Showing posts with label Halloween crafts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halloween crafts. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

DIY: My Favorite Fall Crafts!

When you've been around the blogging block as many times as I have (ahem), you start to accumulate a whole lotta posts. Add that to the fact that I'm a big time lover of all things fall and you've got yourself an online encyclopedia of autumn'ness. So I thought I'd put all of my fave ones into a pot, mix it all up and share it in a nice fall-y stew for y'all. Pumpkin spice flavored, of course. 

One thing el hubbo and I love to do during the fall is attend a lil something called Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios (I've chatted about it most recently here). That means I do a lotta mobile crafting. The above fall-themed embroidered blouse was one of those crafts I did on the plane. I'm always surprised when I get busted at the airport for a couple extra ounces of contact solution but never my needles and scissors. But whateves.
Speaking of Halloween Horror Nights, here's a sneak peak. Looks like...fun, right?! We've been going for years so it takes a lot to spook us now. But I do have a soft spot for crazy-eyed, chain-saw wielding homicidal maniacs. Call me crazy. My Walking Dead-inspired 1950's dress is always fun to wear.
Y'all know that my love for vintage runs deep...and that goes for all things Halloween as well. The old horror movies are my jam (Hitchcock's The Birds is my all time fave movie) so when I found this fun fabric with cartoon-y characters from horror flicks on it, I knew I had to make a dress...and a needle felted sweater to match.
I had so much fun painting The Bride, Busted last fall. It really reminded me just how much I love to paint. It truly was a test in color mixing as creating that variety of values was not easy. Lil known fact: I actually graduated college with a double degree: one in painting and the other in art education. I don't paint all that much...but I just might have to create another one of these with another villianess busted. I'm open to suggestions! By the way, this print is available for sale here
Speaking of vintage horror films, the fabric on this dress is full of 'em! So much fun inspiration on one piece of fabric. I've been itching to recreate large paintings based on old horror movies as well. I need more hours in my day!
Last year, I really got inspired by vintage Halloween decor, especially black cats. I transformed this lacy jacket with my Naughty Kitty Club design. Current number of members: 1. 
The cat made another appearance this year in the form of these vintage Halloween trick or treat buckets. I really can't stop laughing at these crazy guys. I so wanna make more of these, they were so fun and easy to create! 
The vintage buckets were made with Celluclay...and the little pumpkin puppet above was created with paper clay. I love exploring different types of clays from the craft store. Each has it's own unique consistency and texture. 
Fall also means needle felting time in my world. There is something super cozy about bundling up with a blanket, breaking out the wool roving and stabbing something repeatedly (uhhh). The eyeballs I needle felted onto these Target pants are always fun to wear. Haunted Mansion knickers, anyone?
Perhaps a needle felted foxy stoll?
WHHOOOO's down with an owl-tastic cardigan
 After a while, the colors of fall start to bring me down a pinch. So I love that I can brighten my wardrobe and my decor with a punch of el Dia de los Muertos. Check out these painted planters
And this here dress. You can find so much fun Day of the Dead-inspired fabrics at the craft stores and online right now! 
 In fact, that's where this fabric came from, Joann's. Minus the rainbow of pom poms, I added those. 
 I love having buddies over for craft nights. Last year, we created these Day of the Dead heads
And another "flight craft", my embroidered necklace

I can't wait to wrap up some fall projects I've been working on and start some new ones. My only wish is that fall was longer! 
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Tuesday, October 27, 2015

DIY: El Dia de los Muertos Calaveras

Hey, cats and kittens! I hope this Tuesday night finds you somewhere snuggled under a cozy blanket. It's been rainy and chilly for the last coupla days here and I'm just about over it. At school, the combo of Halloween week, full moon and rain-induced recess-less days has been a trifecta of cray. Did I mention that I've been giving the kids candy to draw as their sketchbook prompt? Yeah, crazy breeds crazy 'round here. 
At school, my kids are neck deep in self-portrait town. However, I did wanna introduce them to el Dia de los Muertos this week so I have been showing this super sweet and short clip to my younger students. 
And if you aren't into cartoon-land, this short clip is also a great intro to Day of the Dead. A couple of weeks ago, I had a buncha artsy buddies over to mi casa to create some Day of the Dead inspired pieces.
Doncha just love 'em? Did I mention that most o' my artsy friends are also art teacherin' types? Yeah, they got mad skillz.
To set the mood, I found some great party decor at Target and in my personal stash. Did I mention that I love hosting craft nights because decorating is so stinkin fun? It also means that I clean the house which is a highly rare occurrence. Just ask the hubs. 
For this craft, we used aluminum foil and Sculpey. In my Sculpey stash, I have tons of white. It's always the last color I use when I purchase the Sculpey packs so this worked out perfectly for our craft night! 
The inspo for this craft came from my new friend Janet. We met at The Frist when I taught my needle felting class. She was wearing this fab necklace and, when I asked, she told me her hubs had created it. Just last week, I received one from her in the mail. Thank you, Janet and Wayne! I love my necklace. 
The necklace is surprisingly lightweight and Janet told me that the reason is that the armature is made of foil! So on craft night, we all sculpted one from a gently wadded piece of foil. 
Using glass jars, we flattened the Sculpey. In my art room, in a pinch, I simply used one of our supply cups. 
Then wrap that bad boy around your foil and, viola! You've got the start of your calavera!
I used my thumbs to create eye sockets and then the rest is up to you! 
My art teacherin' buddy Sara showed us how to roll a coil of clay, flatten it and then roll that into a spiral to create a rose. Those worked out beautifully in our designs. 
 With our clay scraps, we created these marbled dishes with the golden edges. This is a craft from my fave blog that I'd been meaning to try for a while. They turned out beautifully! 
The possibilities of what could be down with these are endless: add a magnet to the back, a pin, use it as a necklace or, my fave idea, frame it in a miniature picture frame and put on display!
No matter what, happy creating! 
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Sunday, October 5, 2014

