Troll Costume

Yes, I get that Halloween was last week and we won't be needing costumes for a while (unless you want to just have a random costume party for something to do, hey that'd be fun - we should do that!), but I wanted to post this super easy, no-sew, lazy, quickie costume because let's face it, I will never remember a year from now that I made this! Now at least it'll be on the blog if you're searching for easy, no-sew, lazy, quickie costume ideas in the future :)

The pictures make it look really wrinkled, I did not notice that until seeing the photos - ignore that part hahaha. 

I took an extra-large t-shirt I had on hand for another project (actually I can't remember what I originally bought it for - it's in a bag with supplies to make a Snow White costume, did I think the shirt was going to be her dress somehow? I don't know so it's now a troll costume hahaha), cut the sleeves off, and hot glued felt shapes to the bottom. The t-shirt is long enough that I could wear it as a short shift dress but I did wear boy shorts underneath to cover my assets. Just in case. And thank goodness I did because naturally my sister made us do the limbo!

The arm holes are super big on the cut up t-shirt and since I was making this literally 2 hours before going to my sissy's I didn't have time to make this more flattering - the best and quickest thing I could think of was to thread ribbon thru the neck and arm holes and tie it in a bow on top of my shoulders. I used a piece of the same ribbon to tie a bow at the top of my hair - my hair is short right now so with a bunch of hair products and good ol' Aqua Net hairspray I was able to stand it straight up. It's maybe a little weird that my natural hair is also troll hair but whatever. If you have long hair and want to be a troll, I saw lots of ideas online to make a headband with tulle into troll hair. 

To finish I did colorful eyeshadow with fake lashes, bright lipstick, and stuck some gems to my face. Silly and easy, and for how last minute this came together I think it turned out pretty cute. 

Witch Hat Cupcakes (re-run)

Here's another repeat post, these cupcakes are so cute and not hard to make at all - and look how cute these witch's hats are! Originally posted 10/15:

Happy Halloween! For my last post this month I decided to make witch hat cupcakes for my niece's soccer game today - probably not the most practical treat at a soccer game but they are so cute I'm doing it anyway :) Girls are going to love them!

I just made regular white cupcakes from a mix and frosted with white store bought vanilla frosting (left over from Halloween gingerbread houses) whipped with some cocoa to make it light brown and fluffy. My sister heard a tip somewhere that if you whip the store bought frosting with a mixer it gets light and fluffier and it worked! Giving the non-baking sister credit for that baking tip of the day ;).

For the witch hats: melt black candy melts in the microwave according to directions on the bag (I added a little bit of shortening to it to make it a little runnier, maybe a tablespoon), then using a pastry brush I brushed small sugar cones with the melted candy and set them on a parchment lined baking sheet to dry - it doesn't take long to set up.

 For the brim I cut small (about 1 1/4")  holes in patterned cupcake liners and slid them over the top of the cones. Set on top of frosted cupcakes at a slight angle so you can see some of the frosting underneath.

This idea came from Country Living Magazine , click here for the article. 

Butterfly Treat Bags

Tesha made these with her grandkids and shared the idea and picture. It's super cute and creative, and a perfect kid craft. Decorate big wooden clothes pins using paint, markers, washi tape, little pompoms, stickers, whatever you want; glue on googly eyes and antenna coiled pipe cleaners. Set aside to dry.

Meanwhile, fill ziplock sandwich bags with small candy or treats like mini pretzels, cheez-its, goldfish, etc....you could do all one treat per bag, mix things together in the bag, or split them half and half making sure to keep the two sides separate (for instance - put mini pretzels in one side and m&m's in the other, don't let them mix together). Once the clothespin is dry, clip it in the middle of the bag separating the two sides of the filled baggie - looks like a butterfly!

Cute idea for Halloween treat giving, but would also be great party favors, place settings, even a fun lunchbox surprise!


10.13.2017: costume ideas
10.13.2016: making babies (baby plants, that is!)
10.13.2015: Sarge's reversible Halloween scarf

Skeleton Hand Wreath

I don't usually decorate with "scary" things for Halloween - my moss and bug covered wreaths are about as creepy as it gets but I've been using them for years now (click here for that post) and it's time to change it up; this skeleton hand wreath is just creepy enough - from a distance it takes a minute to realize you're even looking at skeleton hands. This came from wasting time doing serious research online, I was inspired by someone else's Dollar Store hand wreath, but of course I changed it up and made it my own! Be inspired by others and then either flat out copy them (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that - just be sure to give credit where credit is due!), or tweak it and make it yours.

I found 9 skeleton hands at the dollar store along with some black "creepy cloth" (their name, not mine) which is a stretchy soft net material, and an 8.8" styrofoam wreath base at Hobby Lobby for 3.49 - each wreath cost about $14.

