Halloween Decorations - One Last Post for 2011

Here's a breakdown of some of the items I used to decorate for Halloween this year.  I'll provide links to directions and fun information below each one.

Feel free to follow my Halloween Craft pins on Pinterest to see what I might make for next year.   You can see other decorations I made in other posts - monsters, banners, and more.

Containers with Harry Potter Labels

I found these Harry Potter labels - a free printable.  I took some old jars - the ones on the end are made from liquid coffee creamer containers.  The second from the left is made from dry coffee creamer and the other was an old salsa jar.  The first container was just painted, then the label glued on, and then a second coat added with some brush strokes over the edge of the labels. The second container of "slug repellent" was too fun - I took antiquing medium and painted over the jar. I let it dry, attached the label and then added a few rough strokes on top - like it had overflowed.  Looked disgusting, which is perfect for Halloween

Eyeball pumpkin - first attempt.

Pumpkins are such a great medium - your only limit is your imagination.  The blue-eyed side looked a bit odd - finally decided that the blue area was too big.  So I just turned it around and tried again.  You can see the difference in the green.  Much better..either end works!  See the photo at the end of this post to see what is looked like on our front porch.

Eyeball Pumpkin

Pantyhose Covered Pumpkin

I had a pair of lacy pantyhose that I got a runner in, so I held onto the good leg until Halloween, just to make this lacy pumpkin.  I balled the top of the hose up and tied it into a knot.  This made a topper for the pumpkin - looks pretty cute, I think.

A few bats on the mirror reflect the big sweeping bat decoration area.

Mask Covered Pumpkin

Two of My Pumpkins

Our China Cabinet with added Halloween pieces - a painted craft pumpkin with our initials, a witch's hat propped up on top, a sign hung casually on the door handle. And the white you see on the right side - that's the ghost that I strung across one of our windows.  So easy and a big impact.

Halloween Garland

I made this Halloween Garland to hang over the island separating our kitchen and dining room. I got the idea from Pinterest and found free downloadable templates.  I added black strings to the top.  The photo isn't great - because the opening is in the middle of our house, I had my DH hold a table cloth behind it to block the light and junk on the other side of the countertop. 

A few bats on the mirror reflect the big sweeping bat decoration area.

Bats swooping across our walls and ceiling

These bats are great. I got the idea from Pinterest and then tracked down a bat template.  Cut the bats out of black scrapbook paper and bent the wings slightly.  Arranging them in a swooping motion is what really made the decoration pop - I got more compliments on this than anything else.

Our milk jugs for outside.  Drew simple faces on these..you can see them in the front stoop photo below. I filled them with water and a glow stick...added a little fun to our stoop. They didn't glow as brightly as I had hoped.

Kids Craft Area at Our Halloween Party

Tulle Lights

Tulle Lights

 I set up a kids craft area at our party. We bought the butterfly shaped masks from Michael's.  We cut out 50 basic masks from colored foam. We provided Halloween themed foam stickers.  The kids loved it.  Gave them something to do and they got an personalized party favor. It also kept them from being underfoot every minute of the party.  I hung up purple lights, but thought they looked a little plain.  So I took strips of tulle fabric (about 7 to 10 inches each) and tied them next to each light.  After I got one on each side of every light, I just kept going - adding more and more.  I actually think they could use a bit more.  I bought four yards of black tulle and only got about halfway through it before the party.  But, I think it makes the lights more interesting and fun.
 

Our Front Window during the day

Inspired by this pin, I made these on a whim with black construction paper.  Just cut out a shape that appears like a monster.  Don't make the details too small -- it will get lost.  I used a white Styrofoam plate for the white eye and purple tissue paper for the two eyes.  We put a string of Christmas lights behind them.  Next year, I'd like to get orange lights.

Our Front Window at night

Our Front Stoop...see the pumpkins, milk jugs and the tombstone on the right.  You can also see the monster in the window.

Ghosts in the trees

My final outdoor decorations were ghosts in the trees.  I took small kitchen trash bags, cut off the end with the strings/handles, and stuffed them with newspaper.  I then took a twisty tie and added one to the top of each ghost - word to the wise, be sure to put it through the plastic and some of the newspaper or it will tear in the wind.




Hope you enjoyed these photos of our decorations.  I didn't capture every detail and I really want to do more outside items for next year.  I'll be watching Pinterest for ideas.

