Saturday, September 29, 2007

Halloween Idea

The other day I promised you a cute decorating idea--remember? So, here's that post. Unfortunately, since I'm talking today about decorating stuff, I won't have time to tell you about this week's personal beauty treatment. I hope you'll forgive me once you see my idea--I know you SO-O-O-O-O look forward to my Day of Beauty posts.

A couple years ago, my friend Kairle told me about this thing she does with pumpkins and I took part of her idea and modified it to better fit my decorating scheme. First of all, you'll need pumpkins (I like the mini ones), clear acrylic gesso, a paint brush, and glitter. I'm not a really glitzy, glittery type of gal, so I prefer an opalescent glitter--it makes the pumpkins look kind of frosty. Like a margarita with salt on the rim. Or something like that. So, assemble your things and lay down a sheet of newspaper or paper towels or whatever you want to use to protect your work surface and toss out later.



First of all, paint a layer of gesso on the bottom halves of the pumpkins. The gesso will dry clear as long as you don't put it on too thick--just paint it on as you would paint. (I actually got mine on a little too thick, but they still look pretty.)



While the gesso is still wet, sprinkle with glitter. Let dry for about 45 minutes.



Turn over and repeat. It will likely take a couple hours for the gesso to dry completely, but the pumpkins can be handled within an hour or so.

Here's what I did with mine:



All you need is a tray, a candle, a glass container for the candle, Candy Corn, some really cute pumpkins, and something colorful and festive to line the tray.





My girl boss told me about the idea of using Candy Corn as a base for the candle--cute, isn't it? I've since talked to a couple other ladies who use the same thing, but I hadn't heard of it before. For optimum attractiveness, it's important that you examine all of the Candy Corn and remove any flawed pieces--this is a little known secret that I thought I'd share with you. Shhhhh!



Now since this is our little secret, it's very important that you hide the evidence of the flawed Corn. The best way I've found to do that is to simply eat it. After all, you surely wouldn't want to keep them around for fear they might accidently get mixed up with the "good," Corn, right? Oh, and just in case you were wondering, this kind of corn digests much better than the variety that comes on a cob. Did I just hear you ask about my diet? Check this out: 140 calories for 22 pieces. And since I'm only eating FLAWED pieces, I think there's probably only half the calories anyway. Heck, it's really not that much worse than eating an apple, right? By the way, do you think a serving of Candy Corn counts as a serving of vegetables? I'm pretty sure it does.

Happy decorating!

16 comments:

Yvonne said...

Even though I was looking forward to you Saturday beauty tip, your decorating tip is cute. I'm not sure if I like the pumpkin tip or the candy corn eating tip the best....I'll let you know.

Carol said...

Very, very cute...love the candy corn tip...definitely a serving of vegetables and they are FAT FREE!

~Bren~ said...

Frost on the pumpkins...very cute. The candy corn really makes it!

Kairle Oaks said...

I've already got candy corn around my candle and the girls have it half eaten. They keep telling me that I need to add more. Hmmm....I'm thinking about buying some artificial stuff. lol!

Mar said...

It's candy corn season, yeh! Cute idea Kim.(I might use this excuse to buy candy corn :-)

Vicky said...

What a great idea! It's a darn good thing you got rid of those flawed kernels! That's what Martha would have done! I agree -- pretty sure they're a veggie! Beautiful!

Pat said...

This is so cute Kim! I'm still not ready for Autumn but I don't think I can resist much longer.

I need more hours in my day... not less. *sigh*

Nan said...

Kim, I'm afraid my brain stopped at the "Like a margarita with salt on the rim" part. Ole, chica!!!
No, really, your pumpkins are adorable - I never thought about using gesso for that purpose. Great idea!!
And yes, candy corn is a veggie - I decreed it so many, many years ago!

Granny said...

Hey, I think I can do that! Thanks for that tip.

Darlene said...

Great looking pumpkins! Something to think about doing in the future!

BTW, try your candy corn with peanuts - just like a Payday candy bar. YUMMY!

Kim said...

Very cute - I bet it would look great with gourds too...so do we get to eat the flawed kernals of candy corn to get rid of the evidence??? I love all your fall decorating :)
Enjoy your Sunday

Anonymous said...

I like the way you decorate with candy corn and I love how you eat the defective candy corn.
So funny... you sound like me.
One goes in the pretty decorative bowl, and one goes in my mouth, one for the bowl and one for my mouth....hehe

:) Bren

http://benzy55.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Anonymous said...

Did you say salt on a margarita??? Did you?????? LOL!!!!
While I need the beauty tip after this weekend, I'm loving the decorating tips!! Very cute. I too think that candy corn is a vegetable.

Carole said...

Yea, I think I can do that! Oh, and what do you know, I have gesso in my fabric closet! Now I just need the vase and candy corn. Can I send you the candy corns? I need a place to hide the evidence!Thanks for sharing!

MARCIE said...

Very cute pumpkin idea. I bet your house looks adorable. I saw a quilt while in AZ that had big pieced candy corns on a black background and the words, "My favorite vegetable is Candy Corn". It was so cute! But alas, not edible, so yours wins!

atet said...

Cute idea and I love your calorie calculations! Works for me!