I saw this super cute idea of using Christmas Village houses to make a Halloween-themed Village from the website, The 36th Avenue (via Pinterest). They used the houses found at the Dollar Tree at Christmastime. So cute and clever, I just had to make one of these for myself. But since it's the middle of summer, I was hard pressed to find cheap Christmas houses. I already had one that I knew of. An unpainted, forgotten Christmas house I bought nearly 20 years ago that I never got around to painting. I braved the scorching heat of
my attic, in the heart of summer, to bring it down. That's one and it was free! Now, where can I get more houses this time of year? I looked online and they were all too expensive. So I searched every Thrift store in my area and found some great old houses that were just perfect. And they only cost me about $2 or $3 each. Some had busted trim or the lights didn't work, but that didn't matter to me. They were perfect.
Before I show how I made this lovely little village and some of the details, let's take a stroll through my Haunted Hamlet first. :)
Here are some pictures of my Haunted Hamlet without the lights on. It still looks great unlit! I kept the jack-o-lanterns lit to give it some life!
Haunted Hamlet How-to:
Gather up your old Christmas Village Houses. I selected houses that I could light up. I taped over some of the windows to leave the panes painted with some of the original detail. Here is an in-process example as I taped up the windows. Spray paint all the houses in flat black paint. Once the spray paint is dry, remove tape from windows. Touch up spots around the windows when you remove the tape with black acrylic paint and a brush. Highlight details by painting the window trim, snowdrifts, rooftops and other accented details with black glitter paint. This gives the houses some dimension and interest with shiny, subtle details. I also found this ugly, acrylic Christmas tree at the thrift store and thought it would make a great creepy tree in my Haunted Hamlet once it was spray painted black. I also rummaged through my Halloween stuff and found this pumpkin tree with bats hanging from them. Another tree for my village. I spray painted the pumpkin base and then placed it in the back and covered it with creepy cloth to hide the pumpkin. I also removed all the hanging bats and hot glued one of the bats upside down from one of the branches. It's a cute detail even if the bat is the wrong scale. It still works for me. I also had some floral sprays that I cut up and turned into trees too. Graveyard How-to: It is the middle of summer, but Michael's (gotta love them) had their Halloween stuff out already in July. Yay for me! I splurged a whole $4.99 on these way cool tombstones. I almost didn't want to paint them, the detailing was so neat. They also had a small bag of these miniature skulls for $1.49 that I thought would be perfect for my graveyard. My youngest son (7), loves to collect sticks. Whenever we go to the park, he usually comes home with at least 2 new sticks, to "add to his collection". He's so cute. Anyway, I rummaged through his "stick collection" and broke off a few thin branches (He won't miss them) and assembled this rickety fence. I hot glued the whole thing together and then spray painted everything in flat black. Then, I cut up some of the creepy cloth and glued it to the foam base to camouflage the foam board. Cool, huh? (Not pictured, but I later added some highlights to the fencing with some glitter paint.)
Light-up Jack-o-lantern How to: 2 acrylic pumpkins tea light, flame removed Painters tape black spray paint
No Haunted Hamlet would be complete without a few light-up jack-o-lanterns. I got the idea to make these, when I saw a bag of this fall bowl filler. It had mini acrylic pumpkins that were so beautiful, I thought, "I need to light these babies up!"
First step is to drill a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin. It was pretty easy since the heat from the drill melts the acrylic a little and makes a perfect hole.
Tape up the drilled hole in the bottom with painters tape, cut into a small circle, and then tape up your jack-o-lantern face. Don't forget to tape up the light bulb on the tea light too. Spray paint. Let dry. Remove tape with tweezers. You will need to touch-up paint the face a little and add finer details like the teeth. (I had to add paint to make the eyes smaller on the two below.) Spray a little pool of the spray paint onto a piece of paper and use a toothpick to add paint for detail work and to fix any scratches. I checked where the pumpkins needed additional paint by placing it on the lit tea light and painting it while it was lit up.
Assembly Now it's time to assemble the whole thing...
You will need: 3 strands of 20 light Orange Halloween lights 3 Candleholders in various heights two lengths of Creepy Cloth (I got mine from the 99CentsOnly store)
I used some candle holders and a small wrought iron basket turned upside down, for the background houses, but you can use boxes or anything that has different heights.I wrapped a strand of 20 lights around the base.
Next, place two layers of creepy cloth over the candle holders and place one of the trees in the background.
Add another 20 light strand of Orange lights to the three houses for the background. I taped the strands to the bottom of each house and then placed them on the candle holders.
