DIY Halloween Costume Idea: Tomato Pin Cushion

Somewhere in the rear crevices of my brain I store my "one day" Halloween costume ideas. Those are the concepts I love, but for one reason or another have never gotten the chance to make and wear. For years, I've been amped to be a tomato pin cushion for Halloween, both because I think it's a cute costume, but also because sewing is one of my main hobbies. It's a match made in crafting heaven!

Sadly, I've yet to wear this costume so I'm sharing my tips here in case anyone out there would like to do so!

So, my general concept is a red dress enhanced with green accents, several larger than life sewing pins and a thimble hat (every costume needs a tiny hat!), plus an optional measuring tape to be used where you see fit. Here's how I recommend putting this costume together:

The Dress

Red Skater Dress: Amazon  •  Green Ribbon: Michaels  •  Green Felt: Michaels  •  Flexible Fabric Glue: Joann Fabrics

Find a red dress. Cut tomato leaf shapes from dark green felt and glue or stitch them along the neckline of the dress, front and back. Cut lengths of a matching green ribbon to attach in intervals along the skirt of the dress. If you want to wear the dress again, you could safety pin the green bits instead.

The Sewing Pins

Styrofoam Balls: Walmart  •  Metallic Paint: Amazon  •  Acrylic Paint: Michaels  •  Hot Glue Gun: Amazon  •  Wood Dowels: Joann Fabrics

To make the sewing pins, start with a wooden dowel - these ones are great because they're not too thick and are cut to a good length. Paint them silver or wrap them in aluminum foil. Paint the styrofoam balls in a variety of colors. Add a dollop of hot glue to the end of a dowel and push it into a styrofoam ball. Repeat until you have enough pins. Finally, poke the pins through holes in your dress in whatever locations you desire. You might need a bit of glue to keep them secured. If you don't want to cut the dress, you can instead just hold a few pins.

The Thimble Hat

Silver Paint: Amazon  •  Elastic String: Michaels

To make the thimble hat, paint a plastic cup metallic silver. Use a black marker to draw the dots and lines to mimic a real thimble. Attach elastic cord with a dot of hot glue (don't melt the cup!) to keep it attached to your head.

If you'd like to incorporate a measuring tape (and why not at this point? Go crafty or go home!), you could use it as the headband tie for your thimble hat, a strap to a custom purse, a belt or even a choker.

One day I hope to make this costume for myself, but until then I'll have to put a pin in it. Sorry, I just had to put a pun in it. Yikes, wow, sorry, someone please stop me!

Happy Halloween Wreath • Make Your Own!

As part of Blogtober, I'll be re-running some past posts that fit this month's theme. This post was originally published in October 2014.

I don't think I've ever made a DIY wreath before in my life, but I do have an almost fetish-level interest in holiday decorations. I admire them mostly from afar, at stores and in other people's homes, and stick to minimal seasonal cheer around my own place. The main reason for this is that I tend to focus primarily on how I'll need to store the rarely used decor and visualize myself one day packing it and moving it to a new place. It just seems like so much extra work!

I did this for SIX YEARS at our last apartment, more regretful with every passing holiday, and when we moved into a new place I promised myself I'd dive into holiday decorating, regardless of how many ornaments I may or may not have to store in a kitchen cabinet. I needed a Halloween wreath - maybe you do too? Here's how:

What You Need

• Round Wreath Form

• Black Yarn & White Yarn

• Halloween Trinkets {I got these from Michaels}

• Scissors

• Hot Glue Gun

• Glue Stick 

• Scrapbook Paper 

• Pencil

• String 

• White Paper

• Ribbon

How To Make It

I wanted a black and white striped background, so I opted to wrap yarn around my wreath form. Alternately, you could use felt, fabric or maybe even the leg of some striped tights.

To use both colors, I simply tied the two yarn strings together on the back of the wreath when I was done wrapping each section and continued on with the new color. I just eyeballed the sections. You could also glue them periodically, but I didn't. When you're done wrapping, just tie the end of your yarn to another piece of wrapped yarn in the back {bottom picture}. Make sure to knot it well.

To make the bunting, cut diamond shaped pieces from burlap-print scrapbook paper {A}. Then use a glue stick to glue the shapes to brown scrapbook paper {B} and cut out the shape, leaving a brown paper border all around {C}. Next, just fold the diamond into a triangle and crease the edge {D}.

Next comes the letters! You can obviously write whatever (a simple "BOO" makes for a much easier project, I can say with hindsight). Draw your letters to fit on your bunting {A} and cut them out {B}. Glue to the bunting and finish your other letters {C}.

To make the bunting, open your triangle and place the string against the crease {A} before gluing the triangle and pressing it closed {B}. Continue to string all the letters {C}. I made mine in two rows.

