Southern Scraps

Love tacos? Hate the mess? This casserole is the perfect solution for taco cravings. I pinned this recipe from recipe.com recently and tried it out. The hubby approved. It's quick and easy and delicious, so it's a keeper. My only complaint is that the two of us can't eat it all in one meal and it doesn't reheat if you put the tomatoes and lettuce over the whole thing. Maybe I could cut the recipe in half, or maybe bake the whole thing and only top half, and freeze the rest for later. What do you think?  Click over and try it out for yourself.

    I rarely decorate for fall. Around here, it's all Halloween ! And trust me, Halloween will take over my porch soon- the hubby is just running  a little late with some of his projects. In the meantime, I added a few fall and Halloween touches to my porch.   As you can see from above, I replaced the hydrangeas from the summer porch with some mums. Below you see I still have the same flowers on the side table, but I covered the blue planter with some Halloween paper so the bright blue wouldn't be so distracting. I replaced the lantern with a black one and added a dollar tree ceramic pumpkin. I just put out a placemat on the table to add some color.       I had to replace the plants in the corner planter because the summer ones passed away. There is a little of the sweet potato vine left and I hope it rejuvenates and survives. I added a couple of pumpkins over there. Next time, I'll look for a larger pumpkin. I just happened t...

  Pumpkins are so popular this time of year for fall and Halloween decor. It seems that there are endless ways to make them or decorate them. Here are five more ways that inspire me. Using Mod Podge and tissue paper by The Answer is Chocolate     No sew fabric pumpkins from Craft-o-maniac     Pumpkin picture holders by 52 Mantels     Subway art pumpkins by The Swell Life     Stick ball pumpkins by Delicate Construction   Making some fabric pumpkins is on my list of future projects. What about you?

You can easily whip up a batch of Halloween cupcakes in no time using food coloring and plastic Halloween rings. These are the party favor rings that are readily available at most stores. I made these for a block party last year and didn't get around to posting so I'm sharing now for those of you that might need an easy treat to carry to a party.   Make cupcakes from your favorite recipe. If you want to use a box mix, I recommend using Tidy Mom's recipe for perfect cupcakes from a mix. I promise they will taste like scratch.  Make your favorite white icing and grab some food coloring. You will need red and yellow to get orange icing and red and blue to make purple. McCormick has a neat downloadable color mixing chart HERE .     When you have finished icing the cupcakes, insert a ring into each cupcake. Guests will get a treat and a party favor. Sharing here:   Think Pink Sundays * Under the Table and Dreaming * Sundae Scoop * Craft...

With all the pumpkin recipes floating around out there, and with my recent post on 15 pumpkin recipes , this find is perfect for sharing this week. Make your own pumpkin pie spice from spices existing in your pantry. Well, I have most of them and some of them take a while to use, so why buy one more? Holly over at 504 Main tells you how to make your own. Go check it out.

Last week I showed you my houndstooth duct tape pumpkin , and Monday I showed you a round up of duct tape projects . I left one thing off that list- the duct tape wallet. I found this tutorial via 36th Avenue . I will admit that I used to think the standard grey/silver duct tape wallet was the tackiest, most "redneck" thing ever. But when you find patterned duct tape with lime green skulls, it becomes a cool way to give your hubby a birthday gift. I pulled the I.D. card out of an old wallet I had. I'm going to copy it to make more I.D. cards. I'll be making more of these to give gift cards to the guys in the family for Christmas. This was one of the funnest projects I've made in a while. Sharing here: Think Pink Sundays * Under the Table and Dreaming * Sundae Scoop * Craftomaniac Monday * Make the Scene Monday * Make It Pretty Monday * Masterpiece Monday * Motivate Me Monday * Inspire Me Monday * Market Yourself Mondays at Sumo’s Sweet S...

I'll admit that I used to think duct tape crafts were pretty cheesy. That is until they came out with all those cool colors and designs. I picked up a couple of rolls on sale and I've been collecting ideas on what to do with it. Here are 7 crafts to make with duct tape.   Duct Tape Hair Bows     No sew zippered pouch     Deco spheres   No sew crayon roll     Duct tape lap top sleeve     Fabric lined phone case     Refashioned flip flops