BLACK CAT CAKE

If you're like me, and not the best baker in the world...it's ok. There's hope for us yet. You know I preach a lot about making it easy on yourself when planning the perfect party. So here's another hot tip.....

Something simple, like this cute black cat, makes a great looking cake for your upcoming party. But here's the best part.....if you're not a cake artist (witch I am not...) just print off this pictute and take it to your local bake shop, and have them recreate the same look on a half sheet cake. (Yup, it's that easy) Just order a plain (half) sheet cake with black icing

I've found that most bakeries are happy to do it, if they have a picture they can refer to. Remember, it doesn't have to be exactly like the picture, but it gives your baker a good point of reference.

And for added good measure.... I always ask the baker for some of their business cards (most of them also do their own cake decorating on the side) that I can hand out to guests who ask about the talented artist who made the cake! (Trust me, you'll be glad you did)

VAMPIRE LOLLIPOPS

These cute little vampire lollipops will make great party favors for your Halloween party -- be sure to make plenty, they'll fly off before you know it! This project comes from Amanda Formaro at kaboose.com and it's super easy for kids ages 7 and up.

Here's what you'll need:
Red cellophane
Lollipops
Black felt
Twist ties
White address labels
Scissors
Peel and stick wiggle eyes
Pattern (see link below)

How to make it:
Using the pattern, cut capes (one for each lollipop) from black felt.

Cut a piece of cellophane into a square, large enough to wrap around the head of the lollipop. (See photo.)

Loosely wrap the cellophane around the lollipop and place the wrapped lollipop onto the felt cape. (See photo.)

Wrap twist tie around both at the neck of the lollipop. (See photo.)

Cut fangs from white address labels and stick to the front of the lollipop. Attach peel and stick wiggle eyes to the front of the lollipop. (See photo.)

Tips:
To add some variety, try using different colors of cellophane such as orange, green, or purple.

Bend the ends of the twist ties to look like bow ties.

Try creepy eye Halloween stickers instead of wiggle eyes.

This would be a great class activity for all you "classroom moms" who are looking for fun ideas for those little monsters!

ONLY 99 DAYS UNTIL HALLOWEEN!!!!

Aaaaaaagggggghhhhhhh!!!!! Are you ready?

I have to ask....Have you given any thought to Halloween costumes for your little monsters?

Last year, Avatar led the way in top sales for Kid's Halloween Costumes. Retailers say that they're already getting requests from those parents who want to be sure their kid has the best costume. No waiting until the last minute for these folks..... Experts say this season, expect the Smurfs to top the list most likely this Halloween season, as well as Harry Potter and Monster High characters. And don't be surprised to see that some of the Halloween staples are still very much best sellers as well. From witches, monsters to princesses and kings. Here's a list of the top selling Halloween costumes so far, this season:

Smurfs
Harry Potter
All Princess characters (Cinderella, Snow White, Tinkerbell)
Star Wars
Twilight
Ironman
Superheroes (Spiderman, Batman)
Pirates
Monster High
Miley Cyrus
Justin Bieber
Mario

So.... if you're not one of those parents who will be dragging ths kids to the mall for their costumes, yay for you! Home-made costumes are the best!

Ready, set, go start those sewing machines!

ZOMBIE ATTACK!

Everyone is now talking about something I've been saying for sooooo long now..... "Zombies are cool!"

Yes, everyone has jumped on the "i love zombies" ban wagon.... but that's ok, they're what's hot right now. So lets make that work for us, shall we?

Someone sent me this picture, a while back, and I had to do a bit of web-detective work until I could finally track it down. But it was worth it. This is a pretty cool project, not too difficult and will look great hanging on the wall during Halloween season.

This project comes from Alicia on her blog Put On The Glasses, and it's a few years old, (but so what, it's pretty darn cool) and her step-by-step instructions for making this Zombie Attack Box will guide you through it, quite easily.

This brings to mind the Boy Scout creed, "Be prepared". But when dealing with Zombies, my motto is..... "Get them before they get you!"

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: Season 2 Update

Welcome the nuthouse!

I have to tell you, when this show came out last season, I was pleasantly and shockingly surprised how good it was! I loved it!

It was so macabre, twisted, and well written.... I couldn't look away.... and Jessica Lange.... awesome! She should be the new poster girl for "crazy psycho"!!!!!

American Horror Story has just landed itself another patient to inhabit its new East Coast mental institution setting in season two, and oh, what a beautiful patient he is! So who is the soap star joining Ryan Murphy's hit FX series? Mark Consuelos, the doctor will see you now!

Yes, the former All My Children star and Kelly Ripa's hubby, is set to join returning stars Jessica Lange, Evan Peters and Zachary Quinto on American Horror Story, EW.com reports.

While details are few, we've confirmed that Consuelos is set to play an inmate named Spivey at the mental institution for the criminally insane run by Lange's character.

We recently reported that Secret Circle and The Amazing Spider-Man star Chris Zylka will also be joining the show as Daniel, the most beautiful boy in the world and a deaf-mute. Also set to pop up on AHS in season two are Lily Rabe, Adam Levine, Chloë Sevigny and Joseph Fiennes. The Season 2 premiere has been put in the FX Fall line-up for October 2012.

Oh, I can hardly wait!!!!

How fun is this????? What a GREAT idea from the Confessions of a Cookbook Queen blog, and this is one amazing Queen, if I do say so myself! These melted witches are so easy, and super cute for class parties. That Queen even worked some magic and whipped up cute little bags to put them in!!

Here are the Queen's step by step instructions:

First, make your brooms and hats:

Make the hats with a Hershey Kiss and half of an Oreo. Put the filling side of the cookie down and stick the Hershey Kiss to the top with a bit of melted almond bark or candy melts.

All you need are pretzel sticks and yellow Laffy Taffy. Flatten the taffy and cut it in half horizontally. Cut fringe into the bottom 2/3 with sharp scissors and wrap the un-fringed part around the pretzel stick.

Line a large baking sheet with wax paper. Melt some green candy melts and some dark chocolate candy melts (separately) in your microwave according to package directions. You won’t need much of the dark chocolate, just enough to do small spoonful per witch. I melted an entire bag of green, and had enough to do about 2 dozen witches, so use that to decide how much to melt.

Spoon some green candy on the wax paper and spread into a circle with your spoon. If you are going to bag these up later, keep the bag size in mind. You don’t want to make these too big to fit. Spoon a small amount of dark chocolate over the green, and swirl it with a knife.

Place one hat and one broom on each green/black melted witch. Place pan in the refrigerator to set.

That Cookbook Queen is soooo crafty! She even made little bags to deliver the goodies to all the little monsters!

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH!

Paraskevidekatriaphobics — people afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th — will be hiding under the covers right about now, afraid that the source of their unholy terror might not be so irrational after all. Sounds like a scene from one of your favorite slasher movies, right? The fear is real, it's called Triskaidekaphobia.

But if you're not suffering from Triskaidekaphobia, maybe tonite would be a good time to have a Friday the 13th movie marathon!

If you're not planning a party like we talked about earlier this week, maybe something more low key. Just a few friends, some candles and cocktails, to set the mood..... and be sure to have some of your favorite movie munchies on hand! Big bowls of popcorn and boxes of Milkduds and Goobers! Now that's a party.

Happy Friday the 13th!