craft tutorials
featured
Halloween
Lately I've been all about Halloween. We decorated inside a few weeks ago and since this weekend marked the start of fall, we decorated outside too. I hit Target for a few essentials like tombstones and spider webs and a really cool door bell with a moving eye ball. The best Halloween decorations for me have always been handmade. When I was little, my mom was the neighborhood Queen of Halloween. She even wrote the book about her love of the holiday in Llewellyn's Little Book of Halloween. She made a life sized coffin that she would stand in with a terrifying Nosferatu mask and jump out to scare the trick-or-treaters. She made a really amazing ghost to hang in our tree with a styrofoam head and a piece of sheer white fabric. Best of all she always made the most amazing Halloween costumes for my sister and I.
Last month while shopping I saw the most amazing Little Shop of Horrors inspired man eating plant decoration. It was about 3 1/2 feet tall and they wanted $159 for it! I posted on Facebook that I wanted to make one and my friend said "Yeah, with $159 worth of supplies!" Crafting can definitely be expensive and sometimes its not worth it to buy all of the stuff and make your own version but I accepted this Audrey 2 on a budget challenge. Here's how I made my own Audrey 2 for just $16 at Dollar Tree
I see a lot of tutorials that claim dollar store supplies but some of them include things I've never seen at the dollar store in my life. So, with this tutorial the supplies are all from Dollar Tree store with the exception of my hot glue gun. I also already had scissors, electric tape and two wooden dowel rods and some green acrylic paint at home. I have seen all of those things at Dollar Tree in the past but since I already had them, I didn't want to buy them again. I used my daughter's kids paint set for this since I couldn't find my paint box anywhere. I have seen kids paint at Dollar Tree too so if that's what you can find, it works!
Here's what I did buy:
a plastic planter or bin
two blocks of floral foam
a pack of craft moss
two packs of hot glue sticks
various floral picks that look kinda tropical/spooky
a pack of manila mailing envelopes
a sheet of foam core
a pack of purple craft foam
a set of red plastic french fry baskets
Heat your glue gun and cut two envelopes into strips. Crumble the strips up and gently unfold them.
Trim off a little bit of the end of one of your french fry baskets with scissors. The trimmed basket will be the bottom jaw.
Glue the strips along the top of the baskets
Glue and long strip along the outer edge, making sure to not cover the red lip of the basket because that will be our plant's lips.
Paint the manila envelope strips with dark green paint. When dry, brush over with a lighter green to just accentuate the crinkles of the paper
Cut a foam core section to fit inside each of the baskets. I just traced the shape of the baskets and cut with a craft knife
Cut a matching piece of purple craft foam to cover the foam core. The only purple foam that I could find was sparkly on one side but I just flipped it over and used the plain back.
Glue the foam core and craft foam to the inside of the baskets
Overlap your two wooden dowels and tape them together with black electric tape. Cover the entire dowel
To prepare your planter, stack the two blocks of floral foam on top of one another and set in the middle. Fill around the outside of the blocks with wadded up newspaper or paper from your recycling bin.
Cut a circle of foam core to sit inside the basket. Cut a spot in the middle of the foam core to insert the wooden dowel stem. Cover the foam core with craft moss
Next cut a circle of foam core about 5 inches in diameter. Cut a cross in the center to insert the dowel and glue individual leaves and petals to the foam core to form a ruff of greenery to go around the plant's neck/stem.
Hot glue the top and lower jaw to one another and cut a hole in the bottom of the lower jaw to insert the dowel. First place the ruff on the dowel, glued at an angle, followed by the head. I also folded a purple rose petal and glued it inside the mouth to make a tongue.
Glue in individual teeth cut from foam core and hot glued in. If you like skinny sharper teeth, you can also pick up a pack of white plastic forks from Dollar Tree and use the tines as teeth. I used a kitchen sponge to scrape off the extra paint and hot glue along the lips.
Finish the pot by surrounding your plant in foliage of your choice. I also bought some sparkly purple pipe cleaners to stick among the foliage in little springs but I decided I liked it better without. My foliage had little yellow flowers on them but I popped those off for a more spooky vibe.
DIY Dollar Tree Halloween Audrey 2 Decoration
Lately I've been all about Halloween. We decorated inside a few weeks ago and since this weekend marked the start of fall, we decorated outside too. I hit Target for a few essentials like tombstones and spider webs and a really cool door bell with a moving eye ball. The best Halloween decorations for me have always been handmade. When I was little, my mom was the neighborhood Queen of Halloween. She even wrote the book about her love of the holiday in Llewellyn's Little Book of Halloween. She made a life sized coffin that she would stand in with a terrifying Nosferatu mask and jump out to scare the trick-or-treaters. She made a really amazing ghost to hang in our tree with a styrofoam head and a piece of sheer white fabric. Best of all she always made the most amazing Halloween costumes for my sister and I.
