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How to Make a Creepy Haunted Candle

July 22, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

A few years ago I participated in a thing called “Secret Reaper” through HalloweenForum.com. It’s like a secret Santa for Halloween enthusiasts, and it’s really fun! The person who was matched up to me had photos posted of things he would like to receive, and on his wish list was faux PVC candles and creepy haunted candles. Challenge accepted! Here’s how I made mine.

You will need:

Cardboard tube
Cardboard, Foam board, or Cardstock
X-acto Knife
Scissors
Glue Gun & Glue Sticks {lots and LOTS of glue sticks!}
Tape
Paper Clay or Paper Mâché
Spray Paint
Acrylic Paint
Sealant (Mod Podge or a sealant spray)
Paintbrush
LED tealights (I really like these if you want the color changing kind, or these if you want regular tealights)

Start by cutting out a face on the side of the cardboard tube. You can see I’ve crossed out one of my designs…small details to not work well with this project. =)
Measure the opening at the top of the tube and cut out a circular disc out of cardboard, foam board or cardstock. Tape or glue it a couple inches down inside the tube.
Use your paper mâché or paper clay mix to cover the entire tube and form a 3D face. This may take several days and multiple layers…you don’t want to put the mixture on too thick, and you want to give it plenty of time to dry in between layers.
Once the piece is entirely sculpted and dry, start dripping hot glue from the top. It takes awhile to build up the drippy look. I like to let the glue dry and do multiple layers to make it look old, and like it’s spilling over the top. Keep your tip of the glue gun close to the tube to prevent glue strings. (If you get a lot of glue strings you can help minimize some by blowing hot air on the tube with a hair dryer or heat gun.) BE VERY CAREFUL…I cannot tell you how many burns I get from the glue gun. I have finally learned to keep a bowl of water close by just in case.
When the drippy glue is how you want it to look then you can spray paint your new sculpture. I found that I prefer my faux candles to be black. It usually takes a couple coats, and you’ll want to turn the sculpture upside down to make sure you get all the crevices. I like the Krylon Dual Paint & Primer spray paints so you don’t have to prime first.
After your base coat is nice and dry, then you go back with acrylic paints to add some nice details. I like to use white or gray acrylic paints with a dry brush. Just lightly brush over different areas to add some texture and dimension.
When your piece is how you want it to look, then add some kind of sealant as a top coat and let it dry.
Add some LED tealights and you’ve got yourself a pretty awesome new decoration for Halloween (or anytime of the year if Halloween is everyday for you, too!) =)

I used a similar method to make these PVC faux candles, which you can read an overview of how to make that kind on my old blog.

Daniel Tiger Theme Party in the Works

March 24, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

I really thought we’d be doing a Peppa Pig birthday for Miss Elliott, who turns 3 in May, but she insists she wants Daniel Tiger. So, Daniel Tiger it is!

PBS has a page with some really cute party ideas, free printables and graphics so I’ll be using some of those resources to create more great things for her party. I loved the trolley so here is my version, which just needs a few more finishing to be complete.

I didn’t think a box wrapped in wrapping paper would hold up very well so I decided to cover ours with flannel and felt. I used cardstock for the roof and as I was gluing the roof and the top yellow piece I discovered the plastic container I used is entirely too flimsy to hold any kind of weight on top of it without buckling, so we will not be using this as a dessert plate holder. But we could still put cupcakes on top I guess. The PBS website didn’t give dimensions for the box so I found one I thought looked like a good size. While it is a decent size, it probably should’e been about 5″ longer…if you compare my trolley to the one on the PBS site you might notice mine only has two windows on the side. Not a huge deal, but I was a little disappointed. LOL Oh well.

P.S. I know sorta fell off the grid after Halloween, and for that I apologize. But, I promise to share all the fun Daniel Tiger birthday party printables with you when they are ready. Will you forgive me for being such a terrible blogger?! =) I’m more active on Facebook and Instagram if you want to hang out with me there!

