Jewelry Making: Spooky Season Jewelry

 

I recently made some birthday gifts for fellow September babies and since Spooky Season would soon follow their birthdays, made them each a coordinating pair of earrings and a bracelet. 

Supplies: 

• Hildie and Jo Witch and "Jack" Beads (JoAnn)
• Bead Landing Coordinating Beads (Michaels)
• Fish Hook Ear Wires (Michaels)
• Jump Rings, Head Pins (Michaels)
• Stretch Jewelry Cord (Michaels)
• Jewelry or Super Glue (Walmart)

I found the Halloween-themed beads at JoAnn over the Summer and got them in the off-season. The other beads are ones I keep stocked in my stash. I hit the Michaels and JoAnn sales or use coupons! It's what we do, right? 

The process is the same for each set. 

For the earrings, string desired beads onto a head pin, then make a wrapped loop. There are a ton of tutorials on You Tube that can show you better than I can. I've linked one here but I find that I have to look for tutorials that make sense to my brain so watch a few different ones.  You will need a pair of small round nose pliers like the ones shown here which are available in jewelry sections of craft stores, bead stores, or online. 

Once you've completed your loops, attach to the ear wire using a jump ring (and here's another video on how to open and close jump rings) and you're done!

For the bracelets, cut a length of stretchy jewelry making cord longer than you need. Some people measure precisely. I don't. I cut about 12 inches for a bracelet because I like having the ends longer for knot tying. Use a clamp (they sell specific ones for jewelry...I use a binder clip or a cheap plastic clamp I found at Dollar Tree). String beads in whatever pattern you like. I just string, do a checkpoint aroung my wrist for size and when I'm good, tie a tight basic knot and add a tiny dab of jewelry glue or I like the gel formula super glue. 

This stuff is great and you really only need a tiny bit. I always make another knot with another dab. Give the glue a minute to dry then trim as close to the knot as possible with wire cutters or sharp scissors. 

I used extra beads and related charms to add a little dangle to my bracelets. String the bead on the head pin as shown for the earrings, close the loop, use a jump ring to attach to the bracelet. Same with the charm. 

Happy Haunting! 

Sharing At: 

Featured At: 

Halloween: Spooky Season Layered Bat and Moon Cards

 

Halloween cards just may be my favorite cards to make. I love using non-traditional colors and for this year's, I went with a brilliant royal blue as a color accent to go with shiny silver and gold.  

Supplies:

• Black 110lb Cardstock (Recollections,Michaels)
• Metallic Blue,Silver,Gold Cardstock (Recollections,Michaels)
• Foiled Halloween Scrapbook Paper (Spook Hill, Michaels)
• Layered SVGs (Bat is from Creative Fabrica Moon is Cricut Design Space)
• Digital Cutting Machine
• Adhesive Tape Runner
• Coordinating Sequins
• Self-adhesive Rhinestones
• Dimensional Glue (Glossy Accents, Ranger)

I selected the foiled skull and stars papers from the Spook Hill stack I had from last year. When I'm making multiples, I like to have my cards and panels all cut ahead of time, as well as any images I'm using. That way when it's time to assemble, I'm just focused on that. 

Card Size: 5x7 so cut 7x10 and score in the middle. 

Blue Panel: 4.75x6.75

Foiled Papers: 4x6

After deciding on my images, I brought into Cricut Design Space and then cut everything out. 

The Bat SVG comes with four layers but I went with three. Black base, white middle, gold top. For the moon, I used the offset option in Cricut Design Space to create the gold layer and cut the image from silver paper. 

I used spray adhesive to attach the Bat layers and then foam dots to attach the silver layer to the gold layer for the moons. 

I assembled the cards as shown and then used double-sided tape to attach the moon and foam tape to attach the bat. To finish, I used bright gold sequins and clear rhinestones to decorate the moon and bat. 

The blue reminds me of the night sky!

Halloween: Black White and Purple Spooky Halloween Tree

 

I've been wanting to do a Halloween Tree for a while. Last year I thought I'd be happy with a lighted branch tree and I was but in our new house, it ended up permanently in our bedroom as ambient lighting so I needed a new one right? For once in my brain, I also remembered to look for it early enough and lucked out getting one from Wayfair for 50% off over the Summer. I just went to check for this post and they still have them but they're a little more expensive now. The decorations are all Dollar Tree and I shared the Jeweled Tarot Card Halloween tree skirt last week. 

Supplies:

• Thompsontown Slender Black Tinsel Fir Artificial Christmas Tree (Wayfair)
• Dazzle Bright Purple LED Lights (Amazon)
• Black and White Bat Ribbon (Dollar Tree)
• Misc Decorations In Coordinating Colors (Dollar Tree)
• Jeweled Tarot Halloween Tree Skirt  

I cleaned my Dollar Tree out of all of the Purple and Blak picks shown and this bat themed ribbon was perfect! 

