Murder on the Grill- Food Table

Hey guys, happy Friday. I hope that your week has gone well and that you have some exciting plans for the weekend because I don't lol.

I have actually been feeling pretty blah all week. My back is still hurting from my all day card-a-thon last Saturday and it has made my stomach hurt as well. Oh well, let's start discussing something that ALWAYS makes me feel better...FOOD!! (Namely dessert but food works as well ☺)
I mentioned earlier this month that I would spend a couple of days solely focused on the food that I made for my different Halloween Murder Mystery Parties. The first party was from back in 2014 and was called Murder on the Grill.  If you click HERE you can check it out on Amazon if you are interested.

Before we begin discussing the food that I prepared for the party I want to start off by saying...."Hi my name is Ashley and I have a problem deciding between ideas, so I just MAKE THEM ALL!! I had enough food for 25 people easily....and I only invited 8." Please, no judging.
Since the theme of the party was a 1950 barbecue the actual food portion was pretty simple. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs outside on our gas grill (because the weather was actually nice enough to be outside in October, which is rare). I forgot to grab a picture of the burgers and dogs before my hungry guests started shoveling them into their mouths. We also had a large bowl of salad with several different kinds of dressing. Three different kinds of chips (Fritos, Cheetos and Tostitos) as well as a Croc-pot full of chili to add to either the chips or the hot dogs.

Now dessert is where I lost it a bit...okay A LOT!! I couldn't decide between all of the 1950's themed desserts and Halloween related ones. Since this was the first Halloween related party that I had ever had, I wanted to include some treats that represented the holiday but also represented the theme of the overall party. Why not do a mash-up? It works with music, what could possibly go wrong? 

Let's start with the Halloween treats. I made both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes that I frosted with vanilla buttercream that was dyed black and orange and then  swirled together. Then I had THREE different kinds of cookies. A mint cookie that I bought to make into witches hats but ran out of time. Fudge striped cookies because....I don't remember why and finally a homemade sugar cookie that I again dyed black and orange and then swirled into a pinwheel before baking. (with the leftover dough from the sugar cookies I simply cut out some pumpkin shapes.)

I also had a plastic cauldron full of leftover Halloween candy (all chocolate), a bowl full of Hershey kisses that I had bought for the witches hat cookies and a large bowl full of Skittles simply because I like them. Are you feeling overwhelmed yet?? Because guess what, we haven't even talked about the 1950s themed desserts that I made. 

I made some personal sized pies (both apple and cherry of course) using a muffin pan. I also made TWO trays full of brownies for some strange reason. Then (not pictured) I made some Jello shots (that did NOT have alcohol) in about 4 different flavors (because one is just not enough) with some store bought whipped topping. I had also purchased some ice cream and root beer to make Root Beer Floats but unfortunately the freezer that I had the ice cream in when out and it all melted. Lastly, I made some truly ADORABLE milkshake cake pops that I saw on Youtube. They were probably everyone's favorite thing that I made!!

By the way, my grandpa had had a severe facial surgery for skin cancer just a couple of days before the party so I had been out out town helping to care for him. I only came back home on Friday night and the party was set to start at around NOON on Saturday and the ONLY thing that had been made was the sugar cookies and the store bought extras! I started cooking the SECOND that I walked through the door Friday and only took an hour off to sleep before I was at it again. If it wasn't for my mom's help the party never would have happened!! 

Lethal Luau Layout

I LOVE THIS LAYOUT!! I had so much fun creating this layout and I didn't even use the Cricut. I was able to dig through my large piles of embellishments and find enough goodies to fill both pages without it looking tacky (at least I hope ☺).

Stickers, chipboard shapes, rhinestones, and seashells...oh my.  (takes a short break to sing... ♫ I'm off to see the Wizard, the wonderful wizard of papercrafts (or Harry Potter)♫

When I was reviewing the photos that I was going to print for this layout I found that I had a couple of 'extra' photos that I wanted to include of other fun things that occurred that day, so I decided to add four additional wallet sized photo spots on the left hand side of the page where I would traditionally add more die cut images and decor. I really like this new look and I will probably stick with it going forward because in the end the photos on the pages should be the real stars instead of the images that were added.

And, for the last time...I covered all of the photos in my Halloween Murder Mystery Scrapbook so that the focus would be on the layout and not on the people and food. Plus, I didn't ask for permission from the guests to share their photos on my blog. 

Roman Ruins Layout

When it came time for me to make this layout I struggled BIG TIME! Absolutely zero ideas were coming to mind for an ancient Roman themed layout. I searched through the Cricut library of images for some inspiration but was shocked to find that there where hardly any Roman images. It is not as...detailed...as what I would typically make but I am still pretty happy with how it turned out.

