I will be the first to admit that Halloween is probably my least favorite festivity. But that does not mean I am a party pooper. Au contraire! With two young girls in the house, I have to keep my ghoulish spirits up during this time of year.

And although I can’t say either that I am a very crafty person, I do like to do fun projects with my girls who love being creative. So, this year I searched for a few simple things for us to do together and I came up with some great ideas.

	Glow Stick Lanterns – I got this idea from lil blue boo. They were easy to make and the girls loved the effect.
	Flying Bats -  This colony of bats is easy to make with black construction paper and a good pair of scissors. We all got into cutting them out (even the neighborhood kids) and taping them to the dining room wall. This idea and instructions came from Dana Made It.
	Rats and lots of them – You can’t have a DIY halloween unless you look through the pages of Martha Stewart Living. Here is an easy way to dress up the staircase using the same construction paper as the bats. I only have two steps in my house but we all like the effect.
	Creeping Spider Candles – Another brilliant idea from Martha Stewart Living but not for the arachnid phobias. I used spider web instead with the fake spiders. The spider web is inflammable so I also used a battery operated candle.
	Whimsical Witch’s Legs – I am not sure if the girls and I will do this one but I love it and had to share this from Design Dazzle. Great idea!

Ideas for the Pumpkin

	Pumpkin Gutter – Love this Pumpkin Gutter since no one of my family likes doing this nasty part of carving a pumpkin. It simply goes on the end of your drill and removes all the seeds and string effortlessly and with little mess. Buy on Amazon for $10.00
	Fanged Pumpkin – Dagmar’s Momsense shares how to make these cute and simple fanged pumpkins.
	Thumb Tack or Upholstery Tack Design – Better Homes and Garden has some great ideas for creating unique pumpkins for Halloween.
	Butter Squash Ghosts – Every year we paint butternut squash to make them look like ghosts. I have no idea where I got this idea from but I started doing this annually with my son about 17 years ago. The photo for these squash ghosts is from JustforLoveBlog.

And if you still need inspiration check out our past Halloween ideas here.

Happy Halloween – Be safe, always carry a flashlight and have fun!

As you know by now, cookie-cutter solutions don’t really cut it for us at The Succulent Wife. We always prefer to do things a wee bit differently. So, though weddings are not our usual focus, we simply couldn’t pass on sharing these fun and creative Design-Your-Own-Wedding related products and services.

It’s so much more creative and fulfilling to add one’s own personal twist to such a momentus event.

Are you planning your own or someone else’s wedding? Dig into these fun ideas to make a wedding all that much more personal…

Design your Own..