Last month while shopping I saw the most amazing Little Shop of Horrors inspired man eating plant decoration. It was about 3 1/2 feet tall and they wanted $159 for it! I posted on Facebook that I wanted to make one and my friend said "Yeah, with $159 worth of supplies!" Crafting can definitely be expensive and sometimes its not worth it to buy all of the stuff and make your own version but I accepted this Audrey 2 on a budget challenge. Here's how I made my own Audrey 2 for just $16 at Dollar Tree
I see a lot of tutorials that claim dollar store supplies but some of them include things I've never seen at the dollar store in my life. So, with this tutorial the supplies are all from Dollar Tree store with the exception of my hot glue gun. I also already had scissors, electric tape and two wooden dowel rods and some green acrylic paint at home. I have seen all of those things at Dollar Tree in the past but since I already had them, I didn't want to buy them again. I used my daughter's kids paint set for this since I couldn't find my paint box anywhere. I have seen kids paint at Dollar Tree too so if that's what you can find, it works!
Here's what I did buy:
a plastic planter or bin
two blocks of floral foam
a pack of craft moss
two packs of hot glue sticks
various floral picks that look kinda tropical/spooky
a pack of manila mailing envelopes
a sheet of foam core
a pack of purple craft foam
a set of red plastic french fry baskets
Heat your glue gun and cut two envelopes into strips. Crumble the strips up and gently unfold them.
Trim off a little bit of the end of one of your french fry baskets with scissors. The trimmed basket will be the bottom jaw.
Glue the strips along the top of the baskets
Glue and long strip along the outer edge, making sure to not cover the red lip of the basket because that will be our plant's lips.
Paint the manila envelope strips with dark green paint. When dry, brush over with a lighter green to just accentuate the crinkles of the paper
Cut a matching piece of purple craft foam to cover the foam core. The only purple foam that I could find was sparkly on one side but I just flipped it over and used the plain back.
Glue the foam core and craft foam to the inside of the baskets
Overlap your two wooden dowels and tape them together with black electric tape. Cover the entire dowel
To prepare your planter, stack the two blocks of floral foam on top of one another and set in the middle. Fill around the outside of the blocks with wadded up newspaper or paper from your recycling bin.
Cut a circle of foam core to sit inside the basket. Cut a spot in the middle of the foam core to insert the wooden dowel stem. Cover the foam core with craft moss
Next cut a circle of foam core about 5 inches in diameter. Cut a cross in the center to insert the dowel and glue individual leaves and petals to the foam core to form a ruff of greenery to go around the plant's neck/stem.
Hot glue the top and lower jaw to one another and cut a hole in the bottom of the lower jaw to insert the dowel. First place the ruff on the dowel, glued at an angle, followed by the head. I also folded a purple rose petal and glued it inside the mouth to make a tongue.
Glue in individual teeth cut from foam core and hot glued in. If you like skinny sharper teeth, you can also pick up a pack of white plastic forks from Dollar Tree and use the tines as teeth. I used a kitchen sponge to scrape off the extra paint and hot glue along the lips.
Finish the pot by surrounding your plant in foliage of your choice. I also bought some sparkly purple pipe cleaners to stick among the foliage in little springs but I decided I liked it better without. My foliage had little yellow flowers on them but I popped those off for a more spooky vibe.
craft tutorials
featured
Halloween
Last year my family recreated an amazing miniature haunted Halloween house that my mom and grandma made originally. I really had fun learning how to making miniatures using unexpected things from around the house and the craft store. I always look at dollhouse supplies for jewelry making supplies so this month I'm going to show you how to make 4 different amazing Halloween brooches using home made miniatures!
Apply wood glue and glue the two pieces together. clamp them down with a few office clips or set something heavy on top of them and allow to dry. The wood soaks up the glue and bows as it dries so something heavy to weigh them down flat is important.
Next cut a piece of your scrap book paper 4 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches. Using a blue crayon or colored pencil draw lines where you want the stitching to be. The blueish shade looks pretty creepy on the leathery cover.
Thread your needle and stitch along the drawn lines, using small stitches. If your stitches are a bit uneven, its okay. Its supposed to look like stitched skin so some uneven stitching here and there gives it a Frankenstein's monster vibe.
