Holiday Banner

This banner is made from odd and fun items: old book pages, tulle, old sew patterns and scrap book paper.
Find a fun holiday style font for your letters and decide on your wording then print on your printer. You can then cut them out with a circle cutter. Glue, staple or better yet use the scrapbook square double sided tapes. This has been crinkled then inked to give it a distressed look. Then attach black crate paper folding it to give it a different look. Then attach to your pre-cut page style paper, cut into triangles, using a fun shaped edge. You may want to ink the edges as well to give it that finished look. Using a hole punch, apply a whole to each side at the top corner of each triangle. String onto a small ribbon and tie with simple knots the tulle and patters at each end.

Items to retrieve:
Old book pages
Scrapbook paper
Printed letters
Crate paper
Thin Ribbon
tulle
old patterns
Circle cutter
shaped scissors
stapler or square tapes
Hole Punch
*Glitter Glue
*Sparkled Ribbon

*Spice it up:
Adding the tulle and patterns do the trick but you could add numerous fun lengths of sparkled ribbon, and add glitter to the letters.

IRON GIANT PAPER MACHE COSTUME

Colby decided to make this costume for Avery since IRON GIANT is an older movie and you can not buy hardly anything for it. Avery is still obsessed with the movie.
This costume is made with cardboard the he just glued together with hot glue to make the foundation of the chest plate.
For the hat we first started with a plastic helmet that you can get at any party store. This was a construction helmet we used for another party earlier that year. We cut off the rum and used the rest so it had some strength being that we know our 3 yr old is going to be very hard on it. Colby then added the other aspects that made it Iron Giant.
Then came the paper Mache. It is a mixture of water and flour you can find a recipe online anywhere. Ripping the newspaper into small strips you lay it into the flour mixture then lay it on the foundation piece. until it is covered well. we did it in two layers drying once both where done. It dried over night and he was able to paint it the next day with just some acrylic paint.
You can if you wish put a layer of machei over it that has been blended up to give it a smoother more solid look, although because of time and what it was fore we decided not to. Later we regretted it and wish we had because it would have made it much stronger. I later had to put duct tape around all the edged because of how hard he was on it and the newspaper stared to peel off. Duct tape was very serendipitous for us since our costume was already silver to begin with!!

He just drew the stripes and bolts on with a sharpie marker. But to make it look better I would suggest painting them on and taking the time to tape it off with painters tape for good hard solid lines.

Avery loves his costume, he is sure to point out every little dectail in the movie, notice the bump on the head and the mohawk hair, he'll say. He wears it every day and will as long as it holds up I suspect, for months if not years to come!

Halloween Decor for Kids

A banner I made for my sons room. He loves pirates and skulls but this hangs above his bed so I didn't want anything to scary.
This is simple cutting but looks best if you use a circle cutter or the eyes.

Halloween Decor for walls

An idea for the inside of your home or on the outside like your front door if your door is out of the weather.
These are made of felt I cut into 4 different sizes of bats. they are all the same pattern just scaled down. I then soaked them in starch and dried them. it does give them a gray tint but if they are up high you really don't notice that part. I had to staple blue painters tape to the back so it would stick both to the walls and stay connected to the felt material.

HALLOWEEN DECOR FANS

These ARE A VERY CUTE LITTLE DECORATION I THOUGH
QUITE SIMPLE TO MAKE TOO.
I have seen thees on the sticks and on a string as well as a banner or garland. I have also seen them decorate a wreath either all the way around or as a small bunch at one side.SO play with it and use them for what ever you want

These were made with scrapbook paper, the large one has a coffee filter and the smaller ones have cupcake liners.

