Oogie in the Window

Continuing on with my odd obsession with Nightmare.. 

I cut a silhouette out of cardboard.

Then I applied glue to one side.

After that I laid on a piece of burlap.

Then I repeated on the other side. To finish the edges I put hot glue on the corrugation and folded over the excess burlap.

Then I just trimmed off the extra.

Here he is completed.

In the window with light shinning through the other side he looks like the shadow on the moon at night...

-Karen

Jack Candy Dish

Since it is almost Halloween I have been on a kick of making some new decorations. The Nightmare before Christmas is one of my favorite movies. It seems odd to have have things from that movie hanging around all year long so Halloween seems like the perfect excuse to show my love.

I have done a few different projects now but I am starting with the easiest. A Jack candy dish. Which is pretty awesome if you ask me.

This one is really simple. I had a fish bowl laying around. I masked off the eyes, nose, and mouth. Then a quick spray with a frosted glass spray paint. Quick and easy.

This isn't too in your face. If I really wanted it to stand out I would have painted it white. Or maybe painted the eyes black. I think it is perfect.

-Karen

Embroidery Floss Holders

I had a bunch of floss getting tangled together. I needed to make some new holders for them. I had them wrapped around pieces of index cards but they just weren't holding up.

I decided I was going to go with animals. I found some free coloring pages of animals online. I stuck with longer animals. Really you could use anything here. You could go for pictures of forks and wind you floss around them. Or go more traditional with empty spool pictures. Find the pictures you desire, print, and cut them out.

Scotch makes these cool little self laminating pouches. I am not commit ed to laminating anything enough to buy a lamination machine so these are a nice substitute when needed. They are basically a thicker piece of plastic and sheet of clear vinyl that get stuck together.

You arrange your pictures on the one side.

Then fold over the clear sticky side. Smooth it down to remove any air bubbles.

After that cut out each individual picture. You will also need to create a little cut in to hold the end of the floss.

After that just wind your floss around. Below you can see my fox and pig wearing their little sweaters of floss.

-Karen

Easter Wreath

I have no spring decorations. With the weather finally warming up I wanted some cheery things to put around the house. The first thing I made was a wreath. The wreath itself was no problem. It was the eggs I decided to make that took a little more time. If you aren't a cheapskate like me you could always buy some.

That is never my route. Alarms start going of in my head saying "you could make this so much cheaper.. and probably better too"

I started with the cheap plastic eggs. I thought about spray painting them but didn't have any the right color and wasn't buying any for the small amount I would need. Making acrylic paint thicker is pretty easy. You just take some hot water and dissolve cornstarch in it.

Then just add this concoction to your paint.

I put on three coats of paint. Here are the eggs after one coat..

And after three..

I was going for a giant birds egg kind of look. And the one solid color just wasn't enough. I diluted some paint into water and put it in a spray bottle.

Then all of the eggs got misted. I did this with two different shades.

They still weren't quite the look I was going for. So out came a toothbrush and paint for some speckles.

The wreath itself was easy. I just covered the form with brown Spanish moss. It looked like the start of a very circular birds nest.

After that it was just a matter of hot gluing on the eggs.

Now the door is all pretty for springs arrival tomorrow.

-Karen

Bullet Frame

I tend to save weird things thinking that at some point I will think of a use for them. One of those things is bullet casings.

I found a frame at the dollar store that was as wide as a .22 shell is long. All it needed was a little paint to get it to a matching color.

I made some custom colored glue for my glue stick. I then used this to glue the shells on.

Continuing until I was all the way around the frame. Simple and perfect for your hunting pictures.

-Karen

Quote on Glass

Stores seem to be selling these left and right now. I'm not a huge fan of most of the sayings I find or the price. I decided to make my own custom one. I got an existing frame and removed the back. Then I bent the tabs in place to hold the glass. I also had to get my vinyl cut out of the quote I was looking for. I put my words on the inside of the glass so that it was easier to clean. Since I decided to go this route I needed my quote mirrored before cutting.

After that it is just a matter of transferring the vinyl onto clean glass.

Then hang it up!

- Karen

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Me and my niece were busy making some adorable little pig cupcakes. Sweethearts and Necco Wafers along with some frosting work wonders.

- Karen