BFF Open House

 

Happy Friday Eve, all! How is it already the middle of September? Monsoon season is going out with a bang. Literally! Thunder and lightning storms in these mountain foothills by me, and rain to let the Saguaros store up water for the dry months.  Completed another journey around the sun this week and thankful to be here. 

I'm still in my joy creating Halloween projects. This week I shared:

Glam Pumpkin Bucket Makeover

Glam Skeleton Bath

And as always, you've all been busy! Let's take a look at some of the ideas shared at last week's party. 

Pillowcases are a great way to switch out decor each season, and these DIY Pillow Cases from Krafty Planner are PERFECT! 

Fresh Vintage by Lisa S, shared a beautiful Paper Leaf Fall Wreath. 

Perfect for Fall. Perfect for kids and adults. This Coffee Filter Pumpkin from Darcy and Brian is simply, perfect. 

Finally, and right on time for the season, peep these Pumpkin Roll Crumbl-inspired cookies from Fat Dad Foodie! 

Thanks to everyone who linked up! Keep the creativity flowing. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Halloween: Glam Bath Skeleton

 

You've probably seen multiple versions of this as candles. I did a slightly different twist on this based on randomly walking past some bowls at Walmart. Like many of my ideas, this is how they come to me.

Supplies: 

• Halloween Themed or Black Bowl (Walmart)
• Mini Skeletons (Dollar Tree)
• Aluminum Foil (Dollar Tree)
• Iridescent Vase Filler (Michaels)
• Clear and/or White Glue (Elmers, Walmart)
• Mini Bottles (Dollar Tree)
• Washi Tape

The skeleton was an extra from a garland I cut up. The bowl was $.70 at Walmart and I love the outside. 

This wouldn't be great for a candle since it's plastic and I'd worry about it melting. So I decided I'd use vase filler instead! The first step was to remove the legs from the skeleton and position the torso and legs opposite each other in the bowl. I attached these to the bowl with hot glue. 

I scrunched up a wad of aluminum foil and just placed in the bottom of the bowl. Don't worry about gluing it in because the vase filler/glue will keep it firmly in place. 

I spread the vase filler over top of the foil and then used both the white and clear glue to cover. I thought I had more clear glue, but I didn't, so I used the white glue too, which dries clear, so no biggie. 

You can see the iridescence of the vase filler and I used these mini-bottles from Dollar Tree to make my bath salts and bubble bath. 

Cover the top with your glue and then set aside to dry. I left it for about 24 hours. I filled on bottle with the vase filler, the other with a glycerin/water mix, vase filler, and glitter. Wrapped each with coordinating washi tape and hot glued in place. 

And here's Mr. Skelly enjoying his bath! 

Sharing At:

Halloween: Glam Pumpkin Bucket Floral Arrangement

 

This week's BFF Open House Link Party continues here through today! 

Who says the classic plastic pumpkin bucket is only for trick or treating? I grabbed one at Walmart and had fun with it. 

Supplies:

• Plastic Pumpkin Bucket (Walmart)
• Multi Surface Acrylic Paint (Waverly)
• Black Acrylic Paint and Fine Paint Brush
• Creatology Gems (Michaels)
• Dimensional Glue (Glossy Accents)

The classic plastic pumpkin bucket. $1.97 at Walmart. 

I used this Wavely No Prep Paint that goes on anything. Plastic can be tricky to paint because normal acrylic kind of beads up. I used a sponge spouncer thingy to apply, and then went back over any bare spots. 

I knew I'd be filling it so I didn't worry about painting the inside and once filled, you can't tell. 

I went over the eyes and teeth with a bright silver acrylic paint to make them stand out. 

Then, outlined the eyes and mouth with black acrylic paint using a small brush. 

I grabbed my little jar of Creatology Gems (Michaels) and went to work adding them to the eyes and mouth, and hearing "too much work" from Mr. Chocolate. 

It actually went pretty fast. I love the Glossy Accents glue for that reason. It grabs things quickly. and unlike some glues, doesn't leave strings. 

I found these black floral picks at Walmart and already had some other floral picks in my stash. I grabbed a block of styrofoam (Dollar Tree) and placed it in my pumpkin along with some tissue paper to hold it in place. Then added my florals. 

Yes, my desk is a mess! But it's a workspace so... I found the black and white pumpkins at Dollar Tree...one of my earliest Halloween purchases this year and good thing too because I haven't seen them since. 

I played with the florals until I was happy and voila!

If it sits still, it gets blinged. That's why the hubs and dog stay moving!

Sharing At:

BFF Open House

 

Happy Friday Eve, all. Happy to have a creative refuge. 

Dollar Tree is already stocking Christmas stuff,  so I'm sure everyone else will not be far behind. I think Mr. Chocolate finally gets that if you don't get things when you see them, you may never see them again. Exhibit something he almost missed out on. 

I'm definitely missing JoAnn at this time of the year :(

This week I shared:

How to Make Hot Glue Tombstones (or any other thing for which you have silicone molds)

and

Happy Accident: Salvage a Broken Dish with Resin

Now, let's take a look at some of the fun ideas shared at last week's party! 

Steph Creates shared this DIY Candy Jar that would be lovely to give as a gift or to have at home. 

Press Print Party shared a fabulous Dollar Tree Ghost DIY. So cute! 

Ann's Entitled Life shared a gorgeous Fall Lantern Swag that can carry you through the season.

Finally, Hunny I'm Home DIY shared these Mini Halloween Trifles that would be perfect for any Halloween dinner, party, etc. 

Thank you to everyone who linked up, commented, pinned etc.!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Halloween: Resin to the Rescue Salvaged Stand

 

I love it when a plan I didn't have comes together.  I picked up a couple of those flat-ish glass round plate / dish / tray thingies. I'm really not sure what they're called but for me, they were "surface to play with!". I fugured they'd make great trinket dishes or a smaller tiered tray or something. I was thinking originally that I'd play with alcohol inks. 

While taking them out of my craft closet, OOPS! I dropped one and since we have HARD tile floors, it broke. But it didn't shatter, and as someone who likes to salvage things it looked like it could be glued back together. I then got the idea of doing Japanese Kintsugi, the process of adding gold leaf to cracks in pottery, and THEN I remembered I also had some resin from Dollar Tree to play with. Still with me?

Supplies:

• Dollar Tree Clear Glass Dish
• Chunky Glitter
• Resin (I used Epoxy Resin vs UV)

This is the dish thingy I'm talking about. They're usually with the kitchen stuff. And you can see how almost perfectly it broke. I used some Aleene's Clear Tacky glue to glue it back together. 

This is the resin I picked up at DT and the ones I've been in recently look like they've restocked it because it was impossible to find for a while. You need both A and B which work together. Last year, I also found this container of chunky glitter.

I dumped some of the glitter atop the dish and spreadh it out using a dry paint brush, making sure I covered the visible cracks. Then, following the instructions for the resin, mixed and poured.

Since the glass and resin are both clear, it's hard to see the effect in a picture, but this is after the resin was poured. I set it aside to cure for 24 hours. You can see the one piece I couldn't fill in, but it doesn't matter because whatever ends up going on top will obscure it. 

I was so happy with the way it turned out that I went ahead and used the unbroken one and another set of resin to make another! 

For now, I'm showing with this cute Skeleton Bunny I found at Walmart and fell in love with. 

Gotta love a happy accident, right? Now, of course, I want to do a couple of these for Christmas and Hanukkah!