Sparkly Jack-O-Lantern Tutorial

In need of a last minute Halloween craft? Here is a fun one from the archives. I have my work cut out for me today finishing the kids' Halloween costumes. Stay tuned!

We received several jack-o-lantern pumpkins from our CSA share. I knew that if we carved them, they would be gone long before Halloween. I decided to do something different (and less messy) with them. To make these sparkly pumpkins, you will need a small piece of contact paper, white glue, a paint brush, glitter, and of course, pumpkins.

Begin by drawing your jack-o-lantern's features on the back of your contact paper.

Using sharp scissors, carefully cut out your stencil.

Peel the paper backing off and apply stencil to the pumpkin. Rub the edges down with your finger to make sure that there are no gaps. (You may have to 'pleat' the stencil a bit to get it to lay flat)

Using a paintbrush, spread glue over the design.

Sprinkle a generous helping of glitter over the glue. (Make sure to do this over a sheet of scratch paper to catch the extra glitter) Tap the pumpkin a few times to remove excess glitter.

Gently peel away the stencil and remove any stray glitter with a dry brush. Repeat for other features. (I used the same stencil for both eyes)

*You could spray the finished pumpkins with a sealer if you plan on keeping them outside.

Now you have yourself some sparkly, happy pumpkins!

Ruffled Dress + Facebook

 Sometimes an idea for a dress just pops into my head and I have to make it. This time it was inspired by the fabrics I stuck together. I decided it called for ruffles! And so ruffle it, I did. P.S. I hate sewing ruffles. All that gathering makes me wonder if the cuteness is worth it.

 But alas, I pushed on and the cuteness was indeed worth it. I added a few little flowers with vintage buttons. Am I the only one obsessed with vintage buttons? Please tell me I'm not alone!

I love the way the ruffles allow me to use different fabrics together. Picking fabrics is one of my very favorite things to do. I am thinking of sizing this pattern up and altering the bodice a little. In my spare time, you know. Ha, ha.

In other news, I finally put my big girl pants on and launched a Facebook page for the shop! Check it out here.

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I was excited to see that Sew Mama Sew is starting up their Handmade Holidays on November 1st! Each year they spend the month of November posting great tutorials for all manner of homemade gifts. Each day the tutorials speak to a different theme, such as 'Gifts for Kids' or 'Gifts for Techies'. I have found a lot of great tutorials from this series. Follow along and see what inspires you! Don't have me if your projects-to-do list gets even longer! :)

Fingerless Gloves!

Sheesh! We won't be winning any awards for consistent blogging anytime soon. I have been sewing quite a bit and knitting too. My friend Belinda has been enabling encouraging me to get back into yarn projects. She taught me how to crochet (hello, granny squares!!) and sent me the link for this pattern with the encouragement that I could actually make them. And that I did! The pattern is posted on Ravelry, with a link to the directions. I am happy to say this is the first knitting pattern I have ever done.

No comments from the peanut gallery as to the technical difficulty (or lack thereof) of this pattern. Not only that, but I completed them in one week which is light speed for me when it comes to knitting.

I even had to knit like a big girl and use math to figure out how many stitches to cast on since my yarn was a different weight. These babies are knitted flat and seamed up the side, leaving an opening for the thumb.

Photographing them turned out to be the trickiest part, because...well, it's really hard to take a picture of your hands without using your hands. I decided to enlist my boy, who as I like to tell him has the sophistication of a 9 year old. Read: he laughs at fart jokes. We were trying to accomplish all this with the web cam since my camera batteries died and as you can see....it was entertaining to say the least! Most of the pictures look like this last one, with one or both of us cracking up. All in all, I am thrilled with these gloves and have decided to wear them till they fall off. It is like having long sweater sleeves with thumb holes. They keep my hands cozy and I can still use my digits. Yay!