It's Time to Craft for Christmas!

I'm just starting to find ideas of what I want to make for gifts for family and friends. It's a lean year (budget-wise) and so I'm creating alot of home-made gifts--but, you know, even if I had alot of money, I'd probably still create something as it seems more personal with more thought put into it. I LOVE handmade creations and treasure more than I would any store-bought item. I'm browsing plenty of craft sites and blogs and just went to the library to grab some books that gave me several ideas as well. Just a short post today ladies and I'm feeling a bit 'icky', but will post anything I create as soon as it's done.

Halloween Crafts

With the Halloween holiday quickly approaching, I thought I'd share some crafts for those last minute decorators (like me!). I found these ideas on DIY--lots of great ideas on their site. Here are a few that I thought would be great to share:

The instructions are too long to post here, so you can go HERE and read them.
Here's another favorite of mine!

Materials and Tools:

old glass jars
black spray paint
wax metallic finishes
rubber or plastic toys, stuffed animals, knick knacks, etc.
water
food coloring
measuring cup
stir stick
tags
pen
ink pad
twine or string
scissors

Steps:

1. Wash the jars and lids thoroughly. Spray paint the lids and, once dry, apply wax metallic finishes to them for an aged look.
2. Fill a measuring cup with water. Add a drop of food coloring and stir. Add more food coloring or more water to get the intensity of color that you want.
3. Place a toy or knick-knack into the jar and fill the jar with water. Screw the lid on tightly.
4. Using the tags, write out a label for each jar. To antique the tags, gently pat or rub them on an ink pad.
5. Tie the labels onto the jars with twine.

And I'll leave you with one last decorating idea:
Glitzy Candles:

Materials and Tools:

pillar or taper candles
Candle DecoPaint (by Marvy Uchida)
ultra-fine glitter
manila folder

Steps:

1. Use the Candle DecoPaint to add Halloween-themed drawings to the pillar candles. Crazy stripes also look spooky.
2. While the candle DecoPaint is still wet, sprinkle ultra-fine glitter over areas that you wish to highlight.
3. Work over a manila folder so that you can easily funnel any stray glitter back into its canister.

Allow the candle to dry for 24 hours.

Spooky Candles
Materials and Tools:

three tall glass enclosed candles
4" wooden letters, spelling "E-E-K," or "B-O-O"
craft paint
paintbrushes
Perfect Pearls embellishing pigment kit (by Ranger Ink)
spray bottle filled with water
8-mm jump rings
E6000 glue
chain
needle-nosed jewelry pliers

Steps:

1. Paint the wooden letters with craft paint and allow them to dry. An eerie mix of green and black paint or a ghostly white works well.
2. Rub the pad of Pearlizing Perfect medium on each letter.
3. Use a paintbrush to dust the patina powders included in the kit on each letter. Spray with water from the spray bottle to set the pigments, and allow them to dry.
4. Use E6000 glue to attach an 8-mm jump ring to the back of each letter in the center and at the top. Position the jump ring so that approximately half of the ring is exposed at the top of the letter.
Note: Allow the glue to dry for at least 8 hours.
5. Wrap chain around the lip of the candle glass. Link the chain together to form a loop of chain around the top of the candle with a tail of chain.

These projects I downloaded from the DIY site. They have lots and lots of great ideas!

Happy Haunting!

I've had a busy month

It's been nearly a month since posting here. I'm working on my doll for the challenge at CDA as well as creating for the DT at SCF (Scrapbooking and Crafting Friends). I also had a procedure done last week and felt crappy for a few days afterwards. I've also spent the last two days creating buttons for my various blogs. Look to the right and scroll down to where it says: You Can Find Me At. Click on a button to my other blog(s).

Creating Patterns Isn't Easy

I've been trying to creative my own cloth doll pattern and it's not that easy. I have a very basic design and am going to try and make something from it, so wish me luck. I'm also in the Halloween Challenge over at Cloth Doll Artistry. I know that I can use a store bought pattern, but I'm trying to come up with my own. So, stay in touch and see what I come up with!

Wow! It's Been A Long Time!

I haven't been posting on this blog for a long time! Sorry. I am pretty much on A Scrap Mom's Musings or Treasures of the Past. I do need to keep in touch with this blog as well.

Well, I've been creating---layouts that is--a few here and there. I haven't been creating any other crafts for awhile yet. It's time to get back in the grind.

All for now....

Bought Some Goodies

I went shopping at my local craft stores (about 45 minutes away) and bought some items to make for my Etsy shop. I also scoured some yard sales and flea markets. I didn't find much, but did get about 3 items that I can re-purpose. I'll post pics when my projects are complete. That could be a week or so away though. I appreciate your patience. I'm a bit overwhelmed with lots of scrapping projects and creating items for Etsy as well as the usual things to do around the house. I'm just trying to stay calm and tell myself that it will all get done. I'll post my discoveries soon.

Looking forward to Yard Sales

Well, it's that time of year. Yard Sales and Flea Markets! I just love them! Last weekend, there were so many in town, that I couldn't get to as many as I had hoped because of errands and having to go to work. I have this weekend off and plan on digging and finding some great loot! If I find anything of interest, I'll take pics and post! Have a great day.