Halloween Cat

Happy Halloween!

Mummies and Skeletons

I finished the mummies that I started with my kids a little while ago and decided to do some skeleton clothespin dolls as well. 

Mummy Clothes Pin Doll

 

The kids and I are in the middle of making mummy clothes pin dolls for Halloween. I let them paint the clothes pins and heads with watered-down white acrylic paint. 

After dotting on eyes with black paint, I glued the heads on with hot glue. I also added white pipe-cleaner arms by wrapping a piece of pipe cleaner around the mummy at the shoulder area, twisting the pipe cleaner once at the mummy's back, and hot gluing it in place at the twist. 

I just began the process of wrapping the mummies up.  I'm using Warm and Natural quilt batting to wrap these guys.  The process is not too bad, though I had hoped it would be faster.  The hardest part is getting the quilt batting between the legs.  I plan on finishing this process in the next couple of days. 

I'm just glad these mummy clothes pin dolls are a much faster project than the clothes pin dolls that I made for my wedding cake.  I didn't understand why people charged so much for similar cake toppers until I made a couple. When I finished my cake toppers six hours later, I had a much better understanding.  

 

And yes, I am taller than my husband.

Tutorial: Tree House Elf

 

Micah was given some wooden train cars by a relative who outgrew his trains.  Some of the train cars had small holes in them that were meant to be seats for tiny passengers.  I didn't have to tell Micah what they were.  He tried to shove a couple of wooden people into each of the seats.  Because their bodies did not fit they traveled upside down with their heads crammed into the seat.  Fun ride, I'm sure.

Micah asked me if we could make little people that fit in the train seats and so we did.  I thought these guys were so cute, I had to share.  

Materials:

*wooden beads of different shapes and sizes (about 12mm or 1/2 inch)

*black acrylic paint

*wool felt in assorted colors (at least 20% wool)

Tools:

* hot glue gun and hot glue sticks

*pin with medium size head

*needle nose pliers (optional)

Step 1

Glue two beads together using your hot glue gun.  These beads will make the body and head of your elf.

 Hint: The bead used for the body should be shaped in such a way that it can hold up the head and stand on its own. 

Step 2

Paint on two eyes by dipping the head of your pin into black paint and dotting once onto your elf's head for each eye.  Let the paint dry before moving onto step three.

Step 3

 

 

 

Glue on small squares of wool felt to the head of your elf using your hot glue gun.  Let this cool.

 

Hint: I have tried this with art felt and the results are just not the same.  I highly recommend using wool felt. 

 

 

Step 4

 

Carefully rip the wool felt squares (from step 3) off of the elf's head in an upward direction, away from the head.  You can use your finger nails to do this, but after repeating this process several times I found it almost necessary to use needle nose pliers. 

Repeat these steps, gluing and ripping, until the hair is to your desired thickness and shape. 

And you're done.

 

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Note: Perhaps this project could be done faster by using wool roving for the hair.  I didn't have any on hand and used felt instead.  

 

 



Halloween Witch and Bat

My mom is good to me.  She was the first to buy something from my Etsy shop when it opened and she continues to buy from me still.  Come on mom!  Don't I owe you big time already?

She bought these for her sister, whose birthday is near Halloween. 

Ghost Garland: A kid friendly craft

My kids and I made this ghost garland to go in our branch on the wall.  It was simple, quick, and fun to make. 

We started out with wide, wavy popsicle sticks that I picked up at the craft store long ago for another project.  The other project never panned out, but this craft went well. 

I cut the sticks at different lengths and let the kids paint them white with watered down acrylic paint.  Once dry, I dotted on eyes and a mouth and hot glued the ghosts onto a ribbon.  Done!  It was that easy. 

It would be fun to give each ghost his or her own look...some glasses, a tie, or maybe a hair bow. 



Little Owls

 

 

My mom is going to visit her mother in a few days and asked me to make something for my grandma.  Many of my relatives on my mom's side of the family are drawn to owls, acorns, and mice. 

 

For inspiration, I did an image search on Google for felt owls and then created these guys.   

A Branch on My Wall

 

 

I have several bare walls in my house.  This wall is no longer empty. 

 

While in the park with my kids I found this large branch on the ground.  Others may have thought I was crazy, but I picked it up and walked it directly over to my car and put it in the trunk.  I didn't know exactly what I was going to do with it, but I knew I would do something. 

 

So, I painted the branch yellow, put two eye hooks into it, and hung it on my wall.  I already have a small nest resting on the branch.  I'm excited to set more things in this little tree branch on my wall. 

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween Costumes for Dolls

Even the dolls are getting into the Halloween spirit. 

My favorite part about this craft is that Micah carried his teeny trick-or-treat bag the whole way walking to and from a friend's house a couple of blocks over.  It was super cute.