Spiderweb Eggs

With Easter coming this little "trick or treat" version of a colored egg is sure to turn fancy to any Halloween enthusiast. Frozen blueberries added to the eggs while they cook helps to "spin" the webs and magically will not leave a blueberry taste behind.

THANK YOU Miss Martha for the idea.

Ingredients

• 1 dozen large eggs
• 8 cups water
• 2 cups frozen blueberries
• Gray sea salt, for serving
• Freshly ground black pepper, for serving

Directions

1. Place eggs in single layer in a large saucepan, and cover with water and blueberries. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Cover; let stand 10 minutes.
2. Using a slotted spoon, remove eggs one at a time, and place on a folded kitchen towel. Lightly crack shell on side with the handle of a whisk or a wooden spoon. Transfer egg to medium bowl; cover with cooking water. Repeat with remaining eggs. Let eggs cool completely in water in refrigerator.
3. Carefully peel shells from eggs. Serve with salt and pepper.

Searching for inspiration....

For my Halloween Mad Hatters Tea Party I came across this lovely vintage photo over at
The Sacred Sandwich I think I shall somehow incorporate the image into my permanent Halloween display I can see it framed nicely.

A little more "crafty"

so I spent most of the afternoon with Peanut today, she is home "in between" schools right now. I am really excited that she is going to become a little Dragonfly very soon at a school for Autistic children I can't wait to see the new transformation she will become. In the meantime we are still trying to attend her current school as we can depending on mood/health/etc. and next week will be the class Valentine's day party since there is no school this Friday or Monday of next week. She wanted a "mailbox" theme, and she took the reigns on the project for the most part, I think she did a fantastic job... I was mainly responsible for the hot glue gun and placing some of the foamy stickers/flowers on the sides of the box....not bad for an almost 9 year old and her mum.

We interrupt your Halloween Party planning....

To announce the upcoming birthday festivities in our home... My sweet Elaina Mae, aka "Peanut" will be 9 in just a few weeks, and once again she has chosen a discontinued party theme Disney's Wall-e. I spent last weekend trolling the web for ideas and finally settled on a scrapbook type design. about 6 hours later, the invites are done... step one down... now to work on party favors.

Invites are a 4 layer cardstock consisting of a heavy burlap look, black glitter, yellow polk a dot, and white shiny, stuck together in the corner with brads... (after making 40 of these invites can I say I NEVER want to see another brad as long as I live). An accent of star garland, some washers and a 3 dimensional Wall-e sticker or two and they are complete. Postage $2.11 each.... sigh... what can I say I heart this little girl.

My first official Halloween Gift

Ok, so technically I was blessed with my new treasure about 2 months ago but I am just getting around to telling you all about it formerly. We have a "Ghoul Gift" exchange every year at our annual haunt. Everyone brings a creatively wrapped Halloween inspired gift around a $10 value for the exchange. It is very neat to find out what is inside, but over the years, the "creatively wrapped" inspiration has taken over. This year we had a gift wrapped like a spider nest covered in lots of tiny black baby spiders,

another gift wrapped in the shape of a bat, another wrapped in an old rusty bucket... it never seems to amaze me the creativity that our friends have. Everyone gets a playing card and when their matching card is called they have the option of taking a gift from the pile or swiping a gift from someone else. Once they choose a gift they can leave it wrapped or unwrap it. Most of the veteran guests know to leave their gift wrapped until the end because we do have the option of swiping gifts. It can get quite exciting and quite hysterical.
This year, once everyone had a gift, and the game was over, it was time to unwrap the precious treasures that were still concealed in their creativity, and I squealed when Jimmy & Patricia
opened their item, a set of hand-painted martini glasses and ghoulish green martini mix...
photo is of Patricia choosing her gift-(actually JT said it was more like a pout)... Nikki did an excellent job and I will sing her talented praises over and over again.

Low n behold, about a week later, Miss Nikki showed up on my doorstep with this package...
I was tickled to death... and I squealed with excitement when I pulled out my very large spiderweb & witch stocking wine glasses and bottle of their wonderful deep red Oakcrest wine. What a fabulous gift and are the glasses just simply stunning! So, there you have it, my first official Halloween gift of the season, they have been used weekly since they took up residence in the wine hutch. I think of Nikki and her husband Jeff each time I use them. I told her I think she has a cottage business here... especially since she just did 2 dozen margarita glasses for me for our first monthly mom's night out Bunco party last week... I will have to get a photo of those and post for you later.