Guest Post: Personalized Postcards & Some Halloween Freebies

Hello All!

My name is Alisha Oxley and I have been invited to post here on Penny Wise and Posh. The girls here have asked me to write about the postcard mailers I design.

Let me introduce myself first:) I am a momma of 3 littles-boy(5), girl(3), boy(1 1/2)-who keep me plenty busy. In my spare time I love spending time with my amazing hubby, reading good books (always looking for suggestions) and designing beautiful postcards. 

I have a love for playing around and designing on my digital scrapbooking program. Some of my favorite things to design are Christmas cards and birth announcements. I have also had the opportunity to design some wedding announcements, birthday cards/invitations and other printables to use as wall art and such. 

The reason I started designing for others is to give people a less expensive, more personal alternative to ordering from larger card printing companies. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE browsing through the websites of larger companies and drooling over their designs, but I knew there was a less expensive way for me to send out cute Christmas cards and birth announcements to my family and friends. And BONUS I get to play around on my computer! 

Last year I designed a few fun Halloween things, so I thought I would share them!  You are welcome to click and download here on the blog OR hope on over to my Facebook page and download from there. Just scroll down until you find them. I also have examples of my work if you are interested in taking a peek. 

https://www.facebook.com/aoxleydesign

This first one I designed for my mother-in-law. She is always doing something fun for Halloween. She was hosting a fun dinner party and wanted to have a cute (or creepy) menu placed by each dinner plate. I whipped this up and she printed it out, found some cute sparkly black scrapbook paper and ta-da! Super cute Halloween menu!

 I used these labels for a family Halloween party we went to. The *Witches Brooms* were placed on a platter. Super easy to make. 

All you need is:

*Stick Pretzels
*Mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Unwrap the peanut butter cups, place upside down and carefully push a pretzel into the peanut butter cup. And then you have witch brooms! My littles LOVED these!

 I used these labels for a cute little party favor bag. 

To Make Spider Eggs:

*White powdered donut holes 
*Black plastic spiders or spider rings

Place donut holes in a bag and add as many spiders as you would like. Tie up with some cute Halloween ribbon and attach the tag. So fun!

I just want to thank the cute ladies on this blog for having me as a guest. I am so excited to continue to read their posts and find ways to pinch my pennies:)

Wishing you all a most wonderful October--one of my favorite months of the year!

Alisha

DIY Hocus Pocus Spell Book - Part 1 : The Eyeball

This project was one of those spur of the moment creations. I didn't ponder much, or plan on just how I was going to make this happen... especially while working with a very limited budget. I just knew I wanted it to look as close to the original Spell Book on the Hocus Pocus movie as possible! I have always loved Fall, Halloween, and holiday decorating. I have a "witch table" in my kitchen that I decorate each year with potion bottles, specimen jars, and other creepy odds and ends. Winifred Sanderson's precious Book of Spells just haaaad to make its way into my collection. I had googled ideas for handmade/homemade/diy Hocus Pocus Spell Books, and to be completely honest, I wasn't fond of the techniques used, the time and money involved, or the end result. I just went for it, and started collecting items here and there through my house and flew by the seat of my pants! Sometimes the very best creations are unplanned! 

First I'll walk you through the process of making an eyeball. I had a friend who wanted to make her own spellbook, and was reciently searching to purchase an eyeball. I was told they were very pricey, something we want to avoid over here at Penny-Wise and Posh! 

This is what you'll need for your eyeball:

My kids are always bringing home bouncy balls. From parties, prize boxes at school, carnivals, etc. We tend to start a collection. I went to our toy room, and found a bouncy ball, medium in size that was appropriate for the size of book I was planning on using. (I found my book at my local thrift store.)

Carefully, and safely cut your bouncy ball in half. I used a kitchen knife. But please use caution, and watch those fingers! We don't want the ball to roll or slip and cause an injury! 

Time to use your white craft paint and paint that bouncy ball! Stick a toothpick into the cut side of the ball to give yourself plenty of room for painting, and to eliminate fingerprints on the ball, as well as limit the paint on yourself! 

