These dried orange jack-o’-lanterns are perfect to use with tea light candles for Halloween decor. Or fill it with candy corn and use it as a mini candy dish!

I love using dried oranges in crafts – I’ve made dried orange garlands, and a dried orange wreath, and decorated cakes with dried orange slices. So I thought it would be fun to try this dried orange craft for Halloween!

They’re a fun and easy craft to do! A little less work than carving a pumpkin. But more time for drying. I actually dried mine two different ways, just to see how they turned out. (And definitely preferred air drying, you can see the difference between the methods in the video). And I think they’re so cute lit up with tea light candles!

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I’m a huge mushroom lover – not necessarily in my food because the texture freaks me out. But I love finding mushrooms growing out in the woods or on hikes. They are just so weird but delicate and adorable. I have loads of mushroom decor around the house but this year I decided I needed more for the fall season. So I turned some of our mini pumpkins into DIY mushroom pumpkins! Thankfully my husband loves mushrooms too and this was one of my projects that he was super excited about haha! I think they’ll look cute all the way through Thanksgiving too which is nice that they aren’t just for Halloween. I’m hoping since they just have tiny holes in them that they’ll last a lot longer than an actual carved pumpkin.

Materials Needed for DIY Mushroom Pumpkins:

• assorted mini pumpkins (some tall and tapered, some wider with ridges on top and a more rounded base for the top the mushroom)
• drill
• wooden skewer

Follow along with the video below for steps and tips!

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Another year, another cute ghost craft! Just can’t help myself from making any and all the cute ghost Halloween crafts! And these rice paper ghosts are not only cute, they’re so easy to make. They are the perfect way to add a whimsical spooky touch to your food for Halloween parties!

I think they work perfect for decorating cakes and brownies. They really can be stuck on just about anything! And while these ghosts are completely edible, the face is drawn on with an edible ink marker; I’m not sure anyone would really want to eat them, as they are quite hard. But it’s nice to be able to put edible things on food! And they are cute enough, and sturdy enough, to just use as Halloween decor if you’d like.

I made two different kinds, standing ghosts and flat ghosts. Both are simple and easy to make. You can stick a flameless tea light under the standing ghosts to create a glowing effect!

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I was such a dollhouse girl as a kid. My dad made me a huge one that my mom helped decorate for me. And it got great use – because I think I was playing with Barbies until I was like 13. But there’s nothing I loved more as a kid that a little themed Polly Pocket house in the clam shell cases. I loved (and still do) anything teeny tiny! So after making sooo many pumpkin projects over the years, I finally made a little DIY Halloween Pumpkin House. And my dollhouse loving inner child is feeling pretty good about it! This little pumpkin house can sit on my shelf every Halloween and I can add little details and decor to it each year! I think this thing is going to give me joy for years to come! Next year I think I need to cut out TINY little bats to go on the walls like I decorate with at my house. What else should I add to the space?!

Even if you weren’t big into dollhouses like me – this was so silly and fun and just kind of therapeutic to make. I think anyone would enjoy it! And it just looks so darn cute sitting out on the shelf with the other Halloween decor!

Materials Needed for DIY Halloween Pumpkin House:

• craft pumpkin
• pumpkin carving tool
• x-acto knife
• pencil
• sandpaper
• cardboard
• paint
• paint brush
• kraft tissue paper
• craft sticks
• wood stain
• scissors
• hot glue gun
• moss
• fabric
• miniatures – here are some that I got (or similar): fireplace, frame, books, bookshelf (if you don’t want to make one), cats, pumpkins, chandelier

Follow along with the video below for how I made mine!

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We’ve hollowed out pumpkins and used them as vases, candle holders and as dip bowls. This year I took some cute pumpkins and made mini pumpkin charcuterie cups! I love a good charcuterie board but little individual boards/cups are just too adorable. And little pumpkin cups?! Too good. They are super easy for carve out – you could make a whole bunch of them super quick. After we ate ours, I left the carved pumpkins in the fridge to test how early you could carve them out ahead of time. So far they’ve been in the fridge for 4 days and they haven’t softened or rotted at all – they look just as good as day one! So, if needed, you can prep them a few days before your party with no problem! I think it would be a great way to use all the pumpkins used as decor for Halloween as a treat for a Friendsgiving celebration – then you get two uses out of them!

Materials Needed for Mini Pumpkin Charcuterie:

• mini pumpkins
• pumpkin carving knife
• spoon
• cupcake liner ot parchment paper
• charcuterie items (I used flatbread crisps, rosemary breadsticks, assorted cheeses and meats, dried figs, dried mango, cashews, castelvetrano olives, apples, and fresh herbs)

Follow along with the video below!

