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!

;)

Witchy Plant Poke - Great Last Minute Gift Idea!

Here's an easy~peasy Fall project
to make and give as gifts.
 In fact, I made a dozen!  True story.

So you start with a wood shim:

 ... or ten ... or twelve ...

Acrylic Paints: Green, Black, White,
Multi-Purpose Sealer
Glittery Spider brad, HALLOWEEN brad,
(these are brads I bought a few years ago~
I just placed a new order from
Oriental Trading Company for lots of
new Halloween brads ... can't wait!!)

The shims are usually pretty rough
and sometimes have splintery edges.
I used a sanding block
to smooth them down, and then
sealed the fronts with
Multi-Purpose Sealer.

Since I was making twelve of these,
I decided to cut a "face" shape
from a soda box.  Straight across the top
(where I'll put the hat brim)
and a "pointy" chin.
I used a 4" paint roller to apply
black paint to the fronts
of the shims.

I used a 1" flat brush to apply green
paint to the faces...

... all twelve of them!!
Once the paint is dry, sand lightly
with a sanding block.
Paint raises the grain in the wood,
so sanding lightly gives you
a smoother surface to paint on.

I trimmed the rounded ends off
of skinny craft sticks
to make hat brims.  Paint with
black paint, sand lightly.

Apply wood stain to the front,

sides,

and back of the shim.
I use an oil based stain, so I
wear protective gloves and allow
the pieces to dry overnight.

I used Tacky Glue to attach 1/2"
button plugs to the witch faces.

This photo shows me attaching 1/4"
button plugs as noses.
I waited until I'd glued on all twelve
plugs and the glue was
completely dry before changing
my mind.  I decided to use the 1/4"
plugs as warts, instead.

So, to recap, 1/2" plugs as noses,
1/4" plugs as warts, and
glue on the skinny sticks as hat brims.

The eyes are dip dots of black.
(I used a stylus, but you could use
a paintbrush handle if you
have one small enough).

I used a liner brush and thinned

black paint to apply a quirky mouth.

I used a liner brush and thinned

white paint to apply a spider web to

the witch's hat.

I added some black dots to the

nose and the wart; and

two crooked teeth to the quirky mouth.

I used my trusty rusty pliers

to snip the brad off the spider brad:

Then I used hot glue to attach the

now-bradless-spider to the hat.

I made the HALLOWEEN brad

bradless, too:

Snip! Snip!!

 Attach the bradless brad with hot glue.

Two years ago I bought each

teacher a potted mum,

and I poked in a Witch, a

Frankenmonster, and a Mummy.

They looked kinda (exactly) like this:

Here's this year's Witchy Plant Poke:

 Maybe Frankenmonster and the

Mummy need an update, too?  Always

nice to change your look

every once in a while.  I'll just

add those to my ever-growing To-Do List.

~ Peace and Happy Halloween Characters ~

Oh, Deer ...

I've been in the studio all morning;

just had to run back to the house to make

my sick boy some soup.

 

 

I was listening to the Who's greatest hits,

and here is the view from my window:

 

 

 

I thought she might have been drawn

to the bright green grass that has grown

up out of the decaying piles of trees and leaves

left behind by May's tornado,

but instead she wanted to eat bark.

Quite a large, rough, and uncomfortable 

looking sliver of bark.

bleh

On another note,

I'm participating in a craft show

this weekend!  Yay!!

I'm super excited!

The kids have been home sick all week

and I'm getting that feeling like

I'm way behind where I should be ...

so I'm headed back out to the studio to paint.

The little ones are back in school

and my big boy is snuggled up and sitting

at the bar doing homework.

 (The pic below is NOT of my big boy).

Peace & Painting

Wood Slat Scarecrow

I thought I'd share this fun scarecrow!

He's really simple to make,

and he looks great tucked into a Fall

wreath ... or make several

and turn them into a one-of-a-kind

Scarecrow Wreath!!

(Check back soon for pics of my

Scarecrow Wreath, along

with simple assembly instructions)

Gather these items to make one

Wood Slat Scarecrow:

Loew-Cornell(TM) Woodsies(TM) Wood Slat,

(sold in packages of six)

Woodsies(TM) Craft Stick,

Woodsies(TM) Jumbo Craft Stick,

hatch-mark background stamp,

acrylic paints: antique gold, antique white,

black, white, jack-o-lantern orange,

honey brown, Sparkle Glaze,
Multi-Purpose Sealer

sponge roller, 1" wash brush,
1/2" flat brush, script liner brush

brown ink pad, scrap of ribbon,

glue gun and glue sticks

pink powder blush and sponge dauber

12" length of jute for hanging,

Crop-o-Dile, hand drill, drill press, or

hubby for drilling holes
permanent black marker

 Use sponge roller to base coat

top half of wood slat antique gold;

also paint the craft stick

antique gold.

Attach hat brim with glue gun,

then base coat the bottom half of

the wood slat antique white.

Actually, what this pic shows, is

that after I painted the top halves of

the wood slats, I poured some

antique white onto my palette and rolled

the lighter color onto the bottom

halves of the wood slats.  Since it wasn't

enough contrast, I loaded my 1" wash brush with

antique white and repainted the bottom.

Ummm ... you could do this too,

or you could just skip that step.

Whichever!

Don't forget to paint the backs

and the sides of each slat!

Okay ... I found this background stamp

a few years ago.  It makes the absolute

"perfect" cross-hatch pattern on my

straw hats and burlap texture on my

scarecrow faces.  I love it!!

 Here's a pic of the top of the stamp.

(and the stamp pad I used)

Rub the stamp pad over the stamp,

and stamp the craft stick (hat brim) 

and the top half of the scarecrow (hat)

*and* I like to stamp the bottom half (the face)

separately.  No real reason.

Just because. 

Next, shade around the edges

of the rectangles and the top half of

the craft stick.

Dip a 1/2" wash brush into water,

then dip one corner into a small puddle of

honey brown paint.

Drag the brush back and forth

on the palette to distribute the paint

gradually ...

Secure the hat brim to the hat

with the glue gun.

Blush cheeks with sponge dauber

and pink powder blush. 

Use a stylus or the end of a paintbrush handle

to dot the eyes.

Thin black paint with water to an inky

consistency, and use the liner

brush to paint a mouth on the scarecrow.

Use the liner brush and jack-o-lantern orange

to add a triangle nose to the scarecrow.

Here's how to make the cute black crow

poking up out of the hat brim:

Paint the jumbo craft stick

black.  Don't forget to paint the sides.

Use the sanding block to

sand around the edges of the craft stick.

Then trim off the end of the craft stick.

I like to use my

 Midwest Products Hobby & Craft Easy Cutter Ultimate

Dip dot the eyes with white paint.

Add smaller black dots over the white dots.

This photo (above) shows step-by-step

how to paint the beak with antique gold

and a script liner brush.

When completely dry,

brush on a coat of Sparkle Glaze.

Secure the crow to the hat

with the glue gun.

Make two holes in the top corners

of the slat scarecrow.

Thread one end of the jute through

the hole and knot the ends.

Thread the other end of the jute through

the second hole, creating a hanger.

Tie a knot with the ribbon scrap

and attach to the crow's neck.

Use the permanent black marker
to outline the hat, hat brim, and face.
Outline the crow's beak.


Use thinned black paint
to make eyebrows and stitch marks
on the nose and mouth.

There you go!!!

Up next, I'll share some pics

and quick instructions for making

a wreath from these

Wood Slat Scarecrows!

* Peace and Scarecrows *