Halloween Flash Back!

With Halloween right around the corner we thought it would be fun to flash back to some of our favorite Halloween crafts we've done.  Above is my all time favorite Witch Shoe Craft!

Witch Shoe Cake Stand

                           

Halloween Haunted Village

Halloween Lollipop Tree

                           

Trick or Treat Topiaries

Witchy Wreath

                       

Boo & Halloween Wood Letters

Beware Banner

Eyeball Wreath

Last week Beckie over at Infarrantly Creative featured a tutorial we had done for her with our DIY Knock Off Pottery Barn School Utility Boards.  They were such a fun project to do!  Make sure to check out the full tutorial here!  It was such a fun surprise to wake up to on my Instagram feed!

Beckie asked me why we weren't blogging anymore.  Good question and it has a simple answer. Candace put down her crafting gloves and had a baby.  Best reason ever right!  It's not as fun to craft when your favorite crafting buddy is no longer available.  Life happened, and ya know what, it's okay.  We've both been busy with family, our kids, church, carpooling, sports, you name it -- it's happening.  I'm trying to summon the courage to blog about our recent home renovation on the tightest budget ever.  With a broken foot.  Yup, the thought of recounting it is a little daunting but I think I'll try, hoping I can share what I learned the hard way so it might help someone else.  Which is why we started blogging in the first place.

So, until then....enjoy all the Halloween fun!

Two Weeks Late Halloween Fun!

I know, I'm more than 2 weeks late sharing Halloween pictures.

Plus, we Crafty Sisters have basically fallen off the edge of the planet.

I was going through my pictures today and couldn't help but smile looking at my little girl who is not so little anymore.  Stop growing!:)

 She was Winnifred Sanderson from Hocus Pocus this year.
Trying to find a pattern that would work.....impossible.  Trying to find the right colored material......even harder.  I was pleased with the result even after scrapping the gold printing that should have been down the front of the jacket.

We found all of our fabric at JoAnns. The shoes were an absolute lucky find at the thrift store for $4!  Her necklace I put together from bead sets and a brooch from Hobby Lobby that was all on sale 50% off.  The wig was found on ebay for a steal~it's actually Disney's Queen of Hearts wig.

I got such a hoot out of her getting into character.  We had Candace's youngest with us that night since Candace and the rest of her boys were running a room in their local neighborhood haunted house.  They spent the night autopsying aliens while we begged for candy.  We hit my folks neighborhood this year and used their house as home base.  I'm not sure which I enjoyed more, watching the kids dump their stash out on their floor to count it or watching my parents watching them,  It was a sweet night and the most beautiful warm weather!

As for Crafty Sisters......The last few months and even the last year have really been one of personal retrospect.  I turned 40.  Yikes,  That seems like a swear word almost...hee hee.  I celebrated 20 years of marriage to my man, that's even more eye brow raising.  Our families are the most important and when you start to feel like they aren't, it makes you take a step back.  When I have more pictures on my computer of crafts than my kid......it makes you take pause.  I've actually taken time in the last few months to craft for myself.  And I haven't taken any pictures of them.  Candace and I and our Sweet Little Mother have all been put back into serving the youth in our church~so we've got lots of fun projects we've been doing and want to share...they just might not have a picture by picture tutorial, but it's the idea that counts right?  We've loved being able to share with you and we've missed you!

We've got a few Christmas ideas to post this week even!  Hooray!

Happy Wednesday...school is almost out for Thanksgiving!

Halloween Day After Sugar Coma

Yes, Medusa is in the house!
Wow where did this month go?
Halloween was here before we knew it and today we are both
exhausted from all the preparations and parties on Halloween!

But before I crash from what feels like a sugar high~when really I only had like 2 pieces of candy yesterday, I swear,  I just had to post some pictures of my daughters Medusa costume.
 Every year my Mom, my daughter and I gather together to sew "the costume".
I realized that this is really the only serious tradition we have that we always celebrate each year.
The costume was easy to make but it's the talking that happens during the sewing that makes a pattern that should take maybe 5 hours at the very most to put together.....3 days.:)
 She is trying to look evil here, so hard not to smile.
I contemplated making a homemade wig....and then I figured out how much it was going to cost + how much time is was going to take + the gamble of whether it would work out all right.......EBay had me for $19 + free shipping.  It wasn't a hard choice.
Here is my girl with our Dear Sweet Mother.  Oh how I love them!  Last night was quite bitter sweet to me.  My not so little little girl is turning 10 this weekend!  How did this happen?  I realized I'm lucky if I get a year or maybe 2 more of this tradition, of these festivities on Halloween, of staying up late with her counting and organizing all that precious candy.  I cried through my shower this morning just thinking about it.  This thing called "being a Mother" is hard.

Candace's boys wouldn't sit still for pictures again this year~too anxious to run out and get some candy.  She did catch a snap shot of her youngest who is Jake The Pirate.  He refused to wear the wig~it's okay because he's so stinkin' cute!

