Halloween Decorations

The Halloween spirit is out in full force around here, and a few weeks ago the Halloween decorations were put up at our house. I thought I would share with you some of my favorites.

This little ceramic jack-o-lantern I got at Bath & Body Works probably 2 or 3 years ago. It sits in our bathroom and it has a little tea light in it.

I love holiday hand towels. It's a thing. In the bathroom I have a green one with spider webs on it.

This is a wreath I made maybe 2 years ago. It is just a grapevine wreath that I had Jeffry spray paint black, and the snakes are from Wal-mart. They were $1 each I think, from the toy section, and I had Jeffry spray them also. The spiders came in a 2 pack and were in the Halloween section. They weren't more that $5 for both. Once everything was painted and dry, I just attached it all with black wire. Piece of cake!

Of course I had to share my love of  window clings. These are from The Christmas Tree Shoppe. Super cheap!

This is actually a card that I got from Flying Seal Press over on Etsy. The frame is from Hobby Lobby.

Once everything was put out, it allowed me to see where the "holes" were, and I came up with a couple craft ideas to fill in those holes. I give you the Spooky Bat Garland.

This project was a little laborious, but was still easy. I googled "bat template" and printed off one that I liked. I cut it out, and then traced it onto a piece of card-stock, so it would be easier to trace onto the felt. I think I used 4 pieces of black felt. I used a pen to trace the template, which showed up nicely on the felt when it was time to cut them out. I got about 5 bats per sheet of felt. 

Cutting them out was the worst part, just because it took a little bit of time, and you have to pay attention to what you're doing. Oh yeah, I used glow in the dark puff paint to dot on some eyes.

 

I picked this ribbon up out of a clearance bin, so they were like 60% off their original $1.99 price tag. I ended up deciding on the black ribbon so there wouldn't be as much contrast. I cut the entire spool into about 2" lengths. ( I totally eye-balled it) Then I just hot glued the ribbon onto the back of the bats in the middle of the wings.

And that's it! Super easy, no sew bat garland. I use small clear command hooks to hang it. I actually leave those up year round because I hang other holiday garlands there, and you don't even notice them when there is nothing up.  I love how it came out!

Oh yeah, here is the bat template that I used. I actually ended up enlarging the largest bat just a teeny bit. I used PowerPoint to do it so you don't even need anything fancy like Photoshop. 

And of course I would be remiss if I didn't share my all time favorite Halloween decoration:

And I couldn't not take a picture of Ruby in her matching collar either.

Happy Halloween!

Beach Vacation Shadowbox Keepsake

As you know, in June we went to Carolina Beach for Vacation. And I knew when we got back that I wanted to make a shadowbox with our pictures, sand and shells. I grabbed some supplies at JoAnn Fabrics as soon as we got back, but I just got around to putting everything together. And I am super happy with how it came out!

Here is where I started. I swung by good ole Joann's, and went bankrupt on a ton of crap. The essentials:

1- first things first, the shadowbox! they come in a bunch of sizes, both square and rectangle. 

I went with the largest rectangle one I could find

2- scrapbook paper for the background pick one that coincides with your vacation theme, 

whether it be beach, city, skiing, etc.

3- adhesive I used both double sided tape (that green thingy) and a glue pen

4- embellishments i grabbed all sorts of things that I thought would look cool; metal word stickers, post-it flags, cute little paper clips, and different styles of letter stickers

5- don't forget pictures! I have this VuPoint Cube Printer that is super handy, I just dock my iPhone, pick the size and print! I printed pics in two sizes for a little variety

Step 2: Get an idea of layout. Before you just start gluing stuff down willy-nilly, you will want to get a general idea of where you want your pictures to go. I just wrapped the paper around the cardboard insert that came in the frame. Keep in mind where you might want to place your embellishments and words also. I knew I wanted to put words in the upper left corner, so I used a smaller photo, with not much going on up at the top that I would mind covering up.

I had to use two pieces of paper, since the 12x12 paper wasn't long enough. I used a sand print since I knew it would mostly be covered up with actual sand anyway.