What the Art Teacher Wore #117 and It's Fall, Y'all!

 Fall Colors Monday: I scored this vintage dress last spring and I've been saving it to wear on the perfect fall day every since. Despite that 1950's Ima-gonna-choke-ya collar, I love it so. dress: vintage, etsy; belt: Anthro; shoes: Frye; pin and bangles: vintage, gift from moms-in-law

Well, hello thar, buddies! I dunno what you are doing this upcoming week but I can tell you that mine is totes kid-free! That's right, I'm on Fall Break. To the creators of said Fall Break, I take my hat off to you (not that I'm much of a hat-wearer but in this case, I'll wear one and, well, take it off). I'm so looking forward to this week cuz it's gonna be a wild and crazy ride. Tomorrow I'm heading to Bowling Green, Ohio to chat with art educators there (deets here, kids. It's free and open to the public so you should totes attend, kay?). After that, the hubs and I are heading out to Cali for back to back nights of haunted fun-ness. I've got all my Halloween dresses laid out and ready to be packed up just for the occasion.

Since it's fall and all, I decided to dress in my fave fall dresses this week. I also thought I'd share with you some of my favorite fall projects that have been posted on this here blog. Just incase you get that crafty itch (which they've yet to make a cream for) and wanna get your artsy on. 

I'd love to hear what you are up to this fall. Anyone else on break? Whatcha doin'? Until next time, kids, enjoy this fallishness!
 This here leaf-relief project is one that I've done with my third grade students (and buddies on craft nights) and they always look amazing. The process is simple, the supplies are cheap and the results are rad. Follow this link-y-loo for the directions.
 Terrifying Tuesday: So on Tuesday night, I went on a lil photo shoot. More details to come unless I made a fool outta myself (um, more so than the norms) and gotta go confiscate all said photos and burn 'em. Seriously, y'all, I take my own pics with a timer or my handy clicker. I ain't used to no one being behind the camera so it's a lil unnerving when there is! Although, I gotta hand it to the photographer, he was great. But I'm rambling, deets to come, eeeh! dress: vintage; shoes: Dolls by Nina
 One of my favorite things about fall is the changing of the leaves. A coupla years back, I collected a million leaves and started squashing 'em between a leaf press. After a couple of days, I took them out and created several paintings like this one with them. 
 Do you even know what a stress reliever it is to tighten the screws on one of these bad boys everyday? I love that the leaves retained their color and still the look the same in these paintings even though they are years old.
 Whuz Up, Wednesday: This week was seriously a busy one. It seems each day of the week I was buzzing off somewhere. I'm so glad it's fall break, y'all. Let the laziness commence. dress: The Limited, a couple years back; sweater: Thrifted
 My kindergarten friends created these leaves-floating-on-water pieces a couple of years ago. One thing I always add to my school supply order are those Rolyco Color Diffusing Leaves (sold in just about any art supply catalog). My kinder kids learned about line, the veins of a leaf and warm colors just in the leafy portion of this project alone. After coloring the leaves with warm color marker, water was added and the magic of color diffusing happened. The leaves were backed in construction paper with a small square of cardboard added to the back for a pop-out effect. For the water, the kids painted concentric circles and added a piece of tissue on top. 
 Big Puffy Arm Thursday: Seriously, whatcha doing there, Big Fat Sleeve? Oh, did I forget to mention that I've been workin out but only that right tricep (or is that a bicep? Maybe my thigh-cep? Whatevers, my arm looks big in the picture. Why didn't I just say that?!). dress: Anthro, found at Buffalo Exchange; top: gift; embroidered necklace: DIY, here

 I love this project so much that I'm actually really excited to return to school after break and to a variation with my fourth grade students. You can read more about this project here
 Fall Break Friday! Not that I'm excited or anything, ahem. sweater, belt and dress: thrifted; necklace: Forever21; owl sandals: Anthro
 I love embroidering when I travel. It's the perfect little craft. In fact, I'm getting ready to start a new stitchin' for our upcoming long plane rides. You can read about this stitched up fall blouse here



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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

DIY: El Dia de los Muertos

So I went and did it. I went El Dia de los Muertos-loco. Like, muy loco, ya'll. And I blame it entirely on the sleeves of this dress. 

