Happy Halloween!!!!

Happy Halloween!
Hope everyone is having a spooktacular day! Today has been a bit hectic and crazy but that's pretty par for the course around here. And as evening approaches its looking better!

As a child my costumes were often homemade, mostly because we couldn't afford the fancy store bought ones. I loved it! My favorite was when I went as a bag of jellybeans (picture a small child with head, arms and legs sticking out of a clear garbage bag filled with colored balloons). These fond memories led me to make a costume for Tiny Human this year. And of course I waited until last minute to do it.

Cute sheep costume, prior to Tiny Human

2 nights ago after 4 1/2 bags of cotton balls and several hot glue burns later I had successfully created an adorable sheep costume I thought Tiny Human would love. Sheep are his favorite animal. He loved it until we tried to put it on him. He love turned into pure terror. He cried, screamed, flailed around and pulled off 80% of the cotton balls in the 3 attempts to put it on him.

After Tiny Human

So last night I went back to the drawing board aka Pinterest to search for a cheap home made costume. I really wanted to make something he would be able to use again. Originally I wanted to make this Dino Costume but knew I didn't have the time or money to do so. Then I found this Moose hoodie. Ding Ding Ding we had a winner. Cute, cheap and reusable!

 

I couldn't find a plain brown hoodie anywhere this morning. I went to at least 6 stores. I did find a fleece hoodie and pants at Old Navy and decided I could cover up the logo with material. I used a piece of 12 x 12 card stock folded in half to make a template for the light brown circle. I then used the template to cut the circle out of a light brown hand towel. I cute the circle in half and attached each half to the hoodie using a long stitch by hand. I didn't want it to be permanent.

 

I had to try it out :)

 

Next I stuffed to cream colored knit gloves with a ton of fiber fill. Next rolled the cuff of the glove up into the glove then pinned onto the hoodie. It took moving them around several times before I got them in the right place. Once again I hand stitched them on, this time using close small stitches. Overall the sheep took 2 1/2 hrs and about $5 since I had the shirt and material for the ears on hand. The moose took a little over an hour to make and cost $20 since I had to buy the hoodie,pants and gloves.

 

He was a bit cranky and hates things on his head.

Next year I will either start the costume making process weeks before Halloween or leave it up to Tiny human's very creative Grandma ;)

Thanks for checking out my blog have a great day!

 

 

Sketch with Color

If you haven't check out Sketch with Color you should. They are a new challenge blog that combine sketches and color challenges. You have until tomorrow if you are interested in applying for their Design Team. Spread the word and help this blog take off :)

Fall is Here

O my goodness its Friday already! Its been a slow week for crafting for me. My Lil monster has been sick so that makes for a tired and unproductive mommy. I did manage to get a festive fall layout done yesterday though. I took these pictures last month when the leaves were just starting to change and we still had warm weather. Lil monster loves to play outside and enjoyed collecting sticks in the yard.

The sketch I used is #77 from Sketchabilities. I really liked the grid like background and how the pictures were layered.


I had to get creative with the background. To make the grid design I cut a plastic mesh bag that oranges came in in half. Next I used glue dots to hold the bag in place on my paper then used brown ink pad from Studio G to create the pattern.

All of the colored papers are scraps from my stash. Great fall colors! The leaf embellies are left overs from a project last year. And the Gems are from The Paper Studio.

Close up view of the top right corner.

The jewel tones of the gems look great next to the glittery leaves



I used a Martha Stewart punch to create the doily look around the squares.
The journal tag I cut out using The Classic Font cartridge from Cricut.

Thanks for stopping by have a wonderful weekend!

Stamping up a card

Mother Nature decided to crash my planned scrap day with Jen on Thursday. But thanks to Skype we were able to still get each others much needed opinions :) And with this card I definitely needed a second opinion. The sketch is from Lets Scrap.

 

 I recently got this cute stamp set from Studio G. I instantly fell in love with the Halloween paisley, honestly its the cutest thing ever. Jen gave me the idea of creating my own patterned paper with the set. I used an alphabet set also from Studio G for the lettering. On the front of the card I drew over the stamping with a silver pen.

This card is for my friend's son that turns 1 on Halloween. I never know what to get other people's kids so I made the pocket for a gift card. I had to use that cute stamp one more time! The candy corn and the pumpkin embellishment are both from The Paper Studio. Thanks for taking a look have a great week.

Anniversary Card

My Mom and Step Dad celebrated their 8th wedding Anniversary last week. I'm so happy for them! And as usual I'm a week behind on getting out their card. This card is of my own design. I'm trying to be thrifty and scrap my stash. The stamps I used are from Studio G and so is the black glitter glue. I love how simple yet elegant this card is.

I used the flourish stamp in the inside as well. I'm just getting into card making and I'm really having fun with it so far. Have a great Monday thanks for stopping by.

Sketch With Color DT Application

I just found another challenge blog and how exciting that they are accepting applications for a DT! You can check out the details at Sketch With Color. You have until the 25th if you want to apply.

This post is my application to the Team. I will show you my take on their sketch plus two of my best recent layouts.

Here is the sketch they provided.

 

And this is my take on the sketch. I like the banners and borders along the photo. I inked around the circles and the pennants with black Studio G ink. I used orange Studio G glitter glue on the circle in the top corner and copper Studio G glitter glue on the sticks of the pennants.

Here are my other layouts that I chose to display my style and skills. I'm so lucky to have a fun subject to scrap.

Title, picture boarder and journal tag all have inked edges. Hand stiched boarder in the center of the page.

Brads and buttons add depth to star cut outs.