Coat the ball with paint a few times until it has full coverage. Stick the other end of the toothpick into a cardboard box, styrofoam, or even an apple! I used a squash from our garden that just happened to be sitting on my counter! Just use anything secure that will hold the eyeball upright to dry. 

Next, you'll need to search for the perfect iris. I wanted GREEN. I found the perfect size and color in one of my magazines. All you need is a photo or ad of someone close up. Browse google, or take a picture of your own and print! Just get one! Cut out your iris, and apply it to the center of your painted bouncy ball using elmers glue, or Mod Podge.

Use a fine tip red sharpie or a toothpick and some red craft paint to squiggle a few eyeball blood vessels. The original eye on the book wasn't blood-shot, so don't go overboard! Just enough on the outer edges to help the eye look more realistic. 

While the eyeball is still stuck in the toothpick, grab your Glossy Accents. This amazing crafting product I already had on hand from a previous necklace pendant project. We also used it for glass stone magnents! This was PERFECT for completing the look of the eyeball. It's clear, and dimensional, it adheres and protects, and dries hard with a clear glossy finish! This magic stuff was the icing on the cake. A must have for a shiny eyeball finish! 

Let your eyeball dry completely overnight. You don't want it to be tacky, and dent or get a fingerprint in the setting gloss. 

While the eyeball is drying, you can work on other steps to creating your diy Hocus Pocus Spell Book! -- 

Have fun!

-Amber

(Next steps for Spell Book tutorial coming asap! Stay tuned!)

Quick & Easy German Pancakes

German Pancakes were one of my most favorite breakfasts growing up. My own little family loves them too, so sometimes we have them for dinner! Breakfast for dinner? Yes, please! 

I love this recipe because it has only 6 ingredients and it's easy! We always double or triple the recipe because they get devoured quickly, and the kids love them warmed up for leftovers!

Here's what you'll need: 

1/4 C butter

1 1/2 C milk

3/4 C flour

1/3 C sugar

3 eggs

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400° F. Slice butter and put in oven-safe pie plate or Pyrex casserole dish. Place in oven for 5 minutes or until butter bubbles. While butter is melting, put milk, flour, sugar, eggs, and salt into blender or mix in a bowl with whisk. Blend until smooth. Remove pie plate from oven and adjust heat to 450°. Immediately pour mixture into pie plate.

Return pie plate to oven, and bake for 20 minutes. Then reduce oven temperature to 350° and bake 8 - 10 more minutes until edges are raised, puffy, and slightly browned. Remove from oven, cut, and serve! 

*These are delicious with strawberries, powdered sugar, sour cream, brown sugar, and/or syrup!

Scrumtious!!

-Amber

LDS General Conference {October 2015}

Following General Conference this last weekend, I thought I would share just a few of my favorite quotes from a handful of talks. I love being able to sit and listen to the council and encouragement! Hope you enjoy these as much as I did! Feel free to copy, paste, save, print, and share!  -Becca

DIY Poison Apple and Spell Book (with FREE printable!)

Just in time for OCTOBER, and Halloween decor! Make your own poison apple and spell book! This book and apple sits with all of my potion and specimen bottles on my witch table during the Halloween season.

This is what you'll need for your apple:

I love quick crafts! Something great... quick and cheap! Most supplies you can find at your local Wal-Mart, craft supply, and even the dollar store! 

· Using your pencil, draw drip marks and a sloppy skeleton face (eye holes, and nose) on fake apple. 

· Once you've drawn your desired "poison drip" skull look, go over your pencil markings with your sharpie marker. Color in the gaps too! Make sure to keep the eye holes, nose, and lower half of the apple below the drips exposed with no marker!

· Now, take your hot glue gun and trace the drip shape and eye and nose with the glue. Fill in here and there, creating a goopy, lumpy, drippy look. Keep glue off the areas of apple that stay red, original, and exposed! 

· Once glue is dry, carefully go over the drippy skull shape with the black craft paint. 

· Next, go over it with the shiny, green glitter craft paint, and let dry. 

· You can keep the apple as is, or add a tiny jute bow and tail coming up from the stem... to look as though the apple was recently dipped in poison!