Items to Retrieve:
Scrap book paper
Holiday printed photos cut into circles
Circle cutter
Hot Glue
Skewers
Black Paint
Cup Cake liners
Coffee filters
Tinsel(optional)
Glitter (optional)

-First select some coordinating papers and liners select the size you wish yours to be any where from 8" - 2"
Start to fold the paper like a fan back and forth. The larger circles are made out of three separate fans and hot glued together until you achieve a perfect circle with good crinkle. the smaller ones can get away with 2 fans.
-Once you have glued them together paint and or glue in the wooden skewer with hot glue.
- Attach with glue the coffee filter, cup cake liner or another fanned piece of scrap book paper. You with have 3-4 layers depending on your style. ending with the printed holiday picture.


ADD SOME JAZZ: If you wish to embelish with tinsel or add glitter glue to the picture to add a little pizazz!

These are double sided so they are view all around but that is not necessary if they will not be view that way.

This could be done for any holiday just pick you papers and liners accordingly.
Could be a fun item to use at a party or in a plant r on top a present!
Could also be fun to put a photo of your child or friend as a gift.

Canning GIfts from the HEART

This was a gift given to us by My Mom for our Adult Trick or Treat Gift.
This would be a great neighbor hood gift for a holiday or when canning and want to give a gift to friends or visiting teachers or a simple thank you for a kind gesture.

This particular one was a oatmeal mix in that was nutmeg apple spice with white grapes and the lower was a spiced blueberry jam. She topped it with an adorable skull spreading knife. These come out for all holidays so fit it to your occasion and add a coordinating ribbon. Her Jar selection made it adorable as well look close most people don't use these sizes but was great for us

Canning is a big part of our family my mom enjoys doing it all summer long as well as fall. This year she got very creative and tried all sorts of new recipes that were in her favor these two items being some of them.

Thanks for the inspiration and your time in the kitchen Mom We Love You!!

Halloween Decor "Tomb Stones"

These tomb stones could go any where inside or outside. Your creativity could go crazy with the style of stone colors pictures and script.
These are made out the blue foam board that you can get at Lowes Hardware store, then sculpted by hand with a scalpel numerous side rasps, smooth it down with fine grit sandpaper to finish it off. Plaster it with thin set used for setting tile floors for outdoor use or plaster paris for indoor. A thin layer is all that is needed to cover these, don’t make them too heavy but cover them enough to protect them from weather and prevent from seeing the foam.
Let them dry for a couple of days indoor at room temp. If possible
Once dry paint with any desired color, we used an acrylic paint then dry brushed with other colors to give it the distressed effect. We sealed it with a polyurethane coating we brushed on. You could also get a spray paint can filled with outdoor clear coating.

Tutorial coming....

Wall Treatments

This could be a really fun wall treatment. Depending on your colors you could use it in a hall way or entry. It would look great in a dining room. Or if set high out of reach, great for a Child's room. Fill up the whole wall looks best but if you have a small area that needs a little somethin somethin then this would do the trick.

Assembly: Simply select your desired style of paper cut out numerous perfect circles with or without decorative scalloped edges for example. Then assemble onto the pins largest to smallest and display decoratively on the wall by punching the pins into the drywall.

JAZZ IT UP: You could add glitter glue to the design or photos of family members in sepia tone color or black and white.

Items to retrieve.
Circle cutter-Roberts Craft or Hobby Lobby-$26.00
Notebook scrapbook paper or an old tarnished book
Glue
Long pins-Joann's

Ceiling Treatments

Here is an idea a saw that you could make at home and display any where. We were going to use it for our Halloween Party since it was in our garage. It could fill a room or fill a corner of your room. An easy inexpensive way to light up your way.
This could be made out of the super cheap fencing cedar material you get at Lowe's.
Two bike rims per light chandelier, Wire and your desired paint scheme.
I would go with three colors in the same family tones. Such as two tones of Purple Black, or Pinks and a cream. Two Blues and a brown or cream.
Cut Wood to lengths of desired fixture then drill holes to attach the wire to the wood and inner wheel rims. Paint and hang with chains. Use a translucent electrical wire so as to be inconspicuous. Plug in and enjoy. Depending on your wood you may want to attach to a stud in the ceiling. I would hang them at all different heigths close together but spaced inconsistent.