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My Glowing Pumpkin Totem Prop for Under $20

October 10, 2014 by admin 1 Comment

I can appreciate some of the bloody and true Halloween horror decor, but I’m more of a fun, sparkly, colorful, goth glam girl myself. Especially with little kids at home.

Most who know me think I’m a HUGE Halloween freak (and I’m not denying this), but believe it or not, this is the first year I’ve really done much to decorate outside.

Here’s my front porch this year, with my finished Burtonesque Bench for my Jack Skellington.

It’s colorful and fun, and I like it. =) (Please excuse the dead mums. Despite my black thumb, I was convinced I’d have these lovely, colorful flowers this year. And I did, for like a week. I decided dead flowers still work with Halloween decor, right?!)

I was inspired to make the colorful pumpkin totem prop after seeing something similar online, so I thought I’d share how I made mine. I had several things on hand, which made this a relatively inexpensive project.

I used:

* Several plastic pumpkins (found at Walmart for $1 each)
* Plastic Cauldron (found at Home Depot for $6)
* Glue Gun & Hot Glue (Already had)
* E6000 Epoxy Glue (Had this on hand or you can order from Amazon $3)
* Halloween Lights ($1 clearance from last year or you can order from Amazon $9)
* Black Garbage Bag (had these already)
* Empty Boxes (from my recycle bin)
* Box Cutter (had this)
* Witch Hat (had this in the Halloween decor box)

First figure out what order you will stack your pumpkins. Then cut a hole in the BACK of the very bottom pumpkin, and cut holes in the very bottom of the remaining pumpkins. (I cut a hole in the bottom of the bottom pumpkin too, and later realize my mistake…the lights need to come out the back of that one so you can secure the bottom in the cauldron.)

String the lights from the bottom to the top…kind of like a pumpkin centipede! My string of lights has 100 bulbs so I just split them up and put about 20 lights in each pumpkin.

You absolutely need the two different types of glue because hot glue will NOT be strong enough to hold these together on its own, and especially not in cold weather. Not that I’d know from experience or anything. (Or maybe I do, just trust me!)

Once you’ve got your pumpkin centipede with the lights strung through all of them, then you start by applying a ring of the epoxy glue on the bottom of the second to last (in my case it was the orange pumpkin). Then apply a ring of hot glue around the same area, and quickly hold the two pumpkins together. Wait several minutes in between gluing each pumpkin section. The hot glue should dry quickly and secure it enough until the epoxy sets, but you should give it plenty of time to set up as well.

While the pumpkins are drying, find some boxes or other items that will fit inside your cauldron to give it some lightweight fill, and something that you can secure your pumpkins to when ready. I found some boxes and in my recycle bin, put them into the black garbage bag, and stuffed it all into the cauldron. I let my pumpkin totem dry for about 24 hours, then I used the same procedure with hot glue and epoxy glue to secure it to the boxes in the garbage bag. Then I let that dry for another 24 hours, tossed on a witches hat and plugged it in!

Truth be told I was really sad it wasn’t brighter in the dark. =( I wondered if it would’ve been better with just white Christmas lights, or maybe LED tealights, in which case I would have cut holes in the back of the pumpkins so I could easily put in the tealights and take them out. But, I think it’s pretty cute even without the lights (which would’ve saved me some time!)
What do you think?

Burtonesque Wrought Iron Bench

October 6, 2014 by admin 1 Comment

Craigslist and local for sale by owner Facebook groups are quickly becoming my new favorite online shopping venues. You just never know what will pop up. I was scrolling through one day and saw this vintage beauty:

I was immediately drawn to the swirls and whimsical curves on the back. This is a very Tim Burtonesque piece to me, I can totally envision it in the Corpse Bride, or The Nightmare Before Christmas. I wanted it, I HAD TO HAVE IT!!

I showed it to Jack and told him of my plans to refinish it for him to sit on. I’m pretty sure I heard an “Exxxxcellent!” in Mr. Burns style.

