Halloween Trio: Cat, Ghost & Pumpkin

I'm back!  I'm so happy!!!  I've been dealing with some pretty nasty nerve damage in my dominant arm since last Spring.  By about June, it got so bad that it took everything I had just to get through the day, so I had to stop doing pretty much anything that wasn't absolutely necessary.  I had surgery in August and the recovery has been less than fun.  I'm still not operating at 100%, but I'm tired of not being able to do the things that I love.  I didn't realize how big of a part of my life crafting and being able to express my creativity in that way is.  It truly makes me happy, and when I can't do it, I get depressed.  I hope that  I never have to go through another "craft-less" time in my life again!

Sooo anyhoodle, my first project back on the "job" was this Halloween trio for my porch.  My fabulous hubby cut me this wood:

This is what I did with it:

The ghost stands 2 feet.  The cat 18" and the pumpkin is 12":

It looks so adorable on my porch!  I'm so glad to be back to being able to craft again and look forward to getting back to 100%.

Linked to:
one-project-at-a-time
take-look-tuesday
flusters-creative-muster-party
whatever-goes-wednesday
wow-me-wednesday

Thankful Banner

I adore banners.  I decorate my hutch for every season and holiday and banners just seem to complete it, so I try and make one for every holiday.  This is my Thanksgiving banner:

I used chipboard triangles for the backing and then picked out 8 different Fall/Thanksgiving related scrapbook papers to use for each triangle and letter.  I then embellished each with cute leaf, acorn, pine cone stickers, burlap flowers, rhinestones, jute and ribbons.

The T:

The H:

The A:

The N:

The K:

The F:

The U:

And, the L:

I sanded and inked the edges and tied them together with jute.  Easy as can be and I love the way it ties in with my Thanksgiving Hutch:

Linking to:
craft-o-maniac-monday

2 Ways To Decorate Ceramic Pumpkins

Hello there!  Happy Monday!  My life has been crazy lately but I was finally able to get some Thanksgiving crafting done over the weekend.   I had these two ceramic pumpkins:

I decided to cover one in orange glitter and the other in orange burlap.  Here is how they turned out:

I painted both orange and the stems green.  Then for the glitter one, I covered it in Mod Podge and sprinkled glitter all over it, then used aerosol hairspray to seal it.  I have found that this works wonders at sealing the glitter on and still allowing the glitter to sparkle. I then topped it with an orange bow and a gold strand to finish it off.:

I cut strips of orange burlap to fit into the grooves of the pumpkin and then Mod Podged them onto it.  From there, I glued jute down each groove and then finished it off with a material bow, some jute and raffia:

They look darling on my antique dresser!:

Easy as pie!

Linking to:
craft-o-maniac-monday
made-by-you-monday

Spider Cider (Kid Friendly)

Hello!  I am back from the most fantastic vacation to sunny Florida and Walt Disney World!  Halloween this year is going to be kind of a bummer at my house because we will be childless and my sweet hubs has surgery on Nov. 1st that will require us to drive an hour and a half from home very early in the morning.

Anyways, normally I love to go all out for Halloween and if we are lucky enough for it to fall on a weekend, then  I make every meal "Halloween-ish" from breakfast through dinner.  One of my favorite idea's is what I call "Spider Cider":

Just use your favorite hot cider recipe, I have a couple that I like to use.  One of them that's super easy is:

Ingredients:
1 c. water
2 quarts apple juice
1 c. orange juice
1/4 c. lemon juice
5 or 6 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 T. brown sugar
2 tsp whole cloves
2 or 3 diced apples
Big plastic spiders (make sure that they float so that no one will choke on one!)

In a pot, combine the first 8 ingredients and bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.  Strain out the cinnamon sticks and cloves and then pour into individual cups (I like to use clear ones). Toss in some chopped apples and drop in a plastic spider.

This one is always a hit with kids and is great for either breakfast or after trick or treating when everyone is chilly and needs to warm up!

*This could also very easily be turned into an adult drink by adding Spiced Rum...

Linking to:
craft-o-maniac-monday
made-by-you-monday
nifty-thrifty-tuesday
time-sparkle
tell-us-tuesday
all-my-bloggy-friends

Old Wood Scarecrow...

