Kitty Litter Cake {Recipe}

Who's ever heard of a kitty litter cake? I know I have. Though I have never sampled one, let alone made one. I took on the task of creating one for my office Halloween party. Dessert hour allows us to get really creative with food decorations and the whole Halloween theme. After our lunch hour of monster eyes mac-n-cheese balls, skeleton stew, mummy wraps and other Halloween creations we were ready for dessert. Everyone was excited to see and try my kitty litter cake. At least, we thought we were...it looked creepily real...

After staring at it and discussing it along with the other desserts for at least 10 minutes, someone was finally brave enough to dig in.

"This is the best kitty litter I've ever had."

Well, that was good to know. :) 

 It was definitely a success. Thankfully. I was afraid it'd taste as bad as it looked. We even used the scooper to serve ourselves. :)

This was so simple to make. It took some time, but nonetheless, it was very easy to make. I made my own variation from the below recipe found on AllRecipes.com. My comments/changes (based on other reviews and my taste) are in purple. The end result was a super moist white cake. Not too gooey, and not dry at all. Very similar to a cake pop consistency--with almost the taste of raw cake batter. YUM!! 

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package German chocolate cake mix ((I used a Funfetti mix))
• 1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
• 2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix ((I used one small package of White Chocolate instant pudding))
• 1 (12 ounce) package vanilla sandwich cookies ((Golden Oreos))
• 3 drops green food coloring
• 1 (12 ounce) package tootsie rolls ((I used Little Debbie Brownies))
• Kitty litter box and scooper adds the perfect touch!! Oh, having a cute kitty doesn't hurt ei'her. :)

Directions

1. Prepare cake mixes and bake according to package directions (any size pan).
2. Prepare pudding according to package directions and chill until ready to assemble.
3. Crumble sandwich cookies in small batches in a food processor, scraping often. Set aside all but 1/4 cup. To the 1/4 cup add a few drops of green food coloring and mix.
4. When cakes are cooled to room temperature, ((I didn't wait--I'm impatient)) crumble them into a large bowl. Toss with 1/2 of the remaining cookie crumbs, and the chilled pudding. You probably won't need all of the pudding, you want the cake to be just moist, not soggy.((This is why I only used one box of pudding, and for the fact that Funfetti mix has pudding in it))
5. Line kitty litter box with the kitty litter line. ((I did not use a liner as many reviews said it was actually more difficult to deal with. I had no issue not using the liner)) Put cake mixture into box.
6. Put half of the unwrapped tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until softened. Shape the ends so that they are no longer blunt, and curve the tootsie rolls slightly. Bury tootsie rolls randomly in the cake and sprinkle with half of the remaining cookie crumbs. ((Many reviews recommended not using tootsie rolls as they harden and people tend to not eat them. Little Debbie brownies worked PERFECTLY, they didn't harden over night...oh, and I don't like tootsie rolls)) Sprinkle a small amount of the green colored cookie crumbs lightly over the top.
7. Heat 3 or 4 of the tootsie rolls in the microwave until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle lightly with some of the green cookie crumbs. Heat the remaining tootsie rolls until pliable and shape as before. ((Oh, and you don't have to heat up Little Debbie brownies to shape them)) Spread all but one randomly over top of cake mixture. Sprinkle with any remaining cookie crumbs. Hang the remaining tootsie roll over side of litter box and sprinkle with a few green cookie crumbs. Serve with the pooper scooper for a gross Halloween dessert.

This was the remainder of the cake after dessert hour. Only one 'nugget' was left over--I guess the word got around that it tasted pretty good! :)

After making this for the first time it's safe to say I'll definitely be making one again in the future for other Halloween parties. It was a hit. Now, if you want to go less gross, you can create cute desserts like Francesca and Rebecca did...

 'Tombstone' and 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead' cupcakes!!

They were SUPER yummy too!!

Make Your Own: Fred & Wilma Costumes

Halloween is right around the corner so if you haven't purchased your costume yet and the racks seem to be getting a little bare, consider making a costume for yourself. I put together a couples costume for both Larry and I for a whopping $20!!

