Halloween Foam Tombstones

Materials:
*Sheet of craft foam
*Letter opener, serrated knife, or similar implement
*Gray acrylic paint
*Black marker
*X-acto knife
*Paintbrush
*Large paper clip
*Wire cutters

Directions:
*Cut foam to your desired size using an X-acto knife.
*Carefully sketch out a design for an inscription on your foam using black marker.  Make sure to space out your letters a bit, since when you compress the foam, if your letters are too close together then you may end up compressing the foam between the letters as well.
*Press down on the foam using a letter opener or a similar tool, following the design you drew on the front.  Work slowly and carefully, as the foam compresses very easily.  It's difficult to do very detailed work with this kind of foam, so if you want to do something intricate, you may want to try insulation foam instead.
*Once you have finished "carving" your stone, paint it gray, then set it aside to dry.
*Unbend a large paper clip and cut it in half using wire cutters.  Once the stone is dry, insert the two halves of the paper clip into the bottom of the stone.
*Set up the tombstone in the desired location, sliding the paper clip pieces into the ground.

Looking for more Halloween decoration or costume ideas?  Check out my Halloween section of my blog, where you'll find killer porcelain dolls, last minute costume ideas, and more!

Halloween Potion Pendants

Materials:

*Small plastic vial with cork

*String

*Scissors

*Potion filling (see below for examples)

*Label and all purpose adhesive (optional)

Directions:

*Fill vial with desired potion, then seal with a cork.

*Cut off a segment of string long enough to make the pendant.

*Wrap string around the neck of the vial and knot.

*Knot together the free ends of the string.

*Glue the label to the bottle.

Making a Label

Materials:

*Printer paper

*Coffee

*Baking pan

*Black ink pen

Directions:

*Lay a sheet of white printer paper flat in a baking pan.

*Brew coffee, then pour into the pan until the paper is submerged.  Let sit for half an hour.

*Remove the paper from the coffee and set aside to dry.

*Once dry, write the name of your potion on the paper, then carefully tear it off.

Nightmares Potion

Materials:

*Black glitter

Monster Blood

Materials:

*Water

*Red food coloring

Directions:

*Mix a couple of drops of red food coloring with water to create your "blood."

Tip:

*My monster blood started evaporating, so I have been storing it in the freezer to preserve it.

Eyeballs

Materials:

*White air dry clay

*Permanent markers in black, red, and other colors of your choosing.

Directions:

*Form miniature clay balls, then set them aside to dry.

*Once dry, decorate the balls to look like eyeballs using permanent marker.

Felt Sleepy Bat

     My first Halloween post of the year!  I love making Halloween decorations :).

Materials:
*2 sheets black felt
*2 sheets purple felt
*1 sheet white felt
*1 sheet lilac felt
*Chalk
*Sewing machine or needle and thread
*All purpose adhesive
*Scissors
*Stuffing
*Needle and thread

Directions:
*Enlarge the template below to the desired size and print.

*Using chalk, trace 2 of the large ovals and 2 large triangles onto black felt, 4 wings and 2 medium triangles onto purple felt, 1 large quarter circle and 2 small quarter circles onto the lilac colored felt, and 2 small triangles onto white felt.
*Cut out the respective shapes.
*Align two wing shapes and sew the two pieces together.  Draw veins onto the wing and sew along the lines.
*Repeat with the second set of wing shapes.
*Place a purple triangle on top of one of the black triangles to form the inner and outer ear and sew together.  Repeat with the second set of black and purple triangles.
*Fold up wings so that they fit inside the two ovals when the ovals are sandwiched together, but be careful to make sure that the tips of the wings to not touch the edge of the oval.  Place the ears between the ovals so that they spill over the outer edge of the oval some and the point at the top of each ear points inward, toward the center.  You should end up with a setup resembling the image below.  The wings and ears should end up sandwiched between the two ovals.

*Sew the two ovals together, leaving an opening at the bottom.  You will now have an inside out bat.
*Turn the bat right side in and insert stuffing into the opening in the bottom until the bat is as full as you would like.
*Sew or glue the bottom closed.
*Glue on the bat's face.
*Tie a piece of thread to a needle and poke it through the bottom of the bat.  Once it's through, cut off the needle and tie the ends of the string together.  This will give you something to hang your bat from.

Looking for more Halloween decorating or costume ideas?  Check out my Halloween crafts.

Flannel Pajama Pants

Here are the pants on me

Here's what they look like on their own.  Look at how cute those monsters are!

     September is here, which means back to the grind for me.  This semester I have another full load of grad classes, I'm TA-ing Calculus I again, and I'm working on my master's thesis, so I'll be quite the busy bee.  September also means cooler temperatures, so I figured flannel pajama pants would be a practical craft and with such an adorable print, these quickly became my favorite pajama pants I own.

