Vintage Inspired Halloween Award Ribbons ~ Gossamer Blue Tutorial

It must be said: October is one of my favorite months! 

For this month's blog post over at Gossamer Blue I knew I wanted to do something Halloween themed. The problem was just deciding what I was going to make. :)  I played with a few ideas but kept coming back to crepe paper rosettes, and the idea of making them into vintage inspired award ribbons just seemed like the right fit! Plus I would get to pull out all of my decorations and set up the front entry table! (It's so exciting to see all of your stuff again after being packed away for 11 months!) 

Since Alaina is now in 5th grade, she's no longed able to participate in the Halloween parade at school, but as I suspect, she'll still want to wear something special for the Holiday.  We have plans to pin a very large award ribbon to her for the day, and I whipped up a few extras for friends. She chose the largest one of course, the Wicked Witch! 

I posted a tutorial for how to create the rosettes on the Gossamer Blue blog. It's really simple and the rest of the award ribbon will come together quickly using things that are probably already in your stash of scrapbook supplies! I made my rosettes from crepe paper, book pages and clothing pattern tissue. The tutorial is super basic and hopefully easy to follow and once you've made one you're going to want to make more! 

I made Peter drop me off at the Dollar Store so I could run in a pick up a few crows for my table. At only a $1 each, they are the perfect little starting point for a Halloween DIY! I made tiny fringed party hats (made with the left over book paper from the rosettes) and then added a little rhinestone necklace and flower. I think a whole group of dressed up crows would be super cute especially if they were perched in some cut tree branches! 

Have you started to decorate for Halloween? I know Chase and Alaina are ready, we're just waiting for the rain to let up and then we'll set out to create a pretty Halloween porch! 

xo~ Tara

sweet november: leaves

Leaves. Paper leaves vs. real leaves. I've taken quite a few photos of the real variety this season, so today's focus will be on the paperish kind!  

 I wanted a quick and simple garland to string up around my chalkboard and I wanted to use something that I had on-hand. I had plenty of different leaves to choose from, but I opted for these brown crepe leaves. (I think I found them at the dollar store last year!) They had a longer wire stem, which made it really easy to tie together using some silk seam binding. I just made a knot at each of the leaf stems. In all, I probably spent 5 minutes making a Fall garland for our front entry! Quick projects are the best!  

Little hands are seemingly always drawn to chalk. I smile as I type this, because no matter how many times I erase my chalkboard globe and re-write my welcome sign it's a sure bet there will be little kid finger smudges in the chalk. I'm also pretty sure I did the same thing as a kid... apple doesn't fall too far from the tree in this family! Here's another idea for crafting something this season! I believe I bought this bird while out antiquing with Jessica while she was visiting us down here in the desert and no, I didn't absolutely need another bird, but I knew eventually I'd think of something good to do with it!

I started off scrapbooking last night with the idea that I would only use vintage fabric and some paper leaves. I wanted to be able to scrapbook a few more layouts but today got the best of me. (I'll try it again this weekend!) Since we've been out hiking a couple of times this season, combined with the kids' photos, I thought putting together a Fall scrapbook would be fun!

 

I'm off to do some tidying up and then I'm going to get a jump start on tomorrows prompt! Hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead of you! 

xo  ~ Tara

sweet november: old (tutorial)

Today's word was old. How old? Well that was up to you, but when I think of old I think vintage. Of course. This project was one that I meant to post way back in Spring and for whatever reason I never made it happen. So, I thought old as in old jewelry and a tutorial - what a great combination! We're going to make pretty Fall inspired magnets to hang up little kid artwork, schedules or just to-do lists. These magnets will make anything hanging on your fridge look infinitely better and with only a few materials you can whip them up in no time! 

First, you'll need to collect some older jewelry, preferably vintage clip on earrings - the type that your Grandma most likely had. I don't recommend using Grandmas heirloom jewelry collection though, instead check your local thrift stores! They're usually really inexpensive to purchase at thrift stores! After you've collected a few pairs, you'll also need a pair of small pliers, E6000 glue and small magnets. (I love using Rare-Earth magnets.)

Start by removing all of the backs from the earrings. Use the pliers to gently snap off the clip on parts. Add a small dot of the E6000 glue to the back of each earring back. (E6000 glue has a history of oozing out and making a mess, so I like to work quickly with it and get the lid back on asap.) Once the glue has been added, place a small magnet into the glue.

E6000 glue is also really smelly, make sure the area you're working in is well ventilated. Take each magnet separately and move them to a place to allow the glue to set. I suggest out in the garage. Just remember to keep them separated with enough space in between each magnet. The rare earth magnets are incredibly strong and they will attract to each other making a mess of the glue. It's possible I know this from experience. :) 

Let them dry at least a full 24 hours before you use them. I love how they look on the fridge, vintage jewel magnets that sparkly in the light - what's not to love! I'm also thinking they would make lovely little hostess gifts this season, displayed in a pretty box all wrapped up!

Thanks for stopping in tonight and happy crafting! 

xo ~ Tara

trick-or-treat

Halloween this year was off to a great start! We collectively decided on the theme 'witches' this year, and so I set out creating a theme for the decor. The colors would be rich glittery black, deep purple, silver and a little orange. Spell books would be made, I needed bottles of potions, brooms would be rested against tables and chairs, black witches hats would be placed on top of vintage plastic pumpkins and black cats would hang out by the front door. But then the inevitable happened: the kids had about 12 other costume ideas, and they abandoned the witch idea in favor of Day of the Dead, leaving me and the house, well a bit witchy. That's ok though! The house is decorated, we all have completed costumes and I think we'll ready for the big night!  

