Candy Bar

And here we are at the end of Halloween Week. Our penultimate "fake party" has  to be a candy bar. You've seen them at weddings and at birthday parties, at showers and well everywhere. But the most logical of the bunch is the Halloween Party!

I have married the card I made at the beginning of this week with the label. I chose orange and black candies because I could. It's amazing what you can get these days. Whether you head to Party City or Amazon or your favorite local candy shop, the variety of candies you can get to match your color theme is amazing!  I bought most of my candies in the grocery store. And then tried to limit myself further because I can't really have all this candy in the house!

If you were looking for a wider variety you could add:
Black Crows
Mary Janes
Circus Peanuts
Orange slices
Licorice whips

On to Christmas!

I Don't Like Spiders and Snakes, Part II....

Actually I do like this spider. Just so adorable! I think this is my favorite craft so far!
There was a bit of a "everything lingers on Pinterest longer than it should" moment. I looked at the directions to these spiders on Monday, and by Tuesday the website wasn't working. Then I tried it on my phone and it worked again. Fortunate because the template was helpful. Here's the link. Let me know if you make one.

I might make more of these myself!

Mason Jar Madness: I Want my Mummy

When our power went out for four days, it necessitated a fridge cleaning. The entire top shelf was full of jars containing little bits of lots of stuff that we weren't going to finish. It was a blessing in disguise. However, we must have run the dishwasher eleventy-million times with jars. (Okay, maybe twice.)

I found these mummy jar votive holders on a lot of those "20 Easy Halloween Crafts" or "40 Easy to Make Halloween DIY Decor Ideas" that proliferate on Pinterest. Much harder to find the originator of this project. It's not rocket science though. It does give you the opportunity to use up the gauze that is becoming brittle in the first aid kit you keep under the sink in the bathroom.

Of course, now when I inevitably need gauze, I'm going to be going through the Halloween decorations looking for this!
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Sew Cute

I was so productive during that snow day! I did three loads of laundry (and folded and put away!); read three chapters of a book; walked the dog; made lunch and dinner; blogged; and made this pumpkin pincushion!

Because I did not have the called-for templates I went around my house measuring circular things looking for a 6" circle. I cut the pieces and sewed them back together. And then I took this picture because look how those points meet! They're perfect! And then you weren't going to be able to tell. {Sad trombone.} No, instead what you can tell about this, is that I sew a frickin' lumpy circle. LOL

I had a felt leaf, so I didn't have to make one, but it seemed naked so I did a bit of embroidery. The button is my conceptual stem.

Owl Are You Doing?

My alma mater's mascot is the owl. You can see part of the collection I keep at work behind me. (This picture with the #FlatAthena was for the alumnae association. I went with one with less cross-eye and more Athena.)

So the recent owl craze has been a boon to me. And I've loved every fabric owl with the folded beak I have ever seen. I finally made one using these directions: folded owl.

The pattern says it can be manipulated, but whether it was my incompetence or a problem with the pattern, I couldn't change the pattern size. (I guess I could have blown it up on the copier, but I have no spatial sense.) My owl came our pretty small. About 1.5". I think about 100% bigger would have been good.

I Don't Like Spiders and Snakes

When I started thinking about crafting for Halloween, this Deranged Centerpiece from Martha Stewart was one of the first ideas I settled on. I got the spiders and snakes from Amazon because I couldn't find smallish (or cheap) snakes anywhere. In fact, plastic animals (including dragons and dinosaurs) cost more than I think they should generally! LOL. (The dude is rubbing off on me.)

I don't think I'd like the person who sent me these much. But what a perfectly creepy Halloween decoration!

Halloween Week Begins!

I saw this cute spider Halloween card by Maile Belles at Simply Stamped. I didn't have the same spider stamp, but I sort of thought it was unnecessary. I used last year's Halloween DSP from Stampin Up for the bodies and coordinating card stock for the heads. I drew legs (this is where my theory of not needing the stamp fell apart) and ran the card through the Big Shot with the Spider Web embossing folder (retired). Then I searched the craft room--it's in a STATE, y'all--for the google eyes. I knew they were on the craft table which really needs to be excavated. I just stuck my hands under all the junk and felt around. It actually took me under half an hour to find them. Given my method, I was kind of surprised by that!