     For my first attempt at sewing with a pattern, I would say these pants were a success.  To make them, I used Simplicity's free pattern and step-by-step instructions, so I'll just link to them since I don't really have anything to add or change.  Their pattern and instructions are part of a four part series explaining the basics of sewing, so if you don't have much experience sewing clothes I recommend looking at parts 1-3 before getting started.  It includes information about what supplies you need to get started with sewing, a detailed explanation of pattern sizing, which can be a bit confusing because pattern sizes don't always align with department store sizes, and a brief guide discussing fabric properties to help you select the appropriate fabric for your pattern.

Cork Board Mini Memento Board

Materials:
*12" x 12" sheet of cork board
*Ribbon
*Fabric
*All purpose adhesive
*Scissors
*Sandpaper
*Ruler
*Pen
*Cardboard
*Thumbtacks
*Buttons, brads, or other decorative items

Directions:
*Trim down cork board so that it measures 9" x 12".
*On the back side of the cork board, align the ruler with the bottom right corner with the ruler pointing upward and measure out 1/2" going up, leaving a small mark with the pen.  Then line up the ruler with the same corner with the ruler pointing to the right and measure out 1/2" to the right, marking this spot as well.
*Using your ruler, draw a straight line connecting the two marks.
*Cut off the corner, following the line you drew.
*Repeat the above procedure with the other corners.
*Sand down any rough edges on the cork board.
*Cut a length of ribbon slightly longer than the diagonal distance between the top left and bottom right parts of the board.  Stretch the ribbon across the board and glue down one end of the ribbon to the top left edge where the corner used to be.
*Pull ribbon as tightly as you can without bending the cork board and glue down the other end.
*Repeat for a length of ribbon going across diagonally in the opposite direction.
*Where the two ribbons cross one another (which should be approximately the center of the board), adhere the bottom ribbon to the board, then adhere the top ribbon to the bottom one.
 *Arrange lengths of ribbon to form a diamond shape, with each corner of the diamond located at the halfway point of one of the sides.
*Glue down the points of the diamond, then glue down any intersections of ribbon.  Set aside to dry.
*Cut cardboard so that it measures approximately 9.5" x 12.5".
 *Cut fabric such that it is about ½ to 1 inch longer than the foam board on all sides.
*Lay fabric face down on a flat surface and place cardboard on top.
*Run glue along the edges of the backside of the cardboard and adhere the fabric to this.  Make sure to pull the fabric as tight as you can while gluing so that you won’t end up with bunches of fabric on the front side.  Let dry.
*Once the cardboard part has dried, line up the cork board and cardboard pieces and glue together.
*Glue buttons, brads, or other small items to the tops of thumbtacks to liven them up.

Like this craft idea?  Check out my memento board blog post for a variation on this idea.

Two Years of Crafts

     Time to celebrate, since today marks the two year anniversary of my craft blog!  Dance party time!  (If you're off-put by my taste in music, feel free to substitute your own song of choice instead.)

     It's hard to believe another year of crafting has gone by!  This year I've pushed myself father, tried some crafts that were outside my comfort zone, and I feel like the results have been good.  I sewed my own Halloween costume, experimented with duct tape, and melted a lot of crayons, among other projects.  I've made so many crafts that I've liked, which makes it tough to pick favorites, but I really liked my felt owl pal and my zombie and non-zombie pom pom creatures.  

     Of course, this post would not be complete without some statistics since I am rather partial to numbers: my blog has received 8087 views all time, 5655 from this year, which is more than double the number of views it received last year!  Fuse bead decorative bowls are still my most viewed craft, but now with 615 views all time and that blog post gained almost three times as many views this year as it did last year.  The most popular of the blog posts I've written this year is design your own board game, which received 205 views this year.

     Now for the moment you have all been waiting for: the winner of the prize package is Lauren from Old Town.  Congratulations, Lauren!  I am immensely grateful to all of you who have been following my craft blog and everyone who has taken the time to look at my blog posts.  I hope my blog has benefited each of you in some tiny way, be it providing you the creative inspiration you need or just giving you something fun to look at when you're bored.  Here's to hoping for another great year of crafting!

     So, what do you think?  Which blog posts have you enjoyed most?  Let me know in the comments or email me at hathaway.amber@gmail.com. 

Freezer Bag Pencil Case and a Contest Reminder

Want an inexpensive but stylish pencil case?  Add some duct tape to a freezer bag.  Thanks to my fantastic second mom for this neat craft idea :)

Materials:
*Duct tape
*Freezer bag
*Scissors

Directions:
*Cut a strip of duct tape slightly longer than the width of the freezer bag.
*Fold the strip of duct tape over the bottom of the bag so that half of the strip of tape covers the front side of the bag and half covers the back.
*Cut off any excess duct tape sticking out, being careful not to cut the bag's seams.
*Cut a strip of duct tape slightly longer than twice the width of the freezer bag and wrap around the top of the bag.
*Continue adding strips of duct tape until you have covered the whole bag.

Contest Reminder

     If you would like to be entered to win a nail polish splattered picture frame and a pair of duct tape earrings (both pictured below), please send your name and address (if you don't live nearby) to hathaway.amber@gmail.com before August 25th.  The winner will be announced on my anniversary blog post on August 25th.