Mini Cheeseball Pumpkin Appetizer

Awe... aren't they sweet?  These are such a simple appetizer that anyone can make them!  They were a big hit in both flavor and  cuteness.  Because I had some very picky eaters eating these, I made some {the darker pumpkins} with a spicy mixture on top, but I also made some plain for those who don't like things spicier.

Mini Cheeseball Pumpkin Appetizer

8 oz block of cream cheese
6 oz finely shredded orange cheddar cheese
sesame stick snacks
Equal parts {approx. 1/4 tsp each}
paprika
chili powder
ceyenne pepper
cumin
black pepper
Mini toasts or crackers

Mix 8 oz cream cheese with 3 oz orange cheddar in your mixer bowl.  Roll 1 tsp (more or less depending on the size you'd like) of the cheese mixture into balls.  Roll all of the balls in the remaining shredded cheddar to coat.  Roll half of the balls in the spice mixture to create the darker, spicier pumpkins.  Place one sesame stick into each pumpkin to create a stem & flatten the ball slightly.  Serve on small toasts or crackers.

These are the mini toasts I used.  So adorable!

Whole Wheat Mini Toasts (3.1 ounce)

Yoshi's Egg and A One-Up Mushroom Candy Baskets

Today I worked on making the kids their candy buckets for Halloween. Our oldest son is 10 and he is going to be Mario. Our youngest is 7 and he is going to be Yoshi.  Here is the costume I made for him.

So, yoshi has an egg in the game, so I thought I'd take a bucket and form and egg around it.  The egg didn't turn out exactly as I planned, but it is good enough. Mario collects one-up mushrooms, so I took a bucket and formed the mushroom around it.   The one-up mushroom turned out exactly as I pictured it.

I used 2 halloween buckets and some fleece to create these.  The top of the mushroom is open.  The top flips up on the egg.  The boys thought they were pretty awesome.  I love to make them smile!

Super Mario Bros: Mario Cotton Elastic Hat (Teen Size)

Nintendo Super Mario Bros One Up Mushroom Video Game Backpack

Super Mario Brothers Deluxe Mario Costume, Blue, Plus

Yoshi Halloween Costume

What a beautiful Fall day we are having here in upstate NY!  Can you believe Halloween is right around the corner?  This is a favorite time of year for me.  I love, love, love Halloween.  You know what comes with Halloween, right?  The dreaded question... "What are you going to be for Halloween this year?" and then comes the mind changing and then the mind changing again.  Perhaps I start asking too early.  This year, however, my boys have been pretty intent on being Mario (from the video game) and Yoshi (also from Super Mario Bros.) 

I have found lots of Yoshi costumes online but I didn't really like them or the price, so I went to JoAnn's and saw that they had fleece on sale in the colors I needed.  So I bought some.  It was only about $10! 

I didn't have a pattern for the costume and I've never made a costume before but I have played with making some stuffed animals so I kind of know some basic contruction, so I gave it a shot.  I'm pretty happy with how the costume turned out.

I was able to get a Mario costume at Party City and it was fairly cheap, but now I kinda wish I had made that one too.  Oh well... there is always next year.  Here's the costume on my 7-year-old.  He loves it!  I'm thinking I probably should have done a tutorial, but I didn't take the pictures of the steps.  If requested, perhaps I will do a tutorial digitally.  Anyway, fleece is so awesome to work with.  Hemming is barely necessary.  I did hem the openings, but you don't have to worry about edges fraying, so that is awesome!

This is the yoshi costume they had online.  It is cute, but the tail isn't stuffed and the nose is flat and I don't like the eyes.  LOL!

Super Mario Yoshi Child Halloween Costume (Large (12-14))

and this is the Mario costume I bought.

Standard Kids Mario Costume - Child Medium

and this is the video game that started it all....

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Fall and Halloween Decor Ideas

I've used a lot of cake stands to make fall's harvest the center of attention this year. I love the pretty colors of veggies from the farmer's market and vegetable stands. The best part is that you get to eat them too!
Apples picked fresh from the orchard and potpourri in diplays. If you mix potpourri with fruit, however, you can't eat the fruit. These are on our screened-in porch table so they will stay for a long time. It is nice and crisp and cool out there.
Paper and velvet leaves scattered about a display adds to the fall feeling.

Sneeky spiders show up in a lot of my displays. They also add cobwebs to my stair railings and on my lights hanging above my tables.
A rat hangs out under my 2-tiered pie plates. An orange bow adorns the top (although you can't see it in this picture). Skull and crossbone spoon and fork decorate the plates as well. These were from Oriental Trading Company a few years back.
Mixing purple, apple green, orange and black, make a whimsical table setting the my boys love a lot.

Satin ribbon and a plastic spider make a great little napkin ring. Just hot glue the ribbon into a ring and hot glue the spider on the top. Very easy!
My boys have a few Halloween toys, so I take advantage of them by collecting them up and hiding them here and there in my displays. These pumpkins are on the table and will eventually be polka-dotted with furniture nails.
Another of the boys' toys on our napkin holder.
My entryway table....
A spider adorns the corner of the mirror frame. I cut some "fire bush" and stuck it into a couple of dollar store vases. Some leaves have fallen from them and I left them because it makes the table look more festive!
I love this canvas I found at HomeGoods. Very fall and very me! I love the way the striped vases mimic the one in the canvas and the one below it has the same color scheme. The smaller vase has some ornamental grass in it. I have had it since last year and it stayed very nicely.
Mean looking bat hangs from the light inside the main entryway of the house. Scary, right?
A pillow my friend gave me last year. So cute!
I've had these bat balloons on a stick since the boys were little and we decorate with them every year.
Cute black kitties on the table. Look at those faces. What's not to love?
That's it so far for the Halloween and Fall decorating. Hope you found some inspiration in some of the ideas!

Tami

Fall in Upstate NY

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