So yes, Craft Month is helping me #cre8time, but it's also making a giant mess. As usual.

Halloween Blog Hop

Welcome, Blog Hoppers! Serendipitous Jo has once again gathered the blogging community to celebrate Halloween. And my letter for you is

 

I had hoped to finish my October small before today, but no such luck. I think I may not have shown this piece before. It's a Mill Hill kit that I stitched preblog.

I realize that shot, while spooky (I find that pumpkin clown creepy) doesn't show the stitching and beading very well. So here's a close up!  This was a lot of fun to stitch, lots of specialty stitches and beads. That frame was stupid expensive, but I loved the candy corn. (I don't love it to eat it nearly as much!) This piece, which is on perforated paper, has held up really well since I think it dates back at least to 2003!

Hopping friends should now make their way back to Serendipitous Stitching.

Small SAL - Biscornu

It's nice to be missed! Thanks for all your comments. This week is a little less scheduled but there is a party coming up soon! And work to be done for that. This business of being old(er) is hard. ;)

For Heather's Small SAL, I chose Lizzie*Kate's Hoot, a limited edition biscornu and fob. And half a biscornu is better than none. I started this on the appointed day, and have spent the rest of the month--and more!--finishing it. Thus I decided each side of the biscornu could be a finish for this SAL.

So let's review this month.

1. Waldorff, Homespun Sampler--finished page two
2. Mary's Stocking, SB--closing in on a finish
3. Wisteria Snowman, SB--she has a head!
4. Our Souls, Midsummer Night Designs --a tiny bit of progress
5. Christian's Stocking, SB--some good progress
6. Cinnamon Stars, Plum Street--just a bit, but no photo
7. Small #9--yes!
8. Lovebird, JABC--no, see above
9. I haven't decided yet what to put here. I may call audible on game day.--found Ladybug, Ladybug but didn't stitch on it
10. Tis the Season, Blackbird--and also no.

In October I hope to stick to my Molly rotation with the same line-up, including Ladybug, Ladybug at Number 9. I also plan to have a fun and happy birthday in two weeks (give or take).

Halloween Redux

Stella appreciates all your good wishes for her birthday. She would give you little licks on your hand... after she finished barking at you, naturally.

Speaking of barking...on Halloween Stella wore herself out barking at everyone who came to the door. Very early, close to six, three little girls (three or four years old) knocked on the door. Stella starts barking. I grab the candy and open the door. The little girls were confronted by a barking dog (behind the glass storm door). She must have looked like Cerberus! Two of them took one look and raced up the path back to the safety of their parents, leaving a lone brave girl who would let no man or beast come between her and her Starbursts. I went outside and gave the other girls their candy because they deserved it. After that, I did wait until the dude had removed the pooch to open the door...

Here are two little bugs looking out their front door for trick or treaters. I don't think they scared anyone...

(nb: My sister tried very hard to capture a picture of their smiling bug faces, but it's nearly impossible. With two, someone's always on the move!) (Please note the motorcycle boots. I die!)

I Made it Monday--The Masquerade Edition

This past weekend was my library's masquerade gala and silent auction. You've heard me complain enough about running the silent auction to know that I ran it again this year. I did have a lot of help, but somehow we ended up with fewer items and thus, lower returns. We did well, and I know the librarian who runs the homebound book delivery program will be happy with the money. And it's all profit since everything was donated. I guess I just want to do better year after year.

Anyway, I was left with the conundrum of how to wear a mask that would work with make-up and not obscure my vision too much. (You should watch people wearing masks try to drink out of a glass; you don't realize how important the ability to look down is to drinking!)

