Eyeball Throw Pillow

     All eyes will be on you this Halloween season if you add these spooky throw pillows to your decor.

Materials:

*White fabric (I used flannel, but other fabrics would probably work just as well)
*Black felt
*Felt in the color you want the iris to be
*Needle and thread
*Red fabric paint
*Scissors
*Stuffing

Directions:

*Cut out two large white circles (I used a dinner plate to trace the circles), a medium sized circle in the color you want the iris to be, and a small black circle.

*Sew the black circle to the medium sized circle.

*Sew the medium sized circle to one of the white circles.

*Place the two white circles right side in and sew along the edge, leaving an opening for stuffing.

*Turn the pillow right side in and stuff, then sew closed using the ladder stitch.

*Draw on blood vessels using red fabric paint.

Alice in Wonderland Mushroom Props

     Here's another piece of my Alice in Halloweenland project.  You could make props for a typical Alice in Wonderland event by using red paint instead of black.

Materials:

*Air dry clay (I accidentally used oven baked and it still worked, but I would recommend oven baked so you don't have to worry about potentially setting the paper or cardboard on fire)
*Thin cardboard tube
*Scrap paper or newspaper
*Black paint (or red if you're going for the classic Wonderland mushrooms)
*White paint
*Paintbrush

Directions:

*Cover the outside of the cardboard tube with clay.

*Make a clay circle as large as you would like your mushroom to be and place that on top of the cardboard tube.

*Merge the clay at the top of the tube with the clay on top of the mushroom such that the whole thing comes together as one unit.

*Crumple a piece of paper and place it on top of the clay circle.

*Form a larger clay circle and drape that over the wadded up paper.

*Merge this clay with that of the other circle to form the top of the mushroom.  Set aside to dry.

*Once dry, paint the mushroom as you wish.

White Rabbit Pocket Watch Bag

     Your White Rabbit plushie will always be on time with this bag made using a real pocket watch.

Materials:

*Mini pocket watch
*Jewelry chain that matches the pocket watch
*Two pairs of jewelry making pliers

Directions:

*Find a mini pocket watch that is the desired size for your White Rabbit.  Many pocket watches come with a chain, so if yours does, all you'll have to do is shorten the chain to the desired length.

*Take the chain and drape it across the White Rabbit like a sash to figure out how much of the chain you'll need.

*Remove excess chain by opening the link at the end of the desired length with pliers.

*Slide the watch onto the desired length of chain and then connect the two ends of the chain using pliers.

Alice in Wonderland White Rabbit Plushie

     If you've been following my craft blog for a while, you may have figured out that two things I love are Halloween and Alice in Wonderland.  This year I decided to combine the two.  For the next few weeks, I'll be posting costume and prop tutorials for Alice in Halloweenland, as I've dubbed this darker Alice look.  With some color modifications here or there, everything should work just as well for a more traditional Alice costume and traditional props.  Follow me down the rabbit hole as we embark on the first leg of our crafting journey.

Materials:

*White flannel fabric
*Black buttons for eyes
*Black thread
*White thread
*Sewing needle
*Stuffing
*Metallic marker
*Scissors
*Pink felt

Directions:

*Print out a copy of the template given below:


*Trace two copies of the rabbit's body and four copies of the outer ear, leg, and arm shapes onto the white flannel and then cut out.

*Trace two copies of the inner ears onto the pink felt and cut out.

*On one copy of the rabbit's body, sew on black buttons for eyes.

*Cut a small triangle from the pink felt and sew or glue on to make the rabbit's nose.

*Using black or pink thread, stitch on a mouth for the rabbit.

*Take the inner ear pieces and sew each to one of the outer ear pieces.

*Take the remaining outer ear pieces and place them over the outer ear pieces with the inner ear pieces such that the inner ear pieces are facing in.  Stitch around the edges, leaving an opening in the bottom for stuffing.

*Turn right side out, stuff the ears, and set aside.

*Take two arm pieces, right sides facing in, and sew together, leaving an opening for stuffing.

*Turn right side out, stuff the arm, and sew closed with a ladder stitch.

*Repeat to create the second arm.

*Take two of the leg pieces, right sides facing in, and sew together, leaving an opening at the top of the leg where the leg will meet the body.

*Turn right side out, stuff, and set aside.

*Repeat to construct the second leg.

*Take the body piece with the face and place it face up.  Place the two ears on top of it, the pink inner ear pieces facing down, the points of the ears pointing toward the bottom of the body piece, the part of the ears that join with the body just barely past the top of the head.  Place the other body piece on top, right side facing in.

*Start sewing along the top of the head until the ears are secure.  Sew the rest of the head closed.  This may be a little tricky, as the ears will likely be a tight fit.

*Sew the sides of the body pieces together.

*Insert the legs between the two body pieces such that the "feet" are pointing toward the rabbit's head, the part of the leg that joins with the body sticking out a little past the end of the body pieces.

