My Halloween "Mantle"

Yesterday I dug out my Halloween container of decorations. 

Besides Christmas, Halloween is my favorite holiday to decorate for. 

Since I have 3 small children, they really like to play with fun little decorations that are in their reach.  I have to be careful where I put things so they don't get a hold of anything and break/destroy it.  So I am limited to what I can decorate.....which is a bummer!

I have a "quilt" shelf that is hanging in my front room.  This is where I can decorate and not have little hands touching and grabbing things.  It's a pretty good size shelf and I really like hanging wreaths on the bar, rather than quilts.  I do want to start hanging quilts on there, I just need to finish one first! :)    

So this is pretty much all I decorated for Halloween.  Not too much.  I only got out about 1/4 of my decorations this year.  I have really learned in the past couple of years, that less really is more.   I definitely have a little more than I normally have on my shelf, but that's okay! I feel like in this case it works and it's not too crowded.  It also works because the rest of the room is not overly decorated.  I have kept the other walls in the room simple, because this space is so busy. 

I made this wreath last year, all with dollar store supplies! It was really easy to put together and it turned out fun and festive for Halloween! :)

I got to put my Halloween Owl Runner out on my table.  I give it a couple of days before my little monsters pull it off the table.....

You can find the tutorial for the Boo! blocks right here. 

Here's a close-up of the runner and the post about here. 

I still need to figure out costumes for my kids, and we have to make our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! Other than that, we are ready for Halloween! :)

Creepy Crawly Halloween Bow!

I couldn't let Hannah wear her Halloween skirt without some matching hair bows! I had extra ribbon from her wand project...so I made some korker bows and added a plastic spider to the middle to make them creepy crawly Halloween bows!

Supplies Needed:

3 Coordinating types of ribbon
Wooden Dowels
Hair Clips
Hot Glue
2 Plastic Spiders

Step 1: Kork your ribbon.....You can find tutorials everywhere for this. Just google it and you'll find a million. :)

Step 2: Tie your ribbons together

Step 3: Hot glue a plastic spider in the center of your bow

Step 4: Hot glue your bow to your hair clip

Now you have two Creepy Crawly bows! Perfect for Halloween! :)

I just hope she'll wear them....she's scared of the spiders! I guess I'll have to put them in without her looking!

Shabby Witch's Wand

Hannah's Halloween Costume would not be complete without a magic wand, now would it?

She is going to be the cutest witch around when I'm through with her!




Supplies Needed

1 yard each of 5-7 ribbons
1 Wooden Dowel
Black Paint
Hot Glue

Step 1: Cut your wooden dowel to the size you prefer. This dowel is about 18"

Step 2: Paint your dowel black

Step 3: curl your ribbon. (also known as "korking") You can find tutorials everywhere, just google how to make a "korker bow" I korked some of my ribbon and left some of it straight.

Step 4: Lay a straight ribbon across horizontally, this will be used to tie all your ribbons together

Step 5: Arrange your ribbons in a pattern that you like

Step 6: Tie your base ribbon around all the ribbons and tie in a double knot. I made two different bundles of ribbon. So that my wand would be fuller.

Step 7: Tie your two bundles together with another base ribbon

Step 8: Time to glue your dowel onto your ribbon. Place some hot glue right int the center.

Step 9: Place your dowel onto the hot glue and hold until set. I also tied my base ribbon around the dowel after I glued it...to make it more secure. MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS!

Now you have a magical witch's wand!

Hannah has been playing with it all afternoon and saying "abra cadabra!"

She can't wait to use it for Halloween!

Halloween Tiered Skirt with Applique Shirt

I decided to bite the bullet and actually SEW an article of clothing for Hannah!

Scary, I know.

I'm not sure what I was thinking when making this decision. I blame it on being pregnant. :)

I had a bunch of fat quarters that reminded me of Halloween and I decided to make her a tiered skirt with them. I used this AWESOME tutorial. I would not have known what I was doing without it!

I did make the shirt all by myself. Well I didn't actually SEW the shirt...I appliqued it with a pumpkin. I would share the pattern, but I have no idea how to transfer that onto a computer document. If anyone knows how to do this, I would love to figure out how.