I survived the class Halloween party and the Church Trunk or Treat I was in charge of feeding 500 hot dogs and bratwursts to.  Candace made 80 sugar cookies for her kid's classes!  I realized I didn't share my pretty wreath I finally made after buying stuff to make it 3 years ago and I didn't get the haunted house painted that I finally got cut out.  November is looking a lot like Halloween craft catch up for me and I intend to paint that haunted house this week!  We hope your Halloween was wonderful!!!  Happy 1st day of November friends!

Halloween Afterglow

We hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!
We wanted to share a couple of glimpses of our fun day with you!
I finally got my daughter's costume done~with an enormous amount of help from my dear Mother.
My Dad asked on Tuesday night (the second night of an all day sewing marathon) if it was all worth it.....

When we came back to Trick or Treat and he could see the deliriously happy daughter of mine prancing around like a diva in her Cleopatra costume...oh yes, it was sooooo worth it!  I barely finished gluing on over 500 jewels before having to race to pick up pizza for her school party since I ran out of time to do all the cute ideas I found on Pinterest.  Oh well, for not even having time to shower yesterday~I was quite popular at the school when I walked in with those pizza boxes!

Candace's boys had fun again at Zurchers putting together fun costumes but they were in such a hurry to run off to trick or treat in the warm weather that she didn't get any great pictures to share!

***Great product tip***
Candace told me to try Beacon's 3-1 Advance Craft Glue to glue on all the jewels for Cleo's costume.  All I can say is it's AWESOME!!!!  Quick grab like a hot glue gun but with less mess and great adhesion for all the rhinestones.  It is a must have from now on for all craft projects!  You'll love it!

Best highlight of the day was peeking through Facebook last night to see all my friends post pictures or their cute kids.  I love seeing what everyone dresses up as but even more I enjoy seeing how much fun my friends have with their kids.  Hope your Halloween was great!

Halloween Owl Wreath and More!

We are busy getting ready for Halloween around here. We are tackling the costumes, cookies, school parties, and hanging the last few spooky decorations.  I found a fun owl at Cost Plus earlier in the season with the intentions to hang it on a wreath of some kind.  Sadly it is the day before Halloween and I am finally get around to making it.  I gotta have something fun on my door for the trick or treaters!

I was going to try the "socks on a wreath" again, but they didn't fit around the flat foam wreath without warping the houndstooth.  Instead, I opted for houndstooth fabric, first gluing the fabric to the front of the foam wreath.  Next I pinned and pleated the outside edges and cut the center out leaving enough to pull and pin on the inside.  The fabric didn't quite make it around the inside center, so I cut a long strip of the houndstooth fabric and glued along the bad edge.  I love that I can change the wreath for different seasons.  I just have to figure out something for Fall?  Any ideas?

Last night I made several batches of owl cookies for class parties. I stole the owl cookie idea from Kneader's Restaurant and Bakery.  I love their cookies and if I could I would just buy the cookies from Kneader's, but when I need about a hundred it is not very cost effective.  So, I borrowed their idea of backward chocolate chips for eyes and candy corn for noses, and ordered this owl cookie cutter. ( It's only a $1.55 on Amazon! )

*I don't profess to be a cookie artist...actually mine are kinda ugly...but they taste good and my kids think they are fun! Nicole got a good chuckle out of my cookie decorating skills.... 

I have a great soft sugar cookie recipe.  I have tried others - but keep coming back to this tasty recipe.  They are really good with homemade cream cheese frosting.

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

3 1/4 c. Flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. sour cream

Sift flour, soda, salt, and set aside.  Mix butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla.  Add sour cream and 1/2 of flour mixture and mix.  Then add remaining flour and finish mixing.  Divine in half and roll out.  Cut out cookies and bake on ungreased sheet for 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees.  Do not over bake them! The edges should just barely be golden and the cookies should look firm.

Frost with cream cheese frosting, I like to use Glorious Treats' Cream Cheese frosting, it is a winner!

And last, a silly handout for my son's class.  My boys love whistle lips, they will entertain them for hours.  Thankfully for my ears - they are not too loud. We touched off the Frankenstein with a pixie stick for bolts. 

I am officially tired and it is only the beginning of the Holidays!  Nicole is whipping up another awesome costume for her daughter, she will be back soon to share!

I hope all of you have a "Franken-tastic" Halloween and be safe out there! :)  

(Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those affected by the hurricane, we wish you safety and a quick recovery!)

Monster Soda

I totally blame this project on my three year old son who likes to watch The Muppets over and over again.  He kept pointing out to Nicole and I as we decorated the bottles, which monster he loves and "does not" love.  Of course, the monsters that closely resemble Beaker and Animal are his favorite.

Nicole and I made Rootbeer Reindeer a couple years ago and thought it would be funny to make scary sodas for Halloween to hand out to friends.

We started with a couple different varieties of soda in monster colors.  

We used everything from feather boas to googly eyes to create the monsters.  The pipe cleaners with stripes are especially fun,  Hobby Lobby has a great selection.

 Printed labels cover the original soda labels.

We love the quote "EAT, DRINK, & BE SCARY"!

A little black fur makes the perfect uni-brow for this soda monster.

