I'm not going to bore you with the details because this is pretty self explanatory. Use heavy weight black construction paper, trace, cut and then glue along a length of invisible jewelry cord...suspend from the ceiling and voila instant spooky!
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Create
I've used my share of chalkboard paint in the past. Painted my laundry back-splash with it and painted a large section of it on my fence outside. I had more than a little left over sitting in the can in the basement for awhile. What to do? Well, I went a little nuts with it..... on bottles, shells and even rocks. Chalkboard paint can even be custom colored now, so there's no excuse not to give it a try. Although, I admit I'm a chalkboard paint purist myself and prefer black with white chalk.
I used glass primer on the bottles and taped off the areas to be painted. Here are my larger chalkboard projects below:
I admit it, I have a crush on burlap. I had a bunch on hand so I decided to use it to give some of beat up journals a new look for the coffee table.
Burlap is cheap as far as fabrics go, a little over a $1 a yard or cheaper if you pick it up at the hardware or garden store. If you're lucky you can grab coffee sacks at your local coffee shop. The weave can be tightened and softened by washing it in hot water and then machine drying. You'll need to clean the lint catch a few times, this stuff sheds...big time!
Once it's softened, cut it slightly larger than the book you are trying to cover. Notch out the area on top of the binding as shown above so the edges can fold into the book. Using plenty of hot glue, attach the burlap starting in the middle at the binding. Fold the tops and bottoms inside the cover and secure with hot glue. You can cover the rough edge on the inside of the book by gluing ribbon along the edge or simply cut out another straight square of burlap and glue to the inside cover over the folded in edges.
You could add a twine bookmark and wooden button if you're feeling ambitious or try rubber stamping with a design or monogram.
This is a little pet for the crazy dolls...a crazy cat...yes I am slightly insane! He's not assembled or stuffed yet.
When I think if Valentine's crafts I think of crayons and wax paper. Once the paper is made, the list of things you can do with it is endless. When I was little we always made the paper into hearts to hang in the window, its transparency lends itself to light. Above I covered a glass with the finished paper to make a candle holder and cut out an open heart to hang on the mirror.
This is really easy craft for kids and a cute one to hang for Valentine's day, especially if you use printed craft papers. Cut out heart shapes, string some beads on a ribbon and attach the hearts to the ribbon with double sided sticky tape. You could also punch holes through the top of the paper hearts and thread the ribbon through.
The dolls I made ended up being spoken for in one way or another, so none of them quite made it to Etsy. I hope to hatch another batch soon though! I used regular muslin for the bodies, thick yarn for the hair and felt for the eyes. Once I made a template for the first doll, it was smooth sailing from there. Making the clothes was fashion 101, lol.
This will be my last paper cut out project for awhile...I'm getting blisters and paper cuts! These come from a Martha Stewart template found here: template. But I did a few things differently. I made them as ornaments years ago (the template size), but this year, I wanted to make larger buildings to put on a table. I enlarged the templates on the copier. I also cut a hole at the bottom so I could insert lights and covered the windows with colored sheet plastic (found at the craft store). For this project, I used heavy weight white poster board instead of cardboard. It was much easier to cut and I avoided the whole priming and painting bit.
A few tips: The dotted lines on the template are meant to be lightly scored and folded/bent, not cut. Use hot glue to assemble. Cut a base out of poster board to attach the house or church to. If you intend to light your building, cut a hole on the bottom of the base. Attach window covering with hot glue on the inside of the house pieces before assembling. You could keep these houses/churches "naked", you can see in the corner picture below they look pretty cool like that, but I obviously encrusted mine with snowy glitter. As I always say, you can never have too much glitter! Actually, I never say that, I'm kidding and wondering if anyone actually reads this! If you want to glitter yours, paint on craft glue and sprinkle with glitter.
A Christmas project finally! I love doing projects like this because I don't have much patience and this can be done in less then an hour. Well, the "Merry" can be anyway...I wasn't feeling ambitious enough to do "Christmas"! If you have less patience try "Joy"!
