Tulle & trouble

Another Halloween costume, inspired by the red hat from Target's dollar spot (for $2.50). "I want to be a red witch!" And so here we are. Lots of tuile and netting, layered and gathered. Matching bag, again with gathered tuile.

Ring around the rosie

My second attempt at craft blogging. I can already tell that this is going to be a time-suck, so we'll see how long I sustain it. I commend those who can!

Anyway, I saw this on Pinterest at the beginning of fall and have been obsessed with folding leaves ever since. My second obsession has been Halloween wreaths, and I made more than I had doors. A natural (pun intended) next step was to make a wreath out of the leaf flowers.

Since I'm new to this, I have no photos other than the finished product. The flower tutorial is here, and has plenty of lovely photos. They are very easy to make and are so pretty.

So I made a ton of these roses, and pinned them to a Target Dollar Spot styrofoam wreath. (Snatch some up if you can, as $1 is a bargain. Only problem is that they only come in orange, yellow, and purple, but that was perfect for this project.) I pinned a circle of larger-sized ones first, tucking the stems underneath as I went. (I did not cut the stems till the end.) Then I pinned a row of smaller ones around the center, but facing the opposite direction. And finally did the same around the outer edge, also in the opposite direction. Only then did I cut any stem stragglers, just to clean up the back. I pinned a ribbon to the back for hanging.

It took about an hour to make, probably 2 hours total if you count my initial attempts to tape the flowers to the wreath (floral tape doesn't stick well to $1 Target Styrofoam wreaths) and having to collect more leaves. You need a lot more than you'd think. I think I should spray it with something to preserve the leaves, but i'm not sure what to use. Ideas?

Whooo's that girl?

I love Halloween.  And one of my daughters always challenges me with her costume ideas. One year it was a rolly-polly bug (a pill bug). Last year it was a "cat bat". This year it's an owl. And I can't give any of the credit to Pinterest (shocking!). The wings were from a pattern found on etsy.com (ChickenHill), and the mask from Woman's Day Halloween magazine (DIY Halloween Masks). Yes, I did pin both so I wouldn't forget where I found them, but I found them from good old fashioned looking through magazines and searching the internet.

We also added a bag, using the same feathers, wrapping them all around the bag. It'll be easier to carry than a plastic pumpkin!

Still trying to get the whole family to go as ABBA.  Maybe next year.
(And this is my first post about crafting, so apologies if I'm doing this 'wrong'!)

Pinned

Okay, so one of my co-workers mentioned this “Pinterest” thing to me a few months ago and I was like “Okay- whatever- I’ll check it out when I can.”  (Sorry, Katie.)  And then my neighbor and co-Daisy troop leader Stacy mentioned how she was losing sleep over it.  I still didn’t bite. Then Stacy started sending me links to cool stuff that she’d found. Braided Spaghetti bread?  Mmmm. This does sound good.  Okay, maybe I’ll just take a *quick* look. 

Thanks, Stacy.

Thanks, Katie.

I hate you both.

Wow, do I have some creative friends!  Really, you could get away with just browsing the cool stuff others have found without even waiting for your invitation. (You can’t just join- you have to be invited.  Very exclusive.) Someone needs to pin P90X ‘cos you’ll need it if you actually try everything tasty that’s up here.

I can equate the feeling to the first time I discovered Facebook.  The range of emotions went from 1) There’s no way I’m doing it. 2) Disdain for others doing it. 3) What, you’re on it, too? 4) Can’t figure out the damn thing. 5) Neglecting sleep.

I haven’t quite reached stage 5 but I'm close.

Again, Stacy, I hate you.

Shoot—did I forget to pick the kids up?