Actually, now that I think about it, this dress (and it's sleeves) is all the fault of my husband. And his wincing-face when he saw me don my Horror Flick dress again before we ventured out into another night of haunted houses

"What?" says I. 

"Um, maybe you should make another Halloween dress. You know, so you don't have to wear that one all the time."

"It's not all the time, it's just when we go to haunted houses." 
{side note, in October, at Casa de Cassie, that is all the time.}

"Okay." 

Ugh. I hate that "okay." It's like the "okay" of doom. In hubs-speak, it translates to "okay, if you wanna be wrong, that's fine with me, Wrongie-Pants."
And I just can't be a Wrongie-Pants. I don't even like pants. 

And that's how I found myself in my sewing room working on not one but two Halloween dresses: One To-Be-Announced and this one, El Dia de los Muertos. 

I had picked up this skull fabric a couple of autumns ago. And I remember it like it was yesterday because the fabric cutting lady and I had an odd exchange. I'm feelin' very dialog-y in this post, so I'll give it to you like this:

Fabric-Cuttin' Lady: How many yards?
Me: I dunno. Um, how about one. No, make that two. Oh, let's just say one and a half.
FCL: Well, what are you making? 
Me: Oh, I don't know. I just like the fabric. One and a half sounds good.

And this is where the FCL went all soothsayer on me. She slowly brought her eyes up from the fabric, pointed her scissors right at me and said:

Buying things without a purpose is how hoarding begins. 

{shivers}
Needless to say, I took my yard and a half and got outta there quick. I didn't have the courage to tell the soothsayin' FCL that she was about 10 years too late to be warning me about hoarding. I'm just a couple boxes shy of my own episode. 

And I don't believe in those anti-hoarder people anyway. I mean, it worked out perfectly that I had this fabric on hand. And that extra half a yard made it so I could add sleeves to this dress pattern (which I have sewn half a dozen sleeveless dresses from) for the very first time.

Ah yes. Sleeves. 

Which, after the less-than-pleasant experience of putting those bad boys in, I have decided is my new substitute for a bad word. As in:

Oh, that FCL, she is so full of sleeves!
or
I don't give a sleeve if you are tired of seeing me in this dress!
or maybe
Oh, sleeve. I've got one sleeve in this dress, does it really need two sleeves? This is bullsleeve!
So, that last bit, the one about getting just the one sleeve in? Yeah, I totally stopped working on the dress after the fun-ness of that first sleeve install. So I did what I do best: found something else to do. Like make this banner with my fabric scraps. I hung it in the kitchen on my Tennessee-themed chalk board. And that smart-alecky skull ain't lyin.

Wanna make your own Halloween banner? Sewing it is super easy. I cut out a billion triangles, tucked the ends of them into some quilt binding tape (not really tape, just a small folded strip of fabric, check your craft store) and used a zigzag stitch. I thought the turquoise was a little boring after the fact. So, in the photo above, you can see I've got a paint brush and what looks like an empty lid. There's actually a teensy bit of bleach in there.
I painted cobwebs and skulls onto the turquoise with the bleach. I'm sure a bleach pen would have worked just as well, but this is what I had on hand. If you do this, I recommend practicing on some scrap fabric first. The bleached lines tend to bleed so paint with a thin, delicate line.
After making the banner, I ventured back into my sewing room. Noticed I had cut the fabric of the other sleeve so that the skulls were going the wrong way. And, using my new naughty word substitute, I was all like "Aw, sleeve, are you kidding me?!" At which point I decided to go look at pretty pictures on pinterest.

And that's where I saw El Dia de los Muertos planters! The above are my creation but you can click here to see the original. Sadly, the link from pinterest to the actual site appears to be broken. I'd love to give credit where it is do but I cannot. If someone happens to know the site, would you mind sharing it in the comments? Gracias!
Now I love to paint planters. You can see my floral planter DIY here. I learned a lot from painting those, most importantly, after watching hubs break one of my painted terra cotta pots, buy the plastic planters. They're cheapo and hubs-breakin-proof. 

I took mine outside and spray painted them a satin white. Once dry, I penciled in circles for the eyes with either a daisy or a heart for the iris. Upside-down heart for the nose and ovals for teeth. So easy. If you are not comfortable painting tiny details, block in the large areas with paint and use sharpies for the little stuff. I gave these a coat of clear varnish to protect them from the elements when I was finished.
How do I love this dress pattern? Let me count the ways: Empire Strikes Back Dress, the Elvis Presley Poodle Dress, the I-See-London-I-See-France Dress, the Horror Flick Dress and now this little number. Oh! And one TBA. Wow. Think it might be time to move on...?
After all that avoidance-crafting was done, the only thing left was that sleeve. What a piece of sleeve it was. But I did it. I showed that little sleeve who was boss. Or, should I say, El Jefe.

That's right El Jefe of all things El Dia de los Muertos. At least in the this Casa.

Adios!

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