Halloween - 3/13 - The Idea Room

Monster Cookie Recipe

Have you ever had a Monster Cookie? I am not sure why they are called Monster Cookies other than the fact that these things are loaded with goodness. I thought it would be fun to share our little Halloween twist on our Monster Cookie Recipe…

This would be a fun door bell ditching gift for you neighbors sometime around Halloween. Simply whip up your favorite batch of Monster Cookies and package them in this labeled jar, which is simply a cleaned out pickle jar.

Make sure you really clean it out as you don’t want the cookies to have a pickle after taste! Then slap on one of these Monster Cookie Labels that I made from one of Love Manor’s amazing Halloween Labels. Some of you may remember a couple of years ago when I used some of these same labels on this Halloween Apothecary.

Monster Cookie Recipe

· ½ cup room temp. Butter

· 1 1/4 cup Brown Sugar

· 3/4 cup Sugar

· 3 Eggs

· 1/8 cup (or 2 Tablespoons) Vanilla Extract

· 1 1/2 cups Creamy Peanut Butter

· 1 tsp Baking Soda

· 4 ½ cups Oatmeal (Quick or Old Fashioned)

(I usually put my Quick Oats in the blender to chop it up)

Optional Add-Ins:

Wilton Candy Eyeballs

Chocolate Chips (or other flavored chips)

M&M’s

Nuts

Raisins

Craisins

Directions:

In mixing bowl, combine butter and sugars until blended. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until combined.
Add Peanut Butter and baking Soda and mix together.
Slowly add oatmeal. Blend in as much as you can with mixer and fold in the rest by hand along with your choice of Add-ins.
Drop onto greased baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes in a 350 degree oven until light brown.

Want to download a copy of the label I modified for the Monster Cookies? Click on the image below or the link:

Monster Cookie Labels

What are your favorite Add-Ins for Monster Cookies?

September 24, 2012 · Filed under: Halloween, Halloween Recipes, Recipes Tagged with cookie recipe, cookies with m&m's, halloween cookies, monster cookies, monster cookies recipe, oatmeal cookies

12 uses for old book pages

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Fall is my very favorite season and I have asked a few of my favorite bloggers to share some of their fall favorites here with you. I am so excited to have Michael Wurm, Jr. from Inspired by Charm here sharing 12 FABULOUS Halloween Crafts using pages from old books as part of The Idea Room Fall Festival!

Hello, Everyone! Michael here from Inspired by Charm. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be here today. I’m a huge fan of Amy and The Idea Room. Her Fall Festival is the bomb, and I’m thrilled to be one of the festival bloggers.

Today I have twelve mini-projects to share with you. Yep, twelve! Old books and old book pages are popping up everywhere in blogland and the craft world. So I decided to take this idea and give it a festive twist.

To get started, I picked up a couple old books at a local thrift shop. (Book lovers, cover your eyes.) I tore out a few pages from the books and then grabbed my laptop. I hit up one of my favorite clip art galleries, The Graphics Fairy, and downloaded all the Halloween-related images.

Using two small pieces of double stick tape, I attached one book page to the center of a piece of standard card stock.

Using the word processing program on my computer, I selected one of the clip art images and printed it on the book page taped to the card stock.

Simple as that! I repeated those steps for all my images. With a stack of embellished book pages in hand, I started to get crafty. Let’s get going!

No. 1: Place Cards

Just add a name in your word processor before printing your page (or write it in later) and then cut to fit. I guess this means Amy is officially invited for dinner!

No. 2: Vase Update

I have this great rectangular vase that was begging to be jazzed up. I just cut around the printed image and attached it to the vase with double stick tape.

No. 3: Wall Décor Accent

I have a display of plates and mirrors in my dinning room. I simply tucked in a few of the book pages for a spooky new look! This could be done to anything hanging, be it a frame, mirror, or other wall decoration.

No. 4: Decorative Jar Candle

Have a simple looking candle? Wrap it with an embellished book page. After cutting out the image, I attached it with double stick tape.

No. 5: Vintage Wreath

This one is a piece of cake. Just tuck a printed page into your favorite wreath for an instant vintage touch.

No. 6: Put a Cloche on It!

Slide a mini-pumpkin and one of the pages under a cloche. Anything under a cloche always looks special and important.

No. 7: Candlestick Wrap

Trim the page so there is just enough to wrap around the candle. I used double stick tape to affix the page. Being tall and skinny, the skeleton key graphic worked perfectly. Use caution if you do decide to light these as old paper and flames don’t really go well together.

No. 8. Jazz up Your Jam

I thought the paper would rip on this one, but it couldn’t have worked better! Cut a square out of your paper with your image centered. Place it on top of your jar lid and screw on the top. I then added a fun label to make the presentation even more special. In case you were wondering, that’s peach jam.

No. 9: Art Swap

This is another easy one. Swap out a piece of artwork for one of the pages, or add it on top of a piece of artwork that may be a little larger than the printed page.

No. 10: Specimen Jars

These vintage mason jars are always coming in handy for me. After I printed the orange and black butterflies, I trimmed the pages to size and tucked them into the jars. These would look great all year long!

No. 11: Boring to Bold

It’s all in the details! Take a boring glass of striped drinking straws over-the-top by sliding in a page printed with skeletons. It doesn’t get any easier than this!

No. 12: Goodie Bags

Last but not least, turn an old book page into a fun label for treats. I folded my page in half at the top of the label and cut it out, making sure not to cut the fold. Again, using double stick tape on both sides of the interior of my label, I attached it to a bag full of yummy pumpkin kisses.

That’s it! Simple, but totally fabulous and unexpected. It really is all about the details. I hope you can use some of these ideas for your Halloween and fall decorating. What other ideas do you have for embellished book pages?

Thanks again to Amy for having me here! It was an absolute joy sharing my ideas in The Idea Room!

Thank you so much Michael! You can bet I am coming to your party. Thanks for setting a place for me at the table! If you have not stopped over to Michael’s site you really need to. He has some amazing recipes and all sorts of fun things he shares. You will not be sorry! –Amy

September 23, 2012 · Filed under: Fall Festival, Halloween, Halloween Decor Tagged with decorating for halloween, DIY halloween decor, Halloween craft, halloween decor, halloween ideas

Witch Oreo Pops

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Two DAYS left…Need a last minute Halloween Food idea? Of course you do! These are the last installment of my Halloween Oreo Pop Series! Whew! I bet you thought these were never going to come to an end. Hehe! No worries…dreaming up a lot more! These were probably the most challenging.

Take your Double Stuft Oreos and insert a stick between the two cookie layers.

Dip them into your melted Green Candy Melts from Wilton. Be sure to cover the edges and the stick very carefully. Set on wax paper. Add your eyes. I used some candy eyeballs also made by Wilton. You can give her a nose by breaking the tip off of another Bugle chip and dipping it into your green candy melts and place it on her face with a toothpick or your fingers. Pop in the freezer. While they are hardening, take a Bugle chip and dip it into some melted chocolate.

I used some sucker sticks to stand them in some styrofoam so that they could harden. Then while they are hardening, dip one side of the Oreo cookie without the frosting into the chocolate and set on the wax paper to harden as well. Then when all is hard, dip the bottom of the cone of the Bugle chip into some melted chocolate and set it on top of the Oreo cookie or the brim of the witches hat. Let harden.

Drizzle some chocolate onto the top of the witches head and give her some hair. Then set the hat onto her head. Place the stick back into the styrofoam and let her harden.