I finally found this rather basic image of the Colosseum and made that my focal point on the left side of the page. Because I struggled so much with ideas for this layout, I ended up throwing it together the night before the 2016 Murder Mystery Party.

What do you guys think? What would you have liked to see for an Ancient Rome layout? Maybe I will try to replicate some of your ideas for another post. 

I covered all of the photos in  my Halloween Murder Mystery Scrapbook so that the focus would be on the layout and not on the people and food. Plus, I didn't ask for permission from the guests to share their photos on my blog. 

Murder on the Grill Layout 2

Hey guys and welcome back. Today we will be focusing on the second layout from my Halloween Murder Mystery Scrapbook mini-series. If you haven't read Monday's or Wednesday's post you should probably go check them out for more info on what the heck I am talking about.

Wednesday I told you that I had made two separate layout for the 2014 party, Murder on the Grill. The reason that I did this was because after I added all of the images to the first layout there simply wasn't any room for the photos of each character that I wanted to include.

On the day of the party, as my guests arrived, I snapped a quick photo because I knew that doing a scrapbook of each character would be fun. In order to save room for more images (which were all once again cut from the Cricut Nifty Fifties Cartridge) I printed each photo in wallet size. Plus, doing this gave me a duplicate photo (since you have to print two of the same photo together when you print wallets at Walmart) in case I messed up when I was cutting the photos apart. In the end I just gave the duplicates to each guest the next year when they came for the next party.

I once again busted out my trusty label maker so that I could add each guest's character's name below their photo. Also, if you look closely (in the photo of the hamburger, milkshake and soda) the patterned paper that I used for the background of the photos (and to put the label on) is this really cool vintage radio paper that fit really well with the theme. 

I covered all of the photos in  my Halloween Murder Mystery Scrapbook so that the focus would be on the layout and not on the people and food. Plus, I didn't ask for permission from the guests to share their photos on my blog. 

Murder on the Grill Layout 1

When I was in high school I was lucky enough to fall in with a group of friends that liked to get together often and play games, watch movies or go out to eat. Man those were the days. One year, around New Years, one of my friends hosted a murder mystery game and I was invited to participate. I LOVED it!! We all had such a blast that night that I wanted to replicate it by hosting my own party. I went out and bought two different boxed murder mystery sets at two local stores (that was back when they could still be purchased locally) but alas my friends and I never got around to doing another mystery game night because soon after that night they graduated (they were two years older than me) and several of them went off to college in different states.

Flash forward about twelve years to 2014. My best friend had just got married in August and moved back into town. For the first time I could gather together the right number of players to host my own murder mystery party. I went into my game closet and dusted off the boxed mystery kit from so long ago and started making plans.

To say that I went overboard that first year would be an understatement! It was the first party that I had ever hosted and I was extremely excited. There were so many ideas flooding into my head, between the multitude of Halloween themed decorations and food and the 1950's theme of the party that it was extremely hard to narrow it down. But, there will be an entire post about the food and decor for each party coming soon so I wont elaborate too much right now.

I actually made two layouts for the first year (all the rest only have one) because I had so many photos and images that I wanted to include. Today we will talk about the first page and then Friday's post will be about the second.

The first layout from 2014 came about as a way to use some of the diecut decorations that I had used during the actual party. The drive in sign was placed on the door leading from the living room to the basement, it served no purpose but was a way to add some themed decor to a blank space. Both the car (before it was cut in two) and the body shop words were adhered to the glass of the door leading out into my garage, as a fun play on the fact that cars typically live in the garage and as a way to cover the window so that my guests couldn't see the MESS that is in my garage. Lastly, the large jukebox diecut was adhered to the speaker I was using to play music (I created a custom playlist on Spotify) and the CD that came with the game. All of the images were cut from the Cricut Nifty Fifties Cartridge and I used my label maker to add the party info to the movie marquee and the year to the license plate of the car. 

I added two photo mats to the page to show the different foods that I served. 

I covered all of the photos in  my Halloween Murder Mystery Scrapbook so that the focus would be on the layout and not on the people and food. Plus, I didn't ask for permission from the guests to share their photos on my blog. 

Halloween Murder Mystery

Wow, I can't believe that October is here already!! In someways it seems like January was just yesterday. With all of the family stuff that has gone on this year, I feel like I have missed out on 2018.  Oh well, I will just have to make it my mission to enjoy the remainder of the year!

