HAPPY HALLOWEEN! TIME TO PARTY! - SWAGGERIFIC HALLOWEEN GUIDE FINALE!

Hey all,

Oh how fast October went by. I loved having this Swaggerific Halloween Guide for my followers. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I can't wait for next year. I hope you enjoyed the recipes and giveaways.

Halloween was amazing for me and my family. We had the most amazing time this year at our Annual Halloween Party this year. We had Amazing Tombstone pizza.

Amazing deserts including cupcakes, my famous cemetery cake.

And amazing hand made chocolates from CandyCassions.

We also had the most amazing recipe for Halloween drinks that we made yummy Alizé Red Passion for the adult guests.

The recipe was called Vampire Kiss Martini. Such a perfect drink name for Halloween or for when you're having your True Blood Parties. The recipe is:

1 ½ ounces Alizé Red Passion
1 ounce Alizé Gold Passion
1 ounce premium vodka
Top with lemonade and serve in a martini glass.

These drinks were a big hit at our party and the perfect spooky drink for Halloween. They were the drink of choice to all who tried them. You definitely need to try these amazing drinks made with Alizé Red Passion. I promise you will love them just as much as everyone in my party did. I'll surely be making these when True blood comes back on.

We played lots of Halloween movie trivia and it was just an amazing night filled with lots of eating, drinking, and enjoying the company of our friends and family.

Just FYI this was our adult only party and our teen went to sleep over at his best friends house. So it was like our one night out to ourselves. It felt great to just have one night to relax and enjoy the company of our friends especially on Halloween. Oh how it made me feel young again. I digress...

Hope you all had the most amazing Halloween as well. I hope I helped aide in making it a little better with my Swaggerific Halloween Guide.

Thank you all again for following my blog and again I hope you all had a very HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My Amazing Cemetery Movie Cake and Cupcakes! Halloween Recipe! - Swaggerific Halloween Feature!

Hey all!

Every year I make the most amazing cemetery cake for halloween. This cake is a great centerpiece for any Halloween party! You can either leave it in the pan like I do, or prepare a sheet cake, your choice! I decorate my cake with Halloween candies and crushed oreo cookies to make the dirt. This cake is cute, easy to make, and seriously tastes amazing. Just make it you're own and just have fun!

This is a picture of a cake I made last year.

This is the cake I made this year!

I put a twist on the cake this year and made it a horror movie cemetery cake with Jason...

And Michael Myers included.

I also included the old cars, bottles of booze, guns, knives, you know since teens are always getting killed in horror movies after boozing it up. zombie hands, candy pumpkins, tombstones made out of Milano Cookies, Marsh mellow peep ghosts, and anything else you can think of that is Halloween and movie related.

Isn't it adorable! I love my cemetery cake so much this year.

You can make your own cake or use a mix. I used the Pillsbury Funfetti Halloween Cake mix and a tub of Milk chocolate whipped frosting. This cake can be made super quick!

I also made some Halloween spooky cupcakes.

Also complete with zombie hands and Jason heads! Again all I used was the Halloween Funfetti cake mix from Pillsbury and the Pillsbury Halloween orange frosting and the chocolate whipped frosting I had left over from the cake.

So Here is everything you need. I got the cake decorations and cupcake liners at target and at the amazing online shop called The Cupcake Confessional which I feature in my Halloween guide earlier this month. I used her Horror Movie Cupcake kit and zombie hands and liquor bottles that I bought to make this cake.

So you can get your decorations from where ever and decorate your cake and cupcakes how ever you'd like.

Ingredients for the cake:
1 (18.25 oz.) box of Halloween Pillbury Funfetti cake mix or Dunkin Hines Yellow cake mix
1 1/2 to 2 C. of already prepared Milk chocolate frosting
1 pack of Oreo cookies to turn into cemetery dirt. You simple take apart the oreos one by one by hand just to get the chocolate cookie part separated. I placed my cookies in a blender for two seconds and poof chocolate dirt.

For Graveyard, any Combination of:
Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies (gravestones)
Cake Decorator's Icing (various colors and flavors)
Candy pumpkins
Green sprinkles
Spooky novelty candies (gummy worms, candy pumpkins etc.)
Halloween Ghost Marshmallow Peeps
Food-safe plastic Halloween decorations

Instructions:
1. Prepare cake mix according to package directions in a 13 x 9 inch glass cake pan (or make your own). Let cool in pan.
2. Spread frosting evenly over cake.
3. Top with Oreo crumb "dirt."
4. Decorate as desired with any combination of coconut grass, cookie gravestones, nut paths, pretzel fences, etc. I write R.I.P. (or anything else you want) on Milano cookies with decorator's frosting before inserting in cake.
5. Add Halloween party snacks for decorations, like marshmallow peep ghosts, candy pumpkins, and any other spooky candy you like.

