Fall Luminaries

Fall Luminaries

I have always enjoyed luminaries, and a couple of years ago I decided to line my walkway with these for Halloween.  I think I saw a picture of something similar in a magazine (probably Southern Living) and decided to make it my own.  Since these are made using leaves, they work well throughout the fall season, not just Halloween.  Think of having these out to welcome your family and friends to Thanksgiving dinner.

Materials:

Medium brown paper bags with handles

Leaves

Pencil

Cardboard

Xacto knife

Sand (or rocks, or something else heavy to put in the bottom)

Tea lights

Directions:

• Place a leaf on what will be the front of the bag (maple leaves were my favorite), and trace an outline with your pencil.
• Place the cardboard in the bag so you don’t accidently cut the back of the bag
• Cut out the leaf using your Xacto knife
• Fill the bottom with sand (or rocks or colored stones)
• Place tea light in the sand and light when ready

Halloween Tins

Halloween Tins

My mom was thinning out her Halloween decorations, and I was happy to add to my collection.  Among these decorations was a set of three Halloween tins that were pretty dated.  Since I have been doing a lot of crafting with Mod Podge I thought it would be fun to upgrade these old tins.  I loved this project and will probably now find others to update.  Let me know if you make these.  I can’t wait to see what you all come up with.

Materials:

Old tin

Measuring tape

Decorative paper

Pencil

Scissors

Mod Podge

Brush (I prefer sponge brushes)

Washi tape (Optional)

Directions:

• Measure the tin height and circumference using the measuring tape.

• Cut your decorative paper to the measurements. (Mine was 4 ½” X 11”)
• Using the pencil trace the outline of the tin’s lid on the back of the decorative paper and cut out the circle.

• Measure the height of the lid, and cut a strip of paper using the height of the lid and the circumference (Mine was ½” X 11”)
• Using the brush, apply a thin layer of Mod Podge to the tin.

• Carefully, place the largest of the paper pieces to the tin over the Mod Podge, smoothing as it goes around.
• Using the brush, apply another thin layer of Mod Podge to the top of tin’s lid.

• Place the circular piece of paper on the top of the tin’s lid, and smooth
• Using the brush, apply yet another thin layer of Mod Podge to the side of tin’s lid.

• Carefully, place the last piece of paper around the edge of the lid smoothing as you place it around the edge.

• Allow these to set for a time.

• If you choose, you can put the Washi tape over the thin strip on the edge of the tin’s lid.
• Using the brush, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge (I used the sparkly formula) over the tin and the lid.

• Allow to dry.

Jar Lid Paper Pumpkins

Jar Lid Paper Pumpkin

This is the promised tutorial on the pumpkin I made from jar lids using Mod Podge and decorative paper.  I think this version of this craft is just too cute.

Materials:

3 Mason jar lids

Decorative paper

Mod Podge

Brush (I like the sponge brushes)

Pencil

Xacto knife (or scissors)

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Stick

Raffia

Decorative elements (I used artificial leaves)

Directions:

• Trace the outline of the jar lids onto the back of the decorative paper you’ve chosen and cut out with knife (or scissors)

• Using the brush, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to the jar lid.  Place the circle of paper on the lid and smooth out.  I found it easiest to press firmly on the rim, then smooth from the center.

• Allow a few minutes to set, then apply another thin coat of Mod Podge over top of the paper.

• Do this to all 3 jar lids.

• Allow the jar lids plenty of time to dry.
• Once dry, place two of the lids next to each other, and apply hot glue to the center.  Place the third lid on the hot glue so that it is centered over the other two lids.  Allow a few minutes to set (I put mine upside down for this)

• While the hot glue is setting, tie the raffia onto the stick.  You can just do a bow, or you can make a loop as well so you can hang it.  Just make a loop with the raffia, then wrap the raffia around the stick under the bow.  Make sure you wrap it several times, then knot it.

