Fall/Halloween Chipboard Decor

This is the little chipboard hanging that I made during my Croptoberfest crop. I've been wanting to do this project for over a year now, and I was so excited to finally start it, and then to finish it the same evening. Morning. Whatever. I'm a night owl, that's for sure.

Anyway, last year I got my all-time favorite fall and Halloween pictures of the girls, so for sure I was going to use them for my project. I also used some really cute Halloween paper from Stampin' Up that Renee gave me.

On one side I have the pumpkin patch pictures and on the flip side are pictures of the girls in their Halloween costumes.



Square one, Zoe Bug looks the same as she did when she was a baby, only bigger. Her eyes hypnotize me.



Square two, sitting on pumpkins.



Square three, the gorgeous pumpkins. I love orange.



Annika looking sweet and innocent (Ha!). Can you see the fingerpaint still on her hands?



Side two is the Halloween side.



The pirate and her witch sidekick.



Zoe with her sword, or cutlass as the Renaissance Woman informs me.



Monsters!



The cutest little witch I ever saw.

Don't worry Mattie Cake, I AM Alive!

Mattie Cake posted a comment saying that she was worried because I haven't yet posted today. I took awhile to recover from Croptoberfest. I slept until after noon which was wonderful. I tend to be a slacker on Sundays anyway. In fact, I'm contemplating giving myself Sundays off and making Mondays my recipe post day instead.

So, Croptoberfest went very well. I had a great group of people and we had so much fun. I ended up staying up after everyone left because I was feeling great, not tired at all, and I wanted to finish a project I had started after we ate dinner. You'll get to see that for tomorrow's post . . . um, in about 40 minutes. Hee hee.

Here are some pictures and a recipe to share from Croptoberfest 2008.



This is Janae, caught off guard because that is the only way I can get her picture. Like Renee, she is an unwilling participant in my photo gallery.



Would you look at that mess! Scrapbookers have so much stuff.



Left to right, Penny, Heather and Alyssa are hard at work.



And there's Julie, next to Penny, texting like a teenager.



Alyssa again, and her stunning mother, Janet.



Jana and Renee giving me "the look." Oh crap, I'm not feeling so hot.



Katie-Did, Janae and Smashley in the background.

And finally, your recipe card.



This Ham Ball recipe came from Clark's cousin, Ronda, out in Iowa. Thanks, Ronda, everyone loved the Ham Balls.

Unless you live in the Midwest, you probably won't be able to find the ground ham and will have to grind it yourself. It's not that bad though, especially if you have the grinder attachment for the Kitchen Aid mixer, or it's equivalent.

Enjoy!

Croptoberfest is Here

Today is Croptoberfest for me.  In seven hours, a dozen merry croppers will descend upon my house, lugging massive wheeled carts full of scrapbooking supplies, hungry and expecting to be fed.

And I will not disappoint.

I spent my entire day prepping food for tomorrow.  I made 

99 Ham Balls (to freeze and cook tomorrow . . . er, later today)

3 Dozen Radioactive Orange Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

Carmelized 2 Cups of Pecans

Screwed up one batch of Portugese Sweet Rolls

Successfully made 3 Dozen Portugese Sweet Rolls and 3 Dozen Sally Lunn Rolls, 5 batches in all. I was making bread all day.

Two batches of Zuppa Toscana (no pictures because I still have to add the good stuff--the sausage, bacon, cream, etc.)

Two Triple Chocolate Pudding Pies

When I was putting one batch of bread in the oven, I knocked one of my chocolate cookie crusts onto the floor and it exploded, which required me to make my second of three unplanned emergency trips to the grocery store.  And I have to go again tomorrow, dang it.

This picture reminds me, I must sweep and mop the floor tomorrow . . . I mean in a few hours.

All the goodies are laid out for the croppers.

And the tables are cleaned off so they have plenty of room to work.  Just a small miracle on my part, you should have seen them this morning.

A make 'n take table is ready.

All my sale stuff is out.

And my tools are accessible for them all to use.

And chocolate and sugar is scattered willy nilly so they can keep up their energy.  This is important work, you know.