Halloween Party - Monsters, Eyeballs, and Bats, oh my!

Here's an overview of our Halloween Party - Lots of monsters and eyeballs.

I am going to create a blog entry focusing on decorations and another on the food, but  I wanted to share the photos right away.   Thrilled overall with how it turned out.

The items that got the most attention - the bats on the wall and the worms treat.  

But, what we don't have pictures of it - I made the vomiting witch with fruit salad - came out great, so I am disappointed not to share it with you.  I'll add some details, but there is a video on the Liddy B. and Me blog.  

Also, no photos of our costumes -we went as "field chefs" - camflouge bottoms with chef jackets.  Actually the DH's island - he even made me a skirt from BDUs - came out pretty well.   

And no pictures of our guests - we had two astronauts, four of the characters from "Despicable Me," and a flapper girl.  Plus the non-dressers - the "preppy," the "ex-pat" (a friend moving to Baghdad in two weeks to work for our government office), and the mountain man (a friend's new guy, who was so tall and that's what he reminded me of).

The kids enjoyed the mask making area, so I'll be sure to do a small post on how we did that.

Another Halloween Paper Craft Banner

I made another Halloween banner.  I think this is number 4.  I may be going a bit crazy.  They are just so fun!

This time, I decided to just try to use the paper I had and play with the idea of a banner/garland.

So, I have a pack of small Halloween scrap paper.  I pulled out all the purple and green pages and cut triangles off the bottom.  I think went into other Halloween scrap paper and cut out little symbols and signs - "Creatures of Night", etc...  I thought I would do something with the triangle leftovers, but decided they just looked bizarre.

So, I played with all the cut out pieces laid out on a table.   Eventually after rearranging and rearranging, I found a combination I liked.  Each banner piece got a small black strip with an identical triangle cut out of the bottom and I put a black strip across the top of each piece - this gave the banner some continuity.  Then I took the scrap triangles from the bigger pieces and cut out a square which I glued behind the black piece. I mixed it up so the bottom piece was different from the big one.

I took the individual signs/symbols and cut them out closely.  Then, I used a foam square to mount them.  I added a few paper spiders to some of the web banner pieces.

I have to say I actually love the banner!  I used an exacto knife to make the slits for the ribbon to slide through.  The fabric ribbon makes it much nicer than the curling ribbon I used before.

Enjoy!

Menu Board for the Kitchen

A newer craft project...I ordered some dry erase contact paper from Amazon. I thought it would be a great item to use for a menu board on the side of one of my kitchen cabinet.   But, I had issues.

FYI - If you leave the writing on the board too long, it really doesn't come off.

I looked into ways to first clean the paper I already hung. I tried several of the remedies from Wikihow.  I tried the Magic Eraser - that took care of some of it.  I also tried hand sanitizer.  And I tried toothpaste and vinegar.  Honestly, the best idea was going over the old marks with a dry erase marker and then wiping it off.  I got it mostly clean.  And I tried to cover what I could with the letters I made. 

Once that was ready, I started making my menu board pieces.  First I printed out on regular paper the letters - M E N U M T W T F S S.

Then, I cut out red circles and placed the letters on top.

But they looked a little sad.

So I thought glittery foam is never wrong.  I cut two circles slightly smaller than the red circles out.

And I used two sided tape to attach MENU to the top of the contact paper.

And then I placed the days of the week down the side -- no glittery foam board for them. But, I did used foam squares to attach them to the contact paper so they added a little extra dimension.

And overall, it works.  I probably should have actually measured out the days of the week and evenly spaced them.  But I like it.

Maybe when I get a Cricut or Silhouette Cameo, the letters will be a little easier to make items with.  I strongly hinted at my husband how much I really want the Cameo.  We'll see.

Halloween Decorations...let the crafting begin

So I am really working on crafting for Halloween this year.

The pictures below are just the beginning.

Photo 1 and 7 - I have made two more banners so far. The first banner was an easy one. So, I stepped it up a notch with photo 1 and 7 below.  I picked up Halloween scrapbook paper from Michael's.  I created my first pinwheels using these directions.  Note to those who try pinwheels - if the paper flakes when folded, they don't look as good.  And really, you need to make the seam seamless. Something I have not accomplished yet.  I cut the paper letters out from paper and glued them in the center of each one. I glued a spider onto a few of the SPOOKY banner pieces just to make it more 3D. A hole punch in the top corners and I used black curling ribbons to string them up over two window in my house.