Step 3: Glue that ish. It's now or never. I used the double sided tape in strips on the back of each photo, and the glue pen on the corners to keep them from peeling up. Tip: on the pictures that I used the little flag paper clips, I put those on before I glued, so those stayed in place as well.

I wish I had been better about taking a pic after this step, 

but I was too into my work to stop to take one

Step 4: Embellish! This is the fun part! Play around with your extras until you like how it looks. Tip: I cut the letters out of the bigger sheet, so I could move them around while they are still on their backing.

Step 5: Time to play in the sand! This step required some trial and error, and I dumped the sand out and started over at least once. What I did was I laid the frame down, and poured the sand at the bottom. Then I placed the seashells and sea glass we collected along the top of the sand line. We also shared a bottle of bubbly while we were there, so I added the cork. I cut the cork in half with a serrated knife so that it would fit.

Step 6: Replace collage and frame backing. Tip: The first time I did this, I was all excited to see the finished product, so i tipped it up, and sand of course started pouring out the bottom. So what did I do? Well after a moment of defeat and panic, I grabbed my good friend Mr. Duct Tape, and sealed up the bottom, making sure to press the duct tape firmly into the seams and corners of the bottom 2 inches. Worked like a charm.

And that's it, folks! I am really happy with how it came out, especially since the whole sand business was trial and error. The only thing I wish were different is I wish you could see the seashells and sea glass a little bit better. Maybe down the road I will try and figure out how to get in there and move stuff around without a total overhaul. But overall I am loving it!! When can we go back??

 

Independence Day Crafts

Now for some 4th of July crafts I've made over the last few years...

I love making wreaths for the holidays, and this is one of the first ones I made. You can find the instructions for it here. This one is done with maroon, cream & navy, and I also made one using red white & blue that pops a little bit more.

I made these last year, after seeing a similar pair in an email from The Zoe Report. I fell in love but the pair they featured was like $200! No way. This pair I made for probably $10. I used a pair of old white jeans that I already had, and I used wide painters tape to mark out the stripes. For the stars I did purchase some star stickers, and I also purchased the pewter fabric paint. I wore them on the 4th with a cobalt t-shirt!


And this year...

Isn't she beautiful!?! I wanted her to have something to wear for the 4th, but I also wanted her to look like a lady! I had a hard time finding red, white & blue collars to begin with, and the ones I did find were not very girly. So I made this one with some supplies from good ole JoAnn's. It was during one of their sales, so I got everything for like 70% off. The band is just wired ribbon, and the bow was actually part of a girl's headband! I just gently pulled it off the headband (it was only hot glued on) and I secured it to the ribbon with a couple stitches just to make sure it didn't fall off. Then I measured Ruby's neck, cut the ribbon and stitched some Velcro on each end. I can't wait for her to wear it Thursday. And I'll probably paint her nails to match of course ;)

Address Wreath

What a day it's been already! I slept through my alarm, and then my hair tie broke. Hopefully it's all uphill from here. 

Today I have a craft for you that I've been meaning to finish forever! It's for my friend Rachel and think she's going to love it :)

Here's the inspiration pic:

Unfortunately the link on Pinterest went to a site in another language, but it was easy enough to figure out without step-by-step instructions.

I got most of my supplies at good ol' JoAnn's, and it really didn't cost too much. I used a coupon on the grapevine wreath, and the flowers were $9.99 but on sale for $5.99/bunch. I grabbed 2 bunches. I think I used a coupon on the ribbon too. The numbers were like $2 apiece so they weren't really breaking the bank either, and I borrowed some paint from my parents.

The floral wire I already had too. It's from Hobby Lobby.

All I did was lay everything out until I liked how it looked, and then I used to floral wire to attach everything. I thought about being lazy and using hot glue, but since the wreath is going to be outside I wanted to make sure it held up. I did use hot glue to attach the wooden letters. If they don't stay I'll have to revisit and try something different.

And here's the finished product! Shout out to my mom for tying that awesome bow :)

Rachel I hope you like it, thanks for taking our pictures! You'll have to send me a picture of it on your door I'm sure it will look much better :)