Halloween Tablecloth

Materials:

*Enough fabric to cover your table (I used a 43" x 43" square of fabric for my little table)

*Sewing machine or needle and thread

*Scissors

*Pins

Directions:
*Cut fabric to the appropriate dimensions.

*Fold over an edge of the fabric about 1/4" and pin in place, then sew down.

*Repeat with the remaining edges to prevent the tablecloth from fraying.

Make sure to check out my other Halloween crafts for some decoration and costume ideas.

Glitter Drip Wine Glasses

Materials:
*Wine glass
*Glitter
*Mod Podge
*Squirt bottle of some form (I used an empty shampoo bottle)
*Funnel (optional, but makes getting the Mod Podge into the squirt bottle much easier)
*Acrylic sealer
*Painter's tape
*Cling wrap

Directions:
*Cover the rim of the glass with painter's tape.
*Pour some Mod Podge into the squirt bottle.
*Squeeze Mod Podge along the bottom of the tape line.  The more you squeeze out in one spot, the longer the drip will be.  You should end up with something like this:

*Let the Mod Podge dry for five minutes and then pour glitter over the Mod Podge.  Set aside to dry for 24 hours.
*After it has finished drying, cover the top of the glass with cling wrap and tape so that the acrylic sealer cannot get inside the glass.
*Spray with acrylic sealer and let dry for the required amount of time given on the bottle.
*Once dry, carefully peel off the painter's tape and cling wrap.

Clay Halloween Cocktail Picks and Spidery "Stone" Holder

     These cute little food picks and holder serve a dual purpose: they are both a decoration and something you can use to skewer cheese cubes.

Cocktail picks
Materials:
*Metal cocktail picks (could also use bamboo probably)
*Clay in various colors
*Red permanent marker (to draw blood veins on the eyeball)

Directions:
*Mold clay into Halloween shapes around the tops of the cocktail picks.
*Bake in the oven following the directions on the clay packets.  Let cool.
*Once the clay is cool enough to touch, add any needed details (such as blood veins on the eyeball) using a permanent marker.

Holder
Materials:
*Styrofoam
*Gray paint
*Paintbrush
*Spider rings
*Webbing
*Scissors

Directions:
*Paint the Styrofoam gray.  Set it aside to dry.
*Once the paint has dried, pull spider webbing across it.
*Snip the ring base off a couple of spider rings and place the spiders on the webbing.
*Poke the cocktail picks into the top of the Styrofoam.

An Introduction to Refinishing Furniture

     Last summer I came across this gorgeous wooden table at Goodwill.  The paint had worn off in places and it was missing some hardware (see below), but it only cost $3, so I figured there was no reason not to buy it and try fixing it up.  My original plan was to give it a coat of glittery spray paint, but Brian pointed out that this table was actually really nice and perhaps we should fix it up properly.  So I looked up how to refinish furniture online and decided to give it a try.  After all, how difficult could it be?  Cue foreboding horror movie music.
     It might not have been so bad had I selected a nice, flat, rectangular table, but this table was full of curves and indentations that required lots of hand sanding.  If your intended DIY project sounds anything like mine, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you a seasoned refinisher with years of experience refinishing tricky furniture items?
2. Are you a masochist?
3. Do you enjoy monotony and do you have endless wells of patience?

If you answered yes to 1, you should probably be writing this post instead of me because I know nothing about refinishing furniture aside from this one experience with my (evil) table.  If you answered yes to 2 or 3, congratulations!  Try refinishing your furniture item at your own risk.  If you answered no to all 3, put down the sandpaper, take three steps back from the furniture item (slowly, and with your eyes fixed on the object so that it cannot sneak up on you), and get out while you still can.
     If you have a more manageable furniture item or choose to proceed in spite of my warnings, here are some tips to help you along with your project.  For more detailed instructions on refinishing furniture, see e.g. HowStuffWorks.

Materials:
*100 grit medium sandpaper
*220 grit very fine sandpaper
*Stain and polyurethane coating (can be a 2 in 1 combo, like I used, or separate)
*Paintbrush
*Sander (optional, but highly recommended)
*Protective goggles
*Ventilation mask
*Ear muffs (if you're using a sander)

Tips:
*Do not use any sandpaper of lower quality than 100 grit.  Brian and I got some 80 grit paper in hopes that it would speed up the sanding process and it did, but it left scratches in the wood.
*If you have access to a sander (and if it is an appropriate tool for your project), I recommend using it.  Hand sanding is no fun.
*If you're not looking for perfection (which, if you are, you should probably find an article written by someone with more experience refinishing furniture), you don't have to scrape the paint off all the way.  You just need to rough it up enough that the new coat of paint will adhere.  Choose a paint color a few shades darker than the furniture item's original color and no one will be able to see the old paint underneath.

The table in the state in which we bought it.

Me sanding down the table

Halloween Spider Cupcake Stand

Materials:
*Two clear plastic plates (I used the clear plates with textured-line pattern from Dollar Tree)
*Tea light candle holder
*Plastic spider ring
*Spider webbing
*White fabric paint
*Sparkly black spray paint
*All purpose adhesive
*Scissors

Directions:
*Turn the plates upside down so that the backside of the plate is facing upward.  If you're using ones with a textured line pattern like I did, follow the lines with the white fabric paint.  Otherwise, design your own webby pattern.  Once you've finished adding lines, set aside to dry.
*Once the paint has dried, spray the backsides of the plate with glitter paint, following the directions on the bottle.  Let dry.
*Once the plates have dried for the requisite amount of time, glue the bottom of the candle holder to the center of the front side of one of the plates.
*Place some spider webbing inside the candle holder.
*Cut the ring base off the spider ring and then place the spider inside, pulling the webbing around it a little.
*Glue the top of the candle holder to the center of the backside of the remaining plate and then set aside to dry.

Top view of the plate design

Close up of the spider

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. :)