Each year, for the past five years, I have hosted a Halloween Murder Mystery Party at my house (I have briefly mentioned it before) and each year I make a scrapbook layout for the previous years photos as a way to remember foods served, costumes worn and the overall theme. So, since I have not yet blogged about each layout, I thought that this month would be a perfect time to share all of the layouts that I have made so far. 

I have been trying to make the plans for this years party for about a month now but between a couple of people who have to work, family who wont give you an answer and friends who won't call back, it has been pretty exhausting and as of right now I am not even sure that there will BE a party this year, which makes me incredibly sad and frustrated!! (But, I am trying not to rant two weeks in a row so lets move on).

Ok Ashley, enough of the melancholy, let's talk about the first page of my Halloween Murder Mystery scrapbook. I choose to go with more 'traditional' Halloween colors (at least the colors that I think of when it comes to Halloween- Black, Purple, Orange, and Green). Since a murder mystery party is kind of like a mini play I decided to go with a theater/cinema look for the title page. 

As I was designing this layout, I wanted a way that I could incorporate each players name on the page, similar to a playbill or credit screen but initially I was stumped about how to do it. After I found the movie marquee on the Cricut Art Deco Cartridge the idea for putting the names on popcorn buckets suddenly 'popped' (see what I did there ☺) into my head. I found the popcorn buckets that I wanted on the Cricut When I Was a Kid Cartridge and cut one out for each of the adults that played the game and used some small alphabet stickers that I found in my craftroom to add the names. 

Lastly, I wanted to add my 'nieces' names to the page, because they also come every year even though they are to young to play. I will admit that I was stumped on what to use and where to put whatever element I choose. Finally (after what seems like DAYS) I decided that the PERFECT nameplate was a ticket and let me tell ya, I felt like an idiot for not thinking of a ticket sooner. I cut the flourished ticket from the Cricut Wall Decor and More Cartridge and the smaller tickets came from a ticket die strip that I have. 

I am EXTREMELY proud of how this layout turned out. And, It would be easy to replicate now that the design part is done. Which is my not so suttle way of saying that if you would like to purchase a page similar to this one (there will be some minor differences in sticker and background papers) I would be happy to make more! If you are interested please email me at thesweetscrapper@gmail.com. 

Ghosty Circle

Happy Halloween!! The day is finally here and all of the adorable ghost, goblins, vampires and witches will come out of the graveyard and knock on your door begging for candy. What is everyone doing for Halloween? What costume are you going to wear? Do you get many trick-or-treaters that come to your door on Halloween night? We don't. We are lucky if we get one kid that comes to our door. So instead I buy a bag of candy and end up eating it by myself. Oh well, more for me so I'm not complaining.

There is not a whole lot to say about today's card except that it is probably one of my favorites for this month. I love the look of a thick black outline against the patterned paper! And, like I have mentioned several times this month, I am trying to use up some of my stash of Halloween supplies. So, these adorable little glittery ghosts just had to make an appearance. I hope you like this card as much as I do!

In the end, I used up quite a bit of my Halloween stash but I still have A LOT left. I decided that I wouldn't buy any new supplies this year (even on clearance) since I still have so much. Plus, I am trying to reorganize my supplies in my craft room and I didn't want to have to find a place to store anymore Halloween items. And, who knows maybe next year they will come out with some stuff that I simply can't refuse. 

I hope that you have all enjoyed this month long buildup to Halloween and the different projects that I created. I sure had a lot of fun creating them. On Friday we will be starting a new series for the month of November, focusing on all things Fall, Autumn and Thankful. 

Witch Cauldron Party

Today's scrapbook layout is another example of layout in WITCH (yes, I know that I spelled it wrong but I couldn't resist) the patterned paper does most, if not all, of the work. I have been super busy lately trying to get my party details planned out and decorations made that I also forgot about making a layout today. I try to have most of my projects made a week or two in advance so that I'm not scrambling for ideas at the last minute. I don't know about you, but when I know something has to be done quickly, that is when I tend to blank out and get uninspired. But, since I have been so busy I nearly forgot that I needed to make a new layout. So, I decided to once again flip through my countless paper pads and see if something inspired me. I stumbled across this cute witch paper and knew that it would make a cute and FAST layout. I adhered two 4 x 6 inch horizontal photo mats and was about to call the layout done when I remembered that I have several sheets of stickers that I am trying to use up. I pulled them out to see what stickers if any would be fitting and found this great "The Witch's Night Party" sticker that I felt finishes the page. I also found several bat stickers that I added to the moon for a spooky effect, although they are slightly too large. I made three copies of this layout, like I have done with several other layouts this month, because there were three identical sheets of this witch paper. I kept them all the same except that for two of them I went through my stamp sets and found a small bat that I stamped in black ink on the moon instead of using the stickers. I actually like the stamped bats better than the stickers. What do you all think? Only four more days until Halloween, have you finalized your plans yet? How many of you are going to your Halloween party this weekend instead?

