Halloween Goodies

All month we have been trying to decide what to make in the kitchen for Halloween. We ended up with some very cute, pretty easy and tasty treats! 

First we made Bloodshot Deviled Eyeballs 

Boiled eggs as normal 

After we cooled the eggs we added 1 tablespoon of vinegar and LOTS of red die to the water. We gently cracked the eggs while leaving the shell intact. 

 Remove the shells and you will have "bloodshot" eggs

Cut the eggs in half and remove yolk - Make your favorite deviled egg recipe. We used this one from  Paula Deen. Add a little blue or green food coloring to the mix to give it color. 

 Fill eggs with mixture and add an olive slice with a pimento. For the Bloodshot look on this side of the egg we used food decorating gel. 

We also made these adorable doughnut hole pops! Bloodshot Eyeballs on a Fork! 

Start with store bought doughnut holes, white chocolate chips and red frosting.

We were in a time crunch and didn't get a photo of covering the doughnut holes but just put a fork in the doughnut hole and cover it with melted white chocolate. Put a dark chocolate chip in backwards for the pupil.

Decorate the lines with red frosting. 

We also made Frankenstein marshmallow pops! 

This was our final table... (please excuse the Styrofoam containers...)

 We made name flags for everyone's drinks with black ribbon, paint pen, googley eyes and super glue. 

 Spiked Jell-O Brain with additional Jell-O shots 

It was a great day in the kitchen yesterday and everything was a big hit! 

Enjoy! 

Hungry Happenings: A quick and quirky sweet treat for Halloween.

This is a great idea and perfect for the Payneless Creativity blog! Beth at Hungry Happenings created the cutest little sweet ghosts! Anyone can make this in a snap!

Hungry Happenings: A quick and quirky sweet treat for Halloween.: The other afternoon after I finished working on my Googly Eyed Ghost Pop post, I went to the refrigerator for something, and there on...

Payneless and Cute Gift Card Wrapping

I love to receive gift cards as a gift but for some reason when I am giving them as a gift I feel bad. Like it may not be personal enough or cute enough to give as a gift.
My sister in law loves to shop so when her birthday came around last month I knew I would end up getting her a gift card so she could shop. I wanted to make it look cute and dress it up a little....This is what I created in about 3 minutes.

As I stood in line at Marshalls to get the gift card I saw this cute ceramic coffee mug.
It was on clearance for $3.00 so I grabbed it and thought "I can use this for the wrapping" however I wasn't quite sure how I would do that...So I went back to work and just had it in the back of my head. Suddenly it occurred to me. I just add some green wrinkle paper and a cute sign! 

Grilled Cheese Surprise

Something we tried this week I thought I would share...The surprise is a little bruschetta center!
My boss had made this for lunch a few times and it looked really good. Even though John and I hate tomatoes we LOVE this!!

Butter a slice of Sourdough bread

Add Tomatoes, Balsamic Vinegar, fresh basil and a dash of garlic  

Put one slice of the buttered bread on a hot skillet (medium/hot) add shredded Mozzarella, Grated Romano and the Tomatoes 

Add Top Piece of Bread

And Enjoy! 

Enjoy!

And...I'm back!

Wow has it been awhile!! Like....4 months..oops! Well we had a lot going on during these past 4 months. We were in escrow on a condo and just as we were about to close and get our keys the deal fell through. That was a very stressful few months! Even though we went through a lot we learned new things are will be better prepared when it happens again.

We are getting settled into our little one bedroom apartment for now and will look to buy again next year.

Other than all of the moving news I did have a few "creative" things happen....

Steph's Birthday at the Winery! We had the best day and it was so easy to coordinate and plan. Sometimes a payneless call into a place before you arrive can change your whole experience! I did this to celebrate Megan's new job at Northwestern Mutual as well! Check out the photos!

The girls piggy banks for "Wine Money" 

The table was all set up for us after our tasting

Outside the Winery! 

I went up the night before and gave the staff my little gifts and cupcakes and platter for them to set up outside as a surprise to the girls!

When I called ahead I asked that they have a cheese platter waiting for us...Yummmy!

Arrived at Winery and we had a tour and tasting all scheduled

Took Megan to POP Champagne and Dessert Bar and called ahead and asked them to bring out this YUMMY dessert with Congratulations Megan on it! She loved and it was a great surprise that just added so much to our dinner experience! 