For my first attempt I cut strips of the black creepy cloth and wound it around the form - after glueing the hands on tho I realized the material is too stretchy and didn't hold the hands tight enough against the wreath form. So I ripped it all off and started over - that was a waste of 50 cents of "creepy cloth"! Second try worked...rip strips of whatever material (I used leftover lightweight cotton, you don't see much of it so it doesn't really matter - just pick something that either matches or just goes away...) and wind them around the wreath base to cover the styrofoam (note: hot glue doesn't stick very good to styrofoam). Tuck in the last end or stick a pin in it to hold. Oh, and I made a hanging loop from a pipe cleaner tied onto the styrofoam wreath base before winding the material on.

twist a pipe cleaner around the wreath base for a hanging loop.

wrap the entire wreath with lightweight material to cover the foam.

Arrange the hands on the wreath so you have them evenly spaced, and then hot glue the heck out of them. Note: it takes a LOT of hot glue!

After the hands are glued on, attach the black net material (I mean, the 'creepy cloth') to the back using little straight pins. Let the excess material hang down the back of the wreath, sort of looks like spider webs.

I made another one of these for my sister but instead of attaching black net across the center I found this plastic plate at the grocery store that is 8.5 inches and fits perfectly! I just hot glued it to the back of the wreath after wrapping it with material strips, making sure the face is centered before gluing it down. So cool, I debated keeping this for myself but it looks like something she'll like so I'm giving it up...

  

                             

                                       tip: make a small cut in the end of the material and rip it, you'll
                                           get straight strips and don't need to cut the entire length of the fabric.
                                 plus it's fun to do :)

10.4.2017: Jen decorates for Halloween (and yes, there's a bloody baby on the dining table. don't ask)
10.4.2016: photo coasters
10.4.2015: pumpkin bisque

Baggie Wreath

Michelle, did you think I forgot this idea you gave me (along with the baggies)? Well I didn't - it just took me this long to finally make it!!! Thanks again, I love how it turned out. Initially I was going to make this for December/January - it's going to be so pretty with ornaments or snowflakes attached, but it's got a little "ghosty" feel to it and I think it's also great for Halloween. You'll definitely be seeing this a couple months from now changed up for winter!

This is a very easy project, and inexpensive - it's just 2 boxes of dollar store fold-over sandwich baggies and a wire coat hanger. No other supplies at all - not even scissors or glue. And as long as your littles can tie, this is a great kid craft too.

Bend a coat hanger into a circle, and bend the hook down a bit to form a loop for hanging. Then get to tying the baggies on...I started by folding the baggies into orderly little rectangles but realized it totally doesn't matter - just wrap a baggie around the wire and tie on. Keep going until you can't fit one more baggie and you're done. Decorate however you want - I did a Dollar Store bow and cutie spider.

a regular wire hanger made a 12" circle

don't know if it matters, but I alternated turning the bags
up and down when tying them on. 

Ronda was with us when Michelle was telling me how to make this, and she said "oh Jill is going to love this, she loves making crap out of random things" hahahahah. Yep, I do actually ;)

one year ago: Jen's caramel apple pudding shots
two years ago: vegetable soup
three years ago: how to make "bloody" candles

Peeking Pumpkin

opened my planner this morning to this - love it!!

This is just about the easiest Halloween decoration ever - and a fun little super cute surprise to anyone like Dave who doesn't notice it right away, and when he did just laughed and said "you probably gave him a name too, didn't you..." um, I'm going with "peeping tom" hahahah. Literally just stick some google eyes on a pumpkin (mine are tacks so I just pushed them into the pumpkin - you could glue on anything tho and it'll be cute! If I didn't have google eyes or didn't want to buy them I would substitute white and black paper circles), put the pumpkin in a pot with the lid cracked, and done. Took me longer to type it than make it!

Paper Covered Letters

I started out with the idea to sort of collage these letters but after doing the first one I didn't love it so switched to covering the fronts only with a solid piece of scrapbook paper (yep, I'm still using Ronda's Stampin' Up papers - they are reversible so I'm finding lots of uses for them!).
















If you like the collage idea here's what I did: tear the paper into little pieces; spread mod podge on the part of the letter you are working on and the piece of paper you are applying and stick it down; then randomly add more paper until the whole thing is covered. If you don't like a certain area just add more paper on top of it until you're happy with it.

If you like the plain covered letters: I painted them black first so I wouldn't have to wrap the one sheet of paper around the edges and in the center of the letters - this was my being lazy for sure. If you want to take the time to completely cover the letter inside and out then go for it you crazy OCD crafter you. I went for the easiest way :). After the paint dries trace the letter onto patterned paper, cut it out, glue it down.

Graveyard Dirt Cake

Mickey made this dessert for a competition she did with friends - the "hooked on desserts" challenge. She made this up based on traditional dirt cake, and it sounds so good - I will definitely be making it! And look how cute it turned out, love. Creative girl :)

Since she didn't follow an actual recipe I'm going to just tell you how she did it - you're going to have to wing it but I can tell that it's not going to matter how you assemble it or what amounts you use...it's going to taste good no matter what!