*Sew the legs into place, leaving an opening between the legs, then turn the rabbit right side out.

*Stuff and sew closed.

*Attach the arms using a sewing method of your choice.

DIY Zombie Romper with Pockets

     I still can't believe I made this!  I've only made clothes from a pattern once before and those were pajama pants, which were much simpler.  I even managed to modify the pattern to use hook and eye closures instead of buttons without messing anything up!
     Okay, so maybe I'm overly excited about this, but what's not to love?  Zombie fabric, full size pockets that can comfortably hold my phone and its backup battery - it's like the romper of my dreams.
     Since I did use a pattern for this, in this blog post I'm only going to focus on adding the hook and eye closures, since I deviated from the pattern in adding those.  I know the directions on the pattern can be a bit confusing if you're new to sewing, though, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask me.  I'm no sewing expert, but I'll try my best to answer any questions.

Materials:

*2.5 to 3 yds Beauty with Brains fabric
*Simplicity Kwik Sew romper pattern
*Sewing machine or needle and thread (I used a needle and thread, but it took me five days to make this, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend if you have access to a sewing machine)
*0.75 yds fusible interface
*0.25 yds non-fusible interface
*Hook and eye closures
*All purpose adhesive
*Iron
*Metallic marker

Directions:

*Follow View A steps 1-14 of the pattern.

*Measure half an inch from the top of the right side (when wearing) bodice piece and place a dot at that location.

*Measure the distance between this spot and the waist.  Divide by 6 and mark out the remaining 5 places.  I used 2" increments for the XS pattern, but if you're making a different size you may need different increments.

*Sew eye closures onto each of these spots.  You'll have two layers of fabric here and you only want to see through the layer that will be sitting against your skin so the stitches won't show.

*I'm not sure if this is the best way to attach the hook closures, but here's what I did.  Initially I had marked the locations for the hooks on the left side in the same way I did for the eyes on the right.  However, I kept worrying that things wouldn't line up, so I looped the hooks through the eyes and marked out where the hook closures rested on the left side.

*Sew on the hook closures.

*Glue together the two layers of fabric using all purpose adhesive or fabric glue.

*Continue to step 16.

Some observations:

*I'm not sure how this works with the other sizes, but with the XS at least, the hip measurement is the most restrictive.  My natural waist is about half an inch larger than the largest size of the XS, while my hips are pretty much exactly the largest size that should fit into the XS.  The waist measurement turned out not to be an issue because the romper doesn't come all the way in to my waist (this may not be true for larger sizes), but because your hips have to fit through the place where the bodice meets the shorts, I can barely get my hips through.  I have to very carefully wiggle into the romper (although it's super comfy once it's on).  If you're between sizes in the hip measurement, you may want to consider going for the larger size.  If you're making the XS and your waist is a tad larger than the size range, it probably won't make a difference.

*The pockets are enormous.  For everyone who has been begging the fashion industry to give us clothes with real pockets, this is the romper for you.

*The pattern calls for less fabric than the 2.5-3 yds I recommend, but that's because they are assuming you're not using patterned fabric.  If you want to have specific zombies on the different parts of the romper, I would recommend getting more fabric.

DIY Goosebumps "Monster Blood" (aka Slime)

     If you're familiar with the Goosebumps series, you've probably heard of monster blood.  This green substance has caused much havoc throughout the four books it was featured in, as well as the TV series.  While it may not be possible (or desirable) to create real monster blood, you can make slime, which looks like monster blood.  If you're throwing a Goosebumps themed party, vials of monster blood could be a great party favor.  Additionally, particularly if your partygoers are at an age where they're fascinated with all things slimy, you could make monster blood as a party activity.

Materials:

*A bottle of school glue
*Borax
*Green food coloring
*Yellow food coloring
*Water

Directions:

*Basically I just followed the procedure outlined on this site.  I'm not nearly as adorable as the little girl who narrates the video is, so I'll let her explain how it's done.

*The key thing about monster blood as opposed to generic slime is the color.  To achieve the almost neon green color I did, you'll want to add your food coloring a little at a time and adjust as you go.  Unfortunately I didn't write down how many drops I used in total, but I don't think it was that much.

*If you have empty spice jars kicking around, they make great containers for monster blood.  Just peel off the label and paint the cap and you're good to go.

*I made the label for these containers using the technique outlined in this post.

Glitter "Slime" Cutlery

     These "slimy" utensils are inexpensive to make and great for a Goosebumps themed party or a Halloween party, among other possibilities.  If you're not a fan of the glitter, you could probably get a similar slimy effect using green puff paint.

Materials:

*Green glitter
*School glue
*Neon green cutlery

Directions:

*Cover your workstation in newspaper.

*Draw slime drip shapes along the end of the handle using school glue.

*Pour glitter over the glue.  Set aside to dry.

*Once dry, tap off excess glitter.  Pour the excess glitter back into the container.