day 121: BOO

the finished altered BOO

day 121 and it's been a busy day getting ready for our open home tomorrow!  i am exhausted so today's creation is one i can sit down and do while watching the rugby quarter finals :)  i am going to alter some chipboard letters like the ones done on pete and kerry's altered crafts website.  this cool idea is also pinned to my holiday goodness board.

i have seen lots of altered chipboard letters done with scrapbook paper and halloween seemed like a good festive season to try this craft :)  i chose BOO because it's cute and not too long!

the materials i used for this creation :)

i first painted the letters black and then covered the front of them in scrapbook paper.  then decided to distress the edges to give them a less crisp finish.  finally i added some spider embellishments and they were done!

the painted letters

ready to distress the edges

added the embellishments and these were good to display!

outcome:  it's a really simple idea but one that is really effective.  i chose not to over do these ones as they are going in a bookcase which is already cluttered!  for future ones i would like to try adding more embellishments and ribbons to the letters but love these ones just as they are :)

my thanks to pete and kerry's altered crafts website for their inspiration i used to get started on this altered craft ... definitely want to do more of these for other festive seasons :)

day 120: halloween soap

halloween hand wash

day 120 and i am halloweening (that's clearly not a word but you get my drift) the bathroom with some fun home-made halloween bathroom decor.  this lovely idea came from alison at oopsey daisy and is pinned to my holiday goodness board on pinterest.

all this creation requires is some liquid hand soap in orange, some sticky back felt, and some ribbon.  the original was done using a silhouette machine and vinyl decals, so some improvising was required as i don't yet have that splendid tool.  i settled on the felt because the water didn't absorb into it (much like when you get wool wet!) and dripped off.  the ones done by the eighteen 25 girls were also destined as gifts (hence the ribbon) and i still may do some for others but this one i wanted for us!

supplies required

the sticky back felt cut out and ready to stick!

the finished hand wash :)

outcome: so cute and it really makes you smile when you walk into the bathroom and see it! and again for those of you who don't have a vinyl cutter this is still achievable as the sticky back felt hasn't been damaged throughout this afternoons use :)  happy days!

my thanks to the lovely alison at oopsey daisy, her blog is really inspirational and well worth a look.  i am her newest follower so i can keep up-to-date with all her oopsey daisies :)

day 119: spider web plates

halloween serving plate number one :)

day 119 and it's time to play with some plates and porcelain pens.  today's inspiration comes from char at crap i've made who made a really cute spider web plate as a decorative piece.  i thought this was a great idea especially for us new zealanders who can't readily access any halloween decor let alone serving plates!  i pinned the idea to my holiday goodness board :)

you need some porcelain pens and some plain plates, i went with white dinner plates as i plan to serve the party food on them.  then draw away!

the plates and porcelain pens

halloween serving plate two!

halloween serving plate three ... needs a picture, just
wondering what!

outcome: happyish ;)  it's times like these when i wish i could draw like the best of them!  however, they are at least more festive than the plain white plates they were.  i think this is such an awesome idea and i plan to do more plate designs and hopefully improve the drawing along the way :)

my thanks to char at crap i've made for the fantastic idea to stylise your own plates ... perfect way to put your own stamp on your parties and dinning ware :)

day 118: skeleton ice blocks

SPOOKY!

day 118 and i thought i had better make a start on making ice blocks for the party :)  i loved the idea of putting something in the ice cubes as fahrenheit 350 did with their cubes for halloween with spiders ... the drinks looked awesome with the frozen spiders swimming around in them!  i pinned this neat idea of their's to my holiday goodness board on pinterest.

i couldn't find any spiders i liked in mass quantity but i did find some really cute skeletons!  luckily when i was in singapore's ikea store i grabbed their ice cube tray that makes long bars, only problem is i only have one ... hence the reason for starting to make ice cubes for the party today!

it was another day when i wished nz had ikea!

i washed the skeletons and then put my first six in the tray to freeze, at this rate i will be finished making ice cubes the day before the party!

the first lot ready to freeze

they do look funny, bobbing around in their!

outcome: well we HAD to see what they looked like in the drinks so we have already enjoyed the first six!  they look hilarious swimming around in the glass!  i think i will make some for the party with cranberry juice ice cubes as well and give the kids them in lemonade should look awesome, if not totally scary!

