A Black & White Halloween

Since the thought of Halloween first popped into my head, which lets be honest, was basically last year, I knew I wanted to decorate in the color scheme of black and white. I think it just looks so classic and sharp with just a touch of creepy. 

But not gory gross creepy, classy creepy. Can that be a thing?

A few weeks ago I decided to text my girlfriends to see if they were interested in doing a craft night with me. I had big plans to craft all throughout September to have Halloween set up by the 1st of October. I figured its more fun to do those kinds of things with good company. 

And let me tell you, my girlfriends are the BEST company. 

About 4 days before our craft night, my friend and I decided that we should turn it into a Halloween party as well. What was supposed to be a small Halloween craft night, quickly turned into an actual, 2 month early, Halloween party. And I'm not even a little bit mad about it. My husband looked at me oddly when I told him I was throwing a Halloween party. I told him he just didn't understand. 

After trying to get everything crafted and baked in 4 days, I was so not in the mood to actually craft the night of the party. And I didn't. And it was cool. I was a little worried about cramming 14 girls into my teeny tiny apartment, but luckily and unluckily, not everyone could come.  

I thought it was a great night. We were able to talk without our kids, and enjoy some yummy treats...without kids. That hardly ever happens. So I'd call it a success.

I'm also going to let you in on a little secret about throwing a party...do it with a friend. It makes it so much less stressful when someone else can help provide some of the desserts and crafts. It's a sanity savor and I only hope my dear sweet friend will continue to help me out :)

I have also realized that I have gotten ridiculously good at cutting out millions of tiny objects from card stock. My poor hand was ready to fall off after cutting out the dozens of bats, witches, and letters...

 I definitely know what is going on my Christmas list this year...a cricut or silhouette.

Without further ado, here is my super early Halloween party

 

 The Menu

Chocolate cupcakes

Apple pie caramel apples

Plain caramel apples

Pumpkin pie (Provided by Kendra)

Nutella cheesecake (Provided by Kendra)

Pumpkin spice muddy buddies (Provided by Kendra)
Sugar cookies

Pineapple basil juice

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Naked for the 4th...

...Naked cake that is...

Don't you think these types of cakes are the prettiest things ever? All I want to do is make and eat them all day long. Who wants to join me?

I needed a good excuse to make one of these beauts and I figured the 4th of July would be the perfect occasion to bake up a cake and top it with gorgeous, fresh, red and blue berries. And that's just what I did...only I did it a week early. 

So I guess I should call it a "27th of June, cake". 

This cake was so easy to make and the end result is beautiful. 

I feel like they're pretty self explanatory to make, but if you need some guidance

 I've done a little tutorial on how to put one together. 

What you'll need

2 boxes of cake mix

             or

double batch of this vanilla cake 

3 cans of frosting, or a large batch of homemade frosting

toppings of your picking

First start by making 2 batches of cake.
I cheated and used boxed (gasp) but I really should have made my own.
Boxed cake is just no good after you've had a good, made from scratch, homemade cake.
Lesson learned.

 Bake up your cake batter in 8 inch cake rounds. You should have enough for 3-4 layers.

Once your cakes have cooked and are fully cooled, take a serrated knife and cut the domed top off your cakes, making sure the whole layer is flat and even.

Now we start to build.  Place your first cake layer down on your cake stand or serving platter, I put the cut side on the bottom so the top was smooth. Cover it with a generous amount of frosting and spread it to the sides. Try to keep it neat and stay in the lines.

Continue to do this until you've reached your top layer. Once your top cake is frosted, you can leave it as it is or cover it in berries or whatever you choose as your topping.

And that's it. So easy, right?

Also, this little guy had to get in on the action

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