Happy Halloween!

Here is the final round up of my random Halloween crafts - I have to say I got really into Halloween decorating this year. I think I'm just a sucker for those awesome color combos of orange, black, purple & green! So this is basically a picture post of random things around my house I've made for Halloween, I'll be sad when I have to take them down!

Witch silhouette inspired by this. This I love ... and I love how it turned out. A blank wooden plaque, scrapbook paper, exacto knife and a little Mod Podge :)

The decorated mantle complete with the garland leftover from last year's cocktail party.

I loved my Halloween Pom Pom pillow so much that I made it a partner - only this time I used pumpkin bias tape along the edges in lieu of pom poms.

Also, I had to try MADE's 10 minute spider web. The kids LOVE this ... it's their absolute favorite. And it's now full of adorable little pre-school crafts they bring home and cannot wait to put on "the web." PS: this larger web took about 20-30 minutes but well worth it!

Last but not least, I just HAD to make the girls some Halloween dresses ... I found this adorable Itsy Bitsy spider fabric at Girl Charlee and couldn't resist it. This is hands-down my fave dress to date ... it's perfect with the purple, green and orange polka dotted trim. And yes, they'll be wearing it well past Halloween! :)

Have a great day / night everyone!

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Boo! Painted Feet Ghost Plaque {DIY}

If you're looking for a great last minute Halloween craft or, if you just want to show your kids how fun their feet can really look like ghosts, I've got the craft for you!

These Boo! plaques are cute and fast to put together. Of course, I love that it's sentimental and a reminder of just how little their feet really are ...

I didn't take picture of the steps, but it's so simple I can just tell you ...

I started with plain wooden plaques from Joann's and painted them black.

Then, I cut orange scrapbook paper into the shape of the top. Apply with Mod Podge. (Don't Mod Podge the top yet). 

 Put white paint on a plate and let your kids step in it (or if you have little babies, paint their feet).

Make a footprint on the plaque. It'll need to be filled in with more white paint, so grab a little paint brush and fill it in the ghost.

Now take the eraser end of a pencil and dip it in black paint - make Ghost Eyes!

Once the paint dries, you can embellish your plaque! I used:

Sharpie to add my kids names on their feet;

Paper Tape to frame the edges; and

Paper Tag (Martha Stewart tags leftover from this project) to write "Boo" and the year on.

After everything is in place and dry, apply Mod Podge all over.

I was good to go at this point, but at the last minute decided to add a 'hanger' in case my recipients wanted to hang it. I grabbed some white ric rac for one plaque and some ribbon for another. I just used my regular stapler to attach to the back!

Word is the recipients love their plaques and now I just need to make another one for us to keep! After all, I need a momento of just how small my kids' feet are this Halloween too!

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Halloween Tree Ornaments (DIY)

I saw this black grittery tree at Joann's a couple weeks back and really wanted it ...but not for $20. NOW, it's on sale for $8 so it's mine! It makes a great addition to my mantle :)

The garland is from last year's cocktail party - I still love it.

During my stint at Joann's wherein I picked up the tree for $8 ... I "saved" $67 but still managed to spend $82. I don't know what to say, but the sales and, my goodness the Martha Stewart Halloween stuff just roped me in! With no plan whatsoever,  I just started adding things to my cart: paper, tags, paper tape, stickers, fake "carvable" pumpkins, pumpkin transfers. I went nuts. And it was fun!

these little tags are a-dorable!

Back home, I started looking at all my goodies and decided to make 'ornaments' for a black glittery tree that I ALSO purchased on said day. Here's how it all came together ...

The center of these beautiful tags just *happens* to be 1.5 inches. I own ONE circle punch and it's that size! SO ... I punched circles from the scrapbook paper...  

Matched up ther pairs (circles to tags), and used a gluestick (not mod podge) to glue them down!

Then, I matched up the tags (back to back) so that when hanging (and twirling) there would be no front and back, but pretty from both sides!

I used sewing thread to make a loop through the top to hang on my tree.

I love how this turned out and it adds a lot of festivity to my mantle!

Oh, and I have seveal more Halloween crafts to finish or photo or just write about ... I cannot get enough of this FUN holiday!

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Tutorial: Jack-o-Lantern Luminaries from Epsom Salts

I had seen candleholders encrusted with Epsom salts before and thought they were pretty. The Epsom salts look like tiny crystals and refract the light beautifully. So, I filed the idea away for a rainy day. Yesterday, I had the thought to apply the idea to Halloween! I came up with these cute jack-o-lantern luminaries! They are cheap, as well as fast and easy to make. Let’s get started!

