Nightmare Before Christmas Bark

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. 


I've been on the hunt for silicone molds with shapes from The Nightmare Before Christmas for years. I haven't had any luck finding them yet (seriously Disney, you're missing out on a huge money making opportunity there. get with it!) but I did come across these plastic molds of Jack and Oogie on Etsy.

I've been wanting to make some Nightmare Before Christmas bark for Halloween this year, so I thought I'd give these molds a try. I much prefer working with silicone because I've never had great luck with plastic, but figured what the heck. Let's melt some chocolate and see what happens. If you follow me on my Instagram Stories, you got a sneak peek over the weekend.

I'm going to be honest here and say that working with these hard molds was a complete pain in the ass. While they are super cute and would probably work better using them as a bath bomb or working with polymer clay, melting chocolate in them was no easy task.

Jack was a little easier because the mold isn't so detailed, but I did the 4 Oogies pictured here and called it quits. The Oogie Boogie mold is very detailed and getting the chocolate to settle into the cracks was a tedious job. I had to keep slapping the mold onto the counter to get the candy to settle and to get the air bubbles out.

Removing the candy after it had set was a whole other challenge. I kept snapping the tips off of Oogies head, then had to take a lighter to the candy to melt it down to reset the pieces back together. I was beyond frustrated after making just 4.

If this looks like a candy craft you'd like to try, I'd suggest just sticking with the Jack mold. While a bit difficult to remove from the plastic, it went a lot better than the Oogie candies did.

However, even with all of the effort I put into the chocolate molds, I did like the final candy bark results. For Jack Skellington, since he's The Pumpkin King, I cut some jelly pumpkins in half to add to the bark, then dusted it with purple sprinkles.

For the Oogie Boogie candy bark, I used sour gummy worms and purple and green jimmies.

I do think this is a fun candy for your Halloween party or to gift to any Nightmare Before Christmas fan. If you don't mind the work, these molds are a suitable filler until Disney gets with the program and starts to make NBC silicone molds for us foodie and crafting fans.

If you liked this recipe, be sure to Pin It on Pinterest!

Here is a list of the products that I used to make this candy bark. These are affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to shop through, but if you do, I make a small commission to help continue running this blog.

Wilton Black Candy Melts
Wilton White Candy Melts
Sour Orange Pumpkin Jellies
Halloween Colored Jimmies
Trolli Sour Gummy Worms 

Do you watch Nightmare Before Christmas around Halloween-time? 

 

Oogie Boogie Pudding Cups

Last year I wanted to make some Oogie Boogie treat cups out of chocolate. You know the little chocolate bowls that you can make using a balloon dipped in candy melts? Yeah, well that didn't go so well. Apparently I didn't let the candy cool enough because the balloon popped, spraying melted candy all over my kitchen. Even a year later I am still finding dots of chocolate in the weirdest places. Second attempt only worked a little better. The balloons held up, but the chocolate went on too thin and dried all cracked and ugly looking. At that point I said to hell with it and moved on to making those Halloween shaped peanut butter buckeyes that were such a hit last year.

For me, it just isn't Halloween until we incorporate a new Nightmare Before Christmas craft into the mix, and while I did the glowing Jack pumpkin last year, this year I wanted to try my hand again at an edible that wasn't going to make a mess or cause frustration. Instead of messing with chocolates and molds, I decided to pull out my crafting vinyl and cut out Oogie Boogie's face. I then stuck the cutouts onto some glasses and filled them with green pistachio pudding and called it a success.

If pistachio pudding isn't your thing, you could always tint vanilla with some green coloring. And, if you prefer Jack Skellington over mean old Oogie, you could fill the cups with vanilla pudding and plaster on Jack's face instead. Or, do them both for a fun party mix.

Since Oogie is filled with all kinds of nasty critters, you could even mix in some gummy candy worms and bugs for an extra fun treat!

Using my Silhouette Cameo, this was a 5 minute craft. You certainly don't need a cutting machine though since there is very little detail, you could cut these by hand fairly quickly. I picked up my vinyl sheets at Michael's for under $2 each.

Also, if you are planning a Halloween party, you could pass out some homemade burlap Jack Skellington treat bags.

I made these about 2 years ago using some black burlap sacks that I found in Target's $1 spot. I cut out Jack's face with some silver glitter heat transfer, ironed it on, then boom. Another craft done in under 5 minutes.

If you have a Gordman's close to you, they usually have Nightmare Before Christmas socks for under $2 a pair that make great treat bag fillers and 5 Below usually has NBC pencils, nail polish and stickers that are great party favors too. Your guests will be delighted and probably start singing "What's this? What's this? I can't believe my eyes! Oh, I want it, oh I want it, oh I want it for my own"... Happy Halloween!

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Have you ever failed at a Pinterest or Facebook inspired craft or recipe?

You Color My World ♥ Summer Coloring Fun Days Ahead!

