October 2014 - Page 2 of 2 - Strange & Charmed

Apptastic: TV Show Tracker

Guess what time it is? Time for a new monthly feature! Since this site was founded on my love for technology and its ability to make our lives easier, I thought it would be fun if I started a new feature where I review awesome apps that I like and that you may enjoy as well! I am calling this feature, Apptastic, and I hope you enjoy it!

For my first installment of Apptastic, I want to talk about a free app that, so far, has been something of a lifesaver for me, and I foresee that it will continue to be of use to me in the weeks and months to come! It is called TV Show Tracker, and I think you can take a good guess from the name what the app does. Yep, it’s Fall and all our favorite TV Shows are premiering left and right! Since I don’t watch much TV on a daily basis, I’m always absentminded when it comes to tracking show schedules. With the help of TV Show Tracker, I can save my favorite shows, see when they are airing and set an alarm to remind me when episodes are coming up! That way I never have to miss a show!

So, what show’s am I watching this fall? Well, first and foremost, Once Upon a Time just restarted a few weeks ago and I have been obsessed with the addition of our favorite Frozen characters! Ghost Adventures, my favorite paranormal travel documentary series is also back with new episodes that just started up last weekend! What can I say… I love scaring myself with ghost stories just in time for Halloween! This week, another modern classic, American Horror Story also premiers with their 4th season, and I cannot wait to learn more about the freak show! Also premiering this week is probably one of my absolute favorite shows, The Walking Dead! Who else is excited to see what Rick and the gang are up to?!? Do you think they will all make it out of Terminus alive? And where the heck is Beth? Last but certainly not least, in another few weeks my final favorite fall show premiers, Grimm! I can’t wait to see what happens with Nick and the new grimm after Monroe’s wedding. In case you can’t tell, my favorite shows are clearly fairy tale and horror related!

Okay, now it’s your turn! What shows are you looking forward to this season? Have you been watching any of my favorite shows? Will you be using the TV Show Tracker App to keep all your shows straight? Let me know in the comments below!

DIY

DIY Spooky Halloween Skull Cake

Last year, I was obsessed with the Nordic Ware Halloween Skull Cake Pan from Williams-Sonoma. I’m not really big into baking, but the thought of being able to bake a cake in the shape of a skull was enough to turn me into Betty Crocker! Well, unfortunately for me, the pan sold out relatively quickly last Halloween season, but this year it came back and I had to have it! So, my husband surprised me with it last month and to thank him I immediately made him a cake using the pan!

Mike loves red velvet cake, and I thought it would be the perfect type of cake to make to test the pan! The cake itself is obviously red, and when covered with the off white cream cheese frosting, I thought it would look like a real (enough) skull, and then when you cut into the cake it would look like it was bleeding because of the red cake underneath! I was super excited to make the cake, and although I used a simple cake mix and pre made frosting, it was a really fun and festive activity.

As you can tell from the image of the cake pan, the cake is made in two pieces. The pan itself has two wells, one for the face of the skull and the second for the back of the neck and head. Once the cakes are baked, you connect both halves to create a complete 3D skull! But I was thinking about it and if you wanted to, you wouldn’t necessarily need to make the whole cake, you could just use the well with the skull face and that would make a festive cake that didn’t require too much coordination connecting the two halves of the skull. Using both wells, it took two boxes of cake mix, so it becomes a rather large cake in the end once it’s all together, so in the future I will probably end up making half of the cake more often than the whole head!

Now, although this is a Halloween themed cake pan, I think it’s interesting enough to use year round and I plan to make skull cakes for every event I plan to attend from now until forever! Really, the possibilities are endless. The next cake I make may be a white cake, perhaps an angel food cake?!? That could be awesome and it wouldn’t require frosting (which, admittedly, I am not so good at) but would still give that bone white skull look! For now, if you would like to see how my cake turned out and the process for how I put it together, check out my video below!

I love this cake pan, and if you are a fan of skulls and/or Halloween, I think this is a great festive addition to your bakeware collection! Now, if you like the skull motif but don’t think you would get much use out of such a large pan, Nordic Ware also makes a Mini Skull Cakelet Pan that makes 6 large cupcake sized skull cakes (face only). Since the Halloween bakeware is currently on sale, I may go ahead and pick this one up as well!

Thanks for reading (and watching)! So, tell me… who else is super excited for Halloween? What sort of festive treats are you looking forward to for celebrating the season of spooks and ghouls? Let me know in the comments below!

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor: It’s October!

Hello Friends!

October is here and I am super duper excited! I know I mentioned this in my impromptu post yesterday, but October is one of my favorite months of the year, mainly because it’s the first official month of fall, and fall is my favorite time of year! October is filled with so many wonderful things, and this month I am hoping to share some of those things with you! You may be wondering, what the heck I am doing writing a letter from the editor to you, anyway. Well, the thing is, I am shaking things up a bit on the blog, as I tend to do from time to time, and I decided that at the start of each new month I would write a personal letter to you, my friends and readers, outlining my plans and the type of content you can expect! I know in the past you could never really tell what you were going to get from me each week here on the blog, and although I’m not going to reveal all my secrets, I thought giving you a sneak peek into the sorts of content you can expect would be a nice way for you and I to connect!