Alaina really wanted to go as a Monster High doll, Skelita, a Day of the Dead monster, but the costume at the store was truly atrocious, both in how it was constructed and the price. I convinced her to let me make her costume this year, I'm glad she trusts me enough to agree to go along with my ideas. We went to Savers, a large thrift store in the area, purchased 2 skirts, 1 black tulle skirt and one crinkle skirt, a black shawl, wooden beaded necklaces and bright gold and pink bangles. Since I knew I would have to re-sew and alter both skirts I wasn't worried about them fitting, just threw them into the wash and then got to work cutting and sewing!  

I found this great veil headband and just clipped a few of Alaina's hair clip flowers to it. The only flower that had to be hot-glued was the teal scrapbook flower. I wanted to tie in the teal of her eye makeup to the headband. 

Chase's costume, (or costumes rather, as he's had about 10 since we started talking about Halloween last month) started as a black cat, but then after seeing his sister's makeup decided he also wanted to have a Day of the Dead skull, but to still be a cat. It was an easy adjustment, just some extra makeup. 

  

I wish I had known the kids wanted to do Day of the Dead, I could have easily worked that theme into home decor! (I imagined colorful Mexican blankets, guitars, sugar skulls, beaded garlands, banners, big tissue flowers all in traditional Halloween colors. I'll save those ideas for later!) 

Instead, our decor will only match my witch costume. (Not really a costume so much, just an Ann Taylor black dress, boots and a big witch hat with a bit of black tulle and a large black feather flower.) A quick search of chalkboard ideas lead to this one but since I don't have an entire wall, it had to be scaled down to fit my chalk board (which was a painting from Z gallery that I couldn't give away, so I covered it with chalkboard spray paint).

 The best part of the table, I think, is this flaming cauldron. The kids love that we have a 'fire' inside the house, it's very realistic once the lights are out and we plug it in. 

I took a few older books, painted them black and then scuffed up the edges with a fine sand paper. It lets the original book color come through, and makes them appear to be well used. A package of gold foil stickers were used to spell out 'potions' and 'spells.' I even found a purple moth to use, with the help of a glue dot, it's now resting on the edge of the book. I love how random scrapbook embellishments are can useful when decorating! 

I carried our witch theme out to the front yard as well! Come Thursday evening, our porch will glow with warm candle light and flickering lighted pumpkins! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and Happy Monday to you!

xo ~ Tara 

sewing layers - (a work in progress)

I have a date with my sewing machine today - trying to finish up some projects that have been on the table all week. It's been such a strange week, with all the sad events throughout the country this week, I've been watching more tv than usual and I think sometimes you have to force yourself to turn the tv off and focus on something positive, otherwise it gets very overwhelming quickly. Today will be a tv free day just cds, old dusty records, maybe a little piano playing, lots of sewing and a little painting with Chase! Here's to a positive and productive Thursday! 

Halloween Treat Bags- 2

Since there's still a couple of weeks until Halloween, there's still some time to think about creating some handmade treat bags for your little trick or treaters! This year I was determined to make mine from materials that I already had on hand. No more buying stuff! So, that meant some rummaging through my craft room and closet, and a trip to the bookshelf. What I decided on was a can't-get-any-simpler design that used only 2 materials and one technique! 

Trick-or-Treat bags

Materials needed:

book pages from an older(ish) book 

black scrapbook paper 

sewing machine

*party favors or candy

a quick how to: 

- carefully remove pages from the text book. The advantage to using a vintage book is that the binding and glue will also be equally as old and the pages tend to slip out easily, plus I love the yellowing of the pages-it lends that old eerie feel to the treat bags.

- create the bat wings by first making a stencil of the size you would like the wings to be. Then trace your stencil onto the black scrapbook paper and cut out wings. 

- decide on how large you would like each bag to be. To make the large bags, I used 2 sheet of book paper and sewed them together to form a pocket/bag. To make a small bag, I simply folded one sheet of paper in half and sewed the outside edges together to form the bag. *Don't forget to sew the wings into place! 

Now you get to decide what treats to fill the bags with! 

I had alot of party favors left over from Halloween's past. So, the kids and I sorted through our stash and made 2 groups, 1 group of favors for the large bags and 1 group for the small bags. 

The larger bags were filled with tattoos, paper airplanes, pencils, game books, erasers, random plastic Halloween toys, rings and paper bat confetti. 

The smaller treat bags were filled with bracelets, rings, stickers, and little packages of candy corn - that was Chase's contribution, apparently candy corn is a must have for the 4 year old crowd. I should probably also mention that the candy corn is not left over from past Halloween's, but rather an impulse purchase by said 4 yr. old at the grocery store this week. 

Once you've filled each bag fold the tops over and staple close.  I have to admit that I really do enjoy seeing them all neatly lined up in my urn and I know I'll miss seeing them sitting out on the table come November 1st, but it's a double win for being able to use up the Halloween favor stash and for repurposing an old book!

Well, that really is all there is to it - I told you id would be super simple! You're only a couple of steps away from creating a whole bunch of these cute handmade treat bags for Halloween this year! 

Happy crafting this weekend!