Halloween Perler Fuse Bead Spider Web Coasters

     Hi everyone!  So as you may have noticed, I recently took a hiatus from crafting for several weeks.  I was recovering from oral surgery and in the midst of a writing project that I wanted to finish before school started up again in September, so I decided to let my crafting take a backseat for a few weeks.  However, I'm back now with some fun Halloween crafts.
     Last year I wanted to host a Halloween party (and by host a Halloween party I mean invite my siblings over to my creepily decorated house to eat cupcakes), but between coursework, teaching, and writing my master's thesis I did not have the time I needed to plan one.  However, this semester my schedule is looking a little lighter, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to and have been planning my crafts accordingly.  First up are these fun Halloween spider web coasters.  Hope you enjoy!  Also, if you're looking for more Halloween craft or costume ideas, be sure to check out my Halloween section of my blog.

Materials:
*Fuse bead kit (e.g. Perler beads kit)
*Iron

Directions:
*Arrange beads on a hexagonal pegboard, using the pattern shown above for guidance (for more detailed instructions with pictures, see here).
*Cover your pattern with a sheet of waxed paper and iron the first side, then remove from the peg board, flip over, put waxed paper on top and iron the second side.  You can find more detailed directions here.
*Perhaps it's because I tend to use a hotter setting on my iron, but I've noticed that my fuse bead creations have a tendency to curl slightly.  To prevent this, while the coaster is still hot, press it underneath a heavy book for several minutes.

Colorful Rose Afghan

     This week we have another guest post by my mom.  Enjoy!

      Today I want to share with you my absolute favorite of all the pieces I have knit or crocheted to date.  I call it serendipity because, in my mind, it exemplifies that word.  When I conceived of it in my mind and converted my idea into a tangible object it was the first time I had crocheted out of the lines so to speak.  It was the first time I looked into my imagination rather than searching for a pattern.
      We all start out with patterns when we become knitters or crocheters in much the same way novice cooks follow recipes.  My first knitting piece when I was 14 was a pair of slippers for my mother's birthday.  Sometimes in both crafts and cooking results may be less than we hope for.  I'd rather not tell you how many times I had to start over the first time I attempted a baby garment with those tiny
little knitting needles.  If we don't give up, we often get proficient.  Then some of us get bored.  We get comfortable enough with the materials and tools that we play and experiment.  It's like how some cooks work from what they have on hand--a handful of this, a pinch of that--rather than planning a shopping list around a recipe.
      When I was in college one of the administrative assistants gave me a piece she had started.  She had crocheted 9 intricate squares with raised roses and realized that pigs would fly before she made enough to make an afghan.  She put them together in a 3 by 3 arrangement and tried building the piece up with off white yarn, basically making it into one humongous granny square.  When she gave up on that she handed it over to me with instructions to please do something with it.
      Life kept getting in the way of keeping that promise.  There was college to finish, my first (unsuccessful) attempt to get my Ph.D., starting a family...  There was also the fact that the idea of working for a lot of hours in one shade of off white did not inspire me.  My breakthrough came when someone gave me garbage bags full of extra yarn in all weights and colors.  A lot of it was tangled.  As I sat on the floor unsnarling and rolling I realized I had a rainbow of colors.  Then I hauled out my poor, neglected piece and decided to create a partial rainbow around it, going from shades of purple through blue and green with just a touch of yellow at the edge.  I did not spend a lot of time working out the perfect array.  When I finished one color
I would look for the next.  I would pair up two contrasting strands with my thinner yarns to achieve a uniform thickness.  I loved the way it came together.  I hope you will agree that it is something special.  Now I am spoiled. I have bins of yarn.  So when I feel creative I look at it and see what comes to mind.
      I am including three pictures:  an overall view, a close up of  the purples to show color gradations, and a close up of green and white to show blended yarns.
      Even if I could put the whole piece in step by step instructions, that would not be my attempt.  What I want you to do is learn to trust yourself.  Whether you create in yarn, metal, beads, paper, wood, or any other medium, get comfortable with your materials and tools.  Take joy in the process as well as the product.  Then when you get the urge to try something new and different, go for it.  You could end up with something totally unique and beautiful.
      I am very glad that Amber has asked me to do some guest posts for her blog.  I'd been getting lazy with crafts lately.  Now I have an incentive to indulge my crafty self. :)

Granny Square Scarf

     Today we have a special guest blogger, my mom, Julia Hathaway.  Here's a little bit about her:

I'm Amber's mom, the one who introduced her to crafts at a very early age.  I'm primarily a wordsmith.  I maintain a book review blog Julia's Journey and  write poetry that I perform at open mics and am working to get  published.  As for handcrafts, I most fancy fabric arts, especially counted cross stitch.  Soon I plan to start stitching some of my favorite quotes and poetry with motifs that compliment the words.  I love photography.  I'm vice chair of my town's school committee.  I volunteer with Orono Public Library and Orono Community Garden.  I prefer being outside in nature to being inside, think must see tv is an oxymoron, and treasure time spent with family and friends.