Next, start hot gluing your Halloween trinkets and bobbles (glitter heavily recommended) around your wreath. Keeping your glue gun on a paper plate makes things slightly less messy, but I still managed to hot glue my pajama pants to myself, so maybe don't listen to me.

Glue the bunting around the wreath on each side so it hangs across the middle. I also added some glitter ribbon that I had on hand between the stripes.

Then just tie a ribbon loop around the top of the wreath so you can hang it.

Done! Wreath accomplished.

Have you made any DIY Halloween decorations this year? 
Found any awesome Halloween trinkets at the dollar store? 
Why is 'bunting' such a funny word?

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How to Paint a Ceramic Canister (plus one million ways NOT to): A Tutorial

This all started innocently enough; I was in the market for a coffee canister. Something simple - not too big, not too small and at least a little cute. Within the ranks of Amazon's thousands of offerings I was sure to find something to suit my tastes, right? Wrong. 

Blame it on my pickiness (it's fine, she and I are well acquainted), but I couldn't find the simple-canister-with-an-attached-scoop of my dreams. Woe is me, in lieu of flowers send canisters, etc. 

I was able to find a simple white canister (now with scoop!) at Michael's and grabbed that thing for less than eight bucks with a coupon. She was so plain, so empty, so…ready for my magic hands. She was getting a makeover!

Wanting to keep it simple, I grabbed some gold paint (yes, my version of simple is metallic gold, why do you ask?) and went upon my merry way, thinking this would be a one-and-done project that'd be over in an afternoon. Ohhhh, baby, was I mistaken. This project gave me lots of experience in how NOT to paint a ceramic canister, which is probably more useful than the correct way, so I'm gonna give you both. Paint at your own risk ☺

Allow me to take you on a brief tour of my DIY journey:

First, I pondered - how do I get perfect polka dots? Maybe not perfect perfect, but mostly perfect. Hey, I'm laid back! Though, perfect perfect is great too. Maybe then let's just go for perfect perfect. Flexible! See how laid back I am???

My plan: I'll draw on perfectly symmetrical lines with a ruler so everything is lined up just right. Oh, that's very difficult on a rounded surface? Let's use a level then. Oh, that's basically the same thing? JK, we're doing this with a length of string and a grease pencil and…the plans went on and on. That's good for placement, but what about the actual dots?

I could buy a rubber stamper! Eh, those look flimsy and cost way more than they should. I can make a stamper! From what, you lunatic? Okay, I'll use the lid to a product and stamp a circular outline and then fill it in! GENIUS AWARD RIGHT HERE PLZ. Oh, right, that's super messy and, again, that damn rounded surface. How about I just put circle stickers on the canister and paint everything around them gold and go for a reverse effect? That'll show them! Okay, first - show who? Second - that's not even easier. You're losing it, kid.

Then, when I least expected it, actual genius struck!

I'm gonna make stencils out of painters tape with a giant hole punch! 

I nearly wept at my own brilliance. Giant hole punches (or really, small paper punches) are like $5 B.C. (Before Coupon) at Michael's. I had painters tape already. This was gonna happen.

I simply inserted the tape in the punch and made a perfect circular hole. No prob!

In an attempt to repeat this, I realized this was not really a 'no prob' scenario. Tape is sticky! It stuck on the punch and was hard to pull out. Knowing I had to make a lot of those things, I needed a better way.

Duh, I'll stick the tape to paper first and then punch because peeling off painters tape is easy! That's literally what it's designed to do. Except it was only mostly easy. Some spots got paper stuck to them, negating their purpose as a stencil. Okay, I'l switch to card stock since it's thicker and probably won't stick as easily.

Yay! This is mostly true! It still sticks here and there, but guess what? This is getting old fast! I punch a bunch of strips full of evenly spaced holes and peel them off the card stock. Success?

Now we pop those stencils on and we're basically done, right? HA. This project laughs in your face. First, wipe the whole canister down with rubbing alcohol.

To apply the strips of stencils, either rely on a keen eye like I did or bring out a ruler to check as you go. It helps to find the center of the top and mark it with a pencil (which will wipe off) before laying down your first strip.

Hot Tip: to apply on the top of the canister, start in the center and work out. On the body, start on the side and work around so that any wonky measurements will end up in the back where no one will dare to look.

PAINT! It's finally time! It'll be easy now, right? Right?? Why are you looking at me like that? Oh…

I innocently painted on a layer of the enamel paint. I thought it seemed thinner than I expected, but I was still riding high. I painted the whole top of the canister and waited excitedly.

This paint is made for ceramic and other surfaces and meant to be baked on or air cured afterward. I didn't quite get that far, though.