I also picked up a bunch of these skull treat baskets and glitter spiders that went with my colors. 

I wanted a skinny tree and this was perfect. Of course it came in a super skinny box and needed to be fluffed out. 

It was also not pre-lit so I found some purple lights on Amazon and didn't even realize until I plugged them in that they have 8 different options. Steady, twinkle, flashing etc. I haven't strung lights on a treee in a few years since I've gotten used to pre-lit trees so that was fun. Once I got the lights on, it was time to decorate. I started with the ribbon after the lights and used pieces of wire to attach to the branches in some places. After that, I added the picks, skull baskets and spiders and to finish, used a creepy doll head I had leftover from a project last year which I wrapped in the black netting one set of the skull baskets came in!

Ooops! Forgot to take pictures of the eyeball and glitter ornaments also from Dollar Tree!

The spiders are just resting on and tucked into the branches. 

To finish, I wrapped the stand with my Jeweled Tarot Card Tree Skirt I shared last week. 

Sharing At: 

Halloween Decor: Jeweled Tarot Card Halloween Tree Skirt

 

I've been teasing this Halloween Tree Skirt and I'm finally done. I didn't start out with the intent that it would end up as bejeweled as it did but I love it! I found this Tarot Card fabric on clearance at JoAnn for an additional 50% off and I think the total cost ended up at $3. The felt and polar fleece I used, I had on hand, as well as the purple jewels. 

Supplies

• Black Felt (On Hand)
• Purple Polar Fleece (On Hand. You could also use felt)
• Tarot Card Flannel (JoAnn)
• Coordinating Jewels (Michaels)
• Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
• Dimensional Glue for Rhinestones (Ranger Glossy Accents)

Kind of like how I cook, I sometimes don't measure twice, cut once like we're supposed to. So I folded my felt in fourths, drew an arc, and cut a circle, approximating the size I wanted. Likewise witht he purple triangles. I ended up using 15 of these. I thought I was going to use the fabric glue shown in this photo to apply both the triangles and appliques from the Tarot Card fabric but I ended up using hot glue for the triangles and iron on interfacing for the Tarot Cards. 

I cut out a horizontal panel of the cards, ironed them to the adhesive, then trimmed. This way the appliques hold their shape better and you don't get fraying of the fabric. I used the placement of the triangles to eyeball the placement of the appliques and ironed them on. 

I had a package of purple gems from a prior project and at first, I thought I was just going to put them on the corners of the cards. Then I went all the way around one and thought I'd maybe just do every other one all the way around. And then I did ALL of them all the way around. 

Of course after doing that, I decided I needed to do the neck (at least that's what I call it because tree skirts remind me of capes so this part would be on the neck and there you have my brain). 

I'm putting up my tree later in the week but can you tell my color palette? I finished up by adding some of the jewels to select spots on some of the cards. Eyes, and as you can see here, the spiders. 

I also added one gem to each of the points but don't think I wasn't tempted to do the tops too. Still am but Mr. Chocolate already thinks I'm off my rocker. Just need to spot press some places with my travel iron and oops, just now noticed some fuzz on one spot there but too lazy to re-take the pic!

Sharing At:

 

Halloween: Haunted Mansion Inspired Cards

 

"Welcome foolish mortals". I miss Disneyland so much, especially when it's decorated for Halloween. We'd hoped to go this year but COVID...

Anyway, one of my favorite rides any time of year is the Haunted Mansion. I love all the detail they put into the attraction and at Halloween it's totally decorated with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme. If you ever get a chance to do Disney for Halloween, it's so much fun! So when I saw this collection of layered cut files at Creative Fabrica included a "Haunted" Castle, I had my theme for this year's Halloween cards. Disclosure: I am an affiliate so if you buy this file here, I do get a small benefit. 

Supplies: 

• Halloween Background Paper (I used the Spook Hill collection from Michaels)
• Metallic and Glitter Scrapbook Paper
• Black Cardstock (Recollections 110 lb)
• Halloween Words ( Tim Holtz )

You can buy pre-made cards or cut your own. I cut my own from the Recollections Black cardstock measuring 7x10 to create a 5x7 card. Score down the middle. 

Cut background papers 6.75x4.75. Attach to cards. 

Download cut files and import design of choice into your electronic cutter's software. I used my Cricut Explore 2 and the Design Space software and deleted a couple of the layers, leaving 3 layers to cut. 

I did a combination of colors and mirror and glitter papers. 

Once you have your "houses" assembled, then layer onto prepared cards. Add the chipboard words. I also embellished with a couple of self adhesive rhinestones which the post office just loves! 

Enter if you dare!