Merry Christmas!

In our city, they broadcast a fire place scene on TV all during the Holidays. It even has a flanneled arm reach out and poke the logs so they burn better.  We don't have a fireplace but we do have one of those huge deep old T'V's which takes up so much room.

So I made a faux fireplace surround for our TV out of cardboard. I printed out a pattern of natural stone and granite and Mod Podged it onto the boxes.  We had been given a slab of wood which I used for the mantle, but  you could make that out of cardboard as well.

I really like it and it gives our Living Room a totally different look than having that old TV sitting out. Plus now there's a real place to hang our stockings.

Here are some home made Origami ornaments we folded up. My daughter is 10 and really enjoyed this. It's much easier than you think and once you master it, you can really churn them out. Click  here for the folding pattern, it is called Good Luck Box from Richard Alexander. You can make some modifications to this pattern as we did to get different looks.

Have a Merry Christmas!

The Barbie's Christmas Nativity

Back in 2008 my daughter was 7 and I got inspired to make a Barbie's Nativity Scene. I never got pictures of the finished display,  but with a little digital enhancement, I present to you the Nativity Scene re-enacted by our "Barbino" Family and Friends. 

Merry Christmas!

Pink and Blue Crocheted Afghan

I crocheted this afghan over the last year during my visits to my Mom. She wanted to make just one more afghan for my daughter, and so we went out and picked out the yarn. Mom ended up being the inspiration and moral support, and I got to crochet something while we visited. The bright blue is one of my daughter's favorite colors and I somehow felt it needed an even brighter pop of colour so I picked pink. I wasn't too sure about the color choices, but my daughter loves it, so all is good. It's big enough to use for a spread on her bed and really thick and warm since this pattern kinda doubles over on itself.

So, now I've kept the dogs off of it long enough to get pictures...
and it will begin its real life on a bed covered in dogs and eventually dog hair.

Putting away Halloween till next year.

I think I've finally put away the final things from Halloween. Every day I think I've got it all, then just one more thing comes to the surface. Now I realize I have this huge orange inflatable love seat in the middle of my living room, but it sure is fun to turn upside down and jump on. Here it is up in the apple tree. Maybe one more day will have to go by with Halloween on the brain. 

Here's some more random pictures of our yard. I really am getting a bit carried away, but it sure is fun. We do it for the little kids, so it's not all that scary here, more just neat to look at.

I weave this spider web in this spot  each year. There's something relaxing about weaving a web.

Mr. Wrinkles isn't all that spooky in the daylight, but at night we had him digging up the bones of the dead. With christmas lights coming up out of the ground. 

Our spiral boulevard cypress became a march of white animal ghosts up to the great beyond. Definitely have to expand on this idea next year.

Eboneezer and Ophelia hung out at the top of our driveway this year. Here's the very little headed man, the hippy and Medusa. Check out those hippy pants! I had great fun making them.

There's a column in the middle of our living space - we wrap it in different things depending on the season. Sometimes wrapping paper, but this year it was black cloth for Halloween. Then we drew on it with chalk as if it was a blackboard .

That apple was a great amusement to one 10 year old. "Boy this apple has a bite to it!"

This is an old outdoor light sphere, drawn on with sharpie and lit up from the inside. Quite effective, although this photo doesn't do it justice.

My friend made this brilliant spider from packing tape.  He made a balloon form and newspaper form for the legs. Wrapped them in clear plastic wrap, then clear packing tape. Cut apart the final form and remove the paper then tape it back together.  This is by far my favorite Halloween decoration.

He also made this great little guy from a butternut squash. Even better we got to eat him the next day - yum.

Hope you had a fun one. Happy Halloween till next year!

Halloween Skull Costume for your parked car.

Disguise your car on Halloween night for a big impact. Or in my case, hide my hubby's rusty old favorite rabbit parked in the driveway.

Get a white tarp, sheet, blanket or whatever you have that's white. Wrap the car up. I stuffed an old tarp on the top of the car for extra skull bulk. If you have a car with a trunk, perhaps just wrapping the front would be enough, or making both the hood and the trunk into skulls facing opposite directions.

Cut out skull shapes out of black plastic, cloth, garbage bags or use black duct tape. Attach them to the car with outdoor duct tape or another brilliant method I'm sure you will come up with.

I also used this method to dress up a bush I had in the yard. I used a sheet, tied the jaw and teeth line tight with a string to the back bottom side. I straight-pinned cloth shapes to the skull. The teeth are attached to where the string gathers the sheet.

Happy Halloween Decorating!

Homemade Halloween

Every year I make one more bit of fun for our Halloween decorations. This one I've been pondering for a few years. How to make a life size skeleton for next to nothing, that will hold up in the rainy Pacific Northwest.

The materials used were 20 or 30 plastic shopping bags, 2 wire coat hangers and lots and lots of clear tape and a bit of thread. Full instructions are available on Instructables. Check it out!

I think we'll call him Eboneezer.  He may be a long lost beau of Ophelia, who has been hanging around for a few years now.

She was made of an old test dress I made before I made my real wedding dress hung on a hanger and a styrofoam head form with magazine eyes and lips glued on. The hair is made of yarn and we hoist her in the air on a pole, so she floats. 

Some nights she looks almost angelic, some nights positively spooky.

We have cut out tombstone shapes and and painted them for a good effect. Made a homemade cross and added dead flowers in a vase.

Pumpkin shaped treat bags from the dollar store are stuffed with plastic bags and hung from the fir trees like confused Christmas ornaments.

I weave a web of yarn or string to make a huge spider web.

Some years we have hung a spider made from a black garbage bag, then a white one made of sheets. This year we hung a spider made from plastic wrap and clear plastic tape.

Pieces of old sheets are cut into squares and made into simple ghosts. The painted faces and the sheer number of them are what makes a good effect.

Last year we found this old wooden trunk thrown out so it was turned into the pirates treasure chest, I used all kinds of shiny treasures I had around the house as well as some chocolate gold coins and aluminum foil and gold foil wrapping paper.

The pirate was made of old clothes, a mask, cutlass, wig and eyepatch from the dollar store. The hook arm was made from a tuna can and foil covered wood cutout. 

Our pumpkin scarecrow follows the same construction, a framework of sticks and old christmas tree stand, old clothes, old boots and gloves. The tricky part was creating a sturdy enough support to hold the carved pumpkin head.  It's really effective at night all lit up.

Here's another easy idea for those with the right window configuration. Cut out black paper or plastic to block out your windows.  Remove an eye shape so that your house watches all that goes on.  Works great with our house.

Let's not forget the old standbys of childhood, playing with Playdough.

and making Rice Krispie Treats.

I have more halloween pictures and ideas on these posts.
Random Halloween Ideas.
Homemade Halloween Skull Costume for your parked car.

Hope you've gotten some good ideas. Have a Happy Halloween!