Thrift Store Costumes

Hey Costume Ceepers,

I love pulling together a Halloween outfit from the thrift store because you can get a better quality and more authentic version of your chosen costume character than if you buy it from the store. If you take like $10 bucks in, I bet you can get a great costume. The trick here is creativity. Any of these can be turned into a zombie.

A dude and a Fortune Teller

Tourist: Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, any camera with a strap (can be broken); Bonus detail: Fanny pack

Fortune Teller: Long skirt, blousey top, scarf; Bonus detail: Chunky jewelry

Bride (Miss Havisham)/Disney Princess: Any bridal or prom dress; Bonus Detail: The signifiers of your character usually a necklace/crown/veil

Professor (could be a Harry Potter thing if you find a black graduation robe which thrift stores love to trot out before Halloween): Tweed suit or jacket; Bonus detail: Patches on the elbows, colors of your HP house

Rosie the Riveter: Blue work shirt (men's dress shirt), bandanna, red lipstick; Bonus Detail: Voice bubble

Lady Liberty

Grunge Rocker: Flannel worn open with a concert/band tee or while tee, baggy jeans (holes option but recommend), wear hair down; Bonus Detail: Guitar Hero guitar

Marley from Xmas Carol: Grey suit, buy plastic chains at Home Depot, dark grey spray paint; Bonus Detail: Scarf around the head

Sherlock Holmes: Trench, two baseball caps (one pointing forward the other backward; Bonus Detail (twofer): Cover the baseball caps with some plaid or tweed, pipe.

Have a blast and please send photos of your Halloween costumes!!

BK

Cheap Halloween Decor

Cover a surface and change your mood!

Hey Practical Pumpkins,

I have a handful of tips on cheaply decorating for Halloween.

Using the Joann's app for discounts: I like Joann fabrics for two reasons; they often run deals of 40% off and if they are not, we have so many options to get the discount. Joann's has coupons in their weekly mailer and their app always has several coupons. They also just have really cute, quirky decor for Halloween.


Checking the remnants bin: Right now there are a ton of fall remnants lurking in the bin. Burlap, upholstery fabrics, and sheer net blacks are all great options for Halloween/Fall decor. I made a table runner from a half yard of burlap. I also had the great luck of discovering the remnants were 50% off when I went in!

Spray painting things: One can of black spray paint can go a long way. This year I bought a can of matte black and experimented with pumpkins and empty wine bottles. The wine bottles I soaked and scraped the labels off and plan to attach potion labels printed off the Internet (tutorial to come). You can also slap a coat on weird shaped jars, frames, figurines, branches, etc. The world is your oyster. To make a safe, clean space to spray, cut one side of a cardboard box and place it outside. Recycle it when you're done!

Easy webs: Cotton ball or hot glue webs are really easy and I bet you have both in your place right now.

Candles from the last Ladies Craft Night

Table cloths: I love table cloths for many reasons including their easy flat storing and they keep messes on your furniture to a minimum. But the number one reason is that they they cover a large area with a holiday or themed pattern. It is an instant change in mood. You can cover a desk, end table, coffee table or dinning room table. And it takes a half hour max to hem a yard of fabric and throw it over a table.

Paper chains: The safest, easiest, most classic craft of all time. Looks festive and is great for young crafters. Glue, tape, or staple closed.

Remember have fun while saving a bit of cash. Let me know if you try anything out!

BK

Halloween Pinterest!

Hey Halloweeners!

I love Halloween with all my heart and have been decorating since September! If you are trying to figure out what to dress up as, how to decorate your home, or what to make for a spooky supper follow me on Pinterest for ideas! I'm still trying to decide what to be for Halloween and I've been thinking about it since last October 31st!

BK

Ramona Flowers Star Purse Tutorial

Hey Constant Crafters!

Long time no type, Fellows of the Craft! My summer gig kind of took over my life and I am very glad to have had the forethought to take a break from the blog and focus on the work at hand. But I am just as jazzed to be back on the keys and back to my most "constructive" (I had to do it) hobby, crafting.

Let us start this winter with my favorite holiday, Halloween. This year the old ball and chain and I decided to be Scott and Ramona from Scott Pilgrim vs the World. I hemmed my thrifted green khaki dress, cut the wig, and made my purse from my own pattern. Add in my Mary Janes, steampunk goggles, finger-less gloves (not pictured); and for warmth: leg warmers and a hoodie. My sweet fella searched Etsy for a purse or a pattern and found a few but, cmon, I can create a round purse so... that leads up to our 

FIRST TUTORIAL OF THE SEASON!

Ramona Flowers Star Purse:

SA=Seam Allowance

You'll need:

• Yard of fabric (I used duck cloth, it is thick and treated for outdoor use), color of your choice (Ramon had several versions in the movie)
• Fat quarter of the Star's color (use a faux leather)
• Thick interfacing (may be iron or sew in, your choice)
• A dinner plate
• Zipper, at least the length of half the circumference of your dinner plate
• Thread in these two colors
• Sewing Machine
• Tape measure
• Iron

*For my star, instead of a fat quarter, I bought a black, fake leather purse with one large side big enough for my star; then I also had the use of all buckles and O-rings on purse. Possibly the zipper too if you're diligent and careful.

1. Use your dinner plate to cut two circles of fabric and interfacing (you may also cut two additional circles of fabric if you do not want to see your interfacing inside your purse). Use 1/2 at SA.
2. Using the entire length of the fabric, mark and cut your strap and width of the purse in strips.

