{Giant candy corn}

My friend, Trish, and I have been planning on making these giant candy corn together ever since I saw them on a blog. Click on the link if you would like to see the original version. With our schedules conflicting for over a few weeks and no end in sight (at least no kid-free time end in sight!) we decided to just combine materials and make them at home. Mine are a bit different from the original blog because I didn't distress and stain them after painting. I like them as is...at least for now. ;)

I freehanded the shapes on a board that I already had and Trish had a leftover piece of beadboard so we shared. Don't you just love having fellow crafters as friends? This afternoon I broke out the jigsaw and started cutting the pieces. My hubby stepped in and offered to help after the first piece...maybe he was afraid I would cut a finger off or something. =)

After cutting the thicker wood shapes, I laid them on the back of the beadboard and traced around them. Then cut the beadboard. I painted what would be the back side of the thick board with a few coats of white paint.

I used hot glue smeared over the back of the beadboard to attach and then hotglued around the entire edge. Then I painted the tip of the candy corn white, the middle orange, and the widest end yellow. I used shades that I already had because I'm an uber cheapskate. It's kind of a dark orange and a mustard yellow, but it looks great! I didn't attempt to bother taping it because of the crevices, so I just free-handed it. As I painted each color, I wrapped it around the edges too, but I left the back side white because I knew they wouldn't be seen.

Then I added some raffia tied around a couple of them and arranged my shelf!

I love them!

{Candy Corn Cookies}

For a couple of years I've wanted to make candy corn sugar cookies. For some reason, I never have. Tonight I found a cheap and easy way to do it. This Wilton frosting is SO easy to use and it dries well, but can be a bit pricey. It is over $4 a bottle. I am too cheap to buy three different colors so I bought white in hope that I could divide it up and dye it. Thankfully it worked! After microwaving it for 30 seconds, I dumped some in two ziploc baggies. One I dyed orange and one yellow, leaving some white frosting in the bottle. I was going to make my cookies from scratch but after a day like I've had today, I wanted nothing to do with my mixer and a sink full of dishes. So when I went to the store to get butter to make my own, I picked up a tube of pillsbury sugar cookie dough. As it turns out, I don't always have to make everything homemade, haha.

I bought a candy corn shaped cookie cutter but was less than impressed with the way they turned out after they baked.

They looked much better when frosted though. This frosting is so easy to use. Just snip the tiny corner off of the bags and the white still in the Wilton bottle has a writer tip. I did find out that if you frost them when you remove the hot frosting from the microwave, it will run and drip.

It's better to let it slightly cool and you can always reheat it as many times as you need to.

See all of that mess!

I think they turned out pretty cute though! I'm glad I found a cheaper way to do it with the frosting I prefer without buying three bottles of it!

Berlap candy corn

Yesterday I saw candy corn bunting on my favorite blog, Tatertots and Jello and LOVED it! I knew I had to do it myself! This morning, after looking at it again, I looked through my fabric scraps but didn't have the solid colors I needed. Idea! I had tan, orange, and cream berlap...indian corn! It was super easy!
Step 1: Draw and cut out a template from cardstock.
Step 2: Cut strips of your berlap (lay them as shown so you know you are cutting strips large enough to make your template)
Step 3: sew the strips together
Step 4: Cut out with the template
Step 5: Pin on ribbon and sew
Hang up and enjoy!

I may add another layer and put them closer together, but I love that I was able to do it with stuff I already have!