Aqua Pumpkins

I didn't do hardly any decorating for fall this year.  Just have been too busy.  But I did do this simple arrangement for the coffee table.

I bought a handful of tiny pumpkins at the craft store and spray painted them aqua.  I filled an old wooden box with foam which I then covered in spanish moss.  Then glued the pumpkins in and there you have it, a fall decoration that matches my color scheme!
Diana

Free Haunted House Silhouette and SVG File

Here is my newest silhouette design!  A little more complicated than the last few.

You can download the silhouette file here.  I have also made an svg version for you here.

Diana

Free Silhouette Frankenstein Design File

Just a simple little cut file for Silhouette.

You can download the file here.

Diana

Free Silhouette Alfred Hitchcock Design

I created a creepy Silhouette cutting design for Halloween!  

I am a huge Hitchcock fan so it seemed funny to put a bird perched on his head as a nod to one of his greatest films.  If you like it and would like this free design, leave a comment and I can email the file to you or you can download it from here.

Diana

Easy Halloween Cards From Shutterfly.

Did any of you take advantage of the free offer Shutterfly had a few weeks ago?  I decided to have cards made up for Halloween using some images I had created.  The first is of one of my girls.....doesn't she look wicked?

 The next image was one I made of the legendary Hitchcock.

Feel free to use either image yourself or create your own!

Shutterfly walks you through the process of uploading the cards and adding sentiment.  Super easy!

This was so much faster than making cards myself and they are totally unique from any store bought ones.  Gotta love that.

Diana

Creepy Banner

I didn't add too many new things to our Halloween decor this year......but one thing I threw together at the last minute was this creepy banner for the mantle.

I printed some images from The Graphics Fairy and just added a little ink to aged the cards.

 Tiny clothes pins from the craft section at Walmart hold the cards on a long piece of twine.  Couldn't be easier but still adds a huge element to the Gothic look I was going for.

Diana

PicMonkey--Who Knew!

I have wanted a really good photo editing program for a while now.  I have tried demos of several but none were intuitive enough (for me anyway)!  Then my friend Mary, who has beautiful photography on her blog, spilled her secrets.......she uses PicMonkey!  Best part---It is free!  I am probably the last person on the planet to know this but in case I am not, check it out.  Nothing to download, just lots of fun effects.  Plus, if you want more than the freebies they offer, you can sign up for an upgrade for less than I spend on cupcakes vitamins in one month---for an entire years subscription!  Have fun with all the Halloween special effects like the ones above.  The scary picture above?  That is a picture of our littlest grandson who is very angelic in real life but I couldn't resist giving him a more sinister aura!  I see much better photos in my future!
Diana

Halloween Quilt and Table Runner

I made these Halloween quilted decorations for my son way back in July!  Talk about planning ahead.  He has three little boys and I thought they would enjoy the bright orange and black color combo.  Plus the fabric has monsters all over it.....they will love that.

I made a table runner and wall quilt.  The runner came first and the quilt was made from the left over charms and fabric! 

So easy to put together.  I even sewed the binding on by machine instead of by hand (gasp).

 Shadow quilted around the machine appliqued "boo".  The quilt and table runner were machine quilted.

 The table runner has three large blocks.  They are all the same block design but I used different fabric placement for a scrappy look.

 Look how different each block looks. 

I didn't have a long enough piece for the back so I pieced it by using  a few charms to stretch it!  I think the back now looks good enough to display too.  I find this set strangely cheerful and just scary enough for the little boys. 

Diana

Easy Peasy Halloween Cupcakes

Primary was in charge of the cupcake walk this year at the Halloween party so that meant baking a whole lot of cupcakes!  And they needed to be quick and easy to make since we needed soooo many.  Below you can see some of the ones that I made.

Headstones and bones on a cookie crumb grave.

Pastel candy corn colored high top cupcakes.

Halloween candy corn bark tops simple cupcakes.

The cake walk was so much fun, both for the children and for those of us that serve in Primary.  Diana 

Chocolate Apple Cupcake

Looks like a real apple doesn't it.  But it is not, instead it is a luscious spice cupcake with apple pie filling, topped with a apple shaped chocolate shell.  Inside that shell is american buttercream frosting.  Oh yeah!

So How did I make the chocolate dipped apple sans apple?  Look below.

Using food safe mold putty, I encased the top of a stemless apple.  Waiting the proper time, I released the mold.

I sprayed the mold with Pam non stick spray which I then smeared evenly around the inside.

The mold is then coated with melted chocolate and put in the freezer.  Make sure you leave a hole at the stem area as pictured.  Repeat the coating and freezing step at least once more until a nice thick shell is formed.  CAREFULLY manipulate the shell out of the mold and set aside.  (This is not a process that can be rushed and I certainly wouldn't want to do it for dozens of cupcakes but for a few special ones it is great).  I filled the apple shells with green buttercream and plopped them on the top of the cupcakes.  Stick a lollipop stick through the stem hole.  These cupcakes really look like an chocolate covered apple but are so much more fun!  Also the mold could be used for other desserts too.   Diana

Skull Box

For Halloween I love decorating the house with creepy morbid items. 