Open If You Dare

Their are only 7 more days until Halloween, are you getting excited yet? It sounds funny but I am now getting excited for Halloween to be over, simply because I have zero plans for Halloween and also because my big Halloween event will be taking place on November 4th instead. Each year for the past three I have hosted a Murder Mystery Party for my family and friends, and it is a blast. We all wear costumes for our characters and I make lunch/dinner for everyone themed to that years party. This year the party is all about Mardi Gras so it is sure to be fun.

But, enough about me. Let's talk poison, which is the theme of today's card. While going through my scraps from projects I have made in the past I discovered several cutouts full of poisons or potions. I matted them with some orange cardstock just so that the poison panel would stand out more against the background paper. I also looked through my many stamps (which took a while) for a stamp that would make a fitting sentiment. I found this scroll-like frame that says "open if you dare" and I felt that it would be cute when paired with the bottles.

In other news, my cousin and his wife celebrated the birth of their son yesterday and we are all so happy. He is a beautiful, happy and healthy baby boy and we are all so glad that he is finally here. Welcome to the world baby Zion!

Beary Witchy Cauldron

Hey ghouls and goblins, I know, super cheesy greeting right but it was my mom's suggestion so I thought what the heck, there are only 11 more days until Halloween, why not be a little cheesy.

I have been living in my head a lot lately and it puts me in a rather depressed and anxious state. I don't know why I allow other peoples thoughts and opinions effect me so much but they do and I am trying my hardest to work through it. I just can't make myself understand why no one wants to be around or understand when I am going through hard times but they sure expect me to be there for them when they need a shoulder. Isn't it supposed to go both ways?

Anyway, enough angst so let's move on. I want to share with you another scrapbook layout that I made and I am totally in love with!  The giant bear was cut out using my all time favorite Cricut cartridge, Teddy Bear Parade. She is super adorable and for a little added pizzazz I added some shimmer to her outfit, her broom and the acidic vapor rising up out of her bubbling cauldron. To me this layout just screams HALLOWEEN!

Three Squarish Circles

Countdown: 17 days down and 14 days remaining. Today's post is going to be pretty short so let's get started.

For this card I only had one rule, use up the remaining stickers left on the sticker sheet that I used last week. And, after playing around with them for a while I thought, why not just keep it simple. So, that is exactly what I did. I matted each sticker onto an orange piece of cardstock so that it would stand out against the pattern of the paper. I also chose to raise each image up using some thin foam tape so that it has a little added dimension which can help a card to stand out and look more expensive.

I Only Have Eyes For You

Happy Friday the Thirteenth.  Do you guys have any scary plans? Because I sure don't. My life tends to be pretty boring. Maybe one of these days I will surprise myself and step out of my comfort zone and do something unexpected. Maybe it is the theme of the day but I woke up, after a night of being plagued with bad dreams, and have just been feeling very blah today. Hopefully I will snap out of it soon and salvage the rest of the day.

Anyway, enough with my whining, let's get to talking about this cute scrapbook layout. I was inspired to make this layout when I found these cute 'monster googly eyes' at the dollar store. I cut the gumball, or in this case the eyeball machine, out with my Cricut as well as the scalloped squares behind the photo mats. This layout can hold two 4 x 4 inch photos. I love how this layout turned out, kind of a cute scary.

By the way guys, there are only 18 days left until Halloween.

Halloween Stickers

10 days down and 21 to go, are you feeling in the Halloween spirit yet? No? Me either. It has been a hard week and it is only Tuesday. Yesterday my dad had to have surgery for a hernia that he got. The surgery went well and there were no problems so he was sent home at around 2 pm (it was an out patient surgery). After being home about an hour we noticed that he was a bit restless and didn't seem to want to sit still. Well to make a long story short, he had an unusual reaction to a nausea patch that they put on him and it made him restless, irritable, slur his words and hallucinate. This went on ALL NIGHT, we were able to reach the doctor who performed the surgery around 6 am this morning who told us to remove the patch, which we weren't allowed to touch as it is so potent. We noticed a change after only 30 minutes without the patch, he was finally able to sit still for longer than five minutes. After an hour he FINALLY fell asleep which was a complete relief as none of us had slept all night. So needless to say after I finish writing this post I will be going to bed for a bit.

