Isn't it so cute?! Suzie made these Halloween fun-fetti cupcakes with spider web icing and plucked plastic spider rings from her condo decor as the "cherry" on top. I think she used white icing out of a jar and then made concentric circles with black piping. She took a tooth pick to drag the lines through the circles, stuck the spiders in, and wha la! They were just as delicious as they were cute!
I followed about 75% of my inspiration board for the party, seen here. I made a burlap-esque table runner out of extra fabric I had from a curtain I'd made a while ago. This was a great base, and I think it will work really well with other table-scapes in the future (uber excited about that tidbit!). I placed my white elevated tray on the center of the table runner, topped with a hurricane filled with bright-red apples and a black grosgrain ribbon tied around the neck. Then I put my two tin baskets that I received for last year's Easter basket on either side of the white tray. I placed two off-white candles in these tin baskets for extra glow. (I LOVED the look of the tin against the burlap. This combo made sure that the decor didn't go too far on either side of the modern vs. natural scale.)
Finally, I placed my batty napkin rings (with napkins) in the center of each square bowl, silverware, and glasses for water and wine at each place setting, and I was good to go! Once I wash my table runner (it got some of Bree's yummy spinach and artichoke dip on it), I'll recreate the tabletop to show you guys what it really looked like.
BOO-k Club Dinner Party Menu (wish I'd thought of that BOO part earlier):
Baked Feta appetizer from Sam the Cooking Guy: A little bland, so I'd suggest serving it with hummus and maybe don't get the low-fat kind like I did for a bit more shazaam! However, after reading the recipe again, I noticed I forgot the garlic. Could have been the clincher. "Recipe" here.
Curry Pumpkin Soup from Sam the Cooking Guy: VERY yummy, although I doubled the recipe which made it harder to keep warm without boiling. Also, by the time my last guest arrived, it had reduced to the consistency of pumpkin pie for her...oh well! Still tasty haha. Recipe here.
Salad with apples, feta, and tomatoes by Nissa: DE-LISH! Recipe self-explanatory.
Hallo-weenies by Suzie from Pillsbury: She made the tiny weenies which were delicious, but a little too small to picture the zombie-croissant-roll covering. She even brought tiny black bowls for the ketsup and mustard dip 'cause she's good like that! Recipe here.
Spinach and Artichoke Dip in a Bread Bowl by Bree: Again, I had a hard time getting this guy warm, but it was still delicious. She wasn't into it, which was ironic since she brought it, but everyone else was in leurve. MMMM...anything in a bread bowl is genius in my eyes.
Spider-Web Cupcakes by Suzie: I think I pumped these up enough already ;) Recipe on back of cupcake mix box.
Water and red, red wine. I found a cheap bottle of Cab with a black twisted tree on the front of it. It went perfectly with my theme, so I placed that on top of the library's copy of The Strain at the end of the table for added effect. Although, I was the only one who read the book, so I'm not even sure anyone recognized it ;)
Next book: The Help by Katharine Stockett (apparently we're into the two-word titles).
'Til next time, bookies!
Apparently, they were showcased at a Michael Kors show. Too cute! And too easy to make: 1. Cut out sunglasses and lips from a fashion magazine (honestly, this was the ONLY challenge of this DIY project because my mags didn't have photos large enough for such big glasses), 2. Match the glasses with the lips, I went for one big and one little (i.e. big sunglasses with little lips or little sunglasses with big lips)...you do what you like! 
Two mason jars (left over from an adventure with homemade orange jam), twine, and said leaf centerpiece. I chose this one so I could reuse the attached berries and pine cones for Christmas DIY TBD next month. Once I removed all of the leaves, berries, and pine cones from the "wreath," I was left with this:
The leaves came out in pairs, so I cut them apart and tried to lay them out on the jar to attach with twine. However, those slippery little suckers just kept moving from where I placed them. So I came up with this plan: circle the jar with floral wire, stuff stems under wire in a nice overlapping pattern, and then tie the twine around the center of the leaves. Once I got all of the leaves where I wanted them, I removed the twine and was left with something quite nice!
What do you think? MUCH better than the lace in my opinion. And the three-step process (as opposed to the original two-step process I initially tried) worked pretty well. This will allow me to remove all of the leaves after Halloween and reuse the jars for something else. Plus, I'll have the individual leaves for something else next year. I'm a big fan of reusing, but not replicating exactly. 
They were pretty easy to make, although very fussy and a little difficult to cut both sides exactly the same. Also, the paper cutout was hard to keep in one place on the felt; I'd probably pin it to the felt next time so it doesn't slip around too much. Once I cut out one felt bat, I was able to use a felt-on-felt pattern, which didn't slip as much as the paper. I might also consider getting some white chalk to draw out the shapes on each piece, although I'm not sure that would have helped too much since part of the problem was getting the corners cut without pulling on the felt. No one likes a fuzzy corner! The size of the slit that you have to cut to complete the ring was a bit of a conundrum. Finding the right balance between being big enough to fit the felt but not too big that it ripped through the edge of the slit was the hardest part. I find that a little wrinkle in the felt is better than having to re-cut the entire thing due to a stretched slit.
With two sheets of felt for about $0.30 a piece, I've got six napkin rings for under a buck. Can't beat that! Aren't they adorable with my ghostly green napkins and new tableware? While at Michael's for the felt, I also picked up a fax leaf center piece to use for parts, a berry twig, and a jack-o-lantern kit for less than $10. Holler!
I've also seen pumpkins used as ice buckets for drinks and soup 
Two things to note in this year-old photo of our house: