Trick or Treat Bag Winners

Congratulations to the winner of the Trick or Treat Bags!

Shooting Stars Mag- winner of the Frankenstein Bag.

Melanie- winner of the Bat Bag.

Congrats and you will be hearing from me soon!

Healthy Halloween Snacks

With Halloween just around the corner you may find your self tempted with all the Halloween goodies at parties and in trick-or-treat bags. 

Here are some cute Healthy Halloween Treats that still make Halloween fun but healthy at the same time!

1. Apple Chompers 

Easy as 1...2...3

1. Core an apple with an apple core

2. Cut core slices in half

3. Place almond slivers into bottom and top of the apple slices

2. Pear Witch 

1. Start out with a whole green pear

2. Cut a slice of pear from the back and stick a toothpick in it to place on front of the pear for the nose

3. Shred some carrots with a peeler and set aside 

4. Place frosting under the rim of the ice cream cone and stick onto the middle of the chocolate cookie

4. Put frosting underneath the cookie to hold in place the pear and carrot shreds

5. Place cookie and carrot on the tips and side of the pear

6. Cut a small wedge of red apple for the mouth and place a toothpick in the apple so it stays in place

7. Place raisins for eyes on the side of the nose

8. Stick a chocolate chip in the lower corner of the pear for the mole 

9. Enjoy!! 

3. Pizza Monsters 

1. Cut mini bagels in half

2. Place a spoonful of tomato sauce on the top 

3. Rip off pieces of string cheese to make the mummy bandages

4. Place two olives on the pizza for eyes

5. Bake on 350 in oven for 10 minutes 

Give these fun Healthy Halloween Treats a try!!! Happy Halloween!

Thanks to famliyfun for these recipes 

Trick or Treat Bags with Tutorial + Pattern + Giveaway!

This post has a little bit of it all! Before I get to the bags I thought I would give a little background on how I got creating the bags.

I wanted to make my sons costume his year. I wasn’t sure what exactly he was going to be, but I was going to make it. Then one day on a trip to Old Navy my son discovered their creepy life like manikins. He tried so hard to figure out if they were real. He would hold their hand and he would shake them trying to figure out what these things were. Well one of them happened to be wearing a dragon costume and that was it, my son had made up his mind on what he was being for Halloween. He wanted to be a dragon just like the manikin. We tried the costume on and he was not going to take it off for anything. I couldn’t even get it off to purchase it. I had to bring him to the scanner. Ha!

Below are a few pictures of this experience. At the time I was only trying to get a picture of the costume, but you can see a little glimpses of him holding the manikins hands.

So then I figured if I wasn’t going to be able to make his costume then I would at least make him a trick or treat bag. I experimented with a couple of different options- which I will get to later in this post. I finally decided that I wanted his bag to match his costume. I tried to think of an accessory for a dragon. The only thing that came to mind was fire. Dragons + Fire = perfect idea for a trick or treat bag. I set out to make him a trick or treat bag on fire!

Here is what I came up with.

I have yet to get him to touch it. He thinks that it is hot, so he wants nothing to do with it. This is as close as he has come to it.

I did trick him into touching it for a second, by putting his favorite ball inside of the bag. I am hoping that once he figures out that the bag is used to put candy in that he will forget about the “hotness” of the bag. We’ll see.

Before I created him the fire trick or treat bag, I made him two other versions. I made him a Frankenstein and a Bat.

I thought I would share a tutorial and pattern on how to create these bags.

Patterns:

Bat Pattern- Part 1, Part 2 

Frankenstein Pattern- Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 

You will need a variety of colors of wool felt. Bat Felt Colors- Black, White, Purple. Frankenstein Felt Colors- Green, Black, White, Purple. I suggest using wool felt over the regular because it is a little more sturdy. You will also need to print out my pattern. Now I just want to apologize about the pattern right now. You will probably laugh at it ghetto-ness after you download it. But even though it may not be the prettiest pattern, it will work just fine.

First, you will want to cut out all of your felt pieces.

Then you will either hot glue or sew the face pieces together.

The bat requires a two step process. You will glue on your wings and ears to the back of your face. Then you will cover that with another felt circle or the front of your face. Then glue or sew on eyes and fangs. 

