GHOST GIRL - How to Make One "Appear"

I’m still working on my Halloween decorations. I'm trying to create a Spooktacular Shoctober.

I have my Ghost Girl haunting the front lawn.  But this wasn't enough so I had to do a little bit more.

She’s made out of chicken wire to make the shape of her dress. Then we draped cheesecloth over the frame. I’m still working on her. I’m thinking of making arms and a head from chicken wire and draping more cheesecloth over the frame to create the illusion of a woman in white floating through the yard.

Any other Halloween lovers out there? What do you think? Any ideas on what else I could do to make the Ghost Girl “appear” ?

Wishing y'all a Spooktacular Fall

Halloween is lurking just like a ghost. . .around the corner. And with so many negative spirits haunting our recent past, I was thinking... (yep, I know that's a surprise) we should do something festive and fun to celebrate the coming holiday.

This is how I've been spending my energy lately...preparing our family's new "Dead and Breakfast"...for any stray ghouls who want to stop by unexpectedly.

And I just had to make a Day of the Dead pumpkin. It was super simple. I painted a regular pumpkin from the garden. Of course, I spent a little extra time trying to pick just the right one.

Then I covered the shell with black paint, which was super simple to do. But you could use the pumpkin in its original shade, or opt for a green or white gourd.

The problem with white gourds for me is that I always envision ghostly images instead...

And I paint those little gourds into characters... hey, did I mention I'm a writer? Characters are always popping into my head and inspiring me...but I digress.

And that was just the beginning. We decided to build our own family graveyard...in the front yard.

And it turned out pretty realistic looking. But then we added our fun sign...

Which I painted on an old piece of wood my husband shaped for me with his jigsaw.

And we  hung it out over the graves. 

But that wasn't enough. We also made a scarecrow.

And a ghostly figure out of chicken wire, which we painted with glow-in-the-dark spray paint.

And hung little scarecrows on the fence, in my little flowerpots. Then I wanted witch brooms to hang more lights. But when I found out how much they cost, I thought, I can make some instead. So, I ran to the local feed store and bought a bale of straw and stopped at a lumber store to buy some dowels. The straw was $11.99 at Side Saddle Tack and the dowels were about $3.00 a piece at Mr. Plywood. So for about $30.00, I got more than enough materials to make 6 brooms. The brooms were really easy to make. I laid out some strapping tape on the bale and placed the straw on the top of the tape and simply rolled  the dowel around the tape. I used a bit of twine and voila! I had my brooms. 

The hardest part of making the brooms was keeping my little Freya (my German Shepherd) busy by throwing her ball for her.

Then we lined the brooms up the walkway and wrapped them in lights.

And at night, they are seriously Spooktacular!

Don't they look like they're on fire? An unexpected scary little touch.

Plus, I hung a beautiful fall wreath on the front door.

And made some candy corn cushions for my benches out front (you can check out my previous post about how I made those but here's a quick picture)

 Or two...

And they're reversible, so I can use them through Thanksgiving. 

Maybe we're getting carried away, but we  keep adding to our display.

I don't know...what do you think?

Anyway, I'm hoping you have a Spooktacular Fall Y'all!!!

CAKE-N-BAKE - THEY'RE FUN TO MAKE

Everyone who knows me, knows I love to make fun characters and the easiest way to do that is to bake...

I've made so many different types of cakes, cookies and cupcakes

I even love to make "Finger" food

But my latest cake was so much fun to make

My son loves to play the guitar...so you guessed it, for his birthday I had to make a guitar or like a friend told me, "It's a bass" but I never claimed to be musical. I just love to bake.

It really was simple. All I did was cut out the shape of a guitar on a piece of paper and lay it on top of a sheet cake. I cut it out and then laid the fondant over the shape. I was in a hurry because I had a bunch of people coming for dinner so I didn't have much time to throw the cake together. Plus, I suddenly had to frost a cake for my daughter too. (My 34 year old son and my 30 year old daughter share a birthday). I thought we had someone else bringing my daughter's cake but they had a "cake disaster" in the car. Luckily, I had a couple extra layers of cake in the fridge and simply had to frost them.

And look at that candle on top...it was sparktacular!

Look at the differences in the flames from the candles on Jake's cake and Kara's cake.

But no matter the flame on the food, it looks like someone liked the flavor

Because that food was finished in no time.

(Are there any other bakers out there in blogland? I'd  love to hear what you're making, baking or creating.)

HALLOWEEN CANDY CORN CUSHIONS - a DIY Project

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!

AND FALL MEANS DECORATING FOR THE SEASONS

It's no secret, I love to decorate for every season, holiday and/or event and I wanted to share my latest homemade "make" with you. My latest sewing adventure was to make some new cushion covers for our benches out in the front yard. I had a vision in my head of candy corn and "sew" I went to work to create my vision. And this is what I came up with: an assortment of Halloween Candy Corn Cushion covers and pillows. 

But on top of  loving to decorate, I also love to save money. So I went to Joann Fabric and Craft Store during the Labor Day Sale and bought some orange and white striped fabric and some yellow fabric. I simply had to piece the fabrics together to make my little candy corn pillow. I sewed the fabric with the right sides together (which just means the sides you want showing have to be laid face-to-face).

Then to make this square into a pillow, I cut it into a triangle and sewed it up the sides. I stuffed the triangle with fluffy batting material and then hand-stitched the edge of one corner.

After I had the pillow put together, I went to work on the cushion covers. I needed to fit the material right to the foam cushions because I didn't have a pattern. It was easy to do. All I did was simply drape the fabric over the cushion to get the proper measurements for cutting the fabric. I left an extra inch around the edges (as my seam allowance). You really only need a quarter inch for a seam allowance, but I always prefer to have a little extra (just in case). I used my pressure foot on my sewing machine as the guide to keep the lines straight as I sewed. And it was really easy.

I also wanted to be able to use the cushion covers for more than one month so on the backside I used a solid orange color, which I think is more versatile. That way, I can simply switch out the pillows and use this solid orange colored side all the way through the Thanksgiving holiday. All I have to do is have an assortment of pillowcases for every season and/or holiday...So, I'd better get back to my sewing!

Anyway, my decorating has only just begun ;D But I wanted to wish you all a Happy Fall!

And if you are making any homemade decorations for the upcoming holidays, please let me know about them so I can visit your blog and/or website. I love to get inspiration from other crafty people.

Halloween is Right Around the Corner

Anyone who knows me, knows I love crafting...and writing. So, what's a crafty-writer to do when she gets her first Middle-School Stem Story published...?

Yep, craft something to celebrate!

Here it is:

https://youtu.be/w2NgSQYE6eI