Glue the sewn cover to a piece of white paper and cut out. This paper gives the cover a bit of stability.
Fold the cover in half and put a good amount of glue on the spine. Glue the cover to the wooden book and wipe off any excess glue that squishes out. Glue the googly eye in place.
Cut an oval of paper a bit bigger than the googly eye and then cut that oval in half lengthwise to make the eyelids
Fold these pieces like an accordion and then roll the sliver of paper between your palms to give it a more workable texture and crinkle them up more.
Unfold the eyelid piece slightly and apply a little clear glue.
Bend the piece in the middle to make a half moon shape and apply to the lower eyelid first. Repeat for the top eyelid, lapping the top lid on top of the corners of the bottom lid. Push the lid pieces around the eye to make folds like a lid. You can also use the tip of your pencil to push the lid around. When the glue has mostly dried, you can continue pushing the lid around the eyeball until you get the effect you like. Trim the excess eyelid off the edge.
Using the wire cutters, cut two corners from your filigree piece and glue them to the corners of your book. Glue a pin back to the back of the book.
Stay tuned for my other Halloween brooch tutorials!
1950s Tambourine Brooch DIY Pyrex Brooches Atomic Clock Brooch
Tutorial: Hocus Pocus Spellbook Brooch
Last year my family recreated an amazing miniature haunted Halloween house that my mom and grandma made originally. I really had fun learning how to making miniatures using unexpected things from around the house and the craft store. I always look at dollhouse supplies for jewelry making supplies so this month I'm going to show you how to make 4 different amazing Halloween brooches using home made miniatures!
If you're not into crafting you can pick up one of these limited Halloween brooches, handmade by me in my etsy shop.
Today we're creating a Halloween favorite from the classic movie Hocus Pocus. We're making a minitaure spellbook with stitched "flesh" and a peering eyeball that moves! You can also turn this brooch into a pendant for a necklace. Check out the video tutorial on YouTube or scroll through for the photo tutorial
You will need:
brown crinkly scrapbook paper that looks like leather or you can wad up a paper grocery bag
eyeballs- I found these realistic looking googly eyes at the craft store, also check the beads or doll making supplies
blue crayon or colored pencil
blue crayon or colored pencil
cream colored sewing thread and a needle
thin basswood
scissors, wire cutters
wood glue
metal filigree piece
Begin by cutting two pieces of basswood or balsa wood to 1 3/4 by 2 inches. This craft wood is so thin you can easily cut it with scissors or a craft knife. Be careful to go slowly because the wood does split sometimes.
metal filigree piece
Begin by cutting two pieces of basswood or balsa wood to 1 3/4 by 2 inches. This craft wood is so thin you can easily cut it with scissors or a craft knife. Be careful to go slowly because the wood does split sometimes.
Apply wood glue and glue the two pieces together. clamp them down with a few office clips or set something heavy on top of them and allow to dry. The wood soaks up the glue and bows as it dries so something heavy to weigh them down flat is important.
Next cut a piece of your scrap book paper 4 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches. Using a blue crayon or colored pencil draw lines where you want the stitching to be. The blueish shade looks pretty creepy on the leathery cover.
Thread your needle and stitch along the drawn lines, using small stitches. If your stitches are a bit uneven, its okay. Its supposed to look like stitched skin so some uneven stitching here and there gives it a Frankenstein's monster vibe.
Fold the cover in half and put a good amount of glue on the spine. Glue the cover to the wooden book and wipe off any excess glue that squishes out. Glue the googly eye in place.
Cut an oval of paper a bit bigger than the googly eye and then cut that oval in half lengthwise to make the eyelids
Fold these pieces like an accordion and then roll the sliver of paper between your palms to give it a more workable texture and crinkle them up more.
Unfold the eyelid piece slightly and apply a little clear glue.
Bend the piece in the middle to make a half moon shape and apply to the lower eyelid first. Repeat for the top eyelid, lapping the top lid on top of the corners of the bottom lid. Push the lid pieces around the eye to make folds like a lid. You can also use the tip of your pencil to push the lid around. When the glue has mostly dried, you can continue pushing the lid around the eyeball until you get the effect you like. Trim the excess eyelid off the edge.
Using the wire cutters, cut two corners from your filigree piece and glue them to the corners of your book. Glue a pin back to the back of the book.
Stay tuned for my other Halloween brooch tutorials!
1950s Tambourine Brooch DIY Pyrex Brooches Atomic Clock Brooch
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