     This week my mom is going to explain how she makes granny square scarves.  This is a great project if you have lots of scrap yarn you want to use up.

I craft the opposite of a lot of people.  Instead of deciding on a project and buying materials, I see what I have and what I can use it for.  People give me yarn they don't need and don't want to throw out:  scraps from their finished projects, projects they know they won't finish...even an afghan that had a close encounter of the Rottweiler kind.  This project will let you make use of small balls of yarn while creating a really nice gift for a friend or family member.

You'll need:
14 small balls of medium weight yarn
A large ball of white, cream, or a unifying color
Size K crochet hook
Yarn needle

Stitch abbreviations
Chain: ch
Double crochet: dc

Directions:
Start with one of the small balls.  Ch 6, join with 1st stitch, ch 3, 2dc, ch2, 3dc, ch 2, 3dc, ch2, 3dc, ch2, join with 1st stitch;
Ch3, 2dc, ch2, 3dc, ch1, 3dc, ch2, repeat 3 times, join to first stitch,
End off.
Make 13 more small squares.
Take the large ball of yarn.  Join in the corner of one of the small balls.
ch3, 2dc, ch2, 3dc, ch1, 3dc, ch1, 3dc, ch2, repeat 3 times, join to first stitch, end off.
Repeat with other 13 squares.
Arrange the 14 squares in the order in which you want them and sew them together.
Now, using the large ball, you want to make one more row around the whole scarf.  Corner spaces will require 2 3dc cluster separated by ch2.  Noncorner spaces will require 1 3dc cluster separated by 1 dc.
When you have gone all the way around end off.
Fringes at the end are a nice option.
I routinely make small squares out of yarn scraps and put them in a pretty box.  Then when I need to whip up a scarf quickly (like today for Amber's blog) it takes me a minute to pick my 14 small squares and unifying color and go from there.

Another Card Book

     Looking for a way to display your favorite greeting cards that requires minimal effort?  Here is the craft for you.  If you're looking for something a bit snazzier, check out my previous card books.

Materials:
*Greeting cards
*Hole punch
*Binder rings

Directions:
*Punch holes in the cards and clip them together using binder rings.
*If you wanted to be a bit more creative, you could design a cover for your card book, but I've just had my wisdom teeth out so my motivation has been nonexistent.

Rose and Crystal Drop Earrings

Materials:
*Earring posts
*Rose shaped beads
*Jewelry glue
*Crystals
*Headpins
*Jump rings
*Wire cutters
*Round nosed pliers
*Flat nosed pliers

Directions:
*Glue rose beads to earring posts.  Let sit for however long is required for the glue to dry.
*Trim down the headpins so that they are about 1/2" longer than the rose beads.
*Slide headpins through the rose beads and use the round nosed pliers to curl the end of each headpin to form a loop.
*Open up a jump ring and slide through the loop in one of the earrings and also through a crystal.  Close the jump ring.

Decorated Whiteboard

     have an old whiteboard that's a bit beaten up or just generally kind of plain?  Jazz it up with a few basic craft supplies.

Materials:
*Old whiteboard
*Stickers, craft tape, and any other embellishments you would like.

Directions:
*Cover the border of the whiteboard with craft tape in a color or pattern of your choice.
*If your whiteboard has rounded corners, as mine does, you may want to cover the corners with stickers rather than taping around them.
*Cover up any sizable dents in your whiteboard's surface using stickers.

Treasure Map and Clues

Brian's treasure map

One of Brian's clues

     For my birthday party, Brian surprised me with a treasure hunt.  Rather than just making a treasure map, he included a set of clues for an additional challenge.  Since I'm almost always home when Brian is over the summer, he had to be sneaky to hide his plan from me.  I saw him aging the paper and he told me that he was using it to make ant traps, that he had seen online that you could soak paper in coffee and then put sugar on top of it and the ants would come eat the sugar, overdose on caffeine, and fall asleep.  I wondered why he never ended up setting out the traps, but I was also somewhat relieved because I was afraid that he might accidentally kill the ants from the caffeine overdose.

Materials:
*Coffee
*Printer paper
*Baking pan
*Black ink pen

Directions:
*To give your treasure map an antique look, follow the directions for aging paper that I give in my Halloween Potion Pendants post.
*Rather than drawing your house or yard, transform the landscape into an island in the sea.  For example, cars could be drawn as ships, roads become waterways, pine trees turn into palm trees, etc.
*For an added challenge, leave off the X marks the spot aspect of the treasure map and instead write a list of clues that work in conjunction with the map.  Lead people to various landmarks on the map before cluing them in to where the treasure is located.
*Roll up the treasure map and tie it with ribbon to make it look like a scroll

Receiving the treasure map and the first clue

Searching for treasure

My octopus (you'll notice her likeness on the pirate paper cups) Mary Anne Bonny Read (she's named for pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny) guarding the treasure