The layers are pudding, cream cheese mixed with cool whip, and crushed oreos. She used one box each of chocolate pudding and oreo pudding (follow the directions on the box to make it). For the cream cheese layer, beat some cream cheese in a bowl until fluffy (you can add a bit of powdered sugar to this if you want) then fold in some cool whip.

In a 9 x 9 pan (you can do it in 13 x 9 but she wanted it to be thicker) layer half of the chocolate pudding, oreo pudding, crushed oreos, and cream cheese mixture; repeat with remaining ingredients ending with crushed oreos on the top. Decorate with candy headstones and bones (she found them at Walmart), and other candy if you want. She wrote her dessert competitors names on the headstones - haha!

Yay, and she won the competition - here's their "trophy":

Pumpkin Owl

This week it's all about easy crafts for Halloween decor - yesterday was the cute sharpie ghost on canvas, today it's this fun little owl. I made him out of a small fake pumpkin, you can certainly use real if you want. Depending on the size of the pumpkin you need 2 white cupcake liners and one brown one (I used a small pumpkin so did mini cupcake liners); then out of scrapbook paper (or construction paper, or whatever you have on hand) cut a beak triangle, 2 round circles that fit into the bottom of the liner, and 2 small black circles. Glue the black circles onto the larger round circles for eyes, then glue them into the white liners. Cut the brown liner in half, glue one to each outer edge of a white liner for eyelashes. Hot glue the whole thing to the pumpkin, then hot glue the beak triangle on. Done, and super cute :)

  got the idea from a magazine years ago (it's been in my idea file), have no idea which one!

Ghost Garland Lights

Start saving your k-cups!! I saw this idea on Pinterest (along with tons of other cute things to make with used k-cups - I'm sure I'll be making more things with them in the future) and immediately started saving the cups every morning. (In case you don't know, K-cups are the coffee pod things that go inside a Keurig one cup coffee maker.) They are just little white plastic cups, with a filter attached inside holding coffee grounds - after you've made your coffee just peel of the foil top and remove the filter and grounds, then rinse and dry the cup. After you've saved up a few of them you'll be able to make this super cute ghost garland in time for Halloween.

So easy - I just drew faces on the cups using a fat sharpie marker. Cut a few little slits around the hole that gets poked into the bottom of the k-cup when you make your coffee and stick a mini light strand bulb inside - continue for as long as your light strand is, or however long you want it. I did every other light bulb and it looks great... how cute is this idea?

Funky Pumpkin Decorating...starring Brooke

Lisa sent me inspiration pictures for this project, she found cute crazy funky decorated pumpkins in a store and thought of me - love that, thanks Lisa! She sent a few examples and Brooke loved the idea so much she wanted to make one - watch the cutie show you how she did it:




I have been helping out my friend Ronda at her Stampin' Up studio (lots of punching, using the Big Shot die cut maker thingy, stamping, etc.)  - she has the idea for me to work on setting up a "seasonal display" area in her shop so I've been busy thinking about fun crafts to use in the display. This pumpkin turned out so cute I want to include it but Brooke used old paper that I've had forever to make her pumpkin and since this will be in the Stampin' Up studio I wanted to use current scrapbook papers so quickly remade the pumpkin...also full disclosure, the tape Brooke used didn't hold the buttons on the pumpkin and they fell off! You can still make it using her directions but use a different form of glue for any heavier things. This is my finished product:

I bought a standing flat wood pumpkin at the craft store for about $3. Trace the pumpkin shape onto whatever paper you want the base to be, and glue it to the pumpkin form. I randomly cut a triangle for the nose and a jaggedy mouth, make whatever shapes you want. I reused the stacked buttons held together with twine that Brooke made, and for the right eye I glued a large flat bottomed marble over a different piece of paper. Burlap ribbon is tied on the top to finish. Super fast and easy - maybe took 10 minutes top. Gotta like that :)

Pumpkin Line-Up

Went to a local farm that grows tons of pumpkins, gourds, etc. and picked out a few to make my little creepy/cute row of pumpkins that I put outside on a bench - they are pretty simple and didn't take me very long to do.

Note: I didn't carve out the insides of any of these...

•  for the "zombies" I hollowed out two openings and jammed ping pong balls in (painted with bloodshot eyes, I've had them a while but think they came from the Halloween Store - don't make the openings too big or the balls will fall into the pumpkin), then just cut a thin slit underneath for a mouth.
• for the "vampire" I cut an opening just big enough to hold a set of plastic fangs (they come in a bag of approx 10, I've seen them lots of places - not hard to find)
• for the one with the sewn shut looking mouth: I cut a small mouth opening and made 4 holes with a skewer across the top and bottom of mouth.  Then I cut the fluffy ends off of qtips, bent the sticks a little bit and stuck them into the little holes.
• The middle one I just cut a slit for a mouth and used googly eye push pins. 

• I also bought 2 cinderella pumpkins and gourds - I didn't notice that one of the pumpkins had a mushy spot in the top so I stuck a small rubber rat in the rotted hole and stacked the other on top of it. That was kinda gross actually - sticking the rat in the mushy hole...ewww! 

the whole little scene turned out cute!