Halloween Eyeball Wreath {Craft}

Holy Batman!  Lately I have had the major craft bug and I'm loving it.  I joined Pinterest a few months ago and my Halloween board was one that I was having lots of fun with so many great ideas.  Out of two pins I came up with this fun wreath:

allyou.com

BHG.com

My inspiration:

 



        

        +

Here is what I used to make it and how I did it:

• 12" foam wreath
• 2 black feather boas
• 1 pkg of small 12 Styrofoam balls
• craft paint & sponge brushes
• 1 pkg  of multi-color googly eyes
• hot glue gun

Step 1:

Paint the Styrofoam balls the color or colors you wish.  I painted mine orange, purple, green, red, yellow, and blue.  I used a jumbo paper clip to hold each Styrofoam ball while I painted.

I also used a dish grip separator thingy to hold on to the paper clip while I painted.  To keep it from slipping from my fingers ya know.  Oh and did you notice the handsome fellow there hitting on me?  :)

I found that it worked best to pour the paint on each ball and then dabbed it in with the sponge brush.  Dipping the sponge brush in paint and then on to the ball did not work very well.

After a couple of minutes of paint dabbing you have each ball looking like this:

Step 2:

While the paint dries on the Styrofoam balls, you can begin to work on the actual wreath. The ends of the feather boas are attached as one big loop so you have to cut where the two ends are knotted together.  Add a strip of glue to the foam wreath where you want to place one end of the boa and attach. 

Wrap the feather boa around the wreath to get full coverage.  There is no need to glue the entire boa to the wreath, just the ends of the boas.  I found that 1 boa only covered half the wreath and luckily I had two on hand.  When you get to the second half, glue the second boa just like how you did in the beginning.  Sorry, folks, I forgot to take photos of this process but it's easy cheesy.

Step 3:

Glue your painted Styrofoam balls together to make a pair of eyes with the hot glue gun. I glued them where I had some white left because that is where the paperclip was inserted.

Step 4:

Once you have your feather boa on the wreath and the Styrofoam balls glued together, add a strip of glue on the wreath to place the eyeballs.  Carefully separate the boa where you want to glue and then quickly attach the Styrofoam balls. Be sure to have those feathers out of the way or else they'll get on the glue.  Add the googly eyes with the glue gun once the eyeballs are in place.

Step 5:
Use some Halloween ribbon to hang your wreath.

You can't see my Halloween ribbon in the pic but I know it's there and sometimes it peeks out.  :)

Bada bing bada boom you have yourself a not-to-spooky yet fun Halloween wreath.  My kids love it especially since there are so many colors.  It was my son's idea to use the multi-color eyes instead of the normal black/white ones.  He sure is getting crafty clever!

I am linking up with these fab bloggers:
Creations by Kara * Verry Merry Vintage Style * The Thrifty Home
I Gotta Create * Night Owl Crafting * A Diamond in the Stuff
Ginger Snap Crafts * My Romantic Home * Beyond the Picket Fence
Itsy Bitsy Paper * The Artsy Girl Connection

Motherhood: Everyday I Am Shufflin'



Source



I remember seeing that commercial many times when I was a young girl and at the time, I did not understand it.  I just went with the flow whenever the grownups around me would say it many times jokingly.  Well now, I get it.  I totally get it. 

I am the proud and privileged mom to two beautiful creatures that the great Lord gave me and I could not ask for a better pair of kids.  Originally, Mr. DP3 and I wanted four kids but after bebe numero uno, we thought ‘well let’s just see how it goes.’  Ha.  Yeah, we were beyond exhausted and the recovery process from my c-section was not all rosy and peachy.  For now, I will not go there and please do not get me started. 

Anywho, we have our handsome boy and our beautiful girl.  I am SO glad I have one of each.  I really am and I just love doing the boy things and the girly things.  As many parents have said before me, my kids are my pride and joy. 

So just, remember that I love them more than words could ever express and that they are my pride and joy.  Okay?  Just remember that, okay?  K.  J

Because oh my gosh am I tired every.single.day.  Can I get an amen?  I don’t know about all you other mama bears out there but I actually daydream of napping all day long and taking bubble baths.  I do stop and smell the roses and wonder what in the world I ever did with my time before I had kids.  Really.  What the hell did I do with all that time? 

Everyday I’m shufflin’ as the current pop group, LMFAO, sings in their Party Rock Anthem song. Yep, every day I am shuffling.

·         My boy has baseball practice once a week and one game a week.

