Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Scribble Monsters!

Here we are, October 1st! Did the year fly by for you like it did for me?

October is here, and it means I can start doing some fun and simple crafts with my little ones! My favorite of our Autumn crafts are what I like to call Scribble Monsters.

I started doing these a couple years ago. My oldest was just a year old, and I was pregnant with his little sister. I love decorating for Halloween, but I didn't want to do anything too scary, since he was so little. I also wanted to find something he could have a big part in, but that wasn't easy.

I started by drawing a pumpkin jack-o-lantern, then gave him all the orange-colored crayons from the box. He had a blast, colored everywhere, didn't matter if he colored outside the lines or not, because I was planning on cutting out the pumpkin and putting it in the window. Then I thought, how about monsters??

We had watched Disney/Pixar's Monsters Inc. already (he loved it, but what kid doesn't?!), and we had been on the rides and seen the attractions at Disney's California Adventure Park at The Disneyland Resort, so I knew some fun monsters wouldn't be too scary for him.

What you see below is the very first monster I drew for my son to scribble all over. He asked me to help, so I colored the horns; can you tell? :) He had SO. MUCH. FUN. with the monsters! We made and colored scribble monsters all day until our windows were full of them! We did them again the next year (which is the other photos you'll see in this post) with as much fun as before. This year, I thought I would share it with you, so you can make the Scribble Monsters with your children!

Scribble Monsters are SO easy. Anyone, any age, can make a Scribble Monster! Read on, and I will show you how! :)


What you will need:
I start by drawing a monster, using the black marker. Just use your imagination! It can be as silly or simple as you want it to be. Once you draw one, more will come to you. You can ask your kids for input, too. It is so much fun!


Next tape down the sides of your paper. This is so the paper doesn't move around, if you have little ones, it's difficult for them to hold the paper while they color.


Give your kids the crayons and let them go crazy (on the monster!). They can do anything they feel like and they don't even have to stay in the lines! Not gonna lie, it's fun for adults, too :)


Once they are done coloring, cut out the monster from the page! You can tape it to the window, hang it on the fridge, or tape it to a blank piece of paper and put it in a scrapbook.


That's it! Awesome craft, awesome Halloween decoration, and so much fun with the kids!

I would LOVE to see your Scribble Monsters, comment with them below, share them on facebook and repin them on pinterest, and #ScribbleMonsters on Instagramtwitter, @itslikemusic

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Two-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake & A Brown Sugar Apple Cider Glaze

Oh my happy days, October is here, Fall is here, and that means it's time for pumpkin stuff and spice stuff!!

Last Friday we had dinner with some friends, and we were on Dessert Duty. Obviously, I perused good ol' Pinterest for a sweet and fancy fall recipe, and boy did I find a good one! Two-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake! Well, it was half good. The base was good, but I didn't agree with the glaze they suggested, so I created my own. I was more than please with the outcome, and now I am passing it along to you!

Two-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake

  • 1 Box of Spice cake mix
  • I can of Pumpkin
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine pumpkin and cake mix until light and fluffy, pour it in a greased 7x10 baking dish, cook for 28 minutes (or until a fork poked in the center comes out clean). It's that easy!
*I have heard of this being made with any cake mix, I have used yellow (pictured) but it is incredibly more delicious with Spice.









Brown Sugar Apple Cider Glaze
  • 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) of Butter
  • 3/4 cup packed Light Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Apple Cider
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Melt butter in a small skillet, add brown sugar and apple cider, bring to a boil. Add vanilla extract, reduce to simmer. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring regularly. Pour directly on the poked cake, don't let the glaze sit.

This is a good step to do while the cake is baking. When you bring the cake out of the oven and the fork is clean, let the cake sit for about 5 minutes. After it's settled, use your fork to poke holes all over the cake, about 1.5-2 inches apart, making sure to go all the way to to bottom of the cake. Carefully pour the glaze over the cake, trying to coat it evenly. You do not have to use the entire glaze. I ended up with about 1/4 c of glaze left over.

Also, I can't stress enough, make sure you smooth the surface of the cake before putting it into the oven! The shape you leave it is the shape it bakes. My cake came out looking like sweet potatoes! :)

We ended up serving the cake with some vanilla ice cream, and it was amazingly delicious. I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out so well, and was so easy!

I hope you try this recipe, and please let me know how it turned out for you!