Monday, September 21, 2020

Halloween Decor: Witch Hat Frame Wreath

 


When it comes to some things, I'm pretty easily pleased. One of those things is a trip to The Dollar Tree. $20 spent there is a joyous thing! On my last trip, I found a Witch Wreath Frame. I've seen these projects in years past but have not had luck finding the frame. No more!! Some fabric, ribbon, a few ornaments and voila: my Witch Hat Frame Wreath!


Supplies:

  • Wire Witch Hat Frame $1 (Dollar Tree)
  • Black and White Check Decorative Mesh $1 (Dollar Tree) 
  • Black Mini Ornaments $1 (Dollar Tree) 
  • Fabric ( Stash)
  • Grey Decorative Mesh ( Stash)
  • Grey and Black Organza (Stash)
  • Decorative Ribbon (Stash) 
  • Pipe Cleaners (Stash)
  • Hot Glue and Glue Gun ( Stash) 



Step 1:

I had some grey ultrasuede-y fabric in my stash. I cut it in two strips, measuring approx  5 inches by 48 inches. Tied a corner of one strip to the corner of the wreath frame as shown: 






Step 2: 

Anchor your fabric with hot glue and wrap the top of the frame, leaving the brim section uncovered. When you reach the end of the first strip, glue the second to the first and keep wrapping until you reach the top. Cut off any excess, tuck and glue edges. 


Step 3:

Now that the top of your hat is wrapped, time to do the brim! I used the decorative mesh I found at Dollar Tree ( and bought 2 more rolls because it's black and white so of course!) , some I had on hand along with some dark grey and black organza I had on hand. You'll want three strips for each bundle. 


Step 4: 

Make your bundles. Starting at one end (  short side ) scrunch / gather / pinch each strip. Hold the shape with either a binder clip or clothespin and when you have three (black and white, grey, organza) tie together w/ a pipe cleaner: 


Of course I would take a picture of one of the two clusters I made w/out organza because I didn't have enough but you get the idea!  I made 10 clusters. Using the ends of the pipe cleaners, secure to the brim part of the frame. 

Step 5:


Step 6:

Once the brim was filled in, I made a bow from some ribbon in my stash and tied to the frame with the pipe cleaner ends from the bow. To finish everything off, I grabbed some of the black mini ornaments from a previous trip and which I used on my Gothic Batty Wreath , strung them on a pipe cleaner and made a cluster for the center of the bow. 



Even happier with the end result  than I was about  my well spent $20 at Dollar Tree! Based on what I already had on hand, my total cost for this was $2!










Thursday, September 17, 2020

BFF Open House



NOTE: Hi all, I'm having some issues w/ the Inlinkz code formatting 

Welcome back all! Hope you've had a wonderful week. Between the ongoing pandemic, the wild fires in the West and the tropical storms/ hurricanes in the South, I hope this is a space to take a break from the news and look at some pretty things. To all those in affected areas, my thoughts for your safety. 

Here are some of the things that caught my eye from last week's party and as always, thank you for sharing your creations here at The Answer Is Chocolate. 

This week I shared some Mackenzie Childs inspired pumpkins and Paint Poured Halloween Canvases



First up, some gorgeous Upcycles from The House on Silverado. I love how paint can transform the whole look and feel of a piece! 




Virginia from Artsy Va Va is back with another amazing paint project. LOVE the colors she chose for this Wood Barn Quilt. 



How much fun are these Spooky Tree Halloween Vans and perfect for now through October from Love My Little Cottage?! 


Finally, even though the temperature remains above 100 degrees here in the desert. the calendar says it's time for Fall treats. 3 Winks Design has got you covered with these gorgeous and yummy Hot Chocolate Bombs! 

Now let's see what everyone's been up to this week! 








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Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Mackenzie Childs Inspired DIY Pumpkins

 


If you've spent any time in Home Decor world, you are probably familiar with Mackenzie Childs signature style. I love it, not only because she uses tons of black and white but because it's whimsical, pretty, and not rigidly perfect. It's also expensive and while I'd love to have a bunch of pieces, I don't. But hey, we're Makers so what do we do? We use our faves for inspiration and DIY that stuff! 

Here's an example of the real ones: 



Supplies: 
  • Plain Ceramic Pumpkins ( $1 each from Target)
  • Paint Pens ( I used Craftsmart from Michaels)
  • Acrylic Paint 
Step 1: 
Gather your supplies. I found these ceramic pumpkins for $1 each at Target in the section that none of us can get past. They know us! I also grabbed two paint pens: gold and black. 