·         He also has two Cub Scout den meetings a month and one pack meeting a month.

·         I do one load of laundry a day in order to keep up with it and so that it will not get out of control, (which has happened and am sure will happen again).

·         My dishwasher is loaded daily and sometimes twice a day on the weekends.

·         Every day I clean a different part of the house just to start over again once the week has ended.  le sigh.

·         Every day I rush out of work to get my daughter from pre-school and my boy from after school care. 

·         Every day I try to have dinner out ASAP because then I’ll start hearing the “I’m hungry” cry.

·         Every day my boy needs help with homework and then we work on his reading skills.

·         Every day my girl puts up a fight when it comes to bedtime and takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to fall asleep.

·         Every morning I have a hard time waking her up and getting her dressed.

·         Every day I try to spend quality time with my kids, together and individually. 

·         Every day I try to spend quality time with the mister but he too is quite the busy man working, studying day in, and day out.

·         Every day I try to have “me” time.  Ha!  I made a funny.

·         Every day I’m shufflin’

I did not even mention the constant birthday parties, school functions, family functions, or church functions.  Don’t get me wrong, folks.  I am not complaining.  I love my life and I love being a wife and mother.  You just don’t know how hard it is until you do it but; then I realize that it is all worth it.  At least to me it is and I know it is to all of you moms and pops too.  I love my kids and the way they love me back.  I love baking cookies for them, surprising them with some fresh squeezed limonada (limeade) on a hot Texas day or making them atole de avena (oatmeal) on a chilly morning. 

And although I do something every day, my house is far from perfect every day.  Believe me.  Laundry always needs to be folded and put away and even if I’m always cleaning, there is still a mess somewhere else in the house. 

So yes, Calgon can take me away but not for long because I have to get back to my hubby, beautiful babies and the crazy, hectic but fun whirlwind I signed up for when I said ‘I do’.  J

"Calgon, take me away!"

Chair Covers {Halloween}

I was browsing through the world wide web (as Mr. Bill Clinton calls it) looking for Halloween ideas hoping it would spark some kind of creativity when I saw some really cute candy carriers over at PB Kids.  They had a really cute bat carrier that got me thinking and wondering what I could do with a bat.  I then remembered that PB Kids had some Halloween chair covers a couple of years ago that looked easy enough to make yourself.  Soooooo, I attempted this craft project for the first time. 

Here is what I made for my lovely kiddos:

A bat for my boy with a kinda creepy smile.

And a Hello Kitty with a little Halloween touch for my girl.

I know, I know it doesn't look like much but it was my first time making something like this and to be honest they turned out better than I thought but not as good as I had hoped.  Clear as mud?  Good.  Now on to how I made them.

Bat
Step 1:
I printed out a bat stencil, cut it and traced it on black felt with fabric chalk. I used sewing scissors to cut through the felt instead of regular scissors.  Prolly doesn't matter but just FYI.

Step 2:
I used a 3/4" paper puncher to make the eyes.  I traced the punch out on gray felt with a fabric marker, then cut them with my sewing scissors.

Step 3:
I glued the gray circles on the bat and then glued small, red pom poms on top.  I used felt glue that I bought at Hobby Lobby with a 40% coupon thank ya very much.

Step 4:
I cut very thin strips of off-black felt and used those as defining lines on the bat wings.  I laid out the strips they way I wanted them to look then put felt glue on top, flipped them over and pressed down.
I made the smile out of the left over cut out from the gray eyes.

Hello Kitty
Step 1:
Like the bat stencil, I found a Hello Kitty stencil and traced that one on white felt using my fabric marker.  The fabric chalk was too light to see on the felt.

Be sure to put something to weigh down the paper as you trace.

 

Step 2:

I then cut out the bow, eyes, nose and whiskers from the printed stencil and used those to cut out on the felt.

I traced the bow on orange felt and cut it out.



They eyes and whiskers were cut out from the black felt and the nose from yellow felt. I then used the paper stencil (what was left of it) as my guide to line up the face on the white felt. Again, I glued it all down with the felt glue.

Step 3:
I used an orange pom and some Halloween ribbon to decorate the bow. I actually did not plan for the blow to look like this but the pom was smaller than I thought so I had to use something to fill in the space.  Not too shabby, eh?

Step 4:
For each one, I cut two 2" wide strips of black felt, glued one end of each strip to the cover,  then used Velcro to attach them to the chairs.  Note: I cut the strips down once I measured the covers up against the chairs and THEN adhered the Velcro to the strips.  It's important to do this because you'll need to know where to cut down the strips if need be.