The cupcakes you do the same except place the cake mix into Halloween themed cupcake liners in your cupcake pan then decorate how you see fit.

That's all you have to do to make these cakes and cupcakes. I hope you enjoy this recipe for this Halloween and for future Halloween parties. It's an amazing cake to make. I love it and I'm sure you will too!

Thanks for letting me share this recipe with you and Happy Halloween everyone.

Thanks again for following my blog!

BOO Pumpkins

Last year I bought some craft pumpkins at an after Halloween sale. I pretty much buy all my holiday decorations after the actual holiday. But not the day after the holiday when everything is 50% off. Oh no! It has to be like a week or two after the holiday. When everything is 75% off. Or, even better, 90% off! Because that's what separates the bargain shopper from the super-risk-taker because by that time most of the good stuff is gone. That right there takes some skill. It makes me all tingly just thinking about it. If a penny saved is a penny earned, I would be a rich, rich woman. But I'm not, so obviously the clearance sale portion of that theory is a bunch of crap. 

Anyway! I buy my decorations and then I have to put them straight away into their respective storage boxes, and I forget about them a little. And then I get to open them the next year, Yay! It's so fun! Like Christmas morning on Halloween decorating day or Easter decorating day or Christmas decorating day or.... 

So, I got these pumpkins for something crazy like $1 each. When I got them out of their box on Halloween decorating day, I knew I wanted:

A) To paint them white with some cute polka dots.

Because I love real orange pumpkins, but fake orange foam pumpkins, not so much. And, because I do love a polka dot.

Do you know how hard it is to paint something that resembles a circle on a bumpy pumpkin? It's quite difficult. I might possibly have spent a large amount of time mumbling "Stupid! Grumble grumble. Darn you! Grumble. We're out of glue! Grumble. I will conquer you, circles! Grumble. Circles!" as I tried to pull this off.

and

B) To spell out BOO on them. 

They are exactly the same size, so I didn't feel like I could pull off this awesomeness like my sister-in-law, Ali. I know! She's craftilicious!

The letters started out much, much smaller and kept getting much, much bigger as I tried to make them all even and pretty. Ah well. They make a statement, that's for sure.

Bam! That B isn't taking any prisoners.

And then the middle of the O's were begging for some spider webs. I kind of love them.

And, now,  the moment you've all been waiting for!

BOO pumpkins!

Happy Halloween!

We’re Not Scared of Anything!-Hallmark’s Recordable Storybook- Swaggerific Halloween Guide Feature

Hey all,

Are you looking for a fun activity to do with your family this Halloween or for this upcoming holiday season? Well look no further, Hallmark is here to save the day! This Halloween, parents, grandparents, and their little ghosts and goblins can participate in a new fun Halloween activity tradition with their New Recordable Storybooks.

These books are not just for reading, you can actually record you and your families voices with these amazing books and make the story your own as you read along. I know I'm always looking for more ways to spend quality time with my family, especially around the Holidays, and these books create the perfect opportunity for families to come together and capture holiday memories that last forever.

I was lucky enough to get a copy of the fantastic recordable book "We’re Not Scared of Anything" just in time for Halloween.

This Recordable Storybook is so amazing because it features exclusive voice capture technology that records the reader’s voice, which is then captured within the pages of book.  The details on how to record are very easy to follow and are printed directly on the inside front cover of the book and are also printed on the removable sleeve that comes wrapped around the book. It was super easy to do. It's as simple as just pressing record and stop.

When you finish recording and you begin to turn the pages of the book, the Recordable Storybook automatically plays the text on that page in the voices that were recorded. The recording lasts for the life of the Recordable Storybook, and who ever reads the books can listen to their mom, dad, grandparent, aunt, uncle, friend, or anyone read to them, anytime and anywhere. How amazing is that!

The story "We’re Not Scared of Anything," in particular is intended for two readers, one adult and one child to read and record together.

You can also personalize the book with the names of those who are doing the recording on the 1st page, perfect for you and your children to fill out. The story of this book in particular is perfect for dealing with the issue of your child being afraid of the dark.

