Fall ~ Halloween Inspiration

Hello everyone!
Rather than go into the long list of
reasons I've been away, I'll just launch
ahead into a Post of Inspiration!
I am already feeling excited about
painting new simple crafts for the holidays,
but until I can manage that,
here is a list of past Fall/Halloween ideas
along with a link in case you're
interested in having more information!
Enjoy!!

http://megpiedesign.blogspot.com/2010/10/autumn-gift-tags-work-in-progress.html

http://megpiedesign.blogspot.com/2010/10/skinny-scarecrows.html

http://megpiedesign.blogspot.com/2010/10/halloween-plant-pokes.html

http://megpiedesign.blogspot.com/2011/11/wood-slat-scarecrow.html

http://megpiedesign.blogspot.com/2012/09/halloween-skull-magnets.html

http://megpiedesign.blogspot.com/2012/09/mummified-pumpkin-jars.html

http://megpiedesign.blogspot.com/2012/10/2x4-hallween-characters.html

http://megpiedesign.blogspot.com/2012/10/glittery-halloween-bats.html

http://megpiedesign.blogspot.com/2012/10/happy-witch-door-greeter.html

http://megpiedesign.blogspot.com/2013/10/easy-halloween-tees.html



Can't wait to start my Fall crafting!

~ Peace out!! ~

Easy Halloween Tees!

~ EASY HALLOWEEN TEE SHIRTS! ~

It's been WaY too long since I last blogged,

no excuses, just one or three major life events

may or may not have occurred in quick succession

(and some concurrently);

but here I am, and I'm sharing something

that is SO typically ME!

That is, I've been agitated lately that I'm

so busy driving and cooking and cleaning and

scheduling and checking and packing
and loading and unloading and moving and
sleeping and unboxing and tidying

that I have no time for crafting!

Then as I drop the boys off at the gym

at 0700 this morning, I'm thinking

"oh my gosh, it's Halloween in two days

and I should really made the kids

a tee shirt to wear on Thursday!"

What?  Who said that?

The same person who hasn't had time to

do anything in four months and now

suddenly you want to start a complete

project and have it finished today?

Yes.  I work well under pressure.

I haven't done much sewing this year,

and it's been over ten years since I added

to my fabric stash, so I just started over.

I live fifty miles from the nearest craft store

so I was stuck with Wal-mart's scaled

down version of a craft aisle.  Seriously,

there aren't even bolts of fabric or buttons

at this Wal-mart.  Ugh.  So my selection was

beyond limited.

 I (finally) found a tee shirt for my Little girl -

not my first or my second choice,

but it will do.  I'm pretty happy with the

orange ringer tee I found for my Little boy,

but the Big boys tees are just okay.

For the witch, I made a pattern.

I have the pattern scanned, but
I don't know how to add a link for you
to be able to download it.  If you would like
the pattern, just let me know and I
will email it to you.
Also, if there are any technically savvy
readers out there that wouldn't mind giving
me a quick tutorial - I would love
to learn how to add free patterns to my

crafty posts.

I should google uploading patterns.

Anyway, I made a pocket-shaped

face, hat and hat brim, and I used four coordinating

fabrics.  Not what I had in mind when I

got this little gem of an idea five hours ago,

but here goes:

Follow the directions

on the Heat n Bond(R) Ultrahold(TM)

to cut a large background piece from the

purple print fabric.

Face is cut from green

fabric, hat from black fabric, hat brim from orange.

  

Instructions say to wash garment first without

fabric softener.  I did not do this.

That would not be conducive to immediate

gratification, which I so look forward to.

I used a hot iron to adhere the background

shape to the center of the tee shirt.

Guess what?  I decided to use rick-rack as

hair, and I didn't want to glue it.

So I ironed the rick-rack onto the Heat n Bond

and it worked BeAuTiFuLlY!!

Guess what else.  When I removed the 

paper backing from the adhered rick-rack,

I was able to pull on the attached Heat n Bond

and it just came right off!

I was prepared to use scissors and everything.

No need.  I love wonders.  May they

never cease.  Ever.

I attached the face, then arranged the

rick-rack hair and adhered each piece with the iron.

  

I added the hat, then the hat brim.

It still needed something so I cut out 

a wart and a star for the hat brim.

I have some Swarovski crystals that are

just calling out to me - they

think they would look amazing somewhere

on this cute little witch, and I agree.

PS I added the eyes and the mouth

with a black paint pen.

NEXT!

I rushed through the Little's shirts

because I really wanted to get this up on my blog,

but have a better plan for the Big's shirts.