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The countdown is on. The girls will be celebrating another school year down in just two short weeks and we couldn't be more ready! If you are like us, your year has been packed full of activities and the promise of summer break with no school commitments has you giddy with excitement. Now, as excited as I am about the idea of sleeping in late, no homework, and no early morning lunches to pack, the one thing I am not looking forward to is, "I'm Bored!" I think that's the universal phrase that grates most parents nerves during summer break. Thankfully, I've got a secret weapon stashed away to help blast away summer boredom blues.... New activity books that the girls and I can do together!

If you've been here a while, you know that we love to get our craft on, especially during the summer months. One crafty activity that we all love here are adult coloring pages. So, when I heard about Stick it To 'Em: Playful Stickers To Color & Create, a sassy book with over 275 stickers to create, color, and share, I knew I had to have it in my crafting arsenal to break out when the girls start getting stir crazy in the summer. 

Stick it To 'Em offers guided instructions for easy drawing and lettering techniques, as well as step-by-step tutorials all designed to get your creative juices flowing. There are over 35 pages of stickers, some ready to pop off the page so you can immediately stick them wherever your heart desires, some black and white stickers ready for you to color in, and some blank sticker pages so you can design your own one-of-a-kind sticker creations.

There are multiples of each sticker, so each of us can take turns putting our own unique spin on the designs. Allison was itching to start using the book as soon as it arrived, so I gave her a little sneak peek so she'll have something to look forward to during the slow days of summer.

She then claimed a few of the sweet treat stickers to pass out to a few of her friends at school so they'll have something to remember her by over break.

Allison loves this book so much, if we happen to do a holiday gift guide this year, this book is definitely going to be included in it. 

The other book I have stashed away is Mom & Me: An Art Journal to Share. 

 
I don't think this book would be great for older teens, but for the 6-14 age set, I think it's perfect. This book is a full color art journal that mom and child work on together. Side by side pages are almost identical, one for the child to work on and one for mom to work on. Mom and child can write each other letters, share the things they are thankful for, write out their emotions, and share their future adventures, hopes and dreams. 

Each page is beautifully illustrated with blank spaces ready for mom and child to add the finishing touches to the page. This book is an awesome way to open up the lines of communication between mother and child through art and creativity. There are 127 pages in the Mom & Me Art Journal, so you'll have plenty prompts and activities to keep you busy all summer long.

Each book is available in major book retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, and Booktopia across the US, UK, and AU. Be sure to order your copies before your kids are out of school for the summer and "I'm Bored" becomes the phrase of the day.


                                                              

What activities do you have planned to keep the kids busy this summer?

10 Minute Craft ~ Stenciled Dog Toy Box

Since the start of the year, home organization has been my #1 priority. I've been going through my house, room by room, scrubbing everything down and decluttering. Most of the junk has made its way to the basement where I'll spend a few days sorting through what we'll keep for later use, what we'll pass on to family and friends, and what we'll be donating to charity.

I'm trying to live a live free of clutter, so I've spent a small fortune at the hardware store on shelving and bins to help me keep everything tucked away, yet easy to access. I'll buy cheap storage solutions for the stuff that's tucked into cabinets and closets, but for the stuff that's within every day view, I'll spend a little more for nice baskets and containers. Since my dogs were puppies, I've always stored their toys in plastic dollar store containers, and even though they are not chewers, they do think the containers that hold their toys are chew toys.

We thought we'd try a metal basket after the destruction of several of those cheap plastic bins. See how well that turned out?

I was sick of looking at that twisted metal bin, so I went to Michael's to see if they had any cute, yet cheap solutions. There I picked up this wooden crate for about $3.50 after sales and coupons. It was kind of boring to look at, but I knew I could spruce it up rather quickly with a few stencils cut out from my Silhouette Cameo.

It only took me a few minutes to type up some font and add a paw print to the design. I cut out 2 more paw prints for the sides of the bucket and I was as good as done.

If you have a steady hand and are good with paint, this can easily be made without vinyl. I do not have an artistic bone in my body, so I had to work with what's easy for me. 

If you don't have a cutting machine, or you don't want to mess with paints, you could also hand cut the designs yourself from a sheet of vinyl.

Here's hoping that my dogs don't have a taste for wood and this bucket actually sticks around for a while! Either way, at least it was cheap and easy to decorate :)

Have you done any home organization this year?

Shine Bright Like Jack Skellington

 *This post contains affiliate links.

 

 I've mentioned a time or two how much I hate carving pumpkins, so each year I pull out the paints and other mixed media and get my craft on. I was browsing Pinterest for a little inspiration this year and came across the new trend of using glow-in-the-dark paints on pumpkins and thought, YES! What a brilliant idea! So, off I ran to Hobby Lobby to pick up a bottle.

This 8 ounce bottle ran $7 on sale, but you could get it for $6 on a week they don't have them marked down and you use one of the 40% coupons. If you don't have a Hobby Lobby close by, you can get Glow-in-the-Dark Paint on Amazon.