Repeat the taping of the last 20 light strand of Orange lights to the remaining two houses and place in foreground.
Add your trees
Add graveyard and light up jack-o-lanterns and you're all done! Happy Halloween!
I'm taking a little detour from Halloween foods today to stroll into everyday meal territory with this amazing Garlic Cheese Bread. I was at the grocery store last week and picked up this huge loaf of french bread, fresh from the bakery, for only 99 cents. A. Total. Steal. All I could think of was getting it home to make my Mom's Garlic Cheese Bread. This is her copy cat recipe for Black Angus Restaurant's Cheese Bread and it is the most amazing, fattening and delicious garlic bread you will ever eat. It is literally a meal in itself...like a monster grilled cheese sandwich! In fact, we ended up eating only this bread for dinner the night I made it. What do you know...I just didn't get to the rest of the meal once it came out of the oven all hot bubbly and cheesy. :) This recipe makes a full loaf that can feed 8-9 people because it is so rich. If you don't have a crowd, you don't have to bake both halves, you can freeze the other half and pull it out of the freezer for another meal. I intended to freeze half but realized I was out of plastic wrap. Darn. I had no choice but to bake both halves and we had to have this cheesy garlic bread for the next 4 nights...that's probably why I've gained 5 pounds the week I made this garlic bread. sigh* It was so worth it. Enjoy!
Garlic Cheese Bread Serves 10-12 1 large loaf of french bread, sliced lengthwise 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 cup Asiago cheese, grated 1 cup Jack cheese, grated 1/2 cup mayonnaise 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 bunch green onions, chopped Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and spread generously over french bread halves. Place bread on a parchment lined cooking sheet and bake 10 minutes, then place under the broiler for about 3 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let cool for 3 minutes before cutting. Cut into 1.5" wide slices.
Can be frozen: Wrap each half loaf in plastic wrap and then foil or a ziploc bag, then freeze. Thaw before baking.
When I plan for Halloween, I jot down my ideas in a notebook. Throughout the year, I scribble ideas for recipes, how to plate it, how to photograph it, and I draw out rough sketches of decorating vignettes. Planning is serious business for me. :) As I looked through my notebook of Halloween ideas, I came across my note to make this way cool meatloaf. I saw this idea on Pinterest last year right AFTER Halloween. So you can imagine, I've been waiting a long time to make this ghoulish guy.
Part of the fun of making these Halloween themed foods is making them look festive, and this Mummified Meatloaf is certainly festive, but most importantly, it still has to taste good. The image on Pinterest didn't include a recipe, so it freed me to use my Mom's go-to meatloaf recipe. This recipe is easy, delicious, and my kids love it! That alone is a reason to make it, in my house. I think my kiddos like the barbecue sauce in it. My mom's recipe calls for adding Chris and Pitt's Hickory barbecue sauce to
the meat and the top. I add extra sauce to the top, so as it cooks, the sauce gets browned and the sugar in the sauce caramelizes, which is super
yummy. In this version, the bacon does the browning and crisping up which
knocks this simple meatloaf up a few notches! Imagine this Mummified Meatloaf served along side Roasted Fingers and Toes and a "Beet"ing Hearts Salad with a Blood Red Vinaigrette for a super fun, festive and delicious Halloween Dinner! And for dessert, try these decadent Black Velvet Cream Cakes. Happy Halloween!
2 lbs 7% lean ground beef 1/2 cup bread crumbs salt and pepper garlic powder 2 eggs 1 cup Chris and Pitt's Hickory BBQ sauce 3 slices of bacon 1/2 small onion, cut up Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together ground beef, bread crumbs, salt and pepper, garlic powder, eggs and Chris and Pitt's barbecue sauce until well combined. Shape meat into a head-shaped oval and transfer meatloaf to a large baking dish. Cut up onion into small pieces that can be used to make the eyes and teeth of the mummy. Insert the onion pieces into the meatloaf. Brush outside of meatloaf with more BBQ sauce. Then wrap the bacon around the meatloaf to mimic mummy wraps. Brush on another coat of Chris and Pitt's BBQ sauce and pop it into a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Transfer to a serving plate and enjoy!
light up. I taped over some of the windows to leave the panes painted with some of the original detail. Here is an in-process example as I taped up the windows. Spray paint all the houses in flat black paint. Once the spray paint is dry, remove tape from windows. Touch up spots around the windows when you remove the tape with black acrylic paint and a brush. 
