adventures in pinksugarland

we made some gak last night. stretchy, bouncy, slimy fun — it entertained three kids and four adults for hours. you should try it :)

candy corn, candy corn and more candy corn.

a burglar and fantastic mr. fox.

a party complete with spooky snacks, cute costumed kiddos and a pinata.

a remote control car and a paper doll.

we already can’t wait for next year!

the paper doll and the remote control car :)

happy halloween!

a number of people on instagram have requested the ‘recipe’, so here it goes:

1. prepare your favourite white cake recipe per the instructions (we just used a boxed mix!)
2. divide batter into three bowls, tint one bowl each orange and yellow and leave the third
3. layer batter in cupcake cups
4. bake according to your recipe
5. top with your favourite frosting (we use the recipe on the back of the roger’s icing sugar bag — never fails!) and a piece of candy corn
6. peel papers off when ready to serve

ridiculously easy and crazy cute. just the way i like it :)

individual pizzas, pinata making, cupcake baking, a quick movie and bedtime stories.

i’d say it was a success :)

ps. technically their second sleepover, but the first time the moms had a sleepover too, so that doesn’t really count ;)

inspired by this pin (i wish i knew the original source!), we collected some leaves from the lone tree in our front yard and got to work :)

two quick tips: if you’re having your kiddos do the punching, i’d recommend using small punches — it was quite tricky getting the leaves all the way into the larger heart punch. also, if you want the art to look good for more than a day, try preserving the leaves with glycerin. (we didn’t and our hearts are looking rather crinkly now!)

i stumbled upon some pretty awesome painted leaves the other day and we decided to give it a go ourselves. lots of fun and we got to add some seasonal decor to the playroom. win win :)

happy painting!

yes, you read that right!

never in my wildest dreams did i ever imagine that my little holiday crafts would end up in the pages of a magazine, so it has been pretty surreal (and awesome) to find the halloween issue of better homes and gardens on shelves this week and open it up to find our house and sweet kiddos :)

thank you to all of you for the support and encouragement over the years (first over on my business blog, then on lila was here, and now here in pinksugarland), thanks to anyone who has ever pinned one of my photos (without you, the people at bhg would never have stumbled across my work), and a huge thank you to better homes and gardens magazine for featuring our little family in your amazing publication.

i’m not feeling the pressure this halloween season at all… ;)

this was the day (seven months ago) that lila turned four. it was a very good day.

. . . . .

custom painting (based on this photograph) by erin darcy
tiny gift bags, polka dot washi tape, heart stickers, plastic milk bottles and gold twine c/o confetti sparkle party shop
balloons, cupcake liners, favour boxes, paper straws and tissue paper for the garland from local party shops
(anything i missed, just ask!)

. . . . .

can’t believe we’re already over half way to five — slow down year!