your nails.

3. Place a strip of tape horizontally on the center of each nail. Press down on the tape securing it to your nail to guarantee clean edges between the colors.

4. Paint the exposed nail below the tape with 2 coats of white nail polish.

5. Paint the exposed nail above the tape with 2 coats of yellow nail polish.

6. Wait 5 minutes before carefully peeling the strip of tape off each nail. Like I mentioned is step number 1, it is important that the orange coat is completely dry so that the polish doesn’t come off with the tape. Finish with a clear top coat and your done!

This cute tutorial is from: thebeautydepartment.com

Dehydrating Bananas

Oh what a beautiful snowy day it is today! Great day to stay home and bake, dehydrate, sew and work on websites. Since I finished the Apples last night (oh they are so tasty), I decided that the bananas were the next on my list. My mind is swirling with all these ideas of what I can do with all this fruit in its dehydrated state. But I don't want to give away my ideas, just yet :). As I was looking at the 9 pounds of bananas that I bought the other day, I couldn't decide whether I should make slices or sticks, so I decided to try both! Here they are in all their naked glory! OH I can't wait until these are done!!!

Dehydrating Apples

This morning I washed, cored and sliced the bowl of apples to put in the dehydrator. This is my first attempt at doing apples, so I am crossing my fingers and my toes, hoping they come out good and tasty! I decided to go the "o-natural" route and not pre-soak them or coat them with anything. I put them in "naked as a jaybird". I don't mind a little discoloring, so I hope it was a good plan! 8:30 am they went in. Asked my hubby to switch the trays around around lunch time. Hoping when I get home at 3:30 that they will be done. Not sure how long they will take. So I am experimenting with the time also. :)

After 6 Hours of Drying - the majority of them were done (a few that were thicker than the others needed a little extra time. Here are the end results!

Homemade Granola Bars - Sugar Free

Dry Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup Splenda
1/4 cup milled flax seed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup all-bran cereal

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 15oz can white beans
1/2 cup artificial honey

Additions:
1 1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used cashews and walnuts)


Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F . Lightly grease one cookie sheet. In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients. In the blender combine all the wet ingredients and purée (adding a little water until it forms the consistency of a thick smoothie).

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix well (i used my hands). Once mixed, add the nuts and stir (I again, used my hands)

Lightly press mixture into the prepared pan. Once the mixture is mostly pressed down, I covered it with wax paper and used a rolling pin to flatten it out even further. This makes it more like a granola bar. Bake at 325 degrees F for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

*You can use any combination of nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, etc. Plus you can even leave out the cocoa if you want just peanut butter flavor.