Have you ever been browsing Pinterest and been overwhelmed with trying to recreate on there? Or by the cost of trying to get the look you want?

Honestly that's how I was feeling with this post. So I decided to set some limits for myself. Sometimes working within limitations can help get the creative juices flowing. I decided I wanted to spend no more than $10, and that it would be something I could put together in no more than 15 minutes. Because, let's be honest, with everything going on Thanksgiving Day, who wants to spend tons of time getting the table ready? And in the end I think my centerpiece ended up being beautiful!

(If you're worried about timing for Thanksgiving be sure to check out our 'Thanksgiving Prep 101' post which gives you a timeline from a month in advance on how to prepare for Thanksgiving with a printable checklist to hang on your fridge!)

I made this little video showing you how I put my centerpiece together. It's really that simple! Feel free to pause it if it goes too fast for you. Below I'll list the supplies I used. 

Here's some more tips for making your easy and affordable Thanksgiving centerpiece:

• Fluff the picks- don't be afraid to bend the wires of the floral picks you got. If you notice I got 2 identical picks that I just fanned out the branches. The one in the center I actually bent some of the branches all the way down so the skinny part is in the middle. 
• Balance is greater than symmetry- Sometimes I think I get caught up in trying to make things symmetrical because it's the easiest way to get balance, but it's also not as visually interesting. And can be frustrating to do in a time crunch. If I focus on having similar shapes, instead of placement of specific pieces in the centerpiece, I can achieve an appealing result.
• Add pops of color- If you're using mostly greenery and muted tones as I have done, a small pack of colorful leaves or pumpkins can add a big impact.

I hope that these tips and tutorial can help you to create your own beautiful Thanksgiving centerpiece. Don't let Pinterest overwhelm you, if you do use our tips to make your own centerpiece, tag us in your picture so we can share!

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    Lindsey and Maddy's birthdays are one day after the other.  For Lindsey's birthday, I made a pumpkin roll, because she is Lindsey.  The lover of all things pumpkin.  I don't think we have shared that recipe with you yet, so that is something we will have to do!  For Maddy's birthday, I needed to come up with something vegan that says fall birthday.  So, I did!  These Vegan Caramel Apple Cupcakes are super delicious!  I know she will love them. 

    Before I give you the recipe, here are a few tips: 

• You may use regular, unsweetened applesauce in the cake.  Or you may use cinnamon applesauce.  They both taste great and not only does the applesauce flavor the cake, but it is an egg substitute and replaces some of the fat! 
• I was out of vegan butter at my house, so I used shortening for the cake and the frosting.  It worked great!  But if you have vegan butter, it would work just as well. 
• The frosting can be tricky.  It came out perfectly on my practice recipe, but then for the real thing, I put in a little too much coconut milk and had to add powdered sugar.  It didn't hold its shape as well, which was sad for my pictures, but it still tasted delicious. 
• If you don't have any canned pie filling, you could simply dice up some apples and toss them with sugar and cinnamon and saute them in a skillet with butter and a tiny bit of lemon juice before adding to the top of the cupcake.  
• I used vegan Coco Caramels that I melted to make the vegan drizzle.  They do have a distinctive coconut taste, so if you don't like that, you could try a different vegan version of caramel sauce. 

    After making the cupcakes, let them cool then top them with these 3 steps: 
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Now, here is the recipe! 
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Vegan Caramel Apple Cupcakes

     The nice thing about these cupcakes is that they are moist and they taste like Fall.  No one will ever guess that they are vegan! I know Maddy will love them! 

    It is getting to be the time of year when Hot Cocoa Bombs are really popular!  There will be cold evenings around people's fire pits or fireplaces.  There will be brisk mornings when a cup of hot cocoa will be perfect to warm everyone up and a nice cup of hot cocoa with Christmas cookies are just the thing to evoke the holiday spirit!
 
     If you have been following along with us here on the blog, you know that we had a contest to see who could come up with some fabulous ideas for Fall Hot Cocoa Bomb Flavors.  We received so many excellent suggestions.  Our plan with these new flavors was to add them to our list of other Hot Cocoa Bomb Flavors that are perfect for Fall. We've also noticed a surge in the sale of our original Hot Cocoa Bomb Idea E-book that we sell in our Etsy Shop. It is fun to see how many people are latching on to our Hot Cocoa Bomb idea and making their own bombs! But, we haven't seen anyone with the number of amazing flavors that we have, so we knew that it would be awesome to put out a Fall Favorites Book and give you some new recipes for some of the many flavors we have developed over the 6 years that we have been making Hot Cocoa Bombs. Here are the reasons that you are going to want this book:

    Not only are we sharing the fantastic news about our new e-book, we have one more bit of fun news! We have surpassed 100 sales in our Etsy shop! So, to celebrate, we are giving our readers and followers a code to receive a 15% discount on everything in our shop!  That discount starts today and ends Monday, so be sure to hurry to the shop to take advantage of it!  This is your chance to get new Fall Favorites Book for 15% off!  So, are you ready for the code?  When you check out, put in code 100SALE and you will receive the discount! 
    Not only will you receive the discount for both of our Hot Cocoa Bomb E-Books, but we have so many other items that you will enjoy!  This is the perfect time to purchase For The Love Of Pie, our e-book full of delicious pie recipes!  You will be all ready for Thanksgiving!  If you have had your eye on the Adventures With Grandparents Posters or Booklets, now is a great time to get them as well! 
    Thank you so much for following us and being a part of our Hot Cocoa Bomb story! Do you want to know what one of my favorite things about Hot Cocoa Bombs is? It is the bubbles that come out when it starts to melt in the hot milk, then up pop the marshmallows!  That always makes me smile!  

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Since it's October I thought I would share a fun and easy decoration to make for your home. Your kids or grandkids might enjoy doing this with you as well.

Since we're doing Halloween at home I wanted to make it extra fun with our decorations. I decided to show my kids how to make those little garlands where it looks like all the people are holding hands, but with a Halloween twist!

My kids were so amazed and happy when I unfolded the garlands. They loved them!

So today I have a free subscriber printable of these stencils. I went with fun monster faces for these. They're simple to cut out and would be great practice for your young scissor users.I had my son (5) cut out the big outline and then I cut out the face details. He also traced the stencil onto the construction paper.

I made these stencils to fit a regular sized piece of construction paper when folded into fourths. If your paper is a little different size than mine, no worries, just make sure that you don't cut the sides completely and your garland should still work.

To make the stencils:

1. Fold a piece of construction paper (or regular paper) into fourths.
2. Cut out all the grey areas on your stencils.
3. Trace the stencil onto the top layer of your folded construction paper.
4. Cut out along your traced lines. Be sure not to cut the sides completely or the shapes won't be connected. Make sure all 4 layers of paper are cut and don't forget to cut out the inside shapes of the faces. *For the mummy you can cut slits to make it look like overlaid wrappings.
5. Unfold your garland and hang up to enjoy!

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