For this project you'll need:
-Drinking glasses (# varies depending on your word or phrase). The glasses should be straight from top to bottom and not tapered.
-Craft Paper (I used a silvery white paper with a sheen to it so it would look as interesting in the day as it does at night). Craft papers come in so may different styles. A foil would be dramatic, a birch or wood grain paper would be more rustic. One tip though, the paper should be opaque so the light shines through the letter cutout and not through the paper as a whole.
-Scissors.
-Exacto knife.
-Double sided tape.
-Printed letters from the computer, enlarged to fit the size of your glass. Choose a font you like but don't get too fancy, chunky fonts are easier to cut out.
Instructions: Cut craft paper to fit around your glass. As shown below, tape printed letter to the craft paper (remember to tape the letter to the side of the paper you want facing out on your candle). Trace the letter with the knife cutting through the craft paper. Punch the letter out and flip the paper over to the side that will be touching the glass. Apply double sided tape to the top, bottom and edge of the paper and roll it around onto the glass. If you use an intricate font, the paper may pop at the letter when it's rolled. If it does this, use small pieces of double sided tape to secure the letter to the glass.
-Drinking glasses (# varies depending on your word or phrase). The glasses should be straight from top to bottom and not tapered.
-Craft Paper (I used a silvery white paper with a sheen to it so it would look as interesting in the day as it does at night). Craft papers come in so may different styles. A foil would be dramatic, a birch or wood grain paper would be more rustic. One tip though, the paper should be opaque so the light shines through the letter cutout and not through the paper as a whole.
-Scissors.
-Exacto knife.
-Double sided tape.
-Printed letters from the computer, enlarged to fit the size of your glass. Choose a font you like but don't get too fancy, chunky fonts are easier to cut out.
Instructions: Cut craft paper to fit around your glass. As shown below, tape printed letter to the craft paper (remember to tape the letter to the side of the paper you want facing out on your candle). Trace the letter with the knife cutting through the craft paper. Punch the letter out and flip the paper over to the side that will be touching the glass. Apply double sided tape to the top, bottom and edge of the paper and roll it around onto the glass. If you use an intricate font, the paper may pop at the letter when it's rolled. If it does this, use small pieces of double sided tape to secure the letter to the glass.
If you haven't come across Blurb yet on the Internet, then you need to check them out. One of the projects I'm working on for Christmas is a family cookbook and Blurb produces bookstore quality books in any quantity. By downloading a program to your computer, you can arrange photos, illustrations, text, layout, book size and type... you have full design control. Once you're done, upload the book to blurb and they produce as many or as few as you want. Some of your favorite photos can be made into a coffee table book, you could make your child her own personalized story, vacations, family, weddings, poetry, events...the possibilities are endless. I'm already planning my next book project after the cookbook, I can't help myself! http://www.blurb.com/
Some incredible leaves fell from my Japanese maple and inspired a lantern project. Any leaves would work equally as well though.
Arrange leaves between two sheets of wax paper (wax facing in). Place a thin towel on top and iron on medium setting until paper wrinkles and bonds together. Trim the sheet to fit a glass, hurricane or candle holder. Use double sided tape along the top edge and bottom edge of the glass to attach the paper.
Arrange leaves between two sheets of wax paper (wax facing in). Place a thin towel on top and iron on medium setting until paper wrinkles and bonds together. Trim the sheet to fit a glass, hurricane or candle holder. Use double sided tape along the top edge and bottom edge of the glass to attach the paper.
This project is fun for kids too, they can help collect the leaves and arrange them on the wax paper.
I told you I was excited for Christmas already! I want to hang little wreaths from my dining room chairs this Christmas and I have allot of boxwood in the garden with plenty of branches to spare. I made the wreaths and hung one just to try it out, but I'll put them away until after Thanksgiving..I'm not that bad!