Next up is the book! All you need for this quick DIY is an old book of any size that you don't mind turning into a spell book decoration! You can also find tons of great books for pennies at your local thrift store. You'll need to print the 2 free pintable pages below in the page size of the book you'll be using. 

I created these pages using the "spell" from Snow White. You're welcome to use these pages for personal use. If you share, please give Penny-Wise and Posh the credit!

· Print spell book pages. Open your book to the middle, and mount your spell pages to the pages in your book using a glue stick. 

· Using a pencil, curl up the corners of the pages to make it look used and "well loved". 

· You can also dab stamp ink to the edges of the book to create a worn distressed look. 

· If you desire, you can add a satin or crushed velvet piece of ribbon to the center of the book to look like a bookmark... obviously saving the witches most precious spell! Bwahahaha! *evil witch cackle*

· Display flat and open on a table, or upright on an easel... with your poison apple to the side! 

Happy spooky crafting! 

-Amber

Fancy Oreo Truffles

These Oreo truffles are so delicious and easy! They are fun to customize for whatever occasion. I recently made them for a bridal shower, and dressed them up with fancy sprinkles!

                     Here's what you'll need:

· 1 package of Oreo's {flavor of your choice}

· 1 8oz cream cheese

· Chocolate melts {white, milk, dark, whichever!}

· Sprinkles, extra chocolate for drizzling, or whatever decor you may like to add!

°°°°°°°

1- Using food processor or blender, crumb whole Oreo's very fine, including filling.

2- Add cream cheese. Mixture should become thick and sticky.

3- Use a table spoon to measure and create balls. Place on a plate with wax paper.

4- Freeze for 30 minutes. **This is important to do prior to dipping. Chocolate will not coat well if the balls aren't frozen!

5- Melt down chocolate, careful to not over heat- this can happen! Put in deep bowl, microwave 30 seconds. Continue to melt in 15 minute increments, stir in between until smooth.

6- Using a fork, dip balls into chocolate. Tap fork on rim of bowl to remove extra chocolate. Place on wax paper and return to fridge to allow to set.

7- You can add sprinkles while dipping or drizzle chocolate on top to decorate. 

This should make between 30-35 truffles.
Keep refrigerated. They can also be placed in freezer for weeks at a time. 

For the bridal shower, I actually did 15 lemon Oreo cookies with 4oz cream cheese and 15 birthday cake Oreos with 4oz cream cheese. I used white chocolate for both. They were delicious and a hit with all the ladies! 

Hope you enjoy!! 

-Becca 

Peanut Butter Lunch Lady Bars

Who doesn't love chocolate and peanut butter? Who remembers those most delicious bars from school lunch waaay back then in the day during elementary? I sure do... and they were my FAVORITE! I have tried a few different peanut butter bar recipes, and this one is by far my absolute favorite! This recipe is pretty simple, and requires ingredients that are usually on hand in the pantry. These bars will be a hit at any party or function! You'll have plenty of these yummy treats to share, because each recipe makes a whole cookie sheet full! You'll love them! 

Lunch Lady Bars

1 1/2 C flour

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 C butter

3/4 C sugar

3/4 C brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 C peanut butter (split)

2 eggs

1 1/2 C quick oats

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 C butter

3 1/2 C powdered sugar

2 T cocoa powder

1/4 C milk (whatever you have)

1 tsp vanilla 

------

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter, sugar, brown sugar, 3/4 C of the peanut butter, eggs, and vanilla- until smooth. Gradually add and mix in dry ingredients. Then add the oats! Spread onto greased 11 x 15 cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden. 

Whip the remaining 3/4 C peanut butter until light and fluffy. Spread the peanut butter over the cookie.

To make frosting: Add butter to saucepan and melt. Over medium heat, add cocoa and milk- stir constantly. Remove when it starts to boil, then add vanilla. Gradually add all of the powdered sugar, and stir until thick. Pour the chocolate over the whipped peanut butter on top of the cookie, and carefully spread evenly! Let cool, then slice into bars. 

*keep covered to store, so they stay soft and moist! 

Delectable! 

-Amber