DAY 7 - DIY Fancy Pie Crust

Right now my house is filled with the cozy, delicious smell of baking pie.  For thanksgiving I have volunteered to make dessert for our family dinner and I chose to make pumpkin and pecan pie because nothing says fall like pie.  I love to bake but I don't often get the chance to bake pies. So when I decided to make not one but two pies I went all out and fancied them up with some decorations I made out of leftover crust.  It was really simple to do and I figured, if I'm going to take the time and effort to make pies from scratch I might as well make them look pretty. Plus it doesn't take up a whole lot of extra time.

For the pumpkin pie I rolled out the extra crust that I had after cutting it off of the outside edge and used a cookie cutter to cut out little pumpkins. I put them around the edge of the pie with a little bit of egg.  Once they were all on I then brushed the tops of them with more egg so they would go all lovely and golden brown when baked.

For the pecan pie I made a braid to go around the outside. I again rolled out the extra crust but this time I cut three thin strips, flattened them together at the top (a bit of egg helps too, to keep the ends together) and braided it.  Just like for the pumpkins, I brushed some egg around the outside of the pie and put the braid on. Don't forget to brush the top of the braid with egg so it goes golden when baking.

The end result, while not a masterpiece, is a little more festive and fun to look at.

Day 6 - Decor To Do List

I love the holidays and Thanksgiving and Christmas are my two favourite. During the holidays there are many things that my family and I like to do. I usually make a to do list that is either written down on a little piece of paper and stuck on the fridge or in my head. This year I thought it would be nice to incorporate my to do list into my holiday decor that I could display in the house.  This is a cheap and very easy way to decorate for the holidays.

You only need three items, a frame, a piece of pretty scrapbook paper and a dry erase marker.  All I did was cut a piece of pretty fall inspired paper to the size of my frame and put it inside.  I then wrote on the glass my to do list. The marker wipes away easily and I can keep it handy to check off the activities as we do them.

I also cut a piece of Christmas paper that I am keeping in the frame behind the fall paper to interchange as the holiday rolls around.

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