We love a craft that makes us laugh!  

Nicole and I have a couple more things to share with you this week so stay tuned....

A Winner And Something Creepy....

Hooray we have a lucky winner for our fabulous 

Goose Creek Candle Giveaway!

Comment #13

auntiejenni said...

ooooh....i think autumn or the warm Christmas...or even the cute little pumpkin jars...all i know is something autumn-y. thank you for the chance to have a wonderful candle...

October 5, 2012 6:17 AM 

Congratulations Jenni and a huge THANKS to everyone who entered and for Goose Creek Candles for their generosity to our wonderful readers!

We also thought it would be fun to share another of the fun projects from our Fall Boutique.
It was another project inspired by those cute K&Company stickers and paper we found at Michael's.
                                        
We just loved the tilt of each of the tombstones and the fun fonts of the chip board letters.
The tombstones were cut from 3/4" MDF, painted, mod podged with
cute paper and glued onto a 2x3" board.
Thanks goodness for You Tube and tutorials on how to cut out chipboard on my Cricut!
My daughter had so much fun helping to glue on the "creepy" blackish excelsior that looks just plain wicked!

The kids have been out of school the last couple of days for Parent Teacher Conferences so life is a bit hectic~but we did get out all the Halloween decorations and got them put up, plus we had a fabulous fun outing today we'll share as soon as Candace downloads her pictures!
Hooray, we love Fall!  Even if it is a little "Creepy"!!!:)

Wood Witch Silhouettes

Feeling Witchy?

We couldn't pass up making some fun Wood Witch Silhouettes

after seeing the My Mind's Eye Halloween paper this year.

We had so much fun earlier this year making silhouettes for our kids- that
this project was a definite "to-do" on our Halloween craft list!
My Minds Eye's Haunted Paper Pad had all sorts of wicked silhouettes
and the witches were just calling out~cut me...cut me.....

(We found this MME 6x6 paper pack at Michael's Craft store.)  We had trouble finding it online.

After blowing the images up on the computer, they were traced and cut out of 3/4" MDF.

MDF is so great to cut detailed work out like this because it cuts like butter

and doesn't chip or splinter like pine wood does.  (Be sure to wear a good mask when cutting MDF!)

I found myself cackling out loud as each wart, each rotten tooth and crazy curves on the hats were cut.

These Witchy gals are creepy and fun!

The witches were then coated in a semi-gloss black spray paint,

making sure to sand lightly between coats for a smooth finish.

Then they were finished off with a quick alligator hook on the back for easy hanging.

I made a few of these up for the boutique secretly hoping they wouldn't sell so I could keep them all to myself...but it looks like I'll be out cutting some of these ladies again!

Aren't they so fun paired with these witch potion making ingredients? We found the bottles at Hobby Lobby, and the potion labels are from The Graphics Fairy.  She always has great Halloween graphics you can easily find and print!  

*If any of you don't want to give these witchy silhouettes a try on the scroll saw, I cut out extra.  

Just contact me here!

Our Goose Creek Candle giveaway is still going on!  Hurry and enter to win a yummy scented candle, perfect for the fall season! 

Halloween Banner

Well I survived the first of my fall boutiques with a bit of my sanity left and my hubby didn't ask for a divorce so that in itself is a success!  I wanted to not only share a bit of what I was up

to the last little while but also give a huge thanks to everyone who came out this year!  THANK YOU!!!

Candace and I love Halloween so it's not hard to work on Halloween crafts.

Here's a little peek at one of the banners I made this year.

Candace and I headed into Michael's for our inspiration and K&Company never fails to impress!

We found some of the cutest papers and stickers for this banner.

                              

I cut each of the banner pieces from 1/8" thick MDF and Mod Podged all the fun papers on.  

The pennants are all about 4 x 6" in size.

I love the banners made from wood because they are much more durable to store

and use year after year than just the paper.  

I found all my fun fonts on www.dafont.com for all the letters.

Now I have a fun banner for my fireplace!
Stay tuned for more fun creations this week~
now to drag out all the Halloween decorations.......we're decorating tonight!

Halloween Owls

I think it's about time to start Halloween crafting! Nicole and I love any excuse to be creative with spooky and silly things. We have seen tons of owls this year, so why not kick off the Halloween season with some wood owls?

I usually depend on Nicole to cut all of the wood shapes, but she is prepping for a boutique this week.  (She is making some cute stuff, we will share soon!) So, I reluctantly pulled out the scroll saw and cut three owl shapes out of wood.  Sadly, the cuts are far from perfect, but they will do.

After cutting the owl shapes out, I painted all sides with black craft paint. 

I used three circles of paper and mod podged onto the owl's belly.

Next, I glued four layers of flowers together with a rhinestone sticker on top to mimic owl's eyes. The flowers are large for the owl's shape, so I trimmed around the edges before gluing onto the body.

Spooky, yet kinda pretty for owls?  The paper banner is from Tai Pan, I love it!

How about you?  Are you ready to pull out the Halloween decor?

Stay tuned for more Halloween projects. Nicole and I will have some fun ideas to share with you soon!