Halloween Decorations

I love Halloween, and hopefully this year I can get the yard done before Halloween. We bought a graveyard "kit" for the yard. I also want to get one of those jars with the eyes in it, you just add water and they float.

Last year, I stuffed a pair of old jeans and flannel shirt with newspaper and stuck a plastic skull on it. His name is George and he sits in the yard, keeping watch. (We all kept wondering who was in the yard all last October). I have a motion sensitive skeleton that talks. His name is Bonesy and he sometimes asks for a glass of water.

I think I might even do a giant spiderweb. I have plenty of yarn, and can't see spending $5 on something I can make myself. I'm really digging the climbing skeletons. One friend made grave stones made out of sheets of styrofoam insulation. I'm going to try that this year.


I definitely know what I'm doing for next Halloween!
Werewolf Head

Other Halloween Decorations from Instructables

Terrorific Tuesday - Week 2

Here is my submission for week 2 of Terrorific Tuesday.

It's a brain slug that I crocheted using TLC Essentials Light Celery. I used this pattern, but created my own antennae for it.
(mini-pattern time!!)

I used a size G hook for both the body and the antennae.

Working in a spiral, start with the beady end of the antennae.
Start with a magic circle (4 sc)
2 sc in each sc (8 sc)
Sc2tog (4 sc)

At this point, I then cut two pieces of 24 gauge wire in equal lengths. I folded each in half and placed it in the beady end. I stuffed the end a bit, then continued with the stem.

Sc in each around for as long as you want the antennae. I think I made the stem about 1 1/2" long, about 10 or 11 rows. FO.

I used a piece of felt for the eye, and a safety eye. Attach a hair clip, and you can wear your brain slug proudly!

Terrorific Tuesday - week 1

You've got to check it out! Terrorific Tuesday is a great idea presented to us by Alexa, the Swell Designer.

The first week turned out some awesome projects!

Melissa J. Lee's Once in a Blue Moon necklace is gorgeous! It's perfect for a night out on the town with the ghouls! I really like the blue bead used to signify the moon.

Head over to About.com, and visit Sarah E. White at the Knitting blog. There are some totally wicked patterns like a ghost, a textured washcloth and a pumpkin bag!

Alexa Westerfield shows us her eye for design with googly eyes! I love the frame, choker and headband. Wearing that headband will show that I not only have eyes in the back of my head, but on top too!!

A sweet Trick-or-Treat candy pot, made out of a terra cotta pot is sure to please kids of all ages in Phyllis Dobbs' neighborhood!

I've been dying for a machine like Sizzix! Those lovely cards made by Brenda Pinnick have swept me off my feet!

What's better than Frankenstein? A glittery one! Marice Rodriguez put together this cute card, full of glittery goodness!

Jewelry maven Tammy Powley from About.com shows off her boo-tiful Halloween resin cabochons. She gives great ideas how to use them on the Jewelry blog.

Kate Pullen lights up my day with her stamped Halloween Candle. Who knew rubber stamping could be so versatile? Check it out at her About.com Rubber Stamping blog.

I've been ensnared by the beauty of Margot Potter's Crystal Web necklace! Swarovski's are a girls best fiend!

Flyin' high, with hauntingly good wishes from Lorilyn Hurley. Why can't I find vintage images?!

A wonderful wall hanging is sure to cheer up any grouch that comes to Christina Tuey's door! The Collage Contessa shows off her skills with this wonderful collage.

Links!

Hyperlink
Two of the things on Earth that I absolutely adore: Technology and Plastic Canvas. Plastic canvas stitchers are going to love this sculpture! As featured on Craft:, Ben Fino-Radin creates tech objects out of yarn!

Colorful Expletives - Take 2

After the debacle with the embossing gun and shrink plastic, I busted out the toaster oven. Only one slight problem - I couldn't find my package with the directions for baking it. Thank heavens for Google!

It started out at about 4 inches long, then shrunk down to about 2 inches long. Now to add a chain and clasp, and it's good to go!



I was doing some extra doodling on the plastic, so I baked these little circles with Leo and Aries symbols on them for me and Baby Girl. The words are written in silver sharpie, which is a bit hard to see in any of the pics I took.

