Carey Burns

Candy Tree It looks delicious... I saw some really cute Halloween candy trees and thought I'd try my hand at one. I love, love, love the Necco Peanut Butter Kisses and thought "Now you have a reason to buy a lot of these..." As a  bonus, I'm able to use the polymer clay jack o' lantern I made a few days ago! So here is my attempt. Supplies: Styrofoam cone Dowel rod Polymer clay jack o' lantern Straight pins Necco Peanut Butter Kisses candies The How: What you need! Basically, I just stuck a pin through the twisted end of a candy and then inserted it into the cone, starting from the bottom. I didn't have a color pattern, just pinned a candy as I took it out of the bag. Not enough candy! Nooo!!! After two bags...I ran out of candy!!! I had a smaller cone on hand so moved the candies over. When I had added candies up to the top, I decided it needed a topper. Thank goodness I had that jack o' lant...

Halloween is done and gone and while I feel satisfied, I'm sad.  Christmas has taken more square footage at the stores and my neighborhood looks so plain now.  I even took down the Halloween decorations at work.  The hubby and I are already making plans for next year, so that helps lessen the blues.  There is just something magical about opening your doors to share treats with total strangers and letting yourself be whatever you imagine for just one night.  I wish we could capture this spirit and sprinkle it throughout the year. The second proof of my book had a wonky cover so now I'm eagerly waiting for proof three.  I could do this again and again...but hope I don't have to. No More Heroes is finally available!  I can't wait to see what the world thinks of that project--it was truly a labor of love. Well, I'm off to snack on leftover candy and work on my NaNo project.  It feels great to be with my bad, bad vampires again. 

I didn't get to wear a tiara Saturday, but I had a candy buffet for my birthday and it was awesome!  Pixy Stix, Snickers, Fireballs, Smarties, Dove eggs, Butterfingers, Whoppers...and that ain't the half of it!  We still have two huge bowls filled with sugary goodness and I hope they never run dry.  Next year, I'm doing it again! It was so hard coming back to work after a week off, but I've been keeping myself busy non-stop so the days go by quicker.  I've been encouraged to write more teasers about our programs and activities and it feels good to be creative at work.  I wish more of my colleagues had the same encouragement.  Imagine what we could accomplish!