Then you will hot glue the middle piece to the back of your face. You will want to draw your hot glue in the shape of a smile around the edge of your face and then stick in your middle piece. Repeat for the other side as well.

Then you just glue your handles together. Then glue them to the inside middle piece of the bag.

 

Then you are complete!

Let me know if you have any questions. I am happy to help.

Now are you saying to yourself, “this is cute, but I don’t know if I have time to make this before Halloween.” Well today is your lucky day, because I am giving away one Frankenstein bag to a lucky winner. And I am giving away one Bat bag to a lucky winner. That is 2 winners!

Here are the giveaway rules:

-This contest is open only to followers of Better Together, because we love our followers! We want to give back to you. If you are a follower, than just leave a comment telling me which bag is your favorite- and be honest because that is the one that you will get if you win.

-If you are looking for an additional entry, like our Facebook page (1 additional entry) or follow us on twitter (1 additional entry)

You have 3 chances to win your own trick or treat bag.

The giveaway will be open until 8 p.m. MST Sunday, October 23. I will contact the winner Sunday evening. I need to hear back from you within 24 hours. I will be shipping these out on Tuesday morning so that they will arrive in plenty of time for your Halloween weekend.

Thanks and Good luck!

And P.S. Are there any moms of dragons this year? If so, email me and I will send you the pattern for the fire trick or treat bag!

*Giveaway is now closed, but I am still leaving the comments open incase you have something nice that you would like to say. Thanks!

Bat Pillows

I am all about these bat specimen pillows that keep popping up all over the web. I think they are fabulous! I just had to make my own version.

I started with two pillowcases that I made last year. They are just your basic pocket pillow. I just slip them over the pillows that sit on my porch during the summer.

Last year I couldn’t decide what to do with the pillows so I drew a ghost and boo in chalk. It was cute but not practical as you couldn’t actually use the pillows without getting chalk on yourself.

This year I decided to commit to a design for the pillows. I went with the bat specimen pillows.

I used this stencil and cut out the bats in felt. I would have sewed them on, but since the pillows were already made I just attached the bats with hot glue.

I love my new porch swing pillows!

Look forward to a Halloween giveaway tomorrow! I made a few extra Halloween trick or treat bags, and I thought that I would share some with you fabulous readers!

Getting rid of the pre race jitters

So this weekend I am headed out to run this race:

It is the Nike Women's Marathon and Half Marathon in San Francisco. 30,000 women compete in this race running all over the city. Probably one of the most empowering things you can experience. I ran the half last year and am doing it again this year!! 

With this in mind I thought I would give some tips to calm those pre race jitters and make sure you are prepared as best you can come race morning! 

1. Make sure you are prepared! Have the race outfit you are going to wear set out with the bib number on your shirt and timing chip on your shoe. Most races start EARLY in the morning (just like Nike Women's) and without having the essentials laid out and ready to go, you could be scrambling trying to get down to the starting line. There is nothing worse then getting to the starting line with the gun already gone off (trust me, been there done that :)). 

2. If you are planning on running with music spend some time putting together the ultimate playlist and make sure your batteries are fully charged. Find music that pumps you up and carry you through some tough miles during the race. 

3. Get some sleep. I have always heard the night before the night of the race is the most important night for sleep. You want to make sure 2 nights before the race that you are well rested. It will allow you to full energy the day of the race. 

4. Eat the right foods. DO NOT eat something new the morning of the race. Make sure you have tried your pre race meal before a long run during your training. Trying new foods can cause you to have an upset stomach or not give you all the energy/fuel you need for the race. My pre race meal, is a pack of oatmeal, a banana, and a glass of orange juice. 

5. Make sure to do a few strides (quick sprints) or a little 5 minute warm up jog to get your muscles loose. This way you are not starting the race with cold muscles. Do a little stretching as well. By doing this you wont have to use the first mile or two of the raced to get warmed up. 

Hope these few tips will help you feel geared up and ready to go the morning of your big race! Prepartation is key but most importantly have fun!!! 

Here is the starting line of the race I will be running this weekend

Wish me luck!