Now, I do realize that these are nothing super exciting or original but its just that extra minute of detail to make a call before you arrive that really can change everything!

Enjoy!

5x7 Folded Card

Picture More Berry 5x7 folded card

Create custom cards for Valentines Day and Easter at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Missing in Action....

Hello Bloggers...

I am sorry I've been lacking in the posts.
A few days after my last post things got crazy busy!!

I have not had a lot of time to do to many creative things lately but hopefully things will slow down after my birthday (May 2nd) and then I can get back to having fun!

While on this little break check out this blog Sweet Simple Stuff  http://sweetsimplestuff.com/author/sweetsimplestuff/
LOVE LOVE LOVE her. She makes really cute creative yummy eats! Wonderful ideas if you have children around for the holidays!

This is just one of her fun ideas!!! Easter Basket Cupcakes!

Apologize again for nothing new but will get back in the swing of things soon!
In the meantime....Eat, Drink and Be Marry! :)

Happy Fat Tuesday

Mardi Gras is here! Now, I know it's a Tuesday and most of us are working but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy a little bit of Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday at home!

For dinner tonight try this easy Cajun Shrimp paired with a little bit of your favorite veggies or a nice salad! 

Cajun Shrimp Recipe

Try this New Orleans House Salad Special

Now if you wanna get a little adventurous for a Tuesday evening and really get in the Spirit of Fat Tuesday whip yourself up a traditional New Orleans Hurricane Cocktail! Purple and Green hurricane glasses with this hurricane recipe and  a little bit of jazz  for background dinner music and you'll fill like you right in the French Quarter in New Orleans. 

Enjoy! 

The Bowl Maker

So my dear dear friend Phyllis found these bowl makers at the Bass Pro Shop (of all places) and once she showed them to me I knew this could be fun! She bought me the 3" bowl makers (individual size). Since I am trying to be good and not eat a lot of bread and fattening food right now these have been stored away but I am looking forward to pulling them back out again sometime soon!  The options are endless and the recipe book that it comes with is just the start of all of the neat things you can make!

This is the Pan...a little tip...Make sure to coat ALL of the bowl with Baker's Joy.

The flour in the baker's joy helps everything pop right out when you are finished cooking. 

A silicone brush is also helpful to get all of the little spots.

The first thing I made with this was Ground Turkey Stew in Biscuit bowls!

Ground Turkey

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Carrots, Peas, Corn (mixed veggies) 

Salt & Pepper 

Pop Dough Biscuits

You can find this pan online at Bass Pro Shop Bowl Makers

The next thing I will try and of course let you know how it turned out is meatloaf bowls with garlic mash potatoes. I have new meatloaf recipe from Paula Deen that is to die for! Check that out here 

 Smokey Apple Cinnamon Meatloaf

Enjoy! 

Thank You Cards are the Best!

I love getting cards in the mail! I don't think people hand write and mail things enough these days.

Lately I have been using Shutterfly.com to make all of my Thank You Cards. These are a really easy and creative way to say Thanks.

The Start of it all....

Today is my first day of blogging. The reason I named the blog Payneless-Creativity is because first off...my last name is Payne. Second, I am not the most creative person in the world (by-far) but I always try to spruce up life with some cute decorations, good food and a fun cocktail! I think that it doesn't have to be hard to make something look cute or to add a extra touch of detail when planning. From wrapping gifts to a table scape for a dinner party, a little extra touch and time makes all the difference in the world.

These are few recent things I've made...(oh and John too....He's the love of my life and the other half to all of my projects)

Make Your Own Pita Pizzas! 

(John, Jamie and Megan) 

John 

Saturday Morning Breakfast 

Fresh Fruit, Avocado Toast (english muffin) and

 Egg Beaters with Canadian Bacon & Avocado

Lunch Date with Stephanie 

Small BBQ Chicken Wrap 

Tossed Cilantro Salad

Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Hot Cilantro Dip

For the BBQ Chicken Wrap:

1/4 of 1 Mission Garden Spinach Herb Wrap 

Your Favorite BBQ Sauce

Red Onion 

WW Light Whipped Cream Cheese 

Sliced Chicken Breast