Kids can be a little scared of the things that go bump in the night, epecially on Halloween. Once the candy is all gone they may be a little frighted after all the spooky activites. Recording this story with your child will be a unique bonding experience that will ease your child's night time fears in a fun and playful way. A perfect family activity for Halloween!

This amazing book is helps calm those fears by putting the child in the shoes of a pint-sized monster named Little Monster.

Little Monster, whose part should be recorded by your child, is scared of what may be under his bed. These scary thoughts make Little Monster too scared to sleep. Luckily, Big Monster, whose part should be recorded by an adult aka parent, is there to reassure Little Monster that the scary things really aren’t so scary after all.

The colors, drawings, and designs of this book are so beautifully vibrant and so well illustrated.  I loved reading and recording this book with my family. It was a great time to spend together as a family.

"We’re Not Scared of Anything" is also a great Halloween gift idea for those who want to give their children a special uinque treat this Halloween instead of the typical boring candy.

Hallmark is also offering a great variety of titles that make great gifts to give kids for this upcoming Holiday season.

There are eleven other fabulous Hallmark Recordable Storybook titles that you can choose from that are available in Hallmark Gold Crown stores nationwide. The collection features classics nursery rhymes, such as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and holiday titles including my family favorites "Frosty the Snowman" and "The Night Before Christmas." I'll be sure to pick up the Frosty book to record our family and to send to my parents and family in New York for the Holidays. I'm sure they will love it!

For more information about Hallmark’s "We’re Not Scared of Anything" Recordable Storybook and other titles in the collection, visit www.hallmark.com/recordablestorybooks.

These Hallmark Recordable Storybooks are absolutely incredible. I'm sure if you try these amazing recordable books you and your family will love them just as much as mine does.

Thanks so much for allowing me to share my love of these amazing recordable books with you and thank you for following my blog.

**Disclosure: I recieved a copy of Hallmark’s "We’re Not Scared of Anything" Recordable Storybook for this review feature. I was not compesated or paid in any way for this feature. All opinions are my own.**

Free Swag Friday! Yay free swag day is here!

Sorry for the late freebie friday! It's been a hectic day. So here goes!

FREE Crafty Thanksgiving Decorations eBook. The book includes instructions and pictures for an easy to sew table runner, autumn wreath, sparkle pumkins and more.

FREE sample from Soy Best (for cows).

FREE 2011 Calendar from Eat Better America when you sign up for their enewsletter. This offer is available to the U.S., while supplies last.

FREE 2011 Betty Crocker Calendar when you sign up for the enewsletter. This offer is available to the U.S., while supplies last.

FREE sample of Prilosec OTC.

FREE pack of C Howard’s Scented Chewing Gum.

FREE sample of their iFlora supplements with multi-probiotics and enzymes.

FREE sample of Dove Go Fresh Deodorant. 

That's all I have for today. Enjoy!

Thanks for following everyone! Happy Halloween!

Shutterfly Holiday Cards! Perfect for this Upcoming Holiday Season!

Hey All!

Time is flying by. Can you believe we are almost in November? My god, the holidays are almost here and it's now that time of year again where you need to start planning for the Holidays. I like to send out personalized photo holiday cards as opposed to traditional holiday cards.

So it's now that time of year when I have to figure out how I want my holiday cards to look this year and get them ordered and addressed. I'm sure you're starting to think about it too. I have been looking and searching on my best friend the internet and found some of Shutterfly’s awesome Holiday Photo Cards. They have an amazing selection to choose from.

We love to dress up our dog Mr. Pink as Santa Pink and make him the centerpiece of our photo as we stand around him. I think he makes a great Santa! I digress...

My top design choices for cards from Shutterfly are Peppermint Pink, Chic Green, and Pictures in Cocoa.  I love the designs, fonts, themes, and colors incorporated into these card designs.

It was hard to decide what to pick, since there were so many amazing designs to chose from. It was very hard to narrow it down to just three. There are are three of us in my family so I always narrow it down to three. So we as a family will decide which design we like best out of the three.  I feel that these three designs represent my family well with our pictures added, any one of them will make the perfect cards for this holiday!

And after we choose our design and I go to order,  I will also add some matching Christmas gift tags so our gifts look amazing and some Christmas Party Invitations to my cart, since I know we'll need some for our Holiday dinner party we throw every year.

Shutterfly has a great selection of all types of holiday cards and items, you should check them out today!

Visit them at www.Shutterfly.com. I promise you will find something you like for this upcoming Holiday season!