I'm going to cut out all my skull pieces, use 

the hot iron to adhere them to the fabric

that I want to use as a background,

THEN I will cut around for the background shape!

I just had a little trouble with

the spacing ... and I'm a little OCD so I

can deal with it on the Little's tees but I will be

much more precise when making the Big's tees!

Make a pattern for the background piece

by tracing around the skull design and leaving

about a 1/4" space.

I used the green as the background.

As you can see, I had some difficulty getting

all my skull pieces to line up inside

the background piece.  I had to do some

trimming.  I wasn't thrilled, but it worked.

I started with the top of the skull first.

I sort of got that lined up and pressed it down,

then I added the rest of the face pieces

and each bone, trimming and pressing

one piece at a time.

Love!!  I'm going to go pack up my

crystals now and my E6000 - I'll have four hours

at dance class tonight to sit and glue on

stones to make this witch sparkle!!

Peace and Happy Halloween Tees!

;)

Happy Witch Door Greeter

Oh, my gosh! I have been painting up a storm

and I have soooo many projects to share with you!!!

I'm currently working on about twenty-five

projects ... simultaneously.  Which means I'm jonesing

for my immediate gratification!!  A day (or even

two) may pass without my completing a single project,

and then ... voila!!  Twenty-five projects completed at once.

Anyway ... this project is something I decided

to make WHILE I was recycling last year's craft show

snowmen into scarecrows and Santas:

I'm missing approximately 60 photos that I took

with my phone, that didn't automatically update to

my Google album.  I'm not sure how to fix

that at the moment, so please excuse the steps

not accompanied by photos.  :)

Last year's snowmen,

with all accessories removed:

Jump forward to base coating a 1" plug nose

and the face with purple acrylic paint,

the top and bottom base coated black

then coated with black glitter paint:

Use eyebrows and a crooked smile

to make these Witches happy!

 Here's a neat trick to give

your witch face a wart (or two!):

I've been calling these carpet tacks.

Clearly I've been wrong all these years.

It says so right on the package:

CUT TACKS

What evs.

 

Painting a spiderweb is simple!

Pick a starting point to be your vertex

and paint diagonal straight lines outward like so:

Ugh!! Seriously??

I'm having flash issues with

all my pics now.

~ Big Frown :( ~

 

Next, connect the diagonal lines with

short curved lines:

At this point I sealed the paint with

a satin finish acrylic sealer.

Next, I painted wood star cutouts

with orange and green paint, and then

coated them with orange and green

glittery paint:

To finish, tie a large scrap of black tulle

around the picket at the top

of the witch's face:

Use hot glue to attach the tulle knot

to the picket, and to attach the

glittery painted star to the tulle:

I took the extra precaution
of tapping a 5/8" nail into the center
of the star to secure it.

 

Now prop this Happy Witch by your

front door to greet Trick-or-Treaters!!!

Aw! Now that I look at her, she
needs a little something more.  Hmm.
Also, I wish I had corrected the
flash on these pics ...
I'm getting wrinkles having to squint
my eyes to see her face.

Oh! I also made some miniature Witches!!

I snipped the prongs off of
some eyeball brads and hot glued
them to the bows.
Hee Hee

Made some Frankenmonsters, too:

 

~ Peace and Happy Halloween Characters ~

Glittery Halloween Bats!!

These Halloween Bats were made possible

by my very good (and crafty!) girlfriend, Laura ...

... because she supplied me with the awesome

triangular bat bodies cut on her amazing

saw by her crafty self, and then she even base

coated them!!!  So, if you're starting

from scratch, cut the cute little bat shape

(which is basically a triangle pennant shape with

bulging eyeballs ...)

I sanded the edges to remove some

of the paint ('cause that's what I like to do)

and I added Extreme Glitter Gold

to their eyeballs ('cause that's another thing

I like to do) ...

I sketched out a bat wing shape on tracing

paper, then laminated it and trimmed

the edges so I could use it like a stencil.

I took one sheet of black self-adhesive felt

and one sheet of black glitter felt,

and adhered them together to give the

wings some weight.

I love glitter felt!

Who invented this stuff??

A genius, I say.

I used my white chalk pencil to

outline the bat wings on the black felt.

I love how the glittery eyes

are all matchy-matchy with the glittery wings.

I used one floral wire stem as the hanger.

I looped the ends together

and "sandwiched" them between the bat

body and the bat wings.

The eyes are two small Woodsies

wood circles - painted

black and then Extreme Glitter-ed,

of course.  ;)

Super cute!!  Love these bats!

Thanks, Laura!!

~ Peace and Happy Halloween Bats ~