Hallowe'en Ghosties

Hallowe'en has come and gone and our little ghosties looked great with the black light making them look blue and - well - ghostly.

We have a friend from France visiting so it was fun to see Hallowe'en through his eyes.  

I hope you had lots of fun and lots of candy.

Hallowe'en Magazine Copy-Cat Challenge

Debbie over at Debbiedoo's Blogging and Blabbing is having a magazine copy-cat challenge.  Actually she's had several over the past year or so, but I've never been able to join in any of them as they always came at at time when I was super busy.  Well I vowed this time to get something organized.  


I looked around at different magazine pictures and really liked the one below.  The cute little ghosties made out of painted gourds especially caught my eye.

BHG

I started by going to the grocery store and buying myself three butternut squash to use - that way it would be a frugal as well as fun craft, as we would eat the squash afterward.  Squash are a lot more expensive than I thought though, as buying three of them set me back $10.  So when I mentioned to my husband that I was going to paint them white and then we would eat them afterward, he didn't think that was such a wise idea - you know paint leaking through the skin into the flesh of the gourd and all.   


I had to agree that was a problem, so after discussing a few ideas I decided to try using white pantyhose to cover the squash.  The next day I went to the dollar store to buy some and lo and behold you can't find white pantyhose anywhere.  Who knew?  I guess white pantyhose went out with the 1980s and uniformed nurses.

Then I remembered a package of white tube socks that I have had in the basement for a year now while I try and convince my 17 year old son to wear them.  Anyone else have stubborn teenagers who will not wear the economical tube socks, but insist on wearing the very expensive wool hiking socks from Mountain Equipment Coop.  Sigh!  Anyway, it did occur to me that maybe I could make three of those poor neglected tube socks feel useful by making them into ghosts.  

It was really pretty easy.  I slipped pushed the squash into the socks and tied the tops.  Then I made eyes and mouths out of sticky-back felt.   


I have to say I think they are pretty darn cute.  And we can eat our little ghosties when Hallowe'en is done!

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!  

Puffy Pumpkins

Since it is almost Hallowe'en I've been doing some crafts with the special class that I work with in one of my schools.  Last week we made these adorable pumpkins out of two pairs of panyhose, some batting, paint, and black felt.   I love their lumpy-bumpy uniqueness.

They are pretty simple to make so I'll explain how we made them in case you are wanting a last minute Hallowe'en craft.  I didn't take any photos during the process as my hands were busy helping the students. 

Here's how you make them:
1.  Cut off the panty and the toe part of two pairs of pantyhose
2.  Lay all 4 legs of the pantyhose on top of each other on the table and tie a knot in the middle.   When you spread the legs out you now have 8 pieces coming out from the centre knot.
3.  Stuff each leg with batting
4.  Pull the loose ends of each leg together at the top and tie them with some string
5.  Paint the pumpkins - we used tempera paints with orange for the body and a greeny-brown for the stem
6.  Cut out face pieces from black felt (or black foam) and glue them on

I have to say that making these crafts with the kids is a part of my job that I really enjoy.  And in case you are wondering, the classroom teacher and I made the students work for all the pieces they needed to use and before they could paint each section of the pumpkin.  There was a lot of rhyming and identifying sounds happening in the class as the students were all very motivated to make their pumpkins.   

I took pictures of each child's pumpkin so they can write about them next week.  Nothing better than a little pumpkin photo-shoot.

Here's what the same class made last year (you can read how to make them here). 

WISH Wednesday #2

I really felt I needed to do one more pumpkin-related WISH picture (Weekly Inspiration for a Seasonally-decorated Home) before Hallowe'en is over.   I was smitten with this fall bouquet as soon as I saw it.  I love the colours of the flowers - everything from a deep burgandy to a golden yellow.  I love that they are simple flowers, like mums and sunflowers, but looks so elegant because of the presentation.  I love that they used a white pumpkin as the vase.  And finally, I love the photography and styling with the light hitting the top petals of the sunflowers and the mini white pumpkin adding interest at the front.  


I just might try something like this one day - and now I've got the inspiration picture to remind myself.

BHG

What kind of flowers do you like to use in the fall?

Stepping Back

I finally had the perfect trio of time, daylight, and a clean kitchen to get some photos of how the shelves look (you can read about them here).

And as for the details on the shelves:

• Bowls from Anthropologie - check.
• Toy truck from Bangladesh - check.
• Condiments container from France - check
• Baskets to corral junk like tape and candles and batteries - check, check, check, and check!

Did you notice the collection of vintage mason jars on the counter?  They are an early Christmas present from a friend and I'm working on the details of using them on the sideboard at Christmas.  Stay tuned!

Oh, and did you notice the chocolates that coordinate with the accent colour on the shelves.  Very important to always have chocolates that coordinate with your decor.