So, what do I have planned for you this month? Well, to start, food… lot’s and lot’s of food! Specifically, I have a couple of recipe posts to share with you guys starting on Monday with a very special seasonal experiment in baking that I have been very excited to share with you! If you follow my YouTube channel as well, you may have seen that last month I started a series called The Lazy Girl’s Cookbook, where I feature recipes for seasonal meals that are super easy and delicious! Well, that series is going to continue on this month as well with a few more of my favorite fall recipes! Moving on from food to fashion, I have a fun scarf tutorial planned just in time to keep you warm in the crisp fall air! Of course, since it is October, and I am obsessed with Halloween, you can expect a Halloween themed Geek Speak feature this month, as well as a seasonal installment of My Productivity Playlist! Rounding out the month, I am also planning a few new reoccurring features around planners and productivity inspiration!

I hope you’re all as excited about my upcoming month of content as I am! I also wanted to take this opportunity to say a sincere thank you to everyone who showed their enthusiastic support for my new shop yesterday and downloaded the 31 Things to Do in October printable! I am so glad that so many of you were as excited about it as I was, and I hope that throughout the month you will keep me up to date as you check those seasonal items off your list! Feel free to tag me in photo’s on Twitter and Instagram so I can follow along with the fun!

Thanks again everyone and I hope you enjoy the great things I have in store for you this month!

xoxo

Filofax

31 Things to Do in October {free printable}

Well, surprise, surprise! I am writing to you mid-week in an unexpected extra blog post because I have created a fun little printable that I wanted to share with you all! I know many of my readers are Filofax and planner lovers, and we all love a good list! So, I have put together a list of 31 Things to Do in October and made it a convenient little free printable to celebrate one of my favorite months of the year! Now, I’m going to go into this a little more in my regularly schedule post tomorrow, but October, to me, means fall is really here and there are a plethora of activities that I enjoy taking part in throughout the month! Yes, a lot of my love for October comes from my love of Halloween, and yes, many of these activities are some of my favorite things to do to celebrate and get into the spirit of Halloween, but there is plenty else to do if Halloween doesn’t happen to be your favorite slice of cake!

To be completely honest, I am taking this 31 Things to Do in October list pretty seriously! In fact, it’s almost like a challenge to me to see if I can fit in all of these activities throughout the month! As an adult, currently without children, I find it hard to get myself into the spirit of a season because it’s not in my face everyday the way it once was when I was in school. So, for me, this is a way to activity participate in all of the fun that October has to offer! Now, I chose 31 Things to Do because there are 31 days in October, however, this isn’t necessarily about doing one thing per day, but you can certainly treat it that way if that is what you would find most exciting! Some things are super easy, some are a bit more involved, but everything is here to help you enjoy the season and add a bit of fun to your daily life!

31 Things to Do in October

Bake something pumpkin: It’s the season after all, but you don’t have to go all out. Try my Mini Pumpkin Spiced Cheesecake recipe if you want something simple and easy!
Drink a #PSL: It’s the featured drink at most coffee houses, but if you prefer to brew your own, I also have a recipe for that!
Go apple picking: You may have seen I already went on an Apple Picking adventure in September, but there is still enough time for me to go back!
Find a halloween costume: Whether you go all out or just add a little halloween embellishment to your normal attire, get your costume plans in order!
Break out your favorite boots: I am so excited to wear my knee-high boots, as soon as it gets cool enough that is.
Put candles everywhere: In the fall, I make sure to keep candles in every room of the house for added ambience and warmth.
Roast pumpkin seeds: These are some of my favorite healthy snacks for the season!
Take a hay ride: What could be cozier than a hay ride with friends or a sweetheart!
Wear a cozy sweater: Speaking of cozy, it’s time to break out your sweaters and integrate them back into your wardrobe!
Photograph fall foliage: Who doesn’t enjoy documenting the changing color of the leaves?
Discover a new apple recipe: After all, you’re going to need a few new recipes to use up all those apples you picked!
Buy a new fall nail polish: Think deep taupes, burgundy, plum and more!
Host or attend a party: Everyone needs a reason to celebrate fall!
Dance around to “Monster Mash”: It’s a great form of aerobic activity I hear!
Visit a pumpkin patch: Don’t forget to bring home a little orange friend or two!
Listen to “The Raven” by Poe: I’ll have this rendition narrated by Christopher Walken on repeat this month!
Wrap up in a scarf: I have a date with a blanket scarf as soon as the weather turns!
Try something chai: It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is a quintessentially fall flavor that everyone needs to incorporate into their October!
Style a pumpkin centerpiece: No matter what your interior design tastes, a pumpkin makes for wonderful fall decor!
Take up knitting or crocheting: It’s officially time for me to start crocheting again, yay!
Braid your hair: Braids are definitely the most fall hairstyle, in my opinion!
Play in the leaves: You’re never too old for this!
Upgrade your moisturizer: Because winter is coming and you need to protect your skin!
Snuggle in your favorite blanket: I think you can guess that I’ll be hanging with my favorite heated chevron throw!
Read a horror story: Come on, it’s a necessity!
Complete a corn maze: I haven’t done one of these in years, but I’m determined to get lost in a corn maze this month!
Take a day trip: October is my favorite time of year for little day trips! Pack your picnic basket and hit the road!
Drink apple cider: It’s a fall staple!
Listen to a Lovecraft story: He’s one of the masters of horror, after all! I suggest Witch’s Hallow or The Thing on the Doorstep!
Spend a quiet night at home: I like to light all the candles placed strategically around the house, turn off all the lights and listen to a scary story (like the Lovecraft tales above!)
Watch your favorite horror film: Or just any old Halloween flick you prefer!

So, what do you think of that list? Awesome, right? Well, feel free to download this free printable from my shop and use it to track your fall fun! While you’re in the shop, if you see anything else you like, feel free to use the code SCSHOP20 for 20% off your total order! This code is only good during the soft release of my shop, so make sure to use it before it expires!

Month: October 2014

Hello Friends!

31 Things to Do in October