I am actually quite proud how well the skirt turned out! I mean, for never sewing anything like this in my life...I think I did pretty good. (just don't look too close)

I also never knew how useful youtube was until I searched on youtube "what is a gathering stitch" and "how to baste." Yep, YouTube has basically taught me all I know about sewing :) Which now consists of sewing a gathering stitch. I still don't understand what basting is all about... :)

I will be shocked if this thing doesn't fall apart in the washer! I'm sure you will hear about it if it does! :)

I am participating in the following parties:
Get Your Craft On!!

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Show and Tell Wednesday

Sew Cute Tuesday

Shabby Witches Hat!

I was at Costco the other day and they already had Halloween Costumes out! I found a really cute witches costume for Hannah and bought it! After buying it and looking it over...I decided that I could make it A LOT cuter!

So this is part 1 of Hannah's semi-homemade Halloween Costume.

I took the plain black witches hat that the costume came with and turned it into a shabby witches hat!

For the rim I sewed on some fake spiders...which Hannah is complety scared of. When I showed her the spiders she started to cry and kept telling me that they bit her! I finally convinced her that they are not real...but I think she's still a little scared of them. :)

For the inner rim, I tied ribbon on the already existing purple band that the hat had around it.

For the main part of the hat, I got some scraps of purple and orange fabric and made them into patches and sewed them onto the hat. I did this on both sides. I also made ribbon and feather clusters and sewed them onto the the top of the hat.

It turned out so cute, I decided to use it as part of my Halloween decor. The shape is a little awkward and big so I ended up putting it on top of my bookshelf. It would look really cute on a hat/coat rack, but I unfortunately don't have one!

I will be working on the rest of her costume in the coming weeks, so be sure to check back for that!

I am participating in the following parties:

Strut Your Stuff

Halloween Crafts!

October is right around the corner and I have slowly been getting things out of boxes to decorate the house! Last year I made some of my favorite decorations for Halloween and I just wanted to share them again incase you still are needing some fun and easy crafts to do for Halloween!

These mummies are made out of terra cotta pots!! They are so darn cute and they can be used as candy dishes!! I posted the tutorial here:

This pumpkin is one of my favorite Halloween crafts! It is so easy to make and is super cute! You can find the tutorial here:

Last year I was so busy with So You Think You're Crafty that I never posted a tutorial for this project. This is more of a Fall project, but it is my favorite! I love how rustic it is.

To make this all you need is an old frame, some burlap, paint, and buttons. I made a stencil with my cricut machine and that's all there is to it! It is so easy, but I love it!

Boo! Blocks Tutorial

I love decorating for Halloween! These blocks were so fun and easy to make! I can't wait to put them up for Halloween!

When deciding how to decorate these blocks, I knew I had to incorporate glitter...what is Halloween without a little glitter?! I also thought it would be fun to add some black feathers! So that's how I came up with these Boo! Blocks! I hope you like them!

Tutorial:

Supplies Needed

4 Wood Blocks in different sizes

Black Paint

Mod Podge

3 Coordinating pieces of paper. I used a black with white glitter, orange, and purple

1 piece of black card-stock

Purple Glitter

Black Feathers

Ribbon (I used purple, black, and orange)

Buttons

Hot Glue

Step 1: sand your blocks (if needed)

Step 2: Paint blocks black

Step 3: Cut out pieces of coordinating scrapbook paper. I used the black and white for the base of my blocks. I then layered with orange, purple, and the black cardstock.

Step 4: Glitter the edges of your black cardstock

Step 5: Cut out your BOO! Letters and pumpkins. For the letters I used the cricut cartridge Jubilee and for the pumpkins I used Stretch Your Imagination

Step 6: Mod podge your base piece of paper to each block.

Step 7: Continue to mod podge your layers of paper

Step 8: Mod podge your letters last

Step 9: Embellish! I embellished each letter with ribbons, feathers, and buttons. I also hot glued the pumpkins on two of the blocks.

I am participating in the following parties:

Making the World Cuter Monday's

Market Yourself Monday

Motivate Me Monday

Just Something I Whipped Up

Get Your Craft On!

Toot Your Horn Tuesday

Whatever Goes Wednesday