Here's the cost breakdown:

$10 on my white satin 'leopard print' fabric

$4 on my styrofoam balls

$4 on felt for the Fred costume

$2 on red lipstick

I already had elastic, ribbon, fishing line (or thread) and earring backs on hand

*Side note--all of my fabric was purchased at Jo-Anns. Coincidentally BOTH fabrics were marked down to half off and I had a 40% off a cut and a 50% off a cut coupon. Felt always seems to be 50% off and coupons come out on a weekly basis!

:How To:

Fred: After some googling I knew creating Fred would be easy. I made his entire costume from large pieces of felt. Simply create an over-sized extra long shirt with a fairly large hole for the neck. Cut up the edges for a torn effect. I cut a long piece of turquoise felt into the shape of a tie--a very OVERSIZED tie. Larry really wanted this piece to be dramatic. He tied it on like a real tie and I hand-stitched it on in a few places to make sure it was secure. Cutting out the black shapes was actually very simple; stitching them on was the most tedious part. I used my machine to create a few stitches on the corners of each of the spots rather than stitching around the entire piece of fabric. ALL DONE! 

Wilma: I was originally going to use a white knit material for Wilma's costume but when Larry spotted a satin 'leopard print' white fabric for a great price I couldn't pass it up. The downfall = it wasn't stretchy. I didn't want to go through the hassle of adding a zipper just for a halloween costume, so I made a simple one-sleeve design for my dress and added an elastic band below my bust for some shape. Here is a tutorial I skimmed over to get a jump-start on my dress design. I made MANY changes in my design compared to this one, but it was a good reference. The dress shouldn't have too much of a shape and should be just big enough to fit over your head to wear. Now, to create some shape! How to create an elastic waist: Sew a piece of ribbon (larger than your elastic) measured to the dress (not your waist) to the INSIDE of the dress just below your bust--edgestitch the top and bottom of the ribbon, leaving each end of the ribbon open, creating a casing for the elastic. Push the elastic through the ribbon casing using a safety pin, decide on how much stretch you like (making sure it can go over your head) and sew the elastic together on the ends. From here, adjust the gather around your waist and stitch over the dress, elastic and ribbon casing along both side seems to keep the gather even and the elastic from rolling. Cut up the hem of your dress and you have a Wilma!!

Strand your styrofoam balls onto some fishing line (or thread) with a needle and glue two balls onto earring backs...add some red lipstick and you're good to go! An orange wig would totally complete the look, but that was the one splurge I wasn't willing to make. :)

Hope this might inspire you to make your own costume for this coming Halloween!

Need other ideas for a DIY costume? 

Check out my $5 mini poodle skirt, lace masquerade mask or Sew Woodsy's mad scientist costumes!

Spooktacular Brunch and Dessert Party

This year for Halloween we had a Spooktacular Brunch and Dessert Party for the office. With the help of a co-worker, we got to planning and shopping! Our manager let us have free reign and he really wanted us to get into it! He even went as far as telling us to cut down the budget by getting real-life spiders and cobwebs from outside…but we weren’t going THAT route! Many people signed up for the lunch and dessert party and we were excited to see what concoctions people would come up with! 

Along with carving pumpkins, I spent the night before 

making chocolates for the admin's goodie bags!

 The girls goodie bags consisted of a "creepy critter" some chocolate eyeballs, 

gummy body parts and my chocolate.

 

Since we weren't aloud to dress in costume, I had made a hair clip especially for Halloween :)

 

One of our "friends" greeting you at the door when you walked into the party.

 Pumpkin shaped baked brie!

Bloody cream cheese dip--yummy!

 

My pumpkin that I carved with the company logo.

 

 Some of the food...and yes that is a vulture by the chicken :)

Our other door greeter :)

 

Time for dessert!

We had mummy cupcakes, dirt pudding and chocolate-peanut butter eyeballs!

Leslie's creations :)

 

The day of was a little hectic with setting up and prepping but it turned out to be a great success! The food was yummy, the décor was creepy and the dessert was delish! The room was even complete with scary music, dim lights and the life-sized talking mannequins, which was the PERFECT touch!

Right around the corner…a Thanksgiving lunch!! We’re looking forward to some turkey and yummy sides!