I’ve revamped LOTS of furniture – chairs, couches, dressers, you name it. Only problem is all THAT work was done in my head. I’ve never successfully redone any ACTUAL furniture in real life. I tried to reupholster a love seat once, but it sat in pieces in my basement until I moved…then it finally got tossed. So although I had some reservations about my ability, I was determined to finish this bench.

I posted some questions on Facebook about how to go about this project…would I absolutely need to sand it? With what? Can I use spray paint? What kind? Does that require primer, or not?

I settled on an angle grinder, Rust-oleum Rusty Metal Primer and Rust-oleum Hammered Metal Spray Paint in black. I grabbed some protective eye wear, ear plugs, my face mask, and I was ready to get to work.

But first, let me take a selfie…

I figured I should take a photo of me in all my glory of doing actual, (semi) hard laborious work.

It was hot that day working in the garage, and it actually was, HARD WORK. But much to my surprise I loved it. I grinded for an hour and was amazed with this process. It wasn’t exactly easy, but it was essentially simple. Use this tool and grind away the chipped paint and rusty metal to reveal this beautiful skeleton of a bench underneath.

My hands felt funny from all the vibration of the grinder, but it was really relaxing to just work and shut out the rest of the world and CREATE again. I was in my element for sure. It had been soooo long since I felt that way, so this was an awesome experience for me.

But after a couple hours my laziness took over. (Did you pick up on my foreshadowing of that earlier?!)

My body was hurting from the (gasp) actual physical labor of it all. And I was getting a little nervous using such a powerful tool, especially after I had to pull out a metal splinter that the grinder shot into my leg. (Perhaps I should’ve been wearning jeans, not shorts?) I love power tools, but they honestly scare me because I’m such a klutz. In junior high shop class I ran the side of my finger through the jigsaw and although it just took off a few layers of skin, from that moment on I envision myself slicing off my finger or worse. It could totally happen, and it would be just my luck.

So once I got most of the bench cleaned up I decided that would be good enough. After all, this bench is just a prop. The nooks and crannies would just have to stay how they were. I gave it a quick bath, hosed it down, let it dry, then sprayed it with the primer.

I should’ve bought two cans of primer because I didn’t get it all covered as well as I would’ve liked. But, again, this is a prop. Not a huge deal. I let it dry then spray painted it black. Again, I only bought one can at first and didn’t get 100% coverage. But, I’m lazy remember. Even though I ran out and bought another can, it got windy by the time I got home so I decided to finish painting it another day, but have since decided it looks fine as it is. (Plus my hands were actually semi-crippled for a day or two from holding the grinder that I couldn’t spray the can of paint very well if I wanted!) Since I want it mostly as a Halloween prop I figured it shouldn’t be all pristine looking (thank goodness!)

I just absolutely love it! Check out a photo of the finished bench in this post.

Quick Pillow Recover

October 4, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

This project is a tiny addition to a project I will be sharing soon, so this post will be short and sweet. I can’t wait to show you the “bigger” project. =)

A year or so ago I bought new pillows for our living room. I don’t recall what I paid for them, but I remember thinking it’s was a little more than I wanted to pay, but they look like nice quality pillows so I suppose it’s okay. (Honestly I’m ~~cheap~~ frugal so it probably wasn’t all THAT much.)

Guess what?

We had them a few months and the seams started coming apart. I’m sure it didn’t help that the girls play rough with them, and the dog just LOVES to find tiny holes and pull out the stuffing. =( So I would toss them aside, sew them up when I had time, and bring them back into the mix.

Then I was in the workshop the other day thinking about the bigger project I am working on, and my eyes wandered around the room for inspiration. Just so happens I had a pillow sitting there waiting to be fixed. And I really wasn’t in the mood to fix it since I just knew it would be fine for a couple weeks, then I’d have to sew it up again.

So I whipped up a simple envelope pillow case and stuffed that bad boy in, rip and all! Voila! Now it’s perfect. =)

I didn’t bother taking step by step photos, but if you’re interested in this simple sewing project Six Sisters’ Stuff has a really great tutorial you can check out HERE.

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