• Hot glue the stick and any other decorative elements (leaves, ribbon, etc.) to the back of the lids.

• Allow this to set, and enjoy

Mason Jar Lid Pumpkins and Apples

Jar Lid Pumpkins and Apples

I was browsing through Pinterest, and I saw the pumpkin version of this.  I thought that it was adorable, and I needed to make this happen.  Then I got to thinking that apples get overlooked so much during the fall (except for cooking and drinking, of course).  I could do  something similar but make it as an apple.  Then my mind went in the direction of using decorative papers for this (I’ll post that one for my next blog).  The result is what I have here.  I hope you have as much fun with this as I have.

Materials:

3 Mason jar lids

Spray paint

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Stick

Raffia

Any other decorative elements you like (I used artificial leaves)

Directions:

• Spray paint the lids (red for an apple and orange for a pumpkin) and allow to dry

• Once dry, place two of the lids next to each other, and apply hot glue to the center.  Place the third lid on the hot glue so that it is centered over the other two lids.  Allow a few minutes to set (I put mine upside down to set)

• While the hot glue is setting, tie the raffia onto the stick.  You can just do a bow, or you can make a loop as well so you can hang it.  Just make a loop with the raffia, then wrap the raffia around the stick under the bow.  Make sure you wrap it several times, then knot it.

• Hot glue the stick and any other decorative elements (leaves, ribbon, etc.) to the back of the lids.

• Allow this to set, and enjoy

Pikachu Halloween Costume

Pikachu Halloween Costume

Last year, my daughter wanted to be Pikachu for Halloween.  How could I say no?  Not being able to find any costumes in her size, I decided to make one for her.  We already had a headband with Pikachu ears that I had bought for her at a con, so I just had to worry about the body.  I had previously done a cosplay as Jessie from Team Rocket, so those 2 costumes seemed to go together well.  I don’t have pictures of the process, so this is going to be a post more along the lines of here’s what I did as opposed to my usual tutorial.

Materials I used:

White long-sleeved shirt and pants

Yellow Rit-dye

Brown fabric

Wonder under

Scissors

Iron

Brown puff paint

What I did:

• Using the Rit-dye, I dyed the shirt and pants yellow.  I just followed the directions on the bottle.
• I then drew the shape of Pikachu’s stripes onto the wonder under.
• Using the wonder under as a template, I cut out the same shapes from the brown fabric.
• I followed the directions on the wonder under to attach the brown stripes to the yellow shirt.
• I outlined the stripes with brown puff paint.

The first variation of this costume had a tail that I made out of fabric.  The tail didn’t really work the way I wanted it to, but I found a crocheted tail at another con I went to.  So the pictures don’t really have a good tail, but I have an awesome one now.  After these pictures were taken, I also added a yellow tutu using the same technique in my tutu tutorial.

All in all, this was a fun costume for my daughter, and I got to get in the spirit of it with my Jessie costume as well.

Washi Tape Bookmarks

Washi Tape Bookmarks

I am an avid reader and have a small (actually not small) collection of bookmarks from over the years.  I recently purchased some Halloween Washi tapes because they were just so cute.  Then I needed to find a project for them.  Of course, I went to Pinterest and found some very fun-looking projects.  One of those projects was DIY bookmarks.  This is my take on that project.  These are simple and fun bookmarks to make, and they are so easy to customize.

Materials:

Thin cardboard or posterboard

Washi Tape

Scissors

Hole Punch

Ribbon

Directions:

• Cut the cardboard or posterboard so you have a 6” X 1 ½” rectangle, or your desired size
• Using strips of Washi tape, begin covering the bookmark in stripes of the tape

• Use the hole punch to punch a hole at the top

• Cut ribbon to about 3” (or desired length)
• Fold ribbon in half and thread free ends through the hole, but not pulling through the folded end

• Going over the top of the bookmark, thread the free ends of the ribbon through the loop and pull tight.