Halloween Decor #5

 Cheese cloth ghosts! I had never done them before, but it was fun, and didn't take too long.  You need liquid starch, a bowl, cheesecloth, wire hangers, scissors, duct tape, milk jugs or soda 2 liters (empty, but good to have sand or water at the bottom to prevent tipping), and plastic wrap.

I placed a towel on my table to soak up any excess starch. Bend your wire hangers to create arms, and the head support with the hook. I wrapped plastic wrap into a big ball for the head, and attached to the hook of the hanger. Then I 'mounted' it to my milk jug and 2 liter with duct tape. Then to make the ghost, start with a small cut into your cheesecloth, then tear the rest of it. Place pieces over the ghost shape, long enough so it goes in front of the ghost, so without the jugs, it can support itself. Feel free to keep ripping pieces to give it and eerie and aged look. Let dry over night. If you want some to hang from banisters, trees, etc. place your ghost on something tall, like an oatmeal can so the bottom of the ghost drapes.

Baby Shower

Tonight I went to a baby shower for my sister in law.  (it was hosted by her cousins, the Bush's, who ALWAYS do the cutest things!)

In addition to a traditional advice/congrats baby book (we decorate and write advice on 8x8 pages for a little album), we made applique onesies. They found fabric where we could cut out the designs, such as the dog above, and all in the same color scheme.  Then we ironed them on, then embroidered on the edges so they'll last. The selected things like the dogs, b/c she and her husband have two cute little dachshunds. They had die cut several shapes in some of the patterns using their Cricut, and then had some for us to play around with. The above picture is what I made. It was so fun to do, and to see all the other cute things everyone came up with.  I can't wait for my sil to have a baby, so I can throw her a shower and do this!!!!

Halloween Decor #4

 Here are elements together, with the new addition of the book.

To make the book, I bought the paper mache book at Jo~Ann's. They had my favorite, b/c they were bigger, and had the detail on the side. I painted it all black, and the 'pages' a linen color. After drying I pasted the patterned paper to the to book, then the label. I then painted the side bars. I mixed in gray w/ my linen color to more closely match the color on the patterned paper. The label is from the same sight I originally posted when I made the apothecary bottles. I also used a technique on the label to distress it. Using distressing ink in a 'old paper.'

If you want to get really creative with the side of the book that mimics the pages of the book, paint one layer of your desired color, then get kite string and place on the sides the length of the sides, then paint a couple of heavy layers over it. Then as it starts to dry, but not completely, pull the strings off, and you get bumped lines that looks like old pages.

More Halloween templates

There are some really cool labels here for more fun creepy apothecary bottles.

Halloween Decor #3

 I Love to embroider. I've made a few Halloween pillows, but I've given the others away. This one I kept, but I need to re-stuff.  I go online to free font websites, such as 1001fonts.com. There are many fun halloween fonts, another favorite of mine is the letters all made from bones. I download the font and print out my words, then trace it onto my white muslin. I added the spiders by just winging it. Turned out pretty fun. Even my 3 year old (that is recently afraid of spiders) likes it!

Up close detail for you.

Happy Haunting!

Acorns!!!

It's time to harvest those acorns! Or in my case, gather fallen ones from the ground.  Last year, at the hubby's job, they had tons of tress with acorns! So while waiting for him upon picking him up, I collected acorns.

The tops fall off, so be sure to collect those too, then simply glue the little 'hats' back on. Then you have an easy free decorative accent. I collected probably a hundred! So keep an eye out if you don't have a tree with acorns, at your parks, or other places where it will be okay to remove fallen acorns. :-)

Halloween Cards

In my excitement for Halloween, I've been having fun with cards. (I'm also teaching a card class locally on the 9th, so prepping for that!)  These are what I came up with. I am loving doing small note cards right now, a 3x3.  And they're perfect for little notes to go with little gifts. Especially for Halloween. We don't send out hundreds of Halloween cards to beloved friends and family do we? But we might give a little note w/ a gift to a friend, child or for the gals we visit teach.*

*as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the sisters will visit each other monthly for spiritual lessons, and to also help each other when in need.

FLOR giveaway on La Dolce Vita

A favorite blog of mine is doing a great giveaway!

The generous people at FLOR have teamed up with La Dolce Vita to give away a custom 5’ x 7’ area rug to one lucky reader! The winner will be able to select his or her favorite pattern from the new Fall 2010 line (pictured in this post). There are so many wonderful styles to choose from: ikat, suzani, chevron, and so on! I have one of these innovative rugs in my breakfast room and I must say that I love it. The quality is really nice, putting it together is a breeze, and it is rather low maintenance.  FLOR tiles are a fabulous product for anyone with children or pets because if an accident or spill should occur, you can always replace a single tile and the rug is like new again. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the tiles are rather affordable!

Go to La Dolce Vita for a chance to win!

Halloween Decor #2

This was another idea I saw in a Martha Stewart magazine either last year or the year before.

Find some vintage images (there are lots of blogs with free images, like the Graphics Fairy, or Vintage Moth-they are on the link list on the right hand site of my blog) and print them on card stock to the size you desire.

Get some Neon Orange craft paint and use a very fine paint brush, and simply add orange dots to their irises. The above picture was small (4x4), but on a larger picture, mount the picture on neon orange card stock and it helps 'pop' the eyes.  (You will need to apply a few times as it dries and seeps into the paper) The frame is another DI purchases that I painted black, then sanded down. Oval and ornate frames will be really fun, and help fit in with the theme of Victorian or old west. Then with black lights or dim lighting, the effect is really creepy and fun!

You can also do bats, ravens, owls, mice, any other creepy creature. I have a few more that I haven't framed yet, but I'll show those too.

Halloween Decor

My favorite time of the year is HERE!!! 

It starts to cool down, the leaves turn the rich smells (the leaves, cinnamon, pumpkins so many!) I love decorating for Autumn, and I love decorating for Halloween, and mainly for the huge party we have every year. I love to make it dark and creepy.  So This year I've embarked on a few new projects!

The ever popular and fun Apothecary jars! I first saw this a few years ago on Martha Stewart, and have seen many versions as well. These are my finished product (Except for the fillings). I plan to fill them with various things to replicate what they look like. Ashes for the mice dust, green water for the wart tonic, and purple, orange, black water. MS also suggests cattails or dead flowers in oil.  So fun. You can also paint your bottles/jars for an extra creepy look. I again plan to do colorful things inside them, so wanted them to remain clear.

For some of the labels, they are on Marthastewart.com, and the others from a blog K McKay Designs

I purchased these bottles all in one visit to DI (thrift store) and cost 5 dollars for 7 of them. Most of them don't have lids, but that's up to you.   I used Distress Ink in old paper to give them an aged look. Then to adhere the labels I used E600. MS suggested a glue stick, but I like the E600, just be sure to be in an open room with ventilation! I also washed them good before gluing, but after decided that I wished I only washed the one part where I was applying the label. The dust and dirt looked really neat.