Saturday, August 27, 2011

So easy a monkey could do it...

No offense to monkeys of course. This is an UBER easy project. The idea came while flipping through some magazines and trying to find a new hanging for the front door that would cover both Fall and Halloween. Here it is:

Materials: 1 small grapevine wreath ($2 Pat Catan's)
2 stems of berry beads ($2 JoAnn Fabrics)
1 stem of fall leaves ($1 at Dollar Store)
1 pkg of 2" bells ($2.10 at Pat Catan's)
thin green wire (on hand)
orange spray paint (on hand)
Sharpie
sharp scissors

First I sprayed the bells orange like pumpkins and used a Sharpie to make faces once dry. Since the berry beads come in bunches and already on wire, I wired them individually around the stems on the wreath. I attached the pumpkins with thin green floral wire and then tucked the leaves into the wreath. Voile! No gluing. No sewing. All done! The best part is you can undo all the wires and re-use the wreath for other seasons using the same general idea. YEA!! Love being frugal :)
Jingling Jack-o-lanterns

Saturday, August 20, 2011

In A World of My Own: Five Little Jack-o-lanterns

In A World of My Own: Five Little Jack-o-lanterns

Five Little Jack-o-lanterns


Five Little Jack-o-Lanterns sitting on a gate...

I think I ate magical beans back in June. Alright so it was actually candy corn, but since then I've been in a Fall state of mind (insert Billy Joel music here). So instead of finishing putting up shelves, sewing that quilt glaring at me in the corner, finish painting the living room, building that corner desk...(you get the picture) I dusted off my idea book. Like you don't have one too! :)


Man! I can't believe how this craft idea book grows larger with each year..uh...month...alright, alright...DAILY! The Pumpkin People actually started out as me looking for fabric pumpkin inspiration when I came across this: http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/fall-sewing-projects#slide_16 Are those the CUTEST little things or what?! They needed to be made! Sorry other projects. So..

I had orange felt from out littlest's costume from last year, pipe cleaners (what Mom doesn't?) and pins for the buttons and noses but the other stuff? Uh..no. I was not deterred much to my husband's chagrin. I didn't have wood shavings but I had poly fiber fill (FYI: Get the wood shavings, makes punching holes easier). I didn't have 2" heavy wire but I had 1 1/2" nails. I didn't have waxed thread but I could double my cotton thread (this works). I didn't have black felt but I had plenty of black scrap fabric. I didn't have a doll needle but I had sharp scissors and an awl. I had resume paper, leftover when people, still sent resumes in hardcopy so it was "yellowed". I printed out what I wanted the banners to say and since I made five, it simply made sense to chose that Halloween poem. I aged the banners with some brown paint. I get "crafty" when I get crafty. LOL! I'm cheap, what can I say? This is a quick project. Took about 5 hours for all five spread over two days...gotta feed the monsters ya know.

So without further ado...
The first one said:
The second one said:

The third one said:

The fourth one said:

The fifth one said:

Then WHOOSH went the wind.
And out went the light.
And the five little jack-o-lanterns rooolled out of sight!

Happy Fall!