Yarn Halloween Pom Pom Banner Tutorial

I'm kinda addicted to making yarn pom poms lately. This could be because I don't know how to do much else with yarn, but it is also because pom poms are so stinkin' cute. Pom pom banners are even cuter yet, so let's make one shall we.

SUPPLIES

Yarn I used Sheep(ish)

Aleene's Tacky Glue

Measuring Tape

Scissors

The first thing you need to do is make a ton of pom poms. There are about a bazillion ways to do that and even pom pom makers. I wrapped yarn around my four fingers. I made an even amount of black and white pom poms and green, teal, orange, black, purple and white pom poms.

I measured the area where I wanted my banner to hang and then draped enough orange yarn to fit the space. I divided the length of my yarn by the amount of pom poms I made and for my banner glued alternating pom poms every 17"s.

Once my glue was dry all that was left to do was hang my banner! I love the way it looks and ties in all my favorite Halloween colors. I'm thinking I might make more to put in Halloween party goodie bags for babies. I know my kids spent a good part of the afternoon tossing, stirring, sweeping and gathering my pom poms.

Check out more Halloween themed posts here. You can find more I Love to Create tutorials here.

***I was compensated & given free supplies by I Love to Create. Mama has gotta pay the bills somehow and really who in their right mind would say no to free craft supplies***

Halloween 2012 Countdown - Spiders!

Along came a spider and sat down beside her, sure it is a nursery rhyme for kids but it also works for Halloween. I don't typically go the spider route with my Halloween party, but this little 8 legged creature has popped up a few times through the years.
The spider web pretzels were a bit tricky to make and a little fragile for the toddler crowd, but they did turn out mighty cute if I do say so.
Got an old doormat? Give it the Halloween once over with a quick and easy fabric paint spiderweb.

I had a guest come as a spider last year. Her family's themed costume was one of my favorites. They were all bugs, but she was a spider complete with huge web. At the time her baby (the ladybug) was very small and worn in a baby carrier the whole time as if she had been caught in mama's web. So sweet, cute and clever.
If you want to see me get crafty with spiders check out the above video about how to make an orange feather wreath. I have a whole series of Halloween videos I filmed for HGTV.

I love the look of popcorn cones. Last year I whipped up a batch of chipotle maple corn that was quickly devoured.
I have made soap as party favors a couple of different times. Super easy and fun, I just recommend clearly labeling them as soap and not candy. I had a friend who shall remain nameless accidentally bite into a fawn shaped piece of soap I had in a goodie bag one year for a birthday party.

Speaking of spider-rific costumes we also had a whole family of Spidermen show up to our 2011 party. I love me a family themed costume!
You have heard the old saying there is more than one way to skin a cat? Same can be said for decorating pumpkins. You can carve, paint, drill and decoupage with spiders.
Look closely, I spy with my little Halloween tunnel vision eye a green spider. This was the set up in my dining room in 2010.

Last week on the blog I had an easy tutorial for making framed spider webs.

The words no sew are always music to my ears. Check out this easy to make kids spider web costume I whipped up using a sweat suit and fabric paint.

I have found when searching for and buying Halloween decorations I am not often attracted to the spiders. I like the vintage and kitschy looking decorations and those don't typically involve bugs. Am I missing something? Know a great spider cookie I should make this year? Did you see an amazing spider wreath at the Home Goods near you? I'm all ears.

Have you missed any of our Halloween 2012 countdown series? We have covered witches, owls, bats & blood suckers and ghosts. P.S. Thanks to Amanda Marie Photography for the pretty pictures.

Craft Lab - LED Desk Lamp

LED Desk Lamp

Sept 24th

7AM e/p

Tomorrow morning on DIY Network Syuzi Pakhchyan and I will be showing you how to make a simple and elegant desk Lamp using LED lights and metal etching on a circuit board. Crafty electronics!

Framed Halloween Spider Webs (tutorial)

The first day of fall is right around the corner so I figure it is not too early to start Halloween tutorials on the blog. This is the first year I am venturing into the purple realm with my Halloween decor. For a long time I was a strictly orange, black and white kind of girl. Through the years lime green worked it's way in, but I held out with purple until this year. I was creating a vignette above my bar where two large thrifted purple frames I had fit perfectly. I was going to put in pictures of my kids in their Halloween costumes, but then spidery inspiration struck!

Supplies

Aleene's Tacky Glue

Picture frame

Colored paper

Black Scribbles Paint

Plastic spider

Orange Scribbles Paint

Orange Tulip Fashion Glitter

The first thing I did was cut a sheet of lime green paper to fit inside my purple frames.

Next up using black Scribbles Paint I drew a spider web on the glass of my frame. The nice thing about this paint is that when Halloween is over I can use a straight razor and peel it up.

While the paint on your spiderwebs are drying you can adorn your spiders. Mine were plain plastic spiders from the grocery store. I used orange Scribbles paint to add accents. While the paint was still wet I added glitter. Really, everything is better with glitter including plastic spiders.

Once everything is dry you can glue your spider to the picture frame. Wait for the glue to dry before you set it upright.

I think my new framed spider webs look mighty spiffy up on the shelf.

Check out more of my I Love to Create posts here. Check out more Halloween posts here.

