The Revenge of Tricky Treats!

This past weekend we hosted our Fifth Annual Halloween Horrorfest so I decided to throw down on the tricky treats spread again, but this time actually TAKE PHOTOS of the gross-looking/good-tasting food we made before our guests completely decimated the blood-curdling buffet. I used the original line-up from a couple of years ago as my guide, but added a few new gruesome characters to liven things up a bit. I left the naming rights to Micky this year, and some of the place cards definitely got a chuckle out of our friends. Feast your eyeballs!

Braaaaains!

(cheese ball "brain" with Triscuits and Wheat Thins)

[Cheese ball was made from a combination of this recipe and this recipe from Martha.]

Chips & Barf

(little jack-o-lantern spewing forth guacamole with tortilla chips)

Human Vegetables

(the usual suspects: carrots, celery, broccoli, ranch dip and hummus)

Disembodied Mouths 

(apple slices, caramel spread, and mini marshmallow "teeth") 

Kitty Litter Cake

(yellow cake, chocolate frosting, crumbled Golden Oreos and Tootsie Roll "cat turds") 

[Inspired by this recipe.]

Baby Fingers

(Lit'l Smokies wrapped up in crescent roll dough with sliced almond "fingernails" plus ketchup and mustard)

Crapple Sin-amon Muffins

(Apple Cinnamon Muffins whipped up by our gracious co-host Neal Block) 

Breaky Bones

(expertly decorated skeleton cookies made by the beautiful and talented Shannon McKeon) 

Wishing you all a devilishly delicious Halloween this year! 

- Cathleen 

Look What I Made!

You know that jewelry class I told you I was taking? Well, allow me to present my very first completed project: a blue lace agate stone set on a wide sterling silver band! It's taken me almost 3 months of filing, hammering, soldering, setting, and polishing (and more polishing!), but it's finally done and on the hand of my wonderful sister-in-law Shannon in honor of her 30th birthday. 

That's my chicken hand above, not hers. I couldn't help myself from trying it on. And wearing it around the house. And modeling it for my coworkers in the office. But that was it, I swear. Anyway, I really hope she likes it. 

- Cathleen 

He Looked Like a Philip

Banjo Beetle, $85

We gave one of these little guys to my husband Micky’s awesome sister Shannon (who makes these amazing cookies, btw) for her birthday this year. With a name that pretty much says it all, Bug Under Glass is a shop on Etsy that specializes in handcrafted, museum-quality displays featuring some very cool creepy crawlers. And flyers. And shredders! It was tough deciding, but ultimately we picked the weevil riding the red tricycle and we called him Philip. The only Green Certified insect display business in the whole COUNTRY, they’ve got some lovely beetles and butterflies too.

Tricycle Beetle, $80

Yellow Migrant Framed Butterfly, $30

- Cathleen

[All images via Bugs Under Glass]