I love old wood, I tend to hoard it and therefore I have a huge stack of it.  I haven't used any of it to make Fall decorations so I decided that I needed to!  Here is what I came up with:

I adore scarecrows!  For me, they totally symbolize Fall and everything about it.  I painted the top part of the board brown as well as an old plank for the hat and hat brim, the rest white for his face, then I painted his cute face on.  Then I glued raffia on the hat brim and stapled it to the hat.  Finally, I added the sunflower, leaves and bow and that was it.  The entire decoration took less than 40 minutes and most of that was drying time for the paint.

I love him!

Linking to the following fabulous parties:
nifty-thrifty-tuesday
craft-o-maniac-monday
give-goods
made-by-you-monday
mad-skills-party
time-sparkle
tell-us-tuesday
all-my-bloggy-friends
too-cute-tuesday
show-me-what-ya-got
take-look-tuesday
whatever-goes-wednesday
dandelion-wishes-wednesday
wow-me-wednesday
flusters-creative-muster

Burlap Fall Wreath...

Hello there!  I'm back after a much needed blogging/crafting break.  I've found that sometimes working a stressful full time job, being a mom and wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend can get in the way of crafting which stinks, but I know what my priorities are! I have missed creating cute crafts and have also missed blogging, so here I am with my latest;

I wrapped a Styrofoam wreath with burlap. I adore the rolls of wire burlap, they make working with burlap so easy!

I made a few cute material flowers and ribbon leaves for the side.

 I stenciled the Fall banner and sewed it to the lace and attached that to the wreath.  Finally, I made a ribbon hanger and I was done.  So easy!

Linked to:
creative-bloggers-party-hop
& craft-o-maniac
& give-me-the-goods-26
& mad-skills-party
& made-by-you-monday
& Work It Wednesday
& all-my-bloggy-friends
& too-cute-tuesday-linky-par-tay
& show-me-what-ya-got
& take-look-tuesday
& time-to-sparkle-link-party
& tell-us-tuesday
& flusters-creative-muster-party
& pinterest-power-party
& wonderful-wednesday-blog-hop
& creative-inspirations
& show-off-your-stuff-party 

2x4 Thanksgiving Crafts...

Hubs has been recovering from surgery, which means that I've lost my wood man.  He is the one that normally cuts, sands and preps my wood.  I was dying to do some Thanksgiving crafts, so I headed out to our scrap pile and found a few discarded 2x4's that didn't need any cutting.

First, I made this darling Pilgrim boy:

Then I made a Turkey:

                                                        I used a balloon for his gobbler :)

Finally, I made an Indian boy:

All 3:

I love them, they are perfect for Thanksgiving!
Linking to:
show-and-tell-saturday
& get-schooled-saturday
& sundayfunday-blog-hop
& pruningprincesses- blog hop
& keep-calm-and-link-up
& mad-skills-party
& craft-o-maniac-monday
& homemakeronadime

Super Easy Halloween Decorations...

Here are a few Halloween Decorations that took 30 minutes or less to make:

Mummy Jar.  Just take any size jar, wrap it in gauze, glue at the bottom and top and glue on the googly eyes. Place one of those push button lights in the bottom and it looks super cute in the dark :)

Witches Hat.  I just bought a cardboard one from Michael's.  I painted in in the black and purple glitter paint, then glued  a glitter green spider and black tulle bow.  All done!

For the glass ghost and pumpkin, I just bought the shaped glasses that I wanted to use at the Dollar Tree and then cut shapes in vinyl on my Cricut and put them on.  I filled each with appropriate colored "stuffing" and that's it!

All were EASY SNEEZY and look very festive :)

Linking to:
creative-bloggers-party-hop-83
& craftomaniac-monday-link-up
& m-m-m
& Tip Junkie

A few Halloween Monsters....

I noticed that one of my old posts removed the pictures of three of my past Halloween projects.  Boo to Blogger for doing that!  Oh well, I will just re-post them :)

                                                                               My cute Chunky Frankenstein.

                                                                                             Chunky Mummy.

                                                                                                Tall Mummy

These were all super easy to make.  Who doesn't love a cute monster?!

Halloween Subway Art...

Things are getting spooky around my house!  I put up my Halloween decorations today and it made me so happy!!!  I love pulling out all of my Halloween totes and finding all of my cute decorations.  It's almost like Christmas morning :)  This is the other subway art that I made about a month ago:

Of course I designed it with my Silhouette, painted it on a 12X12 board and then I really scuffed it and scratched it up, just because I thought it would give it more of a Halloween-ish look.