***I was compensated & given free supplies by I Love to Create. Mama has gotta pay the bills somehow and really who in their right mind would say no to free craft supplies***

FAAN Walk for Food Allergy

If I was going to be in town this weekend I would be at the FAAN Walk for Food Allergy in Austin, TX.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Mueller Lake Park

4550 Mueller Blvd.

Austin, TX 78723

Check in: 9:00 a.m. Walk: 10:00 am

Distance: 2 miles

If you are looking for something to do this weekend might I suggest heading over to Mueller for an early morning stroll to support kids with food allergies. As you know this is a topic close to my heart since my son Baxter has a peanut allergy. If you can't make it out to walk you can always donate to our team Baxter Brigade.

Halloween 2012 Countdown - Whoo Whoo Owls!

Great Horned Owl, Screech Owl, Fearful Owl - the names alone say Halloween. Owls are a classic symbol for Halloween obsessives like myself. My stash is small, but cute. For our 2012 Halloween party the whole family got into the owl spirit.

In the game room last year I switched out all my usual wall hangings and throw pillows with more festive options. Owls were of course present and accounted for.

Local Austin artist Rory Skagen is the mastermind behind my owl poster.

Yummy yummy thanks Pinterest for the owl Moon Pie recipe. Think I might make another batch of these bad boys for this year's festivities.

I was so excited to find this reproduction Halloween mask at the Roundtop flea market. As luck would have it I also bought some pictures to use for the frames and ended up keeping one that was a charcoal portrait just to display my mask.

I think clearly I need to beef up the owl portion of my Halloween collection. I'm also going to scour Pinterest for some more owl related snacks. Got any fun Halloween owl ideas?

P.S. Thanks to Amanda Marie Photography for the pretty pictures.

Craft Lab - Gasket Material Book

Tomorrow morning bright and early 7AM e/p to be exact, tune in to DIY Network to see Josie Cirincione create a Gasket Material Secret Book with distressed images, gaffer's tape, and beaded elements. If you like all things steampunk, you are gonna love this book.

Bachlorette Gift - Tiger Robe Tutorial

Remember the safari themed bachlorette party I went to last weekend? Well I didn't show up empty handed. Oh no, I brought the bride to be a new robe. A very special embellished robe!

Supplies

Robe

Fabric Fusion Glue Sheets

Scissors

Embroidery Thread

Embroidery Needle

Patch

I realize not everyone is going to have a vintage tiger Letterman jacket patch lying around the house. Any patch will work for this project. You are going to need to comb the thrift stores for a fun robe.

Decide where on your robe you want your patch. I went for the center of the back. Next peel, place and trim your Fabric Fusion Glue sheets. These things are perfect for appliques. Once you have the entire back of your patch covered remove the second sheet of paper and stick on your robe.

The nice thing about these sheets is there is no drying time. I immediately started embroidering around the edge in red for a decorative trim.

The jacket looked fabulous on my friend and was a big hit. The longest part about this project was the stitching, but that step could easily be skipped. Love the way it turned out and now wishing I had another one of those patches to make a robe for me.

Check out more of my I Love to Create posts here.

***I was compensated & given free supplies by I Love to Create. Mama has gotta pay the bills somehow and really who in their right mind would say no to free craft supplies***

Halloween 2012 Countdown - Dracula & Bats!

I vant to suck your blood! When Halloween is near you should start sleeping with garlic and crosses right? Well not if your vampires and bats are made of yarn and goat cheese.

My heart went all aflutter when I saw these vintage Monster cards. They were part of some board game. There was no board to be found, but I got one of each of the cards. Not only is there Dracula there is also Dracula's daughter.

I filmed a bazillion Halloween videos for HGTV and you better bet there was a few with a bat theme like these glow in the dark cuties.

The age old craft of baby food jar snow globes don't have to be just for Christmas. Glue in a Dracula figurine and red glitter for a Halloween theme. I have a whole tutorial about how to whip up a set.

I love these bat party invitations that also double as a photo frame!

Goat cheese bat balls from Cooking Light, yummers! As much as love a small bite size cheese ball I think this year I might do one big bat.

Last year using some of my buddy Vickie Howell's embroidery patterns I made my kids a Halloween themed coloring book. Learn how to make your own right here.

Need a quick, easy and not so all over Halloween costume? What about a set of felt vampire teeth?

Ikea canisters got the quick and easy yarn wrapped Halloween treatment at my house last year. Learn how to make your own set here.

Glamping at the Serengeti Resort

Glamping is a term I first heard on the Real Housewives. I'm not sure which one, I think Orange County maybe. Glamping is like camping, but much more luxurious - think air conditioned tents and pools. What better place to hold a bachlorette party than at safari themed resort in the Texas wilderness. Let me introduce you to the Serengeti Resort.

I'm not a huge fan of animals in captivity, but what was I going to do - say no? I don't have that much willpower to turn down wine tastings, wild golf cart rides where you get chased by giraffes, grilled vegan smores and late night games of Cards Against Humanity. I just kept telling myself they were rescue animals. I never asked so they could have been. Either way everyone seemed happy, had tons of room to roam and cute little giraffe shaped houses to sleep in.

I wish I had gotten pictures of Boomer the resident Great Dane and the orange cat that followed my sister around the entire day and even snuck into our tent at night to sleep with us. This is Clyde the camel. He is best friends with the giraffe.

Can you tell from my pictures the golf carts around the 'safari' were my favorite part? As I mentioned there was wine sampling, a swimming pool, hot tub, cabins, fancy dining, playground and more. We chose the glamping option, but we could have stayed in something more like a hotel room had we chosen to. I should also mention that yes I went with a rowdy bunch of ladies for a Bachlorette party, but I would take my kids here in a heartbeat too. There were also couples on honeymoon. Something for everyone.