And there you have it boys and girls.  Two Halloween chair covers (decor rather) for your kids chairs at the dinner table.

I know that the Hello Kitty cover isn't very Halloweenie so maybe next year I'll get more creative with HK.  I almost put fangs on her but it just didn't look right.  I did, however, plan to put fangs on the bat for my boy and I completely forgot.  I remembered once the covers were on the chairs.  My boy said that he liked it with the smile and not to worry about the fangs.  This is coming from the same boy that said my Frankenstein treat bags weren't scary enough and asked me to change them up a bit.  Go figure!

I'm a party girl and am linking up with:
Creations by Kara * Verry Merry Vintage Style

Halloween Treat Bags {Craft DIY}

Last year I decided to make some treat bags for my boy to take to school but I decided like um on October 29th and it was a tad bit too late.  This year I decided to start early that way I can make a few of them a week without being overwhelmed.

I created Mummy & Frankenstein treat bags.

UPDATE (10/3/11):
At the request of my son, I made the Frankenstein bag a little more scarier and all I did was add a couple of eyebrows.  I must admit the bag looks much better!  All thanks to my boy not wanting the cutesy stuff.  :)

These were very simple to make and here's how I did it.
I used the mini size paper bags at Michael's (green) and Hobby Lobby (white).

NOTE: Make a fold on each bag before you begin to decorate the bag that way you will know where to start decorating.

Frankenstein
Step 1: Cut strips of black card stock for the hair.  I cut 2"x3 1/2" for this size bag; Make the jagged edge with craft scissors (these come in all kinds of designs)

Step 2: Use adhesive to place on bag

Step 3: Make eyes with 3/4" hole puncher

Step 4: Use black adhesive 'pop-ups' for the pupil to give it a little 3-D action
(these come in a variety of sizes)

Note: These have double-sided adhesive so you
only need to peel the paper off one side

Step 5: Draw the mouth using a black marker

Mummy
Step 1: Cut two different size strips of white card stock: 1"x3 1/2" & 1/2" x 3 1/2"
Use adhesive to place on bag.

Use the wider strips first to lay out on bag

Use the thinner strips to overlap

Step 3: Dab a sponge brush on a brown color ink pad and color along the edges of the cut card stock

Step 4: Make the eyes using a 3/4" size hole puncher (for the white part) and a two-hole puncher (for the black part); place on bag with adhesive

And there you have it.  Two fun and cute treat bags for your kiddos to pass out at school to their friends or any other function.  You can seal the bags with a Halloween sticker once they are packaged and ready to go.

My son was not to excited about my project until he saw the end result and now he wants to help make the rest.  :) 

We plan to put a small handful of candy corn with a couple of cookies in our bags.  Talk about a sugar high!

I'm linking up with these fab bloggers:

A Verry Merry Vintage Style * Sugar Bee Crafts * A Diamond in the Stuff

Night Owl Crafting * Ginger Snap Crafts * Organize and Decorate Everything

Creations by Kara * A Place Called Home *Itsy Bitsy Paper * The DIY Showoff

Tatertots & Jello * Craft-o-Maniac * Centsational Girl * One Artsy Mama

Sew Woodsy

Goodbye, Summer ~ Hello, Fall

Good golly Miss Molly am I glad summer is over. Really, I never thought I would say that but the summer of 2011 took a mean beating on us Texans. No rain, not even when we washed our cars, triple digit heat day after day and certainly no backyard bbq gatherings unless there was a pool involved. Our town and state has suffered one of the worst droughts on record and we are all PRAYING for rain. Still.

Ah but the changing of the seasons was definitely a breath of fresh air for me and I began to think of the fall decorating and baking I have planned for the next couple of months. I always like to decorate for the season on the first official day and yesterday was that day. Well I forgot that my son had a Cub Scout meeting so after work I picked up the kids, served a quick dinner and we were off again. I did manage to hang a 'Welcome' sign with a friendly looking scarecrow. Aw, he's cute.

Last weekend I started my annual fall cleaning and I got in over my head just a lil bit. My mission was to clean out all closets and get rid of all things that are never used whether it be toys, books, kitchen gadgets, clothes, etc. Lemme tell ya, my house looked like a screen shot from one of those hoarder shows. It took me a whole week but I finally got eveything boxed up and is ready for donation.

Now I can decorate with help from my kiddos (and the hubs) and start working on those craft projects for Halloween. I am little girl excited.