MARSHMALLOW GOBLINS

Remember these? Well, here they are all packaged up and ready to be delivered. I love the way they look in groups of three. Each little marshmallow personality shines right through when presented this way.

Don't you think?

Now if I could somehow successfully photograph cellophane packaging, that would really be a trick! 

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TOO, YEAH!

Hey everyone, today is my birthday! And as you may have heard, I had a fabulous birthday cake. Have you guessed who made it yet?

Here it is, the most fantastically beautiful and delicious birthday cake I have ever had. (actually, it's a three-way tie between this, the carousel cake my aunt and I shared when I was four and the mickey mouse cake my mother stayed up all night decorating). But this is hands-down the most exciting cake of my adult life!

That's right folks! It was made by none other than the Cake Boss! Buddy and his family at Carlos Bakery in Hoboken, NJ are the most gracious and wonderful family and their cakes - to die for! The best birthday gift ever.

Congratulations dayzero (who commented here) and Amy (who commented on Facebook), you correctly guessed who made my cake. Please email me to claim your prize!

MONSTER MOUTHS (PEANUT-FREE VERSION)

Remember these Monster Mouths from BHG made with peanut butter and candy corn? Well, Peanut and I made a peanut-free version for her preschool class today. Peanut-free means not only no peanut butter, but no candy corn as well. To replace the peanut butter, I mixed two packages of cream cheese with 1/2 cup of brown sugar. The brown sugar added the perfect amount of sweetness to the cream cheese.

For the teeth, I scoured the candy aisle, first selecting starburst to cut into teeth, the starburst were replaced by licorice, the licorice were replaced by Halloween good n' plenty. 

Until I found....gummy teeth!

Here is the finished product, with the teeth carefully placed by Peanut herself! (and I didn't even rearrange and "perfect" the placement - I think there is real growth happening here.) They turned out a little creepier than the originals. I didn't realized how realistic those gummy teeth are. Hope we don't scare the preschool set! But the big kids think they're really cool, so Peanut is thrilled with her creations.

A BIRTHDAY GUESSING GAME (WITH A PRIZE!)

So tomorrow's my birthday. Exciting, I know! But even more exciting than my birthday is my birthday cake. And you'll never guess who made it. I mean it. Go ahead and try to guess. I'll give you a hint: None of my children made it. No family members either. But it is AWESOME! I don't mean to brag, but the person is kind of famous.

OK, here's where the prize comes in. The first person to guess who made my birthday cake will win a set of custom cupcake picks in the design of your choosing. The cake (and creator) will be revealed tomorrow; you know, for my birthday.

And here we go: ready, set, guess!

LAST MINUTE HALLOWEEN PRINTABLES

Don't forget about our free Halloween downloads for those last minute Halloween details! Cupcake Picks, Halloween Note Sheets and Favor Bag Stickers all available for download here.

P.S. That cupcake looks incredibly good, doesn't it? Guess what, it is! We travel far and wide to get only the best for our product shots here at Pumpkin Petunia. Sarah Jessica has nothing on us! ; )

Downloads for personal use only.

I ♥ FACES “HALLOWEEN DRESS-UP” PHOTO CHALLENGE

I've been stalking the I ♥ Faces Photo Challenges for some time now and today I decided to throw caution to the wind and enter a photo. Now I guess I consider myself a beginner photographer, but when I took this photo last Halloween, I did not do anything but point and click, in the dark and on the run. But still, it's cute right? I like to call it "Fifi looks for candy."

GHOULS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN: A RECIPE (OF SORTS)

These adorable ghouls from BHG are created with just marshmallows and fondant! An adorable, quick treat to whip up for your little ghouls (and goblins, of course). But I'm not sure about taste; fondant and marshmallows - yuck! I think I'll make two layers of a round cake and use a biscuit cutters to cut the cake into cylinders. Covering cake with fondant sounds much better, don't you think?

And speaking of fondant, I had a fondant-related celebrity encounter this weekend. More about that on Thursday. Why Thursday? Well, that happens to be my birthday!