WHY THO? Do I not deserve a coffee canister? 

The paint stuck to the painters tape (one job, buddy!) instead of the canister and peeled off almost everywhere. It was very sheer too, and would've taken at least three coats to be opaque.

I'm in too deep to turn back now, yet I have nothing to show for it but a bunch of hole-filled tape. Perhaps I should take this tape and cover my eyes for all of eternity so that I may pretend my canister is completed and beautiful. I'm sure I'd still see outta these stupid holes though. Hmmm.

WAIT. DON'T PAINT MARKERS EXIST? *googles paint markers* THEY DO!

Then, like an angel sent from craft store heaven (where sequins get their wings), comes this glorious golden baby:

It's glowing, right? It's not just me and my heart eyes? Oh, it is? This Sharpie paint marker in metallic gold is also good on glass, ceramic and other tricky surfaces, except this paint is opaque and it stays put! It's…beautiful. 

This method is:

a) faster

b) easier

c) even more golden

d) not going to stick to painters tape, which goes against the ONE purpose of both the tape and the paint, not that I'm still bitter, but you get it.

Bonus - I only needed one pen and still have some use left in it, and it dried almost immediately. I left it overnight just to be safe. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, I'm smashing this canister in the street.

You can see some marker strokes, but when it dries the color smooths out nicely.

When it's dry, just slowly take those paint strips off. Treat it like emotional therapy for what this project has done to you.

*The Reveal*

Okay, so let me say - I'm happy with my canister and will use it daily. Let me also say - some of my perfect perfect polka dots are…not so perfect. 

I'm totally cool with this because, c'mon, look at this journey - I'm just excited to end it. But more than that, the slightly fuzzy dots have grown on me tremendously and I can't believe I didn't do this on purpose. Now, perfect perfect seems so boring boring.

I think the cheap ceramic is to blame for this result because the stencils were tightly stuck and I was careful with my marker. It just seemed to bleed like a cheap lipstick bleeds outside the lip line.

When I showed my sister these fuzzy-edged dots she said she loved them as is, and that they looked cool, like gold bullet holes. So she's either a wonderful liar or a wonderful sister, but let's be optimistic.

She pointed out that since the placement was so precise and purposeful (I believe there was a Martha Stewart comparison, but who can remember these things?) (I can. There was.), the messiness of the dots looks intentional. A mix of chaos and order. Just like this whole project, really.

Sure, I could re-outline all the dots with the marker or another paint color. Honestly, though? I'm just going to embrace the imperfection. I actually prefer it! Plus, I got the hint that maybe I need to be a little more of a "go with the flow" type of girl and less "hmm, how can I completely control the flow?" Point taken, canister. Point taken.

Have you ever painted a canister? Have any tips on working with enamel paint? Have you made it safely through this harrowing journey?

DIY: Christmas Wreath Tutorial

I'm back on the decorating train (just took my Halloween wreath down, oops!) and I've learned that I simply cannot resist a little glitter and sparkle in my home decor. This wreath is perhaps a little too glittery for most - I mean, there are glitter balls, glitter leaves, glitter birds, glitter pinecones and a dangerously shiny garland involved. The only parts that aren't glittery are the tree garland and ribbon, and I would've opted for those too if I'd been able. I cannot be stopped! Here's how you can make a blindingly shiny door decoration for yourself:

WHAT YOU NEED

Tree Garland or Wreath Base

Metallic Garland

Baubles and Decorations

Hot Glue Gun

Ribbon

Scissors

Optional: Green Thread & Wire Cutters

HOW TO DO IT

If you have a ready-made wreath base, you can skin this step. Since I'm working with tree garland, I first made a circle from it by wrapping the garland around several times. To keep the layers together, I tied a few green threads around the edges. If you have too much, trim the garland with wire cutters.

I decorated the base with some silver metallic garland. Any kind will do, but I used this narrow rope garland just to spice things up (I guess this is how I get my kicks now?).

Then I proceeded to hot glue to my heart's content, slapping glittery balls, leaves and birds in a pleasing-to-my-eye-but-probably-too-gaudy-for-the-masses style.

Then I went all crazy and glued some glitter-edged pinecones in the center. Can I just emphasize how happy I was to finally have a reason to purchase these ridiculously long tailed glitter birds?

I made a pink satin bow to glue on the top of the wreath for a little balance. Next, I made a ribbon loop from which to hang the wreath.

All hung up and nowhere to go! Although, I guess I'm only assuming the wreath isn't going out when I'm sleeping...perhaps I should set up some secret surveillance.

Glitter for daaaaaaaays.

Do you also enjoy being nearly blinded by the shine of your home decor? Do you mind woodsy decorations that in no way accurately represent nature? What else could I use these glitter birds for?

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