So let's dive into the card for today. One of my goals with this month of Halloween series is to make a rather large dent in my Halloween stash. Some of the items I have had for several years and it is time to use them up. I had a couple of sticker sheets that contained some circle and square stickers, in three different sizes with different spooky images on them. I decided to use up the largest and the smallest of the stickers today.

I found the idea for this card on Pinterest and just adapted it a bit to fit my needs. I have to say that I absolutely love how much the black cardstock makes the other colors and images pop. And, the little bit of added bling really helps to finish this card off.

For the inside I once again added a piece of the matching patterned paper from the front and then accented it with one of the smallest stickers from the page. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the remaining medium sized stickers.

Haunted House

A haunting we will go, a haunting we will go, in 25 days its Halloween and a haunting we will go. Hey guys, do you like my song? I thought of it an hour ago and haven't been able to get it out of my head since. I hate it when a song gets stuck in your head because it makes it hard to focus on the things that need to be done, like writing a blog post. I have to stop after every other sentence to sing it to myself, thankfully no one is home or they would think I have gone insane.

Speaking of insane, (nice segue Ashley) that is what I think of people who enjoy going to Haunted houses. I think that I briefly mentioned in Tuesday's post how much I HATE haunted houses, but today I thought that I would drive the point home by mentioning again. Plus, it fits in with today's scrapbook layout.

When I was about 5 or 6 years old I went with my parents to the zoo for a Halloween Spooktacular that was held every year. You got to walk around and see the animals at night and they lit the pathways with jack-o-lanterns and scarecrows. At one point along the trail they had a haunted house where employee's were dressed up and had some bloody objects. I don't know if the employee just didn't see me or if he was showing off for the teenagers that were in front of us but he jumped out in front of us with a chainsaw and scared me to death. I ran away bawling and it took my parents quite a while to calm me down. To make matters worse (at least for me) the employee felt so bad that he had scared me so much, he chased after us to apologize and to give me a sucker. Thus my hatred of haunted houses began.

When I was trying to figure out what kind of layout to make for today I decided to simply flip through the numerous paper pads that I have to see if anything spoke to me and I came across three sheets of this spooky/graveyard/haunted house paper and thought, I can work with that. Since the background paper provides most of the work for the layout, all that was needed was a 4 x 6 inch photo mat and some added embellishments. I decided to go ahead and make all three pages into layouts so that I can sell some or give them away to family. I had a lot of these cute dimensional monsters that I had bought in a pack after Halloween last year. I am not exactly sure where I bought them but I thought that they would look cute next to the tall dark house.

So, what do you think? Do you have a favorite out of the three? My favorite changes each time I look at them.

Hallow-Kitty

The countdown is officially on, and we have 28 days until Halloween! Now, I've never really been that big into Halloween. I dressed up as a kid to go trick-or-treating around the block with my parents, over to my aunt and uncles house or if it was a cold or rainy night we would go out to the mall were you could get tootsie rolls galore.

I have never been a person who likes to be scared, so I absolutely detest haunted houses or being jumped out at. I had a couple of bad experiences as a young kid of people trying to jump out and scare me, and let's just say it didn't end well.

As I got older, around high school age, my typical Halloween night was watching my version of a scary movie and eating junk food. Heck this is probably what I am going to be doing again this year. But, for the last couple of years now I have been hosting a Murder Mystery Dinner Party for some family and friends on or around Halloween, and it has been super fun and gives us all something to do that involves dressing up and having fun.

Anyway, I have rambled on long enough. Let's get to crafting. But first let me say that in the lead up to Halloween I will be posting only Halloween themed projects for the month of October, so get excited. The first project that I am coming at you with is a 4 x 4 inch card.

I was recently cutting down some cardstock scraps and I had several left over from a previous project that would be perfect for some 4 x 4 cards. I pulled out my Halloween stamps and I fell in love with this adorable little kitty with a witch hat on, so I stamped it out,  colored him, and then used my scissors to trim him out. Then what? I sat there staring at this cute kitty trying to figure out what to do next. When all else fails, browse Pinterest for a while. There I came across several cards that had a starry night/ galaxy scene and I thought that that would be a perfect backdrop for my cat.

I made several different variations of this card because I couldn't figure out how I wanted it to look, and I was having fun experimenting with this new background technique. I even tried masking off the cat using rubber cement and inking around the image. I definitely need more practice with that. I decided to keep the insides the same on all of the cards by just stamping 'Happy Halloween' and then adding a strip of patterned paper that matched the mat on the front of the card.

Let me know which one is your favorite!