 

 

Pumpkin Carving

One of my favorite things to do for Halloween is to carve pumpkins! This year, Larry took interest in carving one himself. It would be his FIRST pumpkin that he's ever carved (without the help of his parents from when he was younger!) and I KNEW it would be entertaining. We went and picked out THE perfect pumpkins and got to carving!

The part that I dislike THE most is taking out the inside goop of the pumpkin! It's so stringy, and goopy and slimey--ew! I cut the "lids" off from my two pumpkins while Larry scraped his out. I then started de-gooping mine...thankfully, Larry was able to finish my two off. :) We were each carving a pumpkin to put on the porch, while I was going to carve an additional one to bring to work for our Halloween lunch. 

After going back and forth between two designs, Larry decided on a howling wolf. He used a stencil...Time to tape it on nice and flat, and start poking his holes along the lines!

 This is what the final carving is SUPPOSED to look like!! Mind you--he picked out a level 3 difficulty for his first carving ever! (with 4 being the hardest!)

I started off with my pumpkin that I was going to carve for work. I pulled up the company logo on my phone and started drawing it on the pumpkin. I carved over the lines and it turned out just perfectly!

For my pumpkin that I was going to keep at home, I also chose to free-hand the design because I never really like the patterns they sell at the stores! With the help of Larry, we FINALLY figured out a design. The HARDEST part was figuring out what pieces needed to be cut out and what pieces would stay attached to the pumpkin. This was probably the longest and most difficult part of the evening! But, once we figured it out--I carved until I couldn't carve anymore! I may not use the same technique Larry does, but nonetheless, I get it done. :)

 Aaaand, the final products!!!

Larry's wolf turned out AMAZING to say the least! :)

 My skull & crossbones with a bow was JUST the design I wanted. Halloween mixed with feminine flair :)

 

My pumpkin for work with our company logo was a hit at the party!

I think everyone should carve at least ONE pumpkin for Halloween in their lifetime! It is a fun and challenging expereince. I am hoping that this will become a tradition for Larry and I :)

Witches Feet {Tutorial}

So apparently at work my Halloween candy jar just wasn't enough decor! When my manager returned from his vacation, he questioned "Where are all the decorations?!" Since I have told him that I love doing anything crafty and fun, I guess he expected more! I love a challenge, so that same night I had to get something together! $1 Store here I come! I purchased some CUTE garland and a glittery Happy Halloween sign. I also found these argyle Halloween socks that I knew JUST the perfect project for!

This project literally cost me out-of-pocket...only $1!!!!

When I got home I pulled out some "scrap clothes" that I had just received from a co-worker and got to work!! All I used for this project was her old sweat pants and my new $1 socks! (plus my sewing machine and thread of course :) 

I started by cutting out the shape of the shoes from the sweat pants. I definitely did a couple of test drawings before I started free-hand cutting. Don't laugh--I promise, I really CAN draw! :) Make sure to cut out two of each side of the feet. Sew each front and back piece of the feet together wrong sides out, leaving the top open.

Cut off the ends of the socks to have two openings at each end and sew in the heel to "take away" the foot so that it creates one long tube. 

Flip both the feet and socks wrong side out and pin the right sides together at the openings all the way around for each foot.

Next, sew them together!! Make sure to keep pushing the sock ends to the back of where are you are sewing as to not sew the sock to itself or shut!!

PS--Don't worry, I take my pin out when I sew! I had it in to hold the fabric together so that I could take a photo :)

This is what they should look like--flat, and somewhat "not right." I feared that SOMETHING was wrong--that either the feet were too small, or the legs weren't long enough, but fear not!!

STUFF these suckers very tight and they will turn out beautifully! And forget using true"stuffing..." 

I used plastic bags and it worked perfectly--go green! :) (& cheap!)

Add your embellishments--ribbons, bling, etc! 

I tied off the open ends with rubber bands and was done! 

Now, stick them under a desk, bed, table, chair...whatever you like!

Look HOW cute they are!! I LOVE them!

Everyone in the office loves them too! 

Hahaha, they make me smile every time I see them! 

I embellished my sign with spider web ribbon and added my garland along with my candy jar and I now think it's super fun!

I think this is sufficient decor for my desk! 

And all for only $3!! :)