Step 2: 
For the signature Mackenzie Childs check, I went down the lines of the pumpkin with the black pen. 

Since the style here is to look handpainted, you don't have to be perfect. 

Step 3: 
I went horizontally around the pumpkin with the paint pen to create the squares.


Step 4:
Tip: When I've done checkerboard before, I've gotten the order messed up so I've taken to putting a pencil dot in the squares to be filled in before I start filling! 



Step 5 
When all of the squares were filled in, I went back down the pumpkin spines with a gold paint pen and colored the stem. (I went back over that gold spot w/ black)


Et voila! 


The process for the Striped Pumpkin was similar but I used acrylic paints instead of paint pens.



I did a couple of coats for opacity. 



To finish, I also used paint and just went down each side w/ antique gold. 

Et voila!




I am pretty happy with my $2 project! 












Monday, September 14, 2020

Gothic Halloween Decor Using Paint Poured Canvases

 


I shared last week about the fun I had w/ my husband and son showing them how to do acrylic paint pouring. The canvases I did were always intended for Halloween projects so I'm excited to share what I did with them and am really happy with how they turned out! 




These were the two canvases I did last week. As I mentioned in that post, I was not happy with how the white paint mixed, especially on the bottom canvas, so I decided to do what Makers do and play with it until I was happy with it so here's what I did: 

Step 1: 
Using masking tape, section off where you want to make stripes on your canvas: 

Step 2:
I painted white stripes in the exposed spaces. I ended up using 3 coats to get an opaque white


Once the stripes were dry, I went over the edges with a black paint pen. I didn't care that either the stripes or the edges were clean given the swirled nature of the canvas and I like a "messy" look anyway. 

Step 3:
I found this silicone mold at Dollar Tree last year and used it to create the skull out of hot glue. 


Step 4: 
I debated about doing the whole skeleton but decided to just go w/ the head. Once that was set, I painted white, then dry brushed it with silver. 


Step 5: 
I pulled some stuff out of my stash, little poison bottles and a small frame that I'd picked up a pack of 2  for $1.47 at Michaels on clearance. I dry brushed some silver on the frame and then added rhinestone eyes to the skull. 



It already had some gold so it matched the colors on my canvas perfectly. 

Step 6: 
I added the poison bottles on either side, added some Tim Holz chipboard Halloween themed words and finished with a few silk flowers. 





For the other canvas, I decided to go w/ a Frida Kahlo inspired Quilled Sugar Skull as the focal.


Step 1
I recently ordered some quilling strips from Quilling.com and the colors worked with this project so I gathered my quilling supplies and then cut out my base image on my Cricut Explore Air 2. 




Step 2
As I've been doing with my quilling projects, I cut two images and layered them together with foam tape. I like the depth and sturdiness of doing it this way. I lined the eyes and nose with black. 


Then went around the edges: 

And then started filling in with different swirls and coils: 


In my "Quilling Quest" I've figured out that if you have some spots that aren't perfect you can always stick another coil in to resolve it, so I don't worry about getting the base image perfectly clean. 

Step 3: 
Once I decided I was done gluing my coils in , then I finished by making some coiled roses from crepe paper I had in my stash. "I had in my stash" appears a lot on my blog and should tell you all you need to know about "my stash"! 


And now, despite not being happy when I did my paint pouring, I am thrilled with how these both turned out! 

Stay tuned...more Gothic Halloween fun to come! 


Supplies Skull Canvas
  • Painted Canvas ( I used one I'd already paint poured)
  • Coordinating Paint
  • Paint Pens
  • Masking Tape
  • Silicone Mold , Hot Glue and Glue Gun or Melting Pot
  • Embellishments ( I used Poison Bottles, Frame, Silk Roses and Halloween Words from my stash)

Supplies Frida Sugar Skull Canvas
  • Painted Canvas ( I used one I'd already paint poured)
  • Sugar Skull Base ( I cut mine on my Explore Air 2 or you could use a pre-cut diecut)
  • Quilling Papers ( Quilling.com, Astrobrights Black)
  • Glue (Aleene's Turbo Tacky and Elmer's)
  • Crepe Paper for Flowers ( Lia Griffith Aubergine and Gold)