Tag: craftiness

Spooky Life Given to Christmas Countdown Calendar

Spooky Life Given to Christmas Countdown Calendar

count down

Halloween is definitely one of my favorite holidays of the year, running a close third behind Christmas and Easter. I love to decorate, get spooky and celebrate with tricks and treats! I know you’ll think I’m silly, but one of the best things about getting my Halloween on is that this spooky day comes at the very end of the month, which means I can start decorating on the first and enjoy the orange and black all month long. It has a definite beginning and an end, which suits my creative self just so.

Since Halloween is a month-long celebration, it stands to reason that one should count down the days until the climatic celebration, and what better way to do so than with a mini calendar. I mean, we do it for Christmas, so why not Halloween. . . and Christmas is exactly where I came up with the inspiration for these cute little countdown blocks.

count down

I purchased this Christmas countdown project at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago and after I got it home I decided I needed to get another for a Halloween version of this project. The regular price for the kit was $5.99 but I purchased mine at 40 percent off, so it was seriously affordable.

count down

I discarded all the Christmas stuff in the kit, just keeping the blocks and number stickers for the Halloween version of this project. The numbers are glittery black, so they are perfect for this project. One thing I discovered about the number sheets is that each sheet belongs to one block. If you adhere all the numbers from one sheet to one block and all the numbers from the other sheet to the other block, you will be able to count down all the days without a hitch (the number six doubles as the number 9).

To begin this project, I spray painted my blocks black and then picked out some cute Halloween paper from my burgeoning stash. I measured my blocks, cut my paper accordingly, inked the edges in black, stuck the self-sticking numbers to the paper squares and then adhered those to all six sides of the small blocks.

For the bottom block I used the same method as the small blocks, but instead of numbers I printed out a “Days Until Halloween” saying and stuck it to the front of the block. I didn’t bother with the bottom and back of the larger block because no one will see it, but if you feel the need to finish it all off go for it. I completed this project with a couple of cute do-dads and now we are happily counting down the days until Halloween. The hardest part about this project was deciding where to display it. Go figure.

 

The Letter “B” as Cute Door Decor

The Letter “B” as Cute Door Decor

door decor

One of my nieces just moved into her new college apartment near the KU campus and she sent me a text out of the blue asking if I could make her a cute little something for her bedroom door. After discovering she wanted a letter B with peacock colors, I went in search of a few items to create her new door decor.

Since I didn’t really have much to go on, I decided to keep the project pretty simple and when I ran across this cute little picture frame in the wedding section of Hobby Lobby I thought it would be the perfect touch. My niece will be able to change the photo in and out on a whim, so the design is actually interactive — that is my favorite part. The frame was actually all bright gold, so I toned it down with a bit of dark wax. I also purchased that cute little teal feather thing that matched the teal tulle I already owned.

door decor

What you can’t see in the above photo is some teal burlap ribbon and pleated burlap ribbon that is wrapped around the leg of the letter. These ribbons served two purposes, to add some interest if seen from the side and to add some surface area on which to adhere the frame.  With the help of a little hot glue, everything came together quickly and snuggly.

door decor ribbon

It’s not the most elaborate decorative letter I’ve ever seen but since I was creating for someone else in a setting I had never seen, I thought conservative was the safe option. By adding the functioning photo frame my niece will be able to add her own touch to the door decor and even change it out with the seasons.

Trash Bag Jellyfish

Trash Bag Jellyfish

trash bag jellyfish

In a quest to create something cheap and easy for this year’s “Submerged” Vacation Bible School theme,  I found this wonderful trash bag jellyfish project on, where else, Pinterest. These cute little sea creatures have been taking over my home for a week now and I simply love their ethereal presence all around our decorated church. Along the way I discovered that these fun little sea creatures have been assembled in many different ways by several different folks, but I wanted to share with you exactly what worked for me.

trash bag jellyfish

Start with two trash bags. I used opaque ones, translucent ones, pink ones and blue ones. Any old bags will do, but I think my favorites were the cheap pink ones I found at the dollar tree. They have a light and airy feel and the color is perfect for jellyfish, but this is VBS and we can imagine jellies in any color we choose.

Before I started making my jellyfish, I created a few hangers for the little guys by cutting up some fishing line (length depends on personal preference and hanging location), tying it in a loop and attaching a paperclip. I made several of these hangers ahead of time, because this is the boring and kind of time-consuming part of the project.

To make the top of the jellyfish,  I used one bag, one rubber band and one paper clip hanger. Fluff a bag in the air to completely open it up and then gather the open edge of the trash bag in your hand as if you were making a air-filled bag to pop; although you don’t want to fill it completely or the next step won’t work.

With the gathered bag in one hand, push the natural bottom of the bag down into the middle and into the gathered hand. Some trash bags have a straight seam, which means you will also have to tuck the two corners down into that gathered hand as well or your jellyfish will end up with ears. . . and as far as I know jellies don’t have ears. 

Now take a premade hanger and push the paperclip down through the middle and into the gathered hand. You should be able to feel the paperclip in your hand, but the fishing line should be sticking out the top. Secure everything in your gathered hand with a rubber band, making sure the paperclip is anchored in place below the rubber band. You should end up with an air-filled bagel-shaped bag with fishing line out the top.

trash bag jellyfish

Now onto the tentacles. To make long, flowing tentacles you need to start with your second trash bag. Cut off all the seams and corners, but keep the two layers together. Using a pair of scissors, cut a spiral shape from the outside in. You can cut this as thin or thick as you like, but I think the skinny version isn’t quite as pretty. After you cut the spiral, pull apart the layers and let them hang. The spiral cut is essential to the long flowing look, so don’t cut corners — I tried it.

trash bag jellyfish

Cut the tentacles to desired length and push one end through one of the rubber band loops already in place on the jellyfish body. If you want to add more layers, simply cut another trash bag or add some other types of materials to achieve a fuller look. I used everything from tulle, ribbon and unraveled cheap plastic leis from the dollar store.

One of my favorite things about this project is that all my trash bag jellyfish seem to have their own unique personality — some were fun, some were beautiful and some were just plain silly.

Page 15 of 23
1 13 14 15 16 17 23