Colorful Expletives

I pulled some back muscles on Sunday. It still hurts today. I twittered about how it was raining, and I was stuck at the store without an umbrella. Margot Potter thought it was a good time for a juicy expletive. I like to use a string of colorful ones, because one is never enough for me.

That inspired me to make a pendant out of shrink plastic stuff. The plan was perfect. I have a bunch of pretty gel pens and sharpie markers. I created my design. Then, being lazy, I decided to use my heat gun instead of a toaster oven or regular oven. Heck, my back hurts. Why bother with the oven?

Crafty Lesson Learned:
Yes, a heat gun works on shrink plastic. Just a small piece. Like less than 6 inches long. Anything longer turns into something out of a sci-fi movie.

Back to the drawing board... Oh, and gel pens aren't exactly what I'd call permanent on shrink plastic.

Party Gals!!

I went to an adult themed party on Saturday, held at Dollie Jo's house. She is a distributor of such items now and did a great job of selling them!

But that's not what I'm here to blog about. I have this really bad habit of saying that I will make stuff for people, and then get sidetracked either with life or swaps. Bad Kiki!

Here's my list of things that I said I would make for people:
Sock monkey for Bank Lady. She's been waiting for about 2 years for it.
Stuffed mouse, coffee sleeve, and a surprise for Rockabilly Red.
Stuffed mouse, crocheted cupcake purse and a surprise for Dollie Jo.
A bracelet for Baby girl (I think that's all she wants - for now)

Hey, this list is shorter than I thought! If I've forgotten you, let me know. :)

Once you POP!!

I joined another swap, this one based on a Pringles can. I figured out why the slogan is "Once you pop..." It's because once you rip off that foil stuff, the dang lid wont stay on!!!

Sweet Cherry Necklace

Baby Girl was making some simple bracelets, and I got the crafty itch. Here's what I made:

I used two red, wooden beads. 2 glass leaf shaped beads. 24- and 14-gauge wire, and chain. It hangs slightly crooked, but that's okay. I'm the one wearing this creation.

Wild Adventures in the Yard!

Baby Girl and I were sitting outside last night with my laptop, just surfing the Net. She went in around 11 or so, leaving me alone. It could have become disastrous. I'm happily typing away, minding my own business. I see something out of the corner of my eye. It's a good thing I didn't make any sudden moves because it was a SKUNK!!! About 5 feet away from me!

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!"

My patio chairs make a horrible scraping noise on the concrete whenever we move them. I grabbed one, and moved it ever so slightly. My little friend started to run away. But he didnt go very far. He ran about another foot, then turned to face me.

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!"

He turned away from me. I certainly did NOT like the business end of a skunk pointed at me. Luckily, he continued to run away from me. As soon as I saw his tail further down the driveway, I grabbed my stuff and high-tailed it into the house as fast as my legs could carry me!

Swap: Craft My Wists Summer 2008 Swap SENT

This theme was based on Wists. For those of you unfamiliar with Wists, it is basically a place online where you can "store" a visual wish list! It's a great thing.

We each had to pick about 10 items that we really would like to have crafted for us from our Wist. We had to send a total of 6 points, based on size, time spent crafting or money spent to craft the item. I chose my points based on length of time spent. Here are the items I crafted for her:

A wire butterfly, based on this



The celtic design, based on this



Hand painted Fabric napkins, based on this

I had a lot of fun creating that wire butterfly. I definitely learned to wear gloves when working with that much wire. I might even try to make a smaller one, to make a pendant out of it.

Christian the Lion

With all that's wrong with this world, here is a nice thing to see. It doesn't even matter if it's true, it's still nice to watch.
If only everyone cared about the animals like this. And each other.

P - A - R - T - Y? Cuz I gotta!

So a few weeks ago, Baby Girl and I made about 50 invitations for Boy's graduation party. (I'll scan one for here later).

Only 70 of our closest friends and family are going to be here. I didn't know we knew that many people! Tons of food, cleaning and hoping that it wont thunderstorm goin' on! I'm tired just thinking about it.

In the meantime, focus your ocular orbits over here for some gorgeous artwork!

Margot Potter on You-Tube!!

Lovely Margot shows us how to make a fab necklace!

