10.31.09
Hoping your Halloween is super sweet!
10.30.09
I can’t even! These came into my inbox in a forward, and let me just tell you these doggies just made a long week disappear. Major treats for these pups please! Just priceless!
10.29.09
Amazing free download of jack-o-lantern scallop tags, created by Sarah a customer of Whisker Graphics. Stick them to treat bags, cupcake tags, napkin rings, place cards or print on cardstock for gift tags or garland. Find download here.
10.28.09
1. Black Devil Martini
Dark & mysterious… use dark rum and a black olive garnish to give this drink its midnight hue. Orange sugar on the rim will add some Halloween spice.
Ingredients:
- 2 oz. dark rum
- 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
- Black olive
Preparation: Stir and strain into chilled martini glass, garnish with olive.
Recipe courtesy American Professional Bartending Schools of Illinois in Chicago, fineliving.com
2. Vampire Cocktail
Scream with fright and delight drinking this vanilla ice cream, tripe sec and white crème de cacao concoction with grenadine blood dripping down the sides of the glass.
Ingredients:
- 1 scoop vanilla ice cream
- 1 oz. triple sec
- 1/2 oz. white creme de cacao
- Drizzle of grenadine
Preparation: Blend all ingredients except grenadine until smooth, pour into a stemmed cocktail glass. Drizzle grenadine over top.
Recipe courtesy American Professional Bartending Schools of Illinois in Chicago, fineliving.com
3. Cemetery Slime Punch
Even goblins may be grossed out at this grave yard worm punch. Non-alcoholic, with diet root beer and frozen yogurt it won’t add to the sugar highs of the young ones.
Ingredients: Serves 12-15
- 2 liters diet root beer
- 24 gummy worms, plus more if desired
- 1 pint low-fat vanilla frozen yogurt
- 1 pint low-fat chocolate frozen yogurt
Preparation: Arrange the gummy worms in a 12-compartment ice tray, letting them hang out over the edges of the tray. Fill with root beer and freeze at least 4 hours or overnight.
With a small ice cream scoop, fill the bottom of a one gallon punch bowl with scoops of both frozen yogurts, using the full container of each. Very slowly fill the punch bowl with root beer; it will foam up.
Float the wormy ice cubes in the top of the punch. Fill each punch cup with a scoop of ice cream and an ice cube. Float additional worms on top of the punch or in each glass.
Recipe courtesy Wes Martin, New York, N.Y., fineliving.com
10.27.09
Upgrade from the standard pillow case to one of these festive tote finds. Or create clever and memorable treat bags for all your ghosts & goblins. Easy DIY options that include instructions… go on give me some sugar!
1. free printables from Love. Obsess. Inspire spotted on, i-diy 2. Sherri Osborn’s tips for using felt to punch up a plain tote, bat & cool pumpkin, About.com, 3. Recycle an old Halloween t-shirt into an easy-to-carry tote, craftzine.com, 4. Handmade favor bag, all you need are a brown or colored treat bag, scissors, a hole punch, and ribbon, marthastewart.com, 5. the most clever halloween favor bag I have sent yet made from brown paper bags and twigs - bewitch your guests, marthastewart.com, 6. punched slime and stamps sealing takeaway treats, marthastewart.com, 7. stamped Jack-O-Lantern Muslin treat bags, marthastewart.com
10.23.09
to some ghostly goodies. Dress up your cordials with candy corn, or sugar the rim black and add gummy spiders. Create colorful and to-die for treats for the tummy. Last year I made RIP brownies (aka dirt) by cutting Milano cookies in half, writing RIP in black frosting and making grass with green frosting. And because most treats need a clean up, I love this easy candy corn napkin treatment for a formal table or there are plenty of great, cooky cocktails napkins available in the stores or online, last year we purchased this fabulous Don’t drink & fly set. You can serve up more spookiness with a Monster bar, including easy to adhere danger labels and festive coasters. To top it all off a glitter chandelier adds just the right amount of sparkle. Happy haunting to all hosts!