1. Strap: This width can be made to your preference. I marked  3.5 inches wide strip; quarter inch SA and a 1.5 inch wide strap. Fold in a quarter inch on each side (ironing as you go), fold entire width in half, and top stitch on both sides.
• If you are using hardware from another purse, measure how wide the buckles and rings are so you know how wide to make your strap. Adjust measurements as needed.
2. Purse Width: Here I cut two 2.5 inch wide strips, including .5 inch  . You'll need two strips so you can sew your zipper in between them.
3. Sew purse width straps together, pressing SA open. Find center of width and follow instructions on package for an invisible zipper, making it about half the circumference of the purse.
4. For Star: Find a picture of a star on the interwebs, save and adjust size to fit circle, and trace or print a  pattern. Cut out star.
5. Iron or baste interfacing to fashion fabric circles. 
6. Top stitch star to one circle.
• This is where you would baste your second fashion fabric on the inside to hide interfacing.
7. Pick a star point as your top center and find the center of your zipper. Start at those points and pin fashion sides, sew purse width to one circle. Repeat on other circle.
8. Sew excess width closed at bottom. Turn right side out!
9. Decide how long you want your strap to be (take into consideration your buckles and rings, at this point you're on your own or comment for help). Close the ends (fold in and top stitch if you haven't already done so) Top stitch just below the zipper.

• You'll see on mine, I had O-rings. I cut a short length of strap to go around the ring and top stitched to purse and to strap.
10. Press the seams so they're not rolling and you're done! Make sure to avoid the star, as whatever plastics faux leather is made out of will melt on contact with your iron (I learned that lesson the hard way).

**For a more XP, you may also use a slightly smaller, contrasting color star top stitched on the bottom star and piping in your contrasting color around the circles.

BK

Halloween Snacks!

Hungry, Crafters?

Since Halloween is my favorite holiday you better believe that party foods are on my list of recipes to collect. Not Martha created a pretty cool Meat Loaf Hand dinner that looks really creepy and would be good for any night of the week. She uses a mold to make the hand but I think we could do it with out the mold. And the crispy burn skin look is just cheese!

Disney's Family Fun Magazine created a Haunted Graveyard hummus dip. They blend hummus with spinach for a mossy green, healthy dip, adding crackers for tombstones and twist pretzels for a gate. Its a super cute platter and a good-for-ya option during the Halloween haze of sweets.

And for the over 21 crowd, a bevy of Halloween Jell-o Shots! My Science Project is a really funny and fun experiment site for an older audience; including tips on how to keep your Jack-o-Lantern from rotting. MSP has 11 (count 'em 11) great Jell-o shot ideas for spooky shooters. My favorite discovery is that the quinine in tonic water makes Jell-o black light responsive! You can get the brain molds in the Halloween section of Target for about $5. There is a recipe for caramel and green apple shots that are based on the lollipops. When I was in middle school those caramel apple pops were hot currency and it brought back a little more nostalgia for my trick-o-treating youth.

UPDATE: You can get the Jell-o Brain Mold for free plus S&H (only $2.95) right now on Kraft's website until supplies run out!!!

Busting a Gut, BK

Creature Double Feature

Hey Halloweenies!

Back for a second round of Halloween crafts, this is a Creature Double Feature! Not to mention both of these crafts would be great for kiddos.

Alisa Burke, and her Refine Creativity blog, has a very cute tutorial on Paper Roll Monsters. It sounds hokey but they are actually really cute! Just grab your paper towel/toilet paper rolls and craft paint yourself some Little Monsters! I'm a fan of the puff ball deely boppers. This would also be cute as a gift packaging; wrapped in cellophane so you can see the monster face, tied with ric-rac and stuffed with toys and candy.

The Long Thread has a pretty darn cute Candy Bowl tutorial. The bowls are made out of papier mache and paper bags, decorated to look like ghosts and Jack-o-Lanterns, but you could totally make a Frankenstein too. I like that they look a bit worn. But not as worn as they will after Halloween!

BK

Let's Start at the Very Begining

Helloooo, World at Large!

At the encouragement of several friends, I've decided to start a craft blog. I am constantly on the hunt for creative, useful crafts and re-purposing. And here is where I will share my bounty! Let me be clear, I will do a few tutorials but this forum is to re-post links to other craft tutorials and to show you my own results, adding suggestions and variations.

There are two reasons this is a great time of year to start a new project, like this blog. One: The Fall season is here. People are soaking up the last bit of lazy Summertime and getting ready for holidays and Winter. I am excited for the project to support me through the season. This new focus will make it feel like I actually want to be inside and not like I'm trapped by snow. Two: The holiday season is a great time of year for crafting!! There are many, many people who want to give homemade presents (like cookie-in-a-jar) and are decorating their homes with crafts. So, be prepared for all of the Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas tutorials coming this way.

On to the Show! This very first link is a Halloween craft, Jar-o-Lanterns. Martha Stewart has us just paint the inside of a glass jar orange and a face on the outside. Everyone has old glass jars in their recycling bins and I figure you can use the 69 cent water based paints at Walmart if you don't wash them! And this doesn't just stop at Jack-o-Lanterns either, you could make ghosts or snowmen. Heck, you could turn your ghost INTO a snowman!

Till next time, BK