Mummy Candle Holders

It's almost Halloween!! I love this time of year for its crisp air, falling leaves and wonderful colors. But most of all I love Halloween. The craft projects are endless and o so cute. Today's tutorial is how to make Mummy Candle Holders. The adorable decorated jars would also be a spooky place to keep yummy treats! My friend Jen and I found the idea on Pinterest.

You will need a glass jar, I used a pint size mason jar and a salsa jar. Medical grade gauze, I uses the 2" width since i was using smaller jars. Modge podge (store bought or homemade will both work) and a paint brush or foam brush. And some goggle eyes.

First loosely wrap the gauze around your jar to get an idea of how much you will need. The layers need to slightly overlap. Next gently pull the edges and center of the gauze to make it fray and look mummy like. Sorry I forgot to take pictures of the first couple of steps :(

Now is the fun messy part. Starting at the bottom edge of the jar begin applying a generous amount of Modge Podge. Should be slightly wider than the width of gauze. Stick the gauze to the jar. I found it worked best to work in small sections. Continue around the jar slightly overlapping the layers of gauze until you get to the bottom lip. It should look like this when you are done.

Set the jars aside and let them dry. When they are dry apply another layer of Modge Podge to the jars using a dabbing motion. This final layer will make the gauze crunchy and mummy like. When the jars  are finally dry you can attach the google eyes. I used hot glue to make sure they stayed on. And there you have it an easy and cute Halloween project.

I want to be a Maven

In the last year I have found a lot of fun challenge blogs. Although I don't always get to play along I love looking at the DT layouts and those submitted by other followers. I was very excited to see that Sketches in Thyme is having a Design Team call. You have until the 20th if you want to apply.

Here is the sketch for the DT call:

 

Here is my take on the sketch. I liked the simplicity of it. I used Studio G ink in purple to ink around the edges of the background pieces and all of the circle cut outs. The Button background paper is from The Paper Studio. The other papers are scraps from my stash.

 



 

I loved the monkey brad, its perfect for my lil monkey. Its from Paper Studio
I did some hand stiching with jute to make the green circle look more like a button.

I used the layered circles to incorporate my journaling.

Title stamped with a set from Studio G. I added the brad to the O for a bit of color.

Thanks for taking a look at my latest layout. Wish me luck on becoming a Maven!

Tech Problems

Happy Friday Friends!

I'm currently without my lap top which has all of my photos for scrapping and basically my life :(
Hopefully I will have it back next week and I can get rolling. I'm super behind in Let's Scrap October load challenge. I did make 2 Halloween cards for my sisters but that's about it. Plus I have some DT applications to get done.  I'm going to apply to Sketches in Thyme and Sketchabilities for the next term Design Teams. Fingers crossed that I make it!

This weekend the boys are headed to Montana to spend some time with family. I'm most looking forward to do some canning and learn to make salsa with Grams. I'm hoping to get some good pictures to scrap. Plus the little guy will enjoy getting to see all of live stock they have and hopefully that will give way to more photo opportunities.

Have a great weekend!

Vintage Shamballa Bracelets

While digging through my bead stash last week I came across this jar of shamballa beads that were given to me by my great aunt. After asking my mom and other relatives I've figured out that they are 30 + years old. Neat, right? I love working with vintage materials and sat down to come up with some ideas for these great beads. I've noticed that bracelets made from these beads are a very popular trend right now from celebs like Jay Z to the every day fashionista.

I wanted to make earrings and bracelets using my new found treasure. Next time I will measure the diameter of the hole on the beads I want to use before heading to the craft store to buy materials, oopsy daisy. The holes on these beads are really tiny and I was hoping to find a higher quality of cord than hemp to use. I ended up using some black waxed linen cord that I had in my stash as the stuff I bought and opened was just to big. The earrings I bought were also to big for the beads.

I made 3 bracelets before I ran out of cord. 2 are an adjustable style with a sliding knot in the back the other is a tie on friendship style bracelet. All 3 are made using macrame style square knots.

 

 

 

 

You can check out more of the jewelry I've made either at my Etsy Shop or like us on Facebook. Thanks for taking a look have a great day!

Pumpkin and Skull gift bags

Welcome to the first edition of Tutorial Tuesday! From here on out the first Tuesday of the month I will be providing either a scrappy or crafty tutorial. In honor of Halloween this month's tutorial is how to make tissue paper treat bags.

For each treat bag you will need the following items:
-tissue paper ( orange or yellow for pumpkins. Black or white for skeletons)
- Masking tape or floral tape
- clear  tape
- Green pipe cleaners
- Marker
- scissors

Step 1:
Fold tissue paper into thirds. Then turn and cut in half so you have 2 equal size pieces.

Step 2:
With the seam facing inward roll tissue paper into a tube by over lapping the to sides by and inch or so and secure with clear tape. I found it easiest to make the tube by wrapping the tissue paper around a glass.

Step 3:
Fold in the end of the tube and secure with masking tape. If you choose you can carefully turn the tube in side out after tapping or just leave as is.

 

Step 4:
Fill with candy or small toys. Or stuff with piece of newspaper if you are using them for decorations like I did. If making a pumpkin twist the top of the tube to make the stem. If you are making a skeleton fold in the top similar to how you did the bottom and secure with clear tape.

 

 

Step 5:
Add the finishing touches. Using floral tape or masking tape wrap around the twisted part to create the pumpkin stem. I folded the twisted section in half to make a shorter stem. I didn't have floral tape so I colored masking tape with a green crayon. After your stem is complete twist a small piece of pipe cleaner around the base to create a vine. If you made the skeleton use a marker to make the face. I used silver for the black tissue paper.

 

 

 

Thanks for checking out the very first tutorial Tuesday please come back again next month!