my thanks to fahrenheit 350 for a really cool, halloweeny idea ... its the little bit extra that always goes down so well and this is one of those things that will hopefully make people feel in the mood for halloween :)

day 117: halloween silhouette pillows

a pillow for polly's bed made without a
cutting machine and with a free
printable silhouette :)

day 117 and today i thought i would make some halloween pillows for around the house.  i was totally inspired for today's pillows by the FREE halloween silhouettes from kami at no biggie.  they are wonderful and she has three free designs and each design comes in different sizes ... how cool is that, yip it's awesome :)  they are also pinned to my holiday goodness board on pinterest.

i decided i would use some sticky back felt letters to go with the silhouettes. i use a mixture of felt and cotton silhouettes with heat'n'bond to attach to the pillow bases.  the process i used to make these cushions is below in picture form:

iron the heat'n'bond onto the fabric you are using for the
silhouette.  for the one above i used a felt and used a scrap
of material so the iron wasn't directly on the felt.  keep
ironing until the bond has worked. using this method
means you only have to cut the witch out once but does
mean you do waste some felt :)

now the witch is cut out make up a pillow cover

while the pillow is empty, play around with the design :)

then attach the witch with the iron (again i used the scrap
of material to protect the felt from the full force of the iron
heat) and the sticky back letters.

fill the pillow and sew the gap closed, throw on a bed
and then realise it looks so cool you need to make more!

and here are the more ...
these are the ones i made for pollyanna's bed :)

outcome: these are totally addictive ... i don't have a silhouette or cricut but have always loved everyone's creations made with these machines!  to be able to do something like what they give you was really exciting and i loved how well and easily they turned out.  sure there was lots of cutting to do but for the effective it was totally worthwhile and not as time consuming as i thought it would be.  to be honest with you, if i hadn't run out of heat'n'bond i would have made more!

i owe the success of today's creations completely to kami at no biggie for the FREE halloween silhouettes. they are totally awesome and i can't thank her enough for sharing such wonderful silhouettes freely ... check her website out, she has done some amazing things with these silhouettes :)

day 116: halloween printables put to good use :)

some of the halloween printables put to use :)

day 116 and it's time to start making the house a little more halloweeny! i am starting with the cabinet in our entryway :)

i used the free halloween printables i pinned to my holiday goodness board to fill the frames that adorned the top of the sideboard. the photo frame art comes from craftily ever after, mrs adventure, vintage holiday images & cards, the vintage sage, and the graphics fairy. they are all freely available from these awesome sites.  my favourite printables were definitely the vintage halloween postcards :)

before the halloween printables ...

after the halloween printables!

the night time glow ... terrible picture but in real life it's
quite scary for the peeps!

i added some candles and a subway art piece from adelyn stone.  the actual subway art i printed on A4 parchment paper and matted it in some my minds eye paper so it would fit the 11" x 9" frame.

the cool subway art i matted and framed!

outcome:  needs some added extras which i will have to hunt and make over the coming weeks but a jolly good start for someone who hasn't done a lot of halloween decorating!  absolutely LOVE the subway art piece and the vintage postcards ... i'm thinking i may need a skull or two to finish this sideboard off though!

my sincere thanks to the websites listed above for their awesome FREE printables ... it is so nice to be able to use quality finds that don't cost anything :)

day 115: halloween invitations

invitation fit for a party :)

day 115 and every party needs some invitations.  there are SO many inspirational invitations on pinterest i was a tad overwhelmed!  so i have pinned many to my holiday goodness board but ended up choosing the design of the ones by parents.com.  the ribbon bats are what totally sold it to me :)

i typeset a very similar design on word and then printed it out on 160gsm card.  i loved the added matte so also went with that but used traditional halloween colours. i did attach the two cards together as i didn't use vellum and then punched the holes for the ribbon bat.  the eyes of the bat were hot glued on :)

printed invitation ready to dress!

matted in black

add ribbon bats with googly eyes and we are ready
to deliver!

outcome:  cool!  i feel really proud of myself. the bats are really cute if not totally bat like and the invitations have come out looking pretty halloweeny so hopefully the families and friends receiving these will feel festive and come dressed up .... here's hoping you lot!

my thanks to the VERY useful parents.com for this neat invite idea, its not the first time i have used them as inspiration for p365 and i am sure it won't be the last :)