Cassie Stephens: halloween projects

Monday, September 18, 2023

DIY: Embroidered Eyeball Earrings!

We were traveling to Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando this weekend (our very favorite thing ever) and I decided to take an airplane craft with me. I love to take little embroidery projects with me because they are lightweight and easy to transport. Earrings are my favorite things to embroider: they are quick and easy to make and super lightweight to wear. I've made several now and I've shared the process on each in this blog post!

I broke down the steps so you can make your own!

Now if these eyeball earrings of mine are giving you a little deja vu...that might be because I recently shared an eyeball necklace DIY!

If you wanna go bigger with your eyeball theme, then I have a video on how to create these eyeball ornaments right here!

I even made an eyeball dress! It's one of my favorites. You can check it out here.

I am in love with these! I now feel like I need a whole set of Halloween embroidered earrings. I'm thinking skulls, pumpkins, ghosts...you name it!

I also think that if you need a simple intro to embroidery project, this might be it! You can also check out all of my fibers projects here!

Please do lemme know if you make some eyeball earrings so we can be twinsies! Have fun!

Sunday, October 2, 2016

DIY: Vintage-Inspired Halloween

Every year, when fall approaches and the light begins to change, I get this urge to create. Often times that results in a Halloween-inspired dress, needle felted sweater or painting (stay tuned for a big ole blog post with all my fave fall crafts!). This year, I was inspired to create these wannabe vintage Halloween trick or treat buckets!

I got the idea from a shop I happened by one morning. They had these sweet little papier mache treat buckets on display in their window that were more than likely made in a land far, far away. I immediately wanted to duck into the shop and scoop them all up but the nearly $40 price tag kept me away. Then I got the idea: I'd just hit up the thrift store on the way home, pick up some plastic trick or treat containers and make my own.

Here's how, y'all!

I found three of these at my local thrift store in various sizes. I happened to have a couple bags of Celluclay that had been in my school storage closet for almost as long as I've been there.

I had one of the big bags...and as you can see in the video I'v hardly put a dent in the thing. A little goes a long way. What I love about the clay as opposed to papier mache is that it goes on so much faster and doesn't have the texture of elephant snot. So there's that.

Here's the making of the cat. I knew I wanted ears so for him, I simply hot glued some tag board ears to the top.

I had a wee big of a battle with the handle but I made it work.

Surprisingly, the tag board was able to withstand the weight of the clay.

Covering the pumpkins was the first step. It seemed to take forever and was not my fave. I was ready to dive into the face-making part!

So much fun. I drew a lot of inspiration from a "vintage Halloween" google search. That lead me to this incredible artist Johanna Parker who I'm currently a huge fan of!

It was nearly 90 degrees the day I set these guys outside which worked out perfectly as they were dry in no time. This winter, when I experimented with the clay, it took up to a week to dry and did mold a bit on the bottom because I forgot to rotate the clay project. So, not only do I suffer from Cellu-Lung but also Cellu-Mold neither of which my insurance covers. Of course.

The surface was rough but not difficult to paint. I do think kids would struggle as it is def not the easiest surface if you are trying to paint neatly. I rather dug the texture though as it meant I could play around with layers of paint and depth.

I think painting the white pumpkin was my favorite. I started by painting it completely orange then layering the white on top with a dry brush.

After painting the details of the face, I went back and added the line on the pumpkin in orange and a dry brush of light orange and yellow. Once they were dry, I went over each with satin ModPodge to add just a hint of shine.

I really can't decide if these pumpkins are ugly or cute. I'm going with ugly cute. Regardless, they will not be on display in our bedroom as I can't have that creeper staring at my when I'm trying to sleep.