Monthly Archives: October 2013

Oct30

Spooky Tea-Light Holder, Quick Halloween Craft

Posted on October 30, 2013 by thestick81

This was really easy and looks really cool in the dark. As with everything I do lately though, it was almost impossible to take a photo of.

The glass pot was from the $2 shop, but you could use any kind of glass jar. I just liked the shape of this so grabbed it. I painted the inside with some orange craft paint, which in hindsight was a bit silly, I should have painted the outside so it was not so close to the flame. I drew the outline of the tree and some bats with permanent marker then Mr8 filled in the rest. Scratched away the paint from behind the eyes and there you have it. If halloween had not snuck up on me so quickly, I would have done a bunch in different shapes and sizes, but alas, it is tomorrow and I have no time left.

All you need

Mr8 filling in the black

tea-light

halloween candle,

Halloween decor

Spooky candle holder

Boo!

Oct30

DIY Halloween Wreath.

Posted on October 30, 2013 by thestick81

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There is lots of variations of this all over Pinterest, but I thought I’d have a go myself. I was excited to see a decent range of Halloween themed fabric in Spotlight this year, which made choosing my materials easy. I bought 40cm of each one, figuring 20cm strips would be sufficient. The ring was a pre-made one from there as well. Around $4.

I cut the fabric into 2x 20cm wide strips, then cut those large strips into roughly inch wide strips. I was not too fussed about them all being perfect, as the over all results I was going for was messy anyway. Then the tying on. I finished the whole thing in the car on a day trip to the city and back, so just over an hour. I think the cutting into strips actually took longer than that!

Not far into it, I realised I had made my strips way too short for the size of the loop, it just looked too sparse. But they were already cut, so I decided to continue on then just cut the hoop smaller later. That solved the problem just nicely! The witch hat was a last minute addition, it was actually part of a halloween headband, again from Spot Light, I just chopped off the headband. The kids helped paint the wooden letters and I glued them onto the most appropriate coloured ribbon I had on hand. Done.

I didn’t take a photo of it against our door, because the Kookaburras, white timber and glass just didn’t quite work!

The chosen fabric,

Cut into 2cm wide strips

Tying on

The finished wreath

Halloween wreath

Halloween entrance decoration

Oct7

Knitted Pumpkins, Upcycled Jumpers/Sweaters

Posted on October 7, 2013 by thestick81

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Knitted Pumpkins, Upcycled Jumpers/Sweaters

This project was very popular last fall in the US, but I never got around to trying it. I was looking forward to trying it out coming up to Halloween, but as it is not actually cool at this time of year in Australia, getting the sweaters, or jumpers as we call them, was easier said than done!

Pink tone pumpkins

I visited 4 different op shops trying to find anything knitted, but they had already sold out (it is spring here, and a hot spring at that). On the fourth stop, the lovely lady allowed me to dig through a storage bag to find some. I was not game to tell her that I was actually planning on cutting them up. *blush*.

The best ones I have seen use ribbed or cable knit sleeves to create the lines on the outside of a pumpkin. None of the jumpers I could find had that on the sleeve, but they did in the body, so I just folded them over and sewed them into a tube before cutting. Worked like a charm. Hover over the images for step by step instructions if you’d like to try this for yourself at home.

Sewing a piece out of the jumper to form a sleeve shape

The 3 different sized pieces

Running stitch along the bottom (inside out), them pull together to gather and tie off

Ready to stuff.

Stuffed and ready to gather top.

I used rubber bands to fasten, then went over the bands.

Some frayed jumper to finish off the black ones.

Raffia for the pink tones

Using a doubled over strong thread, stitch from the top to the bottom and back through again, tightening until you have reached your desired pumpkin shape.

Roll over bake clay out to desired thickness. Press leaf into clay and roll again. Remove leaf and cut out leaf shape

Shape as desired

Bake for 15 minutes, not 25 like I did! Thankfully the burnt colours still worked well with the pumpkins! lol

Finished pumpkins

Finished dark pumpkins

Pumpkins

Door decor.

If you enjoyed this project, please like and follow this blog. Happy crafting!

Oct7

Spooky Halloween Doorway Hanging.

Posted on October 7, 2013 by thestick81

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I saw some similar ghosts on Pinterest and thought we’d give them a go. We made them earlier in the week, but it took me a few days to decide what to do with them. A door hanging seemed perfect!

The cheese cloth/white gauze was from Spotlight and only $2 per meter. We used 2 meters for the 18 ghosts. Each ghost needed 2 layers, as the cloth is quite transparent. After I cut out the squares, Ms4 put the ghosts together. Some how I have lost the photos of this step.

For the larger ghosts, we used eyes with backs on them, like you’d use making softies or teddies. The spike on the back worked well to hold the cheese cloth in place too. For the smaller ones we just glued on googley eyes with craft glue. I had intended to make some bats and spiders to add as well, but when I laid out the ghosts, they covered the area better than expected. Plus I have so many projects on the go at the moment, I thought I best actually get one finished. We did add some plastic spiders for effect. Using the longest needle I owned (which really needed to be another 2cm longer) I threaded each item onto 4 separate strings. I used doubled over crochet cotton as it was the most appropriately coloured thing I had on hand. Fishing line tends to get tangled too easy, so I avoided it this time. I attached the strings to a rod we had in the shed, but any stick would have been fine. And there you have it. As with most of my projects lately, they are really hard to take photos of! Hopefully you get the idea!

Cut up the cheese cloth to fit the different sized balls

Ms 4 glueing on some eyes

Adding googley eyes

Mr3 having a go with some eyes

Laid out on the floor to work out spacing and distribution of sizes and eye colours

Stab long needle through each one, and slide along

Threading the spiders

Little ghosts on strings

Door hanging

Ghostly entrance

Halloween Door way

Halloween craft,

Halloween activity

Halloween ghosts and spiders

Boo!

If you’d like to see more family craft activities, please follow this blog and Pinterest!

Oct2

DIY Wind Chime, Candelabra/Sun Catcher.

Posted on October 2, 2013 by thestick81

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I dragged the kids to the $2 shop to stock up on some supplies for other projects, and came across these cute little glass bottles. I had to have them. And I had to use them right now! So much for Halloween craft this week! lol.

I didn’t have a small enough pre made wreath wring to use as the frame, so I just used some gardening wire and platted it loosely along with a piece of twine. I like the rough look it gave and thought it fit well with the theme. The little glass balls were another score from the junk shop, they are actually part of a floating candle set, but I had bigger ideas. I love those old glass buoys as decorations so I figured these could be made into mini ones. I slightly filled the little jars with some crushed crystal beads I bought off eBay years ago, just to add some colour, then tied them all up. Originally I was going to position each one, stepping them down as I went, but as they were all different heights and widths, it just didn’t give a worthwhile effect. So I just tied them randomly, but so they would still hit each other to make a noise in the wind. The candle holder in the middle was a last minute decision, I just thought it was missing something, and that finished it off perfectly. To be honest, I wouldn’t leave the candle lit unattended, as those strings are flammable, maybe a battery operated tea-light would be a better idea.

What you need

Plated wire and twine

Some stone chips for colour, then secure with twine

Securing the glass balls.

Tying up the glass balls

Space out the items evenly

In the dark

With candle lit

The finished product

Anyway, I am pretty happy with it. I think I will do it again, after I collect some larger bottles to hold more candles. Create something a little different again, and probably use wire to hang them next time.