Thanks for allowing me to share my love of Shutterfly with you and thanks for following my blog!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

**Disclosure: This post is part of Shutterfly's Holiday Card Promotion. I was picked by Shutterfly for this post. I was not compensated or paid in any way for this post. I will receive 50 Free Holiday Cards for this post. All opinions are my own.**

Spooktasty- MUDDY PUPPYS DOG TREATS! - Swaggerific Halloween Guide Feature

Hey all,

We can't forget our furry friends this Halloween. They need some treats too! My doggy Mr. Pink has a very sensitive stomach, just like the rest of his family, so I'm very careful with the treats I give him. I really wanted to have a special treat for him this Halloween since it's only fair that he has something along with the rest of the family that will be enjoying a variety of treats this Halloween.

I managed to find some amazing All natural and Organic treats that he loves from an online shop called MUDDY PUPPYS. This online store has the most amazing looking and apparently tasting dog treats.

The owner is a former cook who is now dog groomer/shop owner and she makes all her amazing dog treats by hand. She has an amazing selection of  Halloween treats at great prices. I purchased this set of All Natural Dog Candy Skull peanut butter cups.

They came in an adorable gift wrapped box that looked good enough for a human to eat! These treats are made with Yogurt and Unsweet Carob so they are very easy on your dogs belly.

As you can see in the pic bellow he loves these treats and he can't get enough of them! And yes he has a corona beer stuffed toy and yes his little leg is bandaged up because he keeps licking and irritating a bug bite he has on that spot. Oh the vet bills. I digress...

The owner believes in only eating the best all natural, organic and believes dogs should eat the same and I agree!

She has all these amazing treats Special for Halloween! Like these All Natural Dog Candy Skull and Pumpkin peanut butter cups.

These are made with Yogurt, peanut butter, and Unsweet Carob. Colors and amounts that you order can be changed if you want them to come in a particular amount or color. And they also come in a gift wrapped box with a Halloween theme and are Super cute!

Or these homemade Natural Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits. These Halloween bones you can have personalized special if you'd like. How cute! This order is for a set of 2 Bones each 4.5 inches long. They are dipped in yogurt and unsweet carob and decorated. Ingredients include: Whole Wheat flour, Peanut Butter, Wheat Bran, Brown Rice, Corn Oil, Parsley, Garlic, Unsalted Peanuts, unsweetened carob and yogurt.

Your Dog will love all these wonderful treats. They are good for any size dog Big or Small! So check out MUDDY PUPPYS for some amazing dog treats. You can visit there store by clicking HERE!

I promise you won't be disappointed with this purchase. I know I'm not since it's hard to shop for a sensitive dog. So I'm super thankful to have found MUDDY PUPPY's store.

I'm sure you will be thankful as well.

Thanks for letting me share my love of MUDDY PUPPY's with you and thanks for following.

Happy Halloween to you and your furry friends.

**Disclosure: I was not paid or compensated  by MUDDY PUPPY'S to do this review. I purchased some treats for my dog and simply wanted to share a great place to get dog treats with my readers. All opinions are my own.**

Fabric Flower brooch

Looky looky I found another flower tutorial.

Wow what a beauty

I see she used a button for the center and think this would be great with an old rhinestone earring or small rhinestone pin as the center.

Tutorial Found HERE

Crisco por ti! And Giveaway Info!

Hey all!

I love Crisco products. I love Crisco products. I use them often. Being that I'm Latin and I know it's bad, but we tend to like the grease. They do offer extra virgin olive oils that come now in a fabulous spray bottle. I love their products. I'm sure you do as well.

When I found out Crisco was sponsoring this new contest,  I knew I needed to share it with everyone! In celebration of Crisco’s new promotion, ‘What’s For Dinner’/’Que Hay De Cenar,’ with celebrity chef (and Top Chef guest judge Michelle Bernstein) they are having a ‘What’s For Dinner’ giveaway over at CriscoEnEspanol.com, for a chance at the following prizes:

One grand prize of gourmet cookware and one year of Crisco products to One grand prize of a new line of gourmet cookware and one year of Crisco products.

First-time entrants receive a Crisco product coupon!

Each day 10 winners receive a $20 gift card! How amazing is that!

The giveaway is now live over at http://www.criscoenespanol.com/Promotions_News/Promotions/WhatsForDinner/

I know I'm entering! You can too so hurry up and enter! 


Thanks for letting me share my love of Crisco and this contest with you!


Good luck and I hope everyone wins!


**Disclosure: I was given some Crisco cooking products in order to share this contest. I was not compensated or paid for this post. All opinions are my own.**