	Engagement Ring and Wedding Bands – Customize together the perfect engagement ring and wedding bands that will symbolize your love for each other. The possibilities are endless with the rainbow of gemstones and precious metals to choose from. Buy from Gemvara.com.
	Invitations – Bloomin Wedding offers a complete line of eco-wedding invitations that are infused with perennial wildflower seeds. Each are hand crafted from recycled material that can be planted directly in the garden. Every year your guest’s garden will flourish and bring back memories of your special day. Go to Bloomin Wedding to order.
	Postage Stamps - Create your own standard US Mail postage stamp from Zazzle. Simply upload your engagement photo, add a text and mail your invitations with this personal touch. This envelope is certain to be opened first.
	Bridesmaid Dresses - Design your own bridesmaid dresses. Coco Myles is an online site that allows the bride-to-be to choose the color theme, fabric and certain details for her bridesmaids. The bridesmaids can then choose the perfect style and size that best matches their bodytypes and taste. All the dresses are then custom made and take approximately five weeks to produce.
	The Shoes – Milk and Honey enables you to design your own and anyone else’s in your party with the perfect pair of shoes that best matches their taste. Pick the right toe shape, heel height, style, texture and color to suit your individual bridesmaid’s needs. Start here to get inspired.
	Jewelry – The dress and shoes are ordered. Now for the final touches. Design your own jewelry accessories to complement your wedding dress, the bridesmaids and don’t forget the mother-in-laws-to-be. Visit Sheyna.com and Gem Kitty to start designing necklaces, earrings and bracelets to suit your taste and color theme.
	Personal Wine – Design your own wine labels for the special occasion with Personal Wine. The possibilities on endless. Upload your photo, add a date and design the label in your wedding day’s color scheme and style. Plus, Personal Wine can supply all the wine for your special day in bulk. Check out PersonalWine.com.
	Flower Arrangements - We have mentioned The Flower Budi before to create your own flower arrangements. You need not tell anyone that the elaborate arrangements were not designed by a professional floral designer. Buy this As Seen On TV product here for $39.95.
	DECO Clay Flower Arrangements – Create your own very unique, color-coordinated AND everlasting boutonnières, bouquets and favors with soft molding clay that look like the real thing. Check out DECO Clay Craft Academy to order a DVD and products.
	Cake Topper – We are big fans of Nicole W Clark as we mentioned in a previous article. Top the wedding cake with a five inch polymer clay figurines of a version of the happy couple in their wedding attire. Adorable keepsake. Check out her website at NicoleWong.com for ordering information.
	The Bridal Shower, Rehearsal Party and Reception - Party City has a complete line of wedding favors and decorations that can be shopped by color, trend or wedding location. Party City can accessorize AND personalize your entire wedding with high end favors to match any theme you can dream of.

Stay tuned for our follow up post this week on fun wedding party add-ons and ideas.

By Lisa Hughes Anderson - Guest Contributor

At the end of the summer, I sent two of my sons and our moose sized dog Dutch, down the lane to pick blackberries.  An hour later they returned, almost empty handed, with just a pitiful pile of berries tumbling around the bottom of their bowl. I had envisioned an overflowing bounty upon their return and was confused.  “Uhmm, we found out that Dutch likes blackberries too!” they exclaimed with purple stained smiles and ran through the house on to their next adventure.

Clean bowl in hand, I started out to forage by myself, this time leaving the dog snoring softly on the sofa. The result of that afternoon is a fantastic gift, which you can easily make with just a few ingredients; a refreshing Blackberry Infused Vodka.

BLACKBERRY INFUSED VODKA

Choose your container(s). I used a set of 12 -8 ounce canning jars to give away as gifts. Use the dishwasher to make sure everything is sterilized.

Create a simple syrup, by mixing 2 cups granulated sugar to 1 cup water.  Boil gently on stovetop stirring until sugar is dissolved. Take off heat and cool to room temperature.  You can keep this syrup in refrigerator for about a week if you have extra. (Syrup is also lovely spooned into your iced tea with a sprig of mint! )

Use a middle of the road vodka, not too expensive and not too cheap.

Blackberries can be found at most grocery stores, club stores and farmers markets if not available in the wild. Rinse blackberries in colander and drain well.

Place berries into jar, filling it about  ¹⁄4 to ¹⁄3 full.  Pour in 2 Tbsp of simple syrup. Fill remainder with the vodka and close jar with lid.

Place in refrigerator and gently roll the container every couple of days to blend. Keep in mind, it will have a stronger berry flavor the longer you leave it alone. Leaving it alone will be very difficult to do once you’ve tasted it!

Cheers towards your spirited Valentine’s Day treat!