First, I want to apologize for not taking the picture before this project ended up at the bottom of a bag! The legs were a little wonky by the end of the night. These are a Martha Stewart design, and the project couldn't have been easier. You trace the spiderweb onto the glasses with white paint pen. (And the next time I do this, I will keep the orientation the same between lenses, although the cock-eyed look may add something special!) Then you hot glue chenille stems that you have trimmed at the ends. Eh, voila!

If your eyes are over 40, and you find you need a lot of extra light to see, you will find this mask a little dark, especially in the dim light of a gala. (Plus, those are not my prescription lenses for obvious reasons.) But putting them on and taking them off was easy (just ask the people who had masks tied to their heads) and it didn't mess with my hair or makeup. Altogether I think the project ran about $3--and you should see how much white paint and how many chenille stems I have left over.

The committee is thinking about The Great Gatsby as a theme for next year, which seems appropriate for a library. (I don't know why they haven't been doing book themes for years!) What other book themes could we do?

Late for a Very Important Date

When I arrived forty minutes late to Old Lady Stitching, the room was full to bursting! I'm pretty sure there was only one regular missing. There were newbies and oldies who we hardly ever see. I had to drag a chair in from the kids' computer lab. And even though there was lots of yakking going on, I got perilously close to finishing Halloweenies. In fact, I got so close that when I came home, I sat down and did it. Not a moment too soon. I've got to get a move on with the rest of the Christmas gifts!

 

Stitched on an unknown piece of 40 count linen. One over two with the called for fibers.
"Halloweenies" by Plum Street Samplers.

I received my first Christmas present today. My nemesis is having surgery and will be away from the library for a month. I may not be so late for the next four weeks...

Remember When I Said I Wanted a Finish?

I did it. And not just finished, but finished finished! Here it is on the runway:

I'm not sure I'm crazy about the way the owl looks with thread wound around it, which sort of defeats the purpose. When I finish using this black floss, I may leave the owl without a purpose in life besides being pretty.  Kinda like me...

Day Seven: Bats in my Belfry

A couple of years ago, I saw this really neat specimen box on tatertots and jello {via One Pretty Thing}. It was a shadowbox with bats punched from Halloween scrapbooking paper.

(Maybe all those people who think I have so much patience because I cross-stitch are right. Here I am waiting two years for me to get myself together to make these cute projects. No instant gratification here!) 


First I punched and laid out my bats. I don't have a lot of Halloween paper, so I stuck with an orange, purple, and green color palette--the new official color palette of Halloween. (Orange and black is so 1972.) (I made some visual puns, like the tiger bat in the lower left and the tropical fruit bat in the upper left. Okay just two, what more do you need from me?)

The elusive tiger bat.

Then I pinned my specimens to the board. Then I went and checked the tutorial that Jen had put together. It turns out I was doing it all wrong. So I just kept doing what I was doing. Because I liked the idea of really being able to see the pins. And I hated the idea of using a grid to lay them out. I figure if they look pretty much gridded to me, they're going to look pretty much gridded to you too without all that geometry. (Also, she bought a regular frame and made it into a specimen box. I spent $10 on a shadowbox with a padded fabric background. She saved $6 but I saved my sanity.)

Don't mind the one that turned upside down.

Then I closed the frame and by some miracle of vacuum-age, a lot of the bats fell right to the bottom of the frame. So I revisited Jen's tutorial and saw that she used dimensional adhesive. So I got out some pop dots and stuck the bats to the pins.

I can't wait for Halloween! 

**But wait, there's more!** Our "Flat Granny" is ready to move on. If you're interested in a visit, check out Jo's blog.

***Also*** the article about library stitching has appeared! Clickez. I'd like to point out there are things I would never say. "She's xx years young." My grandmother is 90 years old. My niece is twelve years old. I am 45 years old. What I said was, "Here, I'm the young one. I'm 45 but you don't have to print that." I also did not say "substitute grandmoms." I don't have a grandmom. I have grandmothers who are called Mimi and Ma. I said "surrogate grandmothers." The rest is fine. But seriously someone tells you you don't have to print their age so that's what you open with? Gah.