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This terracotta clay leaf garland is perfect for fall decor! While I was making the clay leaf bowls I shared last week, I had the idea to use some of the smaller leaves to create a garland. I thought it turned out cute and is another easy craft to make to add to my fall decor.

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Last night I started decorating the house for Halloween! Since today is officially the first day of fall, I figured it’s about time to start spooky season! Last year I made a few of these DIY string spider webs and never got around to posting the tutorial before Halloween, so I’m sharing it this year. They’re honestly pretty easy to make – the drying and layers of mod podge is a little annoying but the process itself is so simple and you can make them whatever size and design that you want!

Materials Needed for DIY String Spider Web:

• black string
• mod podge
• paint brush
• cardboard
• duct tape
• plastic wrap

Follow along with the video below for step-by-step instructions on how to make these!

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This clay leaf bowl is an easy craft to make and perfect for fall decor!

Fall is here, maybe not officially, but as soon as September hits, I’m ready for cooler air and crunchy leaves on the ground. One of my boys made a clay leaf years ago at school and I thought it would be fun to do a similar project for fall. I’m always looking for cute fall decor to use in September, before all the Halloween things comes out. These are a fun, easy craft to make!

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Last year I went to a restaurant in Rochester that served bingsu. I had never heard of it before but I can’t resist a little sweet treat after a meal, so we tried it out. We got their mango bingsu and it was like the lightest, fluffiest, treat ever. It was like being a kid and laying in fresh fluffy snow and taking a little lick and it all sticks to your tongue and melts immediately. It was so light and refreshing! Last summer I kept trying to recreate it with a bunch of different recipes and shaving techniques and none of them were close enough. The shaved ice machine I tried actually made the worse version I tried haha. But this simple mango bingsu recipe that I made was the closest I’ve come up with and shaving it with a little grater gave it the most similar texture and it was so good! The drizzle of extra sweetened condensed milk, some fresh mango and popping boba makes this just perfect. You can skip the popping boba but I actually think it adds a lot to the dish!

Ingredients & Supplies Needed for Simple Mango Bingsu:

• mango
• whole milk
• sweetened condensed milk
• popping boba
• handheld grater
• large ice cube tray

Print

Simple Mango Bingsu

Ingredients

Mango Bingsu

• 1 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 mango

Toppings

• mango
• popping boba
• sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

• Chop up one ripe mango.
• Add chopped mango, milk and sweetened condensed milk to a blender and blend until smooth.
• Freeze overnight. (I used silicone square ice cube molds to make them easy to pop out and shave later.) I like to also throw a couple bowls in the freezer to get them nice and chilled for serving.
• Remove frozen cubes and use handheld grater to grate into chilled bowl.
• Top off with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk, fresh mango, and popping boba.
• Serve immediately.

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Half of our honeymoon we spent in Italy and while we were in Venice, we had to try their famous ciccetti. We tried a bunch of different kinds while we were there but our favorite one was this purple looking cream that we had no idea what it was. We realized it was like a kalamata olive cream cheese. Once we got home, my chef husband quickly whipped something together and it tasted just like it! We have had it so many times already in the last month and a half. We added castelvetrano olives because they’re my favorite olives and it’s the perfect little topper! I actually hate kalamata olives normally but they’re amazing in this. We also had a bunch of friends and family try it and even the ones that don’t like it have loved these!

We’ve made a lot of different crostini recipes in the past, but I think this is my all time favorite. I also like not having to cut and toast each piece individually like with traditional crostinis. All of the ones we tried in Venice just had fresh bread but I think toasting the whole baguette like we did for this recipe gives it a nice crunch but still nice and soft inside.

Ingredients Needed for Olive Cicchetti:

• kalamata olives
• mascarpone
• cream cheese
• french baguette
• castelvetrano olives 

Print

Olive Cicchetti

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup kalamata olives, roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup mascarpone
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1.5 tbsp kalamata olive brine
• french baguette
• castelvetrano olives

Instructions

• Beat kalamata olives, mascarpone, cream cheese, and olive brine together for a few minutes. (If mixture seems too thick, you can add a bit more mascarpone. You can use it immediately but the flavor is a bit better if you leave in the fridge overnight.)
• Put baguette whole in oven for 8 minutes at 375°.
• Slice into 1/4”-1/2” slices.
• Top slices with a generous amount of olive cream cheese mixture.
• Slice castelvetrano olives in half and put on top of cream cheese.
• Enjoy!

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