And this skull definitely fits in with the creepy morbid theme.  The skull was painted white and then given a coating of glitter spray. 

I used some shinny fabric to give him a collar to class him up.  Then the cardboard box was decoupaged with book pages which I then gave a coat of whitewash. 

A coat of sealer over the whitewash and that finished it.  Now I need to get busy on all the cupcakes for the church's cakewalk.  And the curtains for my bedroom.  Oh, and the chair slipcover......  Diana

What's in Your Wardrobe?

I am so obsessed with the shadow box collage!  So when I saw this doll house wardrobe I knew I had to have it.

I did a Dracula scene complete with his bride and coffin.   There are even a few bats flying around.

The whole thing is so small which made cutting difficult but I am so pleased with the overall look.  It does make me a little nervous about that wardrobe so close to my bed.........  Diana

Altered Art Halloween Scene

Remember when I said we went to the Country Living Fair last weekend?  And remember how I said we saw things we could craftlift?  Well this is the first of those craft projects.

One of the booths was huge and had sooo many cute things.  Only one problem.....super expensive.  So I decided I would make one of the items myself.  I didn't take a picture of the shadow box I fell in love with.  I only wanted to use the idea, not totally copy it.  (Saying that makes me feel better.....like saying borrowing instead of stealing.....)  Hours later (now I understand the high price) I have my own version of an altered art shadow box for Halloween. 

I picked up the shadow box at the craft store.  Then the entire thing was spray painted in a flat black. 

I lined the back with a piece of scrap book paper cut to size.  I downloaded the Witches Ball paper from the Graphic's Fairy which I wrinkled up and distressed with black ink.

Much of the clipart was purchased from Altered Artifacts on Etsy.  Check out her blog here for free clipart and a link to her shop.  The jack a lantern was cut from one of her sheets and I attached the dimensional witches hat and pipe cleaner limbs.

This creepy beetle was one I had in my stash.  He is served on a small favor tray I had left over from another project. 

A small bottle of Arsenic hides in the corner,  Maybe it was the cause of some of the deaths in the graveyard. 

A small little witch leans against one of the tombstones while her black cat stares at you.  A bit of moss is tucked among the tombstones.  I also brought more attention to the witch with a frame of spiders.   

This view shows better the many layers involved.  I used layers of foam tape and small blocks of wood to support the paper items and bring them forward.  

While this did take a lot of time, it was so enjoyable!  Everything had to be hand cut once it was printed but it wasn't difficult or expensive.  Now I am going to try my hand at another copied inspired project I have in mind.  Diana

Spider Card

Can a Halloween card be pretty?  I think this one is!

Martha Stewart's punch set makes it super easy too. 

The spider is cut from Cricut's Doodle Charm and I added gogglely eyes.  Scarey and yes, pretty.

Diana

Pumpkin Shadow Box?

I don't know what you would call this.  A diorama, a shadow box?

But what ever you call it, I re-e-a-a-lly like it.

And this is how I made it.  I took a carvable foam pumpkin and sawed out an opening with a steak knife.

Then I found out that the inside of the pumpkin had impressions from the molding process that didn't look good so I mod podged newspaper over it.

Then I taped it off, covered it with plastic and gave it two good coats of matte black spray paint. 

I placed a wooden witch in it for now but you could put anything in it that you wanted. 

Diana

Mirror Finish Pumpkin

Do you have foam pumpkins that have seen better days?  Here is a chic way to update those ugly old things.  Just grab a can of mirror finish spray paint and go at it.  So cool.  Diana

Target Practice

Can you guess what these are used for?  They are cut from vinyl on the cricut.

If you have a little boy in the house you NEED these for.....

Target practice.

To apply, cut the water off to the toilet and flush until the water level is at it's lowest.  Dry area you want to put the decal with cloth and then toilet paper.  No water can be on the surface!  Apply decal to the toilet and rub firmly til well attached.  Turn back on water.  Now your little man can FINALLY get his aim down.  

Diana 

Zombies and Voodoo

Maybe it was all the sugary sweetness of Valentine's Day, or the cuteness of all the St. Patrick's Day crafts that made me wish for some of the good old creepiness of my favorite holiday of the year......Halloween!  Who says zombies can only come out to play in October anyway?This finger puppet is a machine embroidery in the hoop design from Urban Threads!  Love that store! 

This voodoo doll helps you take out your aggressionss!  Don't get on my bad side......just saying.......I have an endless supply of pins.  This design is also from Urban Threads!  I did make a few changes to make it easier to assemble.  Maybe now I can go back to sweetness and light......for a while anyway.  Diana