Halloween is one of my favorites to decorate for, this is such a fun time of year!  I have a few other new Fall projects that I will post over the next few weeks so stay tuned and thanks so much for all of the sweet comments, I really do appreciate every one of them.  Happy Fall Ya'll!!!

Linking to:
creative-bloggers-party-hop
& craftomaniac-monday
& m-m-m-124
too-cute-tuesday

Fall Subway Art....

My new Fall Subway Art Plaque.  I initially did it in Orange and tan and just didn't love it.  I hate it when that happens!  I decided to redo it in these colors and definitely loved it!

Fall is such a fun time of year to decorate for!

Linking to:
creative-bloggers-party-hop
& creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com
& craft-o-maniac-monday

2x4 Scarecrow

I made a few new 2x4 crafts for my Fall decor this year:

How cute is he?!

Linked to:
lil-luna-link-party
& whatever-goes-wednesday
& show-off-your-stuff-party
& hookin-up-with-hoh
& its-hodgepodge-friday
& whatcha-work-up-wednesday
& -no80-will-see-it-wednesday

Scarecrow Cookies...

We have a Thanksgiving tradition of doing a treat/craft with the kiddo's after we eat our Thanksgiving dinner. My sister and I always demonstrate while the kids make their own:

This year, I saw these cute Scarecrow Cookies on Familyfun.com:

They turned out darling:

It's a lot more fun than taking a nap after eating Thanksgiving dinner!

Thanksgiving Decor Items...

I've had several friends tell me that they don't decorate for Thanksgiving at all because, "There really isn't much to decorate with". GASP! Whatever! This breaks my beating heart! I love to decorate for Thanksgiving. I love to spend the month reflecting on all that I have to be thankful for and I absolutely DETEST that people jump straight from Halloween to Christmas. I do have more decorations for both Christmas and Halloween, however; I still deck the house out for Thanksgiving. Here is my November hutch:

There are all kinds of fun ways to decorate for Thanksgiving and Fall.  A few ideas would be:
Turkey's, pumpkins, leaves, pilgrims, Indians, scarecrows, corn cobs and even candy corns.  Don't overlook Thanksgiving in your decor!

Linking to:
lil-luna-link-party

November Plate...

I make a "plate" for each month. This is my November "plate", and no, it's not technically a plate, I actually took a piece of tile and painted it:

Very easy to make and looks super cute on my counter!

Linking to: hookin-up-with-hoh
& crafty-soiree
& show-off-your-stuff-party-99.

Autumn Harvest Block Set....

Autumn Harvest blocks that I made for a friend:

Linking to:
sassysites
& katiesnestingspo-crafty-soiree
& .houseofhepworths-hookin-up-with-hoh 

Fall Wreath...

What's not to love about Fall? I made this wreath with some of my favorite fall decor items, Leaves, burlap and a scarecrow:

So much fun!

Linking to:
skiptomylou-made-by-you-monday
&  .madincrafts-mad-skills
& craft-o-maniac-monday 

Craft On!

Boo Frame (Tutorial)...

Easiest craft ever! Sorry but I didn't even think about taking pictures of each step, give me a break, it's my first Tut!!! I'll do better next time, I promise :) Here is what we are making:

Supplies: Wood 4x6 frame
Black paint
B, O, & O, wood letters
Orange paint
1 bag of google eyes
Halloween scrap paper (I just used some that I had leftover from another project)
Modge Podge
Black ink
Sand paper
glue gun/glue sticks
Paint brush or sponge brushes

1.Paint the frame black and the letters orange, let dry (or use whatever color scheme you want).
2.Trace letters with scrapbook paper, cut out and Modge Podge them onto the wood letters. Press out any wrinkles and allow to dry.
3.When completely dry, sand the edges of the paper until you get a nice finished look, then ink around all of the edges.
4. Glue the letters onto the frame and then glue the googly eyes so that they completely cover it.
5.Place pix in the middle and you're done!

Didn't I tell you this was the easiest craft ever? Enjoy!

Linking to:
somedaycrafts 
&
lilluna
&
inspired-by-you-wednesdays

Craft On!