Upcycled T-Shirt Brain

I made a brain today!

It's to go with my son's Halloween costume.

I just used an old pink t-shirt and some red thread...and voila!  

(It's stuffed with plastic grocery bags.)

Costume Idea #3, 2013: A Pop Art Comic Book Girl

Here's costume idea #3!  My oldest daughter is going to be a pop art inspired comic book girl.  This costume is going to be pretty much all about the face/body paint.  We will be spraying here hair yellow and dressing her up in bright and bold colors too. 

Our inspiration:

Is everyone ready for Halloween next week?

I can't wait to share a picture of the finished costumes!

Costume Idea #2, 2013: A Zombie Brain Surgeon

Okay, here is costume idea #2.  My son has decided to dress up as a zombie brain surgeon.  This is also a very easy costume idea.  You only need a doctor's costume and face paint.  We looked for scrubs at the thrift store, but finally decided to buy a complete doctors costume (with the lab coat, stethoscope, hat, and face mask).  I did see a zombie doctor's costume with a mask, but my son hates wearing masks because they are uncomfortable.  We will just paint his face and add some fake blood here and there.  We have been looking for and will probably make a brain for him to carry around too.  You can pretty much zombify any costume with the right makeup!

Here are some inspiration pics:

Next up: A Pop Art Comic Book Girl!

Costume Idea #1, 2013: A Corpse Bride

All three of my kids wanted to be something scary this year, and that's okay.  Sometimes scary can be fun!  At first my oldest wanted to be a scary clown (all clowns are scary, aren't they?), but later changed her mind after we saw a really cool and different costume idea online.  I'll share the idea later...it's really cool!

One of our favorite parts of Halloween is coming up with ideas for and making the costumes.  We don't usually make the costumes from scratch, but rather they are semi-homemade.  This is still fun, because you can create a costume that not every single other person/kid will have.  It's fun to be unique and creative!  I thought I'd share the costume ideas we came up with this year.  Maybe they with inspire you too!

The first idea I'll share is what my youngest daughter has decided to be, a corpse bride.

This is a pretty easy costume idea!  Really, all you need is a wedding dress and some face paint!  We are not going to make her look exactly like THE corpse bride from the movie, more just a dead bride, but the corpse bride from the movie will serve as great inspiration.  We also lucked out and found a bride costume at the Goodwill that fit her perfectly!

Here are some inspiration pics...can't wait to share the finished costume!

Next up: A Zombie Brain Surgeon!

Custom Family Ornaments

Another order completed!

Don't you think the dog turned out cute?

Also, what a fun way to remember your child's sports team!

Strawberry Earrings Beading Pattern

Hi everyone!

I had planned on writing another kindle book, and I still might, but I have decided to share some of the patterns I was going to include here on my blog instead.   

Here is a pattern for seed beaded/brick stitch strawberry earrings.

This pattern was completed using a combination of ladder stitch, single and two drop brick stitch (as with many of my other patterns).  A foundation row is created using a ladder stitch with two beads in each row.  The rest of the beadwork is completed using either a single or two bead brick stitch.  It's another really good beginner's project because there are no complicated increases or decreases.  I used round, size 11/o seed beads for the earrings pictured above, but feel free to experiment with the pattern using various sizes and shapes of beads.  Various colors can be used too.  They would look awesome in a sparkly red.

You can get the PDF download for this pattern HERE.

Hope everyone enjoys the new pattern!

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Another Beautiful Home

Here is my most recently completed custom home ornament:

What a beautiful home, so much character!  

Halloween Tutorial Roundup

It's October already!

So...I thought I'd post a roundup of all of my Halloween themed crafts!

(P.S.  the photo above is not one of my crafts (the kit is from Target), but reminds me of the polymer clay decorated pumpkin tutorial I did last year!)

Beading Patterns:

witch hat earrings

Polymer Clay Tutorials:

polymer clay decorated pumpkin

spiderweb and skull

Costumes:

Dia de los Muertos, Sugar Skull, Dead Bride Costume

Lalaloopsy Costume Tutorial

Happy Crafting!