1. Dark & stormy, Food Network magazine Oct. pg 129, 2. Candy Corn Cordials, Food Network magazine Oct. pg 130, 3. RIP brownies, 4. Halloween Cupcakes, Bon Appetit Oct. pg 51, 5. Treat Table, Halloweenapoolza 08, 6. Candy Corn Napkin treatment, Food Network magazine Oct. pg 132, 7. Don’t drink & fly cocktail napkins,16 for $3.15, partyandpaperwarehouse.com, 8. Bring your own boos cocktail napkins, 36 for $5.99, shindigz.com, 9. Monster Bar, hostesswiththemostess.com, 10. Adhesive Bottle Labels: Witchs Brew, Pirate Poison, Ravens Blood, & Midnight Mead $5.25, Midnitemuse Etsy.com, 11. Letterpress Halloween Coasters, 20 for $7.50, vermilionstarpress etsy.com 12. Glittered Chandelier Kit, $29.99, Martha Stewart Crafts
10.21.09
As a proud sponsor of the MAD exhibit, Slash: Paper Under the Knife Kate’s Paperie has lined up meet & greets with a few of the artists in select stores:
Beatrice Coron
Wednesday, October 21st from 6 – 8pm, 57th St. location
Jane South
Thursday, October 22nd from 6 – 8pm, SoHo location
And for some creative Halloween fun with Kate’s check out:
Mask Making & Party Bag Making
Saturday, October 24th from 12 – 4pm, demos in all store locations
Annual Halloween Staff Costume Contest
Saturday, October 31st, in all store locations
See employees sport costumes constructed of paper, and casper your vote for the best dressed!
See full event listings, katespaperie.com
10.20.09
Dinner Belle Calling: It’s October and that means pumpkin season! And I love all things ‘pumpkin’ - picking, breads, muffins, pies - you name it; I’m sold. I’ve never met a pumpkin I didn’t like and this year I’ve started a collection of baby pumpkins. While baby pumpkins are adorable as fall decoration, here’s an idea from the great Ina Garten on how to put ‘em to work once the hay rides have ended.
photo, weelicious.com
Roasted Baby Pumpkins
Ingredients: (serves 6)
- 6 baby pumpkins
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup applesauce
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Cut off and reserve the tops of each pumpkin by cutting around the stem in a circle. Scoop out the seeds with a small spoon and liberally sprinkle the insides with salt and pepper. Place the pumpkins on a greased baking sheet and fill each one with applesauce. Place the tops back on and roost them for 45 minutes to 1 hours, or until the pumpkins are tender but no mushy.
Serve with roast chicken or turkey as a festive side. Ina suggests choosing pumpkins that are similar in size so they will all roast in the same time.
And what to do with all of those unwanted seeds? Toast them up!
Here’s the correct way to toast pumpkin seeds:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spread about 2 cups of raw pumpkin seeds (washed from the inner pulp) on a medium baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly toasted. Remove from the oven and coat the seeds with several dashes of soy sauce. Put the seeds back into the oven and continue roasting for 10 more minutes, until soy sauce bakes onto the seeds.Toasted pumpkin seeds make a great snack alone, or can be added to salads and soups as a crunchy twist on the standard crouton.
Source: Roasted Baby Pumpkins recipe - The Barefoot Contessa by Ina Garten, 1999. Page 152 & 153. Toasted pumpkin seeds - Allrecipes.com
Read more from Dinner Belle here
10.18.09
A terrific table topper, autumnal inspired chandelier, and delightful door way decoration… taking the jack-o-lantern to enchanting new levels.
1. Pumpkin vase, MarthaStewart.com, 2. Pumpkin chandelier, MarthaStewart.com, 3. Outdoor bouquet, MarthaStewart.com
10.15.09
at Moda, the Accessories Show NYC…
Back a couple of weeks ago I went to Moda to poke around and see what’s new in the accessories world. Aside from checking out the product I was mostly impressed by the above two presentations. 1. Silent Gypsy’s booth, showcased creativity and chic design to display their edgy yet feminine jewelry line. Necklaces hung on tattered cardboard walls topped with treated/stained wood. Rings and bracelets sat atop stacked white porcelain dishes filled with beans and moss greens. Other delicacies to discover included stacks of old newspapers, woven baskets, lanterns, and balls of wool. My favorite piece was the logo, it was absolutely fantastic! If you can’t tell these are silver push pins hand assembled of course… so utterly time consuming but worth the final effect. The designer credits Caf Creative for the brains behind this beauty. 2. Whitewash was also a favorite. The mostly pale palette was dainty, feminine and fresh. Black and white illustrations of Victorian fashion hung among the clothes, and vintage forms, postcards and a crystal chandelier spoke to the age in which the clothing was inspired. Soft and serene just the way it should be.