Margot Potter on You-Tube!!

Crafty Margot shows us how to make pendants that are Frenchy!!

My Junk Movie and Lessons Learned

Lesson 1:
Don't make a video outside while it's getting dark.

Lesson 2:
Have a point to the video. Otherwise you look like a dork that can count to three.

Lesson 3:
Get a good camera. I used the built-in web cam on my laptop.

Life

I made Baby girl cry last night. I was outside with the laptop, watching craft videos online. She asked if she could watch too, and I said sure. So I was telling her about how I want to have my own craft business and the ladies who made those videos were inspiring to me.

She said she could picture me having my own business, but that my stuff would totally be different from theirs because I'm not that girly.I explained that I used to be more girly.

I used to wear skirts, jewelry and makeup. I used to get my nails done. Somewhere along the line, I stopped doing all that. I'm not even sure when or why I stopped. She thought that maybe I stopped after they were born because I didn't have time or just stopped caring, but that's not the case. I told her that lately, I don't feel like I know who I am, and that I feel a bit lost. That made me think of this:

I told her that the first time I saw this, it just... clicked. It felt right to read that. It made sense. Then she started crying and she didn't even know why. She's such a sensitive girl.

Margot Potter on You-Tube!

A crafty video by a crafty Lady! It's sock monkey approved!

Jennifer Perkins Video

I want a bracelet like the one Jennifer Perkins made! (watch her video, it's awesome!) I went and bought resin to make one, but have been too chicken!

No Bones About It!!

An Original Fearless Crafter Project

I created this lamp for a crafty challenge on another site, but it was something that I've been puzzling out for a while.

I was inspired by this and this (can't see those pics though....)

*** Safety First!!! ***
and Disclaimer

I'm not sure how true this is, but it is possible that x-rays emit fumes that can be hazardous to your health. It might have something to do with the composition of the film paper. MRI, CT, X-rays are all printed on same paper and may contain trace amounts of silver which can be dangerous to touch as well, but that could just be in large amounts. So don't go licking the films.

If you are wary of such things, then don't make this lamp!!

*** End Safety Note ***

Let's Craft!!!

The total time it takes to do this project does not include the overnight drying time of the glue and paint.


Supplies:

• 4 Wooden frames (got mine at the dollar store)
• 2 3/8" square wooden dowels, cut into pieces to match the length of the longest side of the frame (mine were about 12" long)
• 4 3/8" eye hooks
• 1 Bottle Lamp Kit (hardware store trip!!)
• 1 Finial
• 1 8" lamp harp
• Wood glue
• Wire (I used wire that my dad had on hand, not sure what type or size)

Instructions!
	Start by removing the glass and cardboard backing from the frames. Measure the long side of the frame and cut the dowels to that size. Glue one dowel to one frame with wood glue. Do the same for the other 3 frames and pieces of dowel.
	Clamp for 30 minutes, and then let dry overnight.
	While the frames are drying, use on of the glass pieces from a frame as a guide to cut your image down to size. With her permission, I used my mom's MRI images. Also make sure a plain white sheet of paper is the same size as the glass.
	Now that your frame pieces are dry, start gluing them together to form a box. Clamp for 30 minutes, then let dry overnight. I painted the dowels and the outside of the frame box black. Let the paint dry overnight.
	You now have a box. Here comes the harder part. How to hang it on the lamp harp. Take an eye hook and screw it into the frame, I put mine about 3 or 4 inches from the top. I picked the same spot in each corner, so that there is one eye hook in each frame.
	Take a piece of wire and lay it across your box diagonally. Make sure to have about 2 or 3 inches extra on each end. I used a heavy gauge annealed binding wire that my dad gave me. I think you could probably use bailing wire.
	Fold the wire in half to find the middle. Make a loop to fit around the screw on top of the lamp harp.
	Bend the extra 2 or 3 inches of the wire down, so that you can put it in the eye hooks. You want to hang the wire diagonally across the box.
	You want to try and get the loop in the center, so that your shade will hang evenly. You might have to fiddle with it a bit.
	When I put the images back into the frame, I also used the glass. So here is how the items go into the frame: MRI image, paper, glass. Put the shade on the lamp harp, add the finial and you have a lamp!