I believe that the temporary tattoo trend might have been rendered acceptable and stylish and perhaps even sophisticated when la maison Chanel introduced its temp-tatt collection earlier this year. They’re cool, though perhaps a little obnoxious but they are also Chanel-priced at $75 for the pack. So, we thought you’d like to know about more affordable and playful options…

	We think that this collection by TopShop is the closest to the Chanel temporary tattoo vibe, minus the in-your-face branding. Affordable too at $10 for a three sheet pack.
	Need to unleash your inner rock star? Sephora sells this Temptu tattoo kit which goes for $25 and got great user reviews. We hear that they are water resistant, opaque coverage, fast-drying which is all important to keep the rock queen appearances going all night long…
	Henna tattoo, have been around for thousands of years. Less familiar to us is the Black Jagua ink for a realistic temporary tattoo. Looks like the real deal but will wash off in 10 to 15 days. The Black Jagua Body Paint Kit is $26. And you can get extra themed stencils here. We love this DIY option.
	For a super cheap, uh, inexpensive version (I’m guessing that these will stay put for the length of an evening, just enough time to get tongues wagging) you might want to try the Dover temporary tattoo collections.   We like the Henna Floral motifs but art tattoos featuring the work of Van Gogh, Mary Cassatt or Frida Khalo are irresistibly fun and unexpected.  For $1.50 you get four large tattoos. What a deal…
	TattooFashion has temporary tattoos in every variation of iconic tattoo designs plus some unexpected ones such as the Banksy tattoos. At about $3.00 per tattoo, why not…
	Or, want to go completely au naturel? Try tan tattooing. In the odd chance that you wouldn’t figure is out for yourself, eHow has some instructions on “How to get a Tan Tattoo” and you can get tan tattoo stencils here. Who knew?

Send us pics of your temp-tatts and we’ll post them here…

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s a charming idea but this particular application didn’t really work for me and it does not create a downloadable font. Now that I was teased with this idea and really wanted my own downloadable personalized handwriting font, I remembered bookmarking this site some time ago: Fontifier.com for “your own handwriting on your computer”.

After some experimentation and examining various iterations of my handwriting rendered as “The quick brown fox jumps….”, I settled on a non-cursive style. It looks like this:

I think that I will try a stylized font next. The Fontifier is a great idea for people with beautiful, calligraphy-like handwriting, or for those looking to create that distinctive style. Or, like me, just for fun. I will set it as my default font for email. It was $9.

Mad Scientist Jars

I love these jars. They definitely appeal to the darker side of Halloween. So easy to make. Augment the creepiness with complementary props (lots in the websites mentioned below). Visit the Cathie Fillian site for the instructions.

Halloween Terrarium

Here’s another creepy-mood-setting idea. Would perfectly add to the mad scientist’s display mentioned above. It’s a little more involved but certainly well worth the effort.

Find the DIY details here. And here is the link to other very clever projects by Poopscape, the creator of these terrariums.

Giant Spiderweb

A Halloween prop like this can go practically anywhere, outdoors or in. Seems that all you need is some yarn and a pair of scissors. The comments to the instructions (BTW, see these here on Instructables) suggest adding glow in the dark paint to the web. Good idea.

Climbing Skeletons

I found this idea on Instructables as well. It’s a little more involved since you need a tall ladder and good balance. Still, if your go-to person that hangs your holiday lights is around, the full spooky effect might well be worth it…

Spider Lantern

Love Chinese paper lanterns. Good for all occasions, but really fun here decorated for Halloween. If you don’t have a Chinatown near you, go the Paper Lantern Store. The 6″ lanterns start at 70¢. Can’t go wrong there. And, if you use removable glue, you’re good to use these the following week, all newly decorated for the holidays!

Pumpkin Snowman

Here’s a safe decor idea for those not enamored with Halloween shock value. It’s adorable, innocent, fall/Halloween neutral and most likely won’t scare away little children. Instructions here, by Maddy Lane.

And, should you be the baker type, I just found some gross, uh, great recipes on Epicurious for Finger Cookies, Brain Cupcakes and Bleeding Heart Cupcakes.

You will also want to take a look at these DIY and instructional websites: 5min.com, diyideas.com, craftbits.com for other unusual and gory ideas. Just search for “Halloween”. Duh!

Personally, if I’m going to do the whole Halloween thingy, I’m NOT going for the warm and cozy feel. I might just have to alienate the neighbors after all.

Do share you great DYI finds and projects!