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

Card Holder (from re-purposed junk!)

This is a totally jerry-rigged odd thing I made for Ronda's display table using stuff that was just laying around - but it turned out pretty cute and Ronda didn't make fun of it, so I'll share. Not since I made the travel jewelry pouch using a potholder and plastic baggies (click here for that post) have I created such a totally made up thing that could potentially be lame but turned out ok, hahaha.

So - this is an unfinished wood candleholder, an empty ribbon spool, hoop earrings, beads, a wine cork, and some twine. First I covered the top of the spool with some Stampin' Up patterned paper. Cut a slit into the top of the cork, put it thru the spool, and stood it up in the candleholder. Then inserted a cute flat card into the slit and hot glued some twine along the edges of the spool. That looked pretty good but it needed a little more jazzing up so I punched four holes in the spool, threaded the earring hoops thru and added a bead on each one.

The finished display table ~ click here to see how to make the popsicle Adirondack chair and paper hat; click here to see how to make spider mum paper flowers; and click here to see how to make k-cup twine and starfish garland: 

Spider Mum Paper Flowers

Remember the paper fireworks I posted before the Fourth? Well here's what I was making when I decided they would be good fireworks - spider mums. I wanted a simple airy flowery filler for Ronda's display table, saw these here and really liked them - and since I'm using Ronda's Stampin' Up  double sided papers I thought they'd be perfect.

So you make the flower part just like the fireworks, only I cut the paper into 3" x 12" strips so they are a little thicker than the fireworks. I copied the directions I posted before, click here to see the instruction pictures and that post...

for the fireworks: 3.5"x8.5" strip of cardstock, fringe one long edge with fringing scissors (or just make thin cuts the entire length with sharp scissors). Tightly roll up the strip, run some glue (I used a glue stick) along the last one inch of end so it'll stay coiled up. Pull the fringe down, slightly curving it with your fingers as you go so it pulls apart and looks like a paper pompom. Add a drop of glue to the underside of the coil then insert a wooden skewer.

To make them into flowers is a tiny bit trickier. You need to wrap the bottom of the flower onto a piece of floral wire using floral tape, but the bottom of the flower is way bigger than the wire so there needs to be something between the flower and the wire so it tapers down more like a real flower would. I was unable to just tape the flower to the wire. The instructions I followed said she uses pieces of tissue paper wadded up to fill in the gap, that worked pretty good - I thought maybe cotton balls would work but the tissue paper is better. I struggled getting the flower, filler, and wire to stay together while I was wrapping with the floral tape so played around with better ways to go about doing that - I found that if you wrap regular clear tape around first it's so much easier to then wrap the floral tape around the bottom of the flower, around the filler, and then down the wire a few inches

To shape them, run your finger and thumb down each strand and bend slightly.

Fishnet Wrapped Mason Jar

When we decided on a beach theme for Ronda's seasonal display table I immediately thought about those cute net wrapped mason jars I see everywhere - in fact when I showed my sister the one I ended up making and told her she needed one she replied "yep, I own that. except I bought it". Well where's the fun in that haha? So I wanted to make one - did a little internet searching and ended up sort of following the directions I found here. Wasn't hard at all, you only need twine and a jar (and scissors) - I took lots of pictures to show you the process, if you need more directions click on the above link and see if her instructions help.

Directions:

1. Wrap a piece of twine around the top of the jar with a little extra to tie off. Lay it out on the table.

2. Cut 10 lengths of twine that are 32" each. Fold in half, put the loop under the short piece of twine that will go around the top of the jar, then feed the two ends thru the loop and pull tight. Repeat with all ten long pieces, space them out on the short piece, then tie the short piece around the top of the jar.

fold 32" piece in half and put under the short piece

bring the two ends up over the short piece and thru the loop, pull tight

repeat with all 10 long pieces, space them evenly 

then tie the short piece around the top of the mason jar. with the 10 knotted pieces hanging down

3. For the first row, knot two lengths of twine together about 1" down from the top. Repeat the whole way around. For the second row continue knotting 2 lengths together making a diamond pattern. Repeat each row until you get to the bottom of the jar - note you are creating a net of sorts and it will stretch, once I got towards the bottom I turned the jar over and stretched the twine to see how many more rows I needed. Once you have created enough net to cover the jar tie all the little ends together underneath the jar, try to make them somewhat even so the jar will sit straight when upright.

 

take two lengths and tie them together about 1" down from the top

 repeat around the jar to make the first row.

repeat for each row

stretch the net a bit until it looks right and is long enough to be able to wrap around the bottom

then start knotting all 20 of the ends together to hold the net in place.

try to space the knots so they aren't all on top of each other in one place so the jar sits flat and not all wobbly. 

4. Trim off any tails - you could finish this with additional twine wrapped around the top of the jar if you want. 

For Ronda's table I filled them with paper spider mum flowers; sand, shells, a candle, etc. would look good too!

I found some instructions here at itallstartedwithpaint.com

K-Cup Craft: Twine Light Shades

Yep, it's another k-cup craft :). I'm pretty sure Ronda was hoping I'd run out of ideas and stop making k-cup crap for her display table... after making ghosts, snowmen, bunnies, and birds she might be over it haha but I'm not! So here goes:

                         

These are super simple - all I did was hot glue some twine around the cups and run a little piece of wire thru the top to form a loop. Then tie onto a long piece of thin ribbon to form a garland. That was a little plain so I cut out a few paper starfish (found a free template online and used Stampin' Up patterned paper), made 2 little notches in the middle of each one and threaded them onto the ribbon in between each k-cup light shade. Nice and beachy for the display table I'm working on!

Note: it would be cute to poke a hole in the top of the k-cups and insert mini twinkle lights in them - like what I did with the ghosts and snowmen but I thought I'd change it up this time and just make a garland instead with the paper starfish.

click to see other k-cup posts:
snowmen
ghosts
bunnies
birds

Paper Shadowbox Frame

Ronda made these frames in her studio and I had to try making them for myself - what a cute idea that you can customize so many different ways year round. I watched her youtube video (search for Ronda Wade Stampin' Up if my video doesn't work) on how to do them, they aren't difficult but made you my own little video to talk you thru it instead of trying to write it all down. I promise it isn't hard!

I decorated the biggest frame in a fall theme, and did a cute snowman scene in the the middle sized one - I haven't made a small one yet but so far this snowman one is my favorite. It's just a piece of paper cut to fit the opening, then I free hand cut a piece of glittery white paper for the snowbank. The snowman, his accessories, and noel are made from a diecut/Big Shot template (Stampin' Up), you can free hand cut these or use stencils or something to re-create for yourself. Same with the Fall one - I used Big Shot templates for the letters and leaves. If I made it again I'd use a patterned paper for the background. Use your imagination and decorate however you want, with whatever supplies you have!

Note - the largest frame doesn't stand up on its own (at least mine doesn't), but the snowman one does!

the frame before I decorated it. 

on my mantle, so cute.