Photo 3 - I had a photo-fronted key holder behind my front door. It was pretty boring as you can see.  So, using some cool Halloween paper, I put a 5x7 piece in each window and then taped the BOO across the top.  Popped in back in place and now it's a great seasonal piece.  Thinking of doing the same for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines, etc....

Photos 2 & 4 - These were so easy.  Photo 2 is the back of my front door, so you can see parts of 3 & 7. I took magnet tape and cut it into tiny strips.  Removed the tape from the backs and attached tiny magnets on the back of each plastic spider. Voila - then placed them on the door.  Great effect with little fuss.

Photo 5 and 10 - The monsters are just fun to create.  Really making you think outside the box. I am going to give the monsters away at my Halloween party as prizes.

Photo 6 - Loved this ghosts and monster pieces from the Bowdabra blogger. Easy to make and fun. I have to admit I cheated and didn't really make bows. I just tied the tops. I mailed them in care packages to my cousins in college and my grandparents. I also dropped off a few at my hair stylists.  Everyone loved them.

Photo 8 - Simply combine a great sign with an all feather wreath.  Great combination that totally works.

Photo 9 - I wadded up newspaper and put it in the middle of an old sheet.  Attached the arms to the ends of my window valance with paperclips.

I still have more decorations to do, but I wanted to give you all a preview of just a few of the items.

Robot Birthday Party Prep

My best friend's son requested a robot birthday party.  As I have mentioned, I do love theme parties, so I totally took over most of the crafting and party planning.  Just trying to help my BFF out by pulling the theme together so it really stands out.  Her son is great kid and I think he'll get a real kick out of all the details.

The party is tomorrow, so I just wanted to show you some of the items we made.  I'll take more pictures of it all set up and post those later this weekend.

So what did I make?

Robot Birthday Banner

Stamped & Embossed

First, I made a robot birthday banner.  I traced "nut" shapes (really hexagons) onto blue paper.  I used the robot stamp from Paper Source to mark the beginning and end of the banner.  I used silver ink and embossed them with glitter just to give it a little pizazz. 

Then I cut red stripes to put across each nut and glued them in place. I varied the placement to add visual appeal.  Then, I cut out Happy Birthday Aaron in silver sticky back foam. 

I learned from my last banner making experience to put the holes closer to the top of each individual nut.

I strung it together with black curling ribbon.  I'll post a photo tomorrow of it hanging up.

Robot Decorations

I made some robots for decorations.  I took random pieces of metal laying and starting hot-gluing them to tin cans.

The hair at the top is wind chime pipes, the eyes are beer bottle caps, the arms are little screws with nuts attached, and the rest is random other pieces of metal.

Robot Bean Bag Toss Game

Then, we needed a game.  We decided I should make a robot bean bag toss game.  DH (Dear Husband) was instrumental here - built the board so it can used over and over.  It will stand up on it's on and it can be placed like corn hole or stood up, depending on what I paint on it.  

He will cut out the holes for the tossing part.  Advice if you decide to try this - cut the holes first and work your design around the holes.  Especially if you plan to use the same board over and over with different designs.  You want the holes centered.

I then used a projector to pencil in a robot design.  Once it was penciled in, I used black paint to outline it.

 And yes, I am painting it while watching TV in my pajamas!

He came out pretty adorable.  The holes will show in the next post.

Party Activity - Make their own Robots

We also decided that one of our activities at the party will be for the kids to make their own robots.  I saw this on Pinterest and it came out pretty well.  We'll see how the kids do tomorrow.

I asked my DH and every I knew for random extra metal parts that they had around their homes.  Amazing how fast some of them gave me items. 

Then, I sorted them out.  I had to figure out what would work best for the kids.  I got small magnets (about 3/4 inches across) at Walmart and began gluing them onto the different objects.

I took an old cookie sheet and starting placing the items on there.

I took beer bottle caps and glued magnets on the back. I also used metal wire thread to make curly lashes for some of the robots.  The can with the pipe cleaners sticking out the top is an example for the kids.

Utensil Holders

And finally, I used my stamps and extra paper just to decorate some cans to use for utensils or some of the food.  I glued strips around the cans and cut out the individual robots after I stamped them.

I promise to show the results tomorrow.  I hope you enjoyed this.