Tiny bundles 0f boxwood branches are wrapped multiple times with wire and then the wire is thread through itself to grab another small bundle and so on. I made these early so I preserved them in silica so they'll last a long time. You can find Silica in bulk at the craft store (it's the small beads inside those tiny packets you find in your new pocket book!). Essentially, it removes the moisture, but doesn't discolor the leaves and make them brittle like air drying does.
Tiny bundles 0f boxwood branches are wrapped multiple times with wire and then the wire is thread through itself to grab another small bundle and so on. I made these early so I preserved them in silica so they'll last a long time. You can find Silica in bulk at the craft store (it's the small beads inside those tiny packets you find in your new pocket book!). Essentially, it removes the moisture, but doesn't discolor the leaves and make them brittle like air drying does.
Yippee!! I love Halloween and it's only a few days away! I decorated in September this year. I couldn't help it, I was excited. I love the house to look spooky and my house sort of has a kinship with All Hallows Eve.It would be kind to say that the house was in severe disrepair when we purchased it 12 years ago. It was dark, damaged, vacant and hidden among overgrowth. It was known as the neighborhood "haunted house" and rumored to have a witch living there ( I have yet to meet her though...maybe this year!).
Ironically and appropriately, the real estate closing took place on Halloween. In good form, I bought some candy and put on the front porch light that had been off for so many years. The house was empty and I have to say frightening, even to it's new occupants. I could see how nervous the kids were as they made their way up to the door on the crooked steps, between the thick shrubs, to get some candy and their first peek inside the haunted house! One little boy looked at me with grave concern and asked timidly "Do you live here?".
Today, the shrubs are gone and the house is loved and lived in, but that doesn't stop me from trying every year to recapture some of that Halloween magic hidden in the walls here. I hope everyone has a haunted Halloween! Dress up...it won't kill you...or will it!? Wha ha ha ha!!!
Below: Bats flock to the light of my chandelier, my everyday door knocker looks creepy around Halloween, spooky candle holder and my favorite Halloween lights.
Are you afraid of the dark? Daytime offers no escape from the fright!
The warm glow of fire light offers no releif.
Menacing Trick or Treat garland. Making word/saying garlands is easy! Print out the saying in the desired font and enlarge to the size you want on a copier. Cut out the lettering and lightly tack them with a glue stick backwards onto a mid-weight cardboard (black in this case). Cut out with an X-acto knife and remove the pasted template, flip the letters over (the side that didn't have the template pasted to it will now be the front). Punch two small holes on the top of each letter and string them onto ribbon.
I've been hand sewing some dolls. The finished one below is a goth doll inspired by "The Nightmare Before Christmas". I named her Natalie after my niece. It's a going away gift because she's moving to the Big Apple...hence the tear...boo hoo...we are going to miss her. We'll miss the doll too, she's been hanging around my house for awhile and we've become pretty attached to her!
I'm working on some hand sewn dolls and animals for my Etsy shop for November so stay tuned. If you haven't checked out Etsy yet you should! It's an amazing online store to buy handmade and vintage things...I'm hooked. Check them out : http://www.etsy.com/
I'm working on some hand sewn dolls and animals for my Etsy shop for November so stay tuned. If you haven't checked out Etsy yet you should! It's an amazing online store to buy handmade and vintage things...I'm hooked. Check them out : http://www.etsy.com/
I have been trying my hand at cake making/decorating lately. Below are two cakes I made recently, one for a bridal shower and the other for a black and pink theme sweet 16. Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared with my camera when I delivered these cakes and used my phone to take these snapshots, so excuse the poor quality. I was more concerned with getting them to the event in one piece! 
I'm such a novice at this and have so much to learn. I'm sure an avid cake maker would cringe at my techniques. But there is so much to like about making cakes that I think I'll keep at it. I get to work with my hands, I get to make a mess, I get to make people happy and I get to taste yummy cake batter, frosting and cake! The best part of all though, is I get to be creative with design and taste. Hopefully I'll get to make more soon and share them with you. I need an event though!
Both cakes were covered in rolled fondant and I finally found an easy recipe that actually tastes really good. It's a marshmallow fondant recipe that I found here: http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm
