Trick or Treat! I hope everyone has a fantastic Halloween! Sydney has finally settled on being a cat tonight and is soooo excited to hit the streets on her quest for candy. If you’re looking for any last minute decor or costume ideas, be sure to check out my Halloween Round Up. Have a wonderful day!
Good Morning and Happy Friday! So far October has been full of fun Halloween ideas and DIYs. As the 31st is quickly approaching, I decided to put together a little roundup of the festive costume and decor tutorials I did this month. Enjoy!
garden flower, lumberjack, hula girl
gold studded pumpkins, mummy candles, black drippy candles, paper jack-o-lanterns
And don’t forget there is still time to vote for my Fiber One Snackcessory! You can vote once daily, so please click and help send me to Fashion Week!
We don’t have a fireplace, so when it comes to decorating for seasons & holidays I turn to our buffet. It’s a focal point in our home, and makes for a great mantel alternative! This year almost all our halloween decorations are black, white, and gold. And everything is either from the dollar store, around the house, or an easy diy!
Here are all the parts and pieces, and how I made them:
I created the bunting with black construction paper, chalk, and gold string. A few bats are strung on fishing line and hung from the ceiling. They appear to be flying, and my daughter loves this touch! I also used the black netting, which originally held brussle sprouts, to disguise our Jambox and make it part of the decor. And a few paper pinwheels and a crow from the dollar store make a cute arrangement to give some height to the collection. You can find tutorials on my drippy candles, gold studded pumpkins, and mummy candles by clicking the links below:
Black Drippy Candles
Gold Studded Pumpkins
Mummy Candles
I kept the table decor simple, and added just a little festive color.
If you remember a little while back, I announced the winner to my Thredup DIY Halloween Costume Giveaway. It was a reader who had a great idea for a lumberjack costume. Well, this weekend I put the finishing touches on the costume and suited Sydney up for a little photoshoot. I absolutely adore the outcome, and I hope you do too!
The beard is essential to this costume, and it was pretty easy to make. I started out with three shades of brown felt. I used a piece of paper to create a template for the beard shape, and then cut the shape out of my darkest felt. To add some dimension and character, I cut several scallop edged strips out of the two lighter felts. Next, I used a sewing machine to attach and layer these strips to the beard. You can skip the sewing machine and use glue if you’d like. Once layered, I trimmed off all the excess felt. Then attach a piece of elastic for the band, and it’s ready to wear!
To add to the look, I cut an axe out of cardboard, and adorned it with silver spray paint and a faux bois paper. Jeans, boots, a flannel, and of course a beanie finish off the outfit.
Now it’s time I get started on Sydney’s halloween costume! After going through a few ideas, I think she’s finally made a final decision to be a cat!
And don’t forget there is still time to vote for my Fiber One Snackcessory! You can vote once daily, so please click and help send me to Fashion Week!
I was going through the craft drawer the other day, and I came across some of the paper lanterns from Sydney’s Alice in Wonderland birthday party. I immediately knew we had to make jack-o-lanterns out of the orange ones!
All you need is an orange paper lantern, some glue, and black glitter. You could also use paper, felt, or even just paint to create the faces. Personally, Sydney and I just can’t get enough glitter!
Using lots of glue, I drew on the eye and mouth shapes.
Then Sydney helped me pour on the glitter.
We put a few in Syd’s room, and they make the perfect Halloween night lights!
Sydney and I have spent this past week helping my mom recover from foot surgery, and when we went to get her flowers I knew I had to do something to make the arrangement feel as fall like as possible. Her house was lacking a festive touch. That’s when the pumpkins caught my eye, and I recalled a pin I had seen last week. So I broke out the carving knife, cleaned out the pumpkin, added a low vase, some water, and beautiful flowers. This is a simple way to create a stunning centerpiece!
These studded pumpkins are the perfect addition to our fall decor! I was inspired to make these little guys while I slaved over my Fiber One Snackcessory clutch.
All you need is a hot glue gun, spray paint, and some pumpkins. First wash and dry the pumpkins. Then use the glue gun to create a design. I went with simple dots of glue to create the studded look, but you can make any design you’d like. Then give it a coat of spray paint, and you can even top them off with clear coat for extra protection.
Please make sure to use caution when using your hot glue, and only spray paint in a well ventilated area.
Over the next week or so Sydney and I will be crafty like crazy, creating our spooky Halloween decor. And I’ll be sure to share each and every project with you! Today’s craft is fun for the kids to admire, but not safe for them to make. You’ll need led candles in various sizes, parchment or wax paper, hot glue gun, black spray paint, and black glitter.
Start out by coating your candles in hot glue. Let the glue drip down the sides of the candles, pooling on the wax paper. Its best to keep turning the candle to let some of the glue drips cool before putting on the next layer. This creates more dimension.
Several glue sticks later, once you have the desired drippy look, carefully peel your candle off the parchment or wax paper.
Now tape or cover the flame portion of the candle, and spray your candle black. Immediately sprinkle your candle with glitter, so that it will stick to the wet paint. Be sure this step is done in a well ventilated area.
Good Morning! I want to thank everyone who entered the costume giveaway, there were so many wonderful ideas! I am excited to announce the lucky winner is….. drum roll please……. Jenny Downs, congratulations!!! I am getting out my pencil and sketchbook, and coming up with some great ideas to turn your little one into a lumberjack for the night. I’m starting on it right away, and I will share the costume with you all as soon as it’s done.
While I get to work, I wanted to share one more diy costume Sydney and I worked on together. It’s a Hula Girl!
This one is so easy, and I’m sure a lot of you have these items on hand at home. You’ll need a brown paper bag, coffee filters, food coloring, and ribbon.
1. Start by dying several coffee filters in a mixture of food coloring and water. About 3 drops color to two tablespoons water. Set filters aside to dry.
2. Taking a brown paper bag, cut it open and lay it out flat. Trim off excess flaps to create an even rectangle shape.
3. Use scissors, or an x-acto and straight edge, to fringe the paper bag, creating a grass skirt. Be sure to leave a 2″ band at the top of the paper bag. This will be the waistband.
4. Glue ribbon to the inside edge of the waistband, leaving it long enough to be tied.
5. Once the colored coffee filters are dry, use them to make flowers. One large flower can be glued to a clip and worn in the hair. Smaller flowers can then be glued to a necklace or thick strand of yarn to make a lei.
Now just pair your homemade pieces with some brown leggings and a bright colored shirt, and get ready to hula!
Yesterday I apparently lost my mind and thought it was Friday. I woke up confused this morning, and then realized that I had completely skipped Thursday, which is why I posted ‘Things I Loved This Week’ yesterday. Oh well, it happens to the best of us. Right?
So, now I can officially say Happy Friday everyone! And I share with you a super easy craft to get you in the halloween spirit. Mummy candles! All you need is gauze, googly eyes, led candles, and some glass jars.
Just wrap the glass jars with gauze, securing it with either glue or tape. Then glue on some googly eyes, and insert an led votive! Sydney loves these, and can’t get enough of them. The led votive makes them totally kid friendly.
I am also excited about all the great ideas for the DIY Halloween Costume Giveaway. The winner will be announced Monday!
Good Morning! As I mentioned last week in my DIY Costume post, I will be giving away a halloween costume this month. But not just any costume, it will be custom, one of a kind costume made just for you child!
(1. pig in a blanket, 2. sheep, 3. garden flower, 4. bat)
Here’s how it works:
Head over to thredup.com and find a piece of clothing that sparks Continue reading
Today I am sharing a costume tutorial I put together for the lovely people at ThredUp. This is a fun, no sew tutorial that will help you turn your little cutie into a garden flower with birds and butterflies buzzing around her head! You can start off with some basic pieces, like a bright colored shirt paired with some green leggings or skirt or what the heck why not both! Then get creative with it.
Here’s what else I used:
7 sheets of pink felt for the petals (or any color you like)
2 sheets of yellow felt
some ribbon or velcro
4 pink pipe cleaners
3 yellow pipe cleaners
3 yellow craft pompoms
hot glue
a headband
floral wire
needle point pliers
and various decorative butterflies, birds, and ladybugs
1. Start by creating a collar out of a sheet of pink felt and ribbon. I cut a 6” strip of felt, then folded it in half to make it more rigid. Make your collar long enough to loosely fit your child, leaving a good amount of wiggle room. Glue ribbon or velcro to the ends of your collar.
2. Fold the remaining pink felt sheets in half, and cut out your petal shapes. Trim pink pipe cleaners to size, and use hot glue to adhere them to the center of 6 petals. Set the other petal aside for now.
3. Gather the felt at the base of each of the 6 petal to create dimension, and secure with hot glue.
4. Glue these petals around the outside of your collar, about halfway up. Shape the petals as you glue, and be sure to also adhere the petals near the top of the collar. This will give them extra support.
5. Glue the remaining 6 petals to the bottom of your collar, positioning them below and in between the top 6 petals.
6. Fold over and glue, or trim, and extra petal felt.
7. Now, Cut a 6” strip of yellow felt, fringing it on one end. Glue this strip to the inside of your collar to give the illusion of the flower’s center.
8. Time to make the stamens! Glue the three pompoms onto the ends of the yellow pipe cleaners.
9. Tightly wrap the three pipe cleaners around the center of the headband, while also twisting them together.
10. And now onto my daughter’s favorite part. Add springy wire to your headband and attach all sorts of garden friends to the wires. We used butterflies, a humming bird, and ladybugs. Be creative and have fun with it!
(last image courtesy of thredup.com)
I will also be doing a DIY costume giveaway next week. Check back for the exciting details!!! UPDATE: Click here to enter the giveaway!
Fall may not be in the air just yet, but I already have Halloween on my mind. While I come up with my own festive ideas for decorations, crafts, and recipes, I wanted to share a few great ones I found and added to my must make list. Enjoy, and please feel free to share any great ideas you have!
These Peekaboo Pumpkins via hgtv.com are adorable, super easy to make, and I know Sydney would get a kick out of them!
This recipe from Nestle for Pots of Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Cream Pie sounds irresistible. I MUST make this. Continue reading