Here’s what you’ll need to make these luminaries:

• Epsom salts
• Food coloring (yellow and red)
• Popsicle stick for mixing
• Jars
• Mod Podge (white glue would probably work just fine, too)
• Craft brush for applying Mod Podge
• Scraps of black felt
• Scissors


Step 1: You start by pouring about a cup of Epsom salts in a bowl. This is actually enough to do about ten jars, but you want extra in there so you have plenty to work with. Now, add your food coloring. I added ten drops of yellow and two drops of red (I started with half of this and thought it was too light). Mix using the popsicle stick until the food coloring is well distributed.

Step 2: Cover the outside of your jar with a generous amount of Mod Podge. I used it full strength without watering it down (if I were to use white glue, I would probably water it down a bit). A quick aside about the jars, I used mason jars that had raised designs on them. These didn’t matter at all to the final product.

Step 3: Start rolling your glue covered jar around in your Epsom salts. Make sure you cover the entire surface of the jar. Then give your jar a little shake over the bowl to get rid of any loose salts.

Step 4: Try to keep yourself from messing with it while it dries. If you’ve ever read any of my tutorials, you know this is always the hardest part for me!

Step 5: When dry, you can take it to the garbage can and lightly rub it to remove loose salts. If needed brush bald spots with more Mod Podge and add more salts. Let dry. Control yourself from messing with it again.


Step 6: Using the scraps of black felt, cut out the face of the jack-o-lantern. Glue in place using Mod Podge or white glue.

These are so pretty when lit. I think it would be really neat to make them using really large jars or vases and having several of them on the front steps on Halloween. With as cheap as Epsom salts are, it would probably cost less than real jack-o-lanterns!

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Halloween Submissions

Oh wow, this one's gonna be a doozy. Hypothetically speaking, if I (Sara) were voting I'd have a terrible time picking between these Halloween crafts. I adore the pillow, but am a total sucker for anything made of felt + sequins ... and Sarah's Garland is no exception. Eek! that candy corn just makes me grin!

For the details & bigger pictures of the ...

Pom Pom Pillow, click over here &

Garland, click over here.

Good luck picking your favorite & please vote for your choice!

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Halloween Pom Pom Pillow - Challenge Submission

I find it a lot easier to write a blog post when there is a "story" behind the project. In this case, there is ...

Last year after Halloween, I went to my fave local fabric shop (Scrapbooks, Etc.) and found this awesome Moda fabric on the 50% off table. It's called Haunted Mansion and it's an awesome combination of MUTED fall colors with a little spider pattern and some polka dots. I snatched up two yards. I envisioned making something for the kitchen table with it, but since I still use plastic placemats for the kids, I didn't see the use (and I already have a collection of table runners!).

Then the other night, Sarah was over and I was showing her some stuff in the craft room and I pulled out the fabric to show her. Meanwhile I committed a 'sin' in the knitting world and CUT some yarn that was tangled up (I've spent hours in my life meticulously untangling yarn vs. cuttign it). I laid the cut yarn on top of the pillow and saw a perfect combination! How well do these yarns compliment this fabric?

Hence, the search ensued to find a Halloween Craft that combined both fabric and yarn. I thought back to seeing this pillow by Living with Punks and had one of those a-ha moments! The perfect craft ... I whipped up the pom poms during last week's Project Runway (yay Olivier's gone!) and made the pillow in about an hour. It wasn't very hard, and I LOVE the turnout.

I have lots of other Halloween crafts in my mental queue, so here's hoping I get to them before the big day. I especially want to make at least one other pillow by painting big orange polka dots on linen on some linen blend - using this technique.

In the meantime, happy Halloween crafting and take a sec to vote for your fave project! ;)


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Halloween Garland: Challenge Submission

I was less than inspired when faced with this Halloween challenge initially. I jumped from idea to idea to idea. I settled on some sort of garland, and things just exploded from there. I ended up with ten adorable Halloween ornaments and a set of patterns posted in the Sara vs. Sarah Etsy shop!

I definitely went overboard on this one, but once I got rolling, I couldn’t stop! The whole thing went together surprisingly quickly.

Believe it or not, I had everything I needed in my stash. Yes, that’s how much crap I have. It’s ridiculous, but it sure comes in handy when inspiration strikes.

If there’s one thing that both Sara and I agree on, it’s that there’s nothing cuter than a felt and sequin ornament. We’re crazy for them. Now they’re not just for Christmas any more.

Be sure you vote for your favorite project. And leave a comment if you would. We love hearing from you!

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Makit & Bakit-Inspired Halloween Luminaries with Tutorial!

Remember Makit & Bakit suncatchers?  If you don't, I'll remind you.  They were suncatcher kits that had a metal frame that you filled in with plastic crystals, then melted the plastic in the oven.  When you were done, you had a suncatcher that looked a lot like stained glass and which would inevitably end up in your grandma's kitchen window. Well, I decided to apply that idea to my submission.

 

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