If you know me, you know that I love all things Nightmare Before Christmas. Seriously, it looks like Tim Burton stops by and barfs up all things NBC all over my house each Halloween. I've been wanting to do a Jack Skellington pumpkin for the past few years, but honestly thought it was a bit too trendy. I mean, just look at Pinterest and Facebook and I'm sure at least one of your friends has turned their white pumpkins into good old Jack in recent years. But, once I had that glow paint in my hands, I knew how I could get my Jack pumpkin fix and be a little original. Allow me to present this year's painted pumpkin:

Glowing Jack!

What you need for this project:

1 white pumpkin
glow-in-the-dark paint
Jack Skellington face cut out of black vinyl (affiliate)
craft brush
(primer- optional, but highly encouraged!)

I would definitely suggest prepping your pumpkin with a coat of primer. I didn't use it and ended up using a lot more of the glow paint than necessary to get the entire pumpkin covered properly.

Apply a thin layer of the glow paint to the pumpkin. Allow to dry. Repeat as necessary until you test the pumpkin in the dark and are satisfied with the results. (I used 5-6 coats of glow paint, but I think if I would have used primer, it would have been good with 2.)

I cut Jack's face on my Silhouette cameo, but if you don't have one, you can also use a craft knife to cut out the shapes. Or, you can print his face onto paper and use scissors to cut out the shapes to use as a template, then paint on the face with black craft paint.

Now, place Jack under a bright light for a few seconds, turn off the lights, then sit back and enjoy your project!

Did you carve or paint your pumpkins this year?

DIY Peter Pan Happy Thoughts Jar

My daughter has been keeping a "happy thoughts" jar every year, for the past few years. Whenever something good happens, she writes it down, then puts it into the jar. At the end of the year she will go back and reflect on all the good that happened throughout the year. She's had a crummy looking jar since she started, so I decided to make her a prettier one for Christmas this year. She just loves Peter Pan, so I thought it would be fitting to make her a Peter Pan Happy Thoughts Jar!

I cut some Peter Pan Silhouettes out of vinyl with my Cameo, along with the happy thoughts saying, then popped them onto a glass jar. If you don't have a cameo, you could always print out the design you want, tape the paper to the inside of the jar, then trace the stencils on with paint on the outside of the jar. Easy peasy too, just a little more time consuming waiting for it to dry.

Fill it up with all your happy thoughts throughout the year. It doesn't have to be handwritten notes either. Pop in some ticket stubs, charms and trinkets. Whatever reminds you of your happy times!

For less than $5, she has a custom happy thoughts jar that she loves!

How do you keep track of your happy moments throughout the year?

DIY! New Year's TP Firecracker Treat Holders

At midnight on New Year's Day, I hear a lot of my neighbors setting of fireworks. I am too cheap and lazy to stand out in the cold setting them off myself, but I thought my kids would get a kick out of making these "firecracker" candy holders to tear into on New Year's. They are super easy to put together because they are made with items you probably already have laying around the house.

All you need is empty toilet paper rolls, scrapbook paper, tissue paper, ribbon and candy. 

Start by cutting a sheet of tissue paper in half. It will now be the perfect length to overlap on the tp roll. Wrap it around the roll, cutting it where the ends meet. Tape to secure. Tie one end of the tissue paper closed with ribbon. Fill toilet paper roll with candy. Secure other end with additional ribbon. Tape colorful scrapbook paper around the roll, and Voila! Cheap and easy firecrackers for New Year's celebrations!

 

These would also work great for July 4th crafting too!

Do you light fireworks for New Year's?

Saint Mary's Winter Wonderland Family Craft Day

Every once in a while the school will send out an email that has information for family friendly activities that are happening in our community. We learned that the students at Saint Mary's College, sister college to Notre Dame, was hosting a Winter Wonderland Family Craft Day that was free to the community to come out to attend. We were a little up in the air on if we wanted to go. It didn't have much information on the flyer and I wasn't sure it was going to be worth our time. Since we didn't have anything else going on Saturday, we decided to give it a shot. I am so happy we did, too! I was impressed that the school went above and beyond my expectations on the crafting event, especially for a free event to boot!

There were about 10 craft stations set up, each one with a different craft for the kids to construct. The girls got to paint a holiday themed ornament:

Make a painted hand print reindeer:

Whip up some Reindeer Food:

Paint and Glitterize some wooden popsicle stick snowflakes:

Create some rice-filled sock snowmen:

And construct some reindeer antler hats!

There were a few other booths also, where they made some candy canes out of beads, paper chain countdown to Christmas, and face painting, though the snowmen was their favorite. When we were finished, we were able to stop in another room for cookie decorating and hot cocoa:

And a visit with Santa! Allison wore her Santa beard she made in the craft room:

They even took a family photo and printed it off for us to take home:

They do this event every year, though this was the first we have heard of it. We are already looking forward to attending again, and will definitely be going back next year!

Have you done any holiday crafts with your family this year? Which craft listed do you like the best?