Halloween Projects and Tutorials from Around the Web

As you can imagine, I've been steadily trying to catch up on. . .everything since dealing with vision issues and moving and whatnot. In going through my feedreader, I've stumbled on some cool, creepy, and neat Halloween ideas that I thought I'd share with you before the actual day gets here. You know, give you enough time to make one of these projects or at least think hard about them.

These pumpkins with the doorknob tops are so cute and vintage-y. And, they look pretty easy to make too - BONUS!

Vintage Doorknob Pumpkins from Finding Home Farms

I'm obsessed with Tim Holtz products and have always wanted to make a little Halloween collection of apothecary/witches jars so this Undertaker's Parlor that combines both totally appeals to me.

Undertakers Parlor from IGIRLZOE

More pumpkins and upcycling! Again, these are made so easily and from thrift store finds. I might just have to make a few.

Pumpkin Candy Jars from Craftbits

Now for a few projects on the spooky side. . .
This first one is kinda labor intensive, but it looks like the results might be worth it! Seriously, a full-body ghost in your front yard!? Want!

Packing Tape Ghost from The Crafty Geek

A friend of mine actually made a set of these floating crystal ball candlesticks before I even saw the link in my feedreader. She did different images in hers but I like that the tutorial includes printable images to make it easier for you. I think they're pretty awesome.

Spooky Crystal Ball Halloween Candlesticks from Flamingo Toes

Lastly, something a little less spooky. . .and yes, pumpkins again. But these are faux quilted pumpkins.  For real, they are NO-SEW patchwork pumpkins. So adorable!

No-sew Patchwork Pumpkins from Crafts n' Coffee

That's what I've stumbled across so far. I'm sure there are tons of other amazing projects and foods and costumes and gosh knows what else that I've missed and haven't gotten to yet. But, I did need to share these. Remember that if you want to pin or save these projects, I ask that you go to the original source to do so.

What are some cool projects that you've made for Halloween? Help me catch up!

Post-Vacation Link-a-palooza

I recognize that I should be sharing some vacation photos and stories with you, but I'm not sure either are fit for the internet. Besides that, I haven't worked up the momentum yet to upload all the pictures. On the other hand, I have made it into the craft room in little spurts when I haven't been trying to get the house back in order. Oh sigh. Why does it seem like there's so much more work before and after a vacation than any other time??

Just a peek at what's on my craft desk at the moment

I really should be working on my Bead Soup piece(s), but I'm trying to get the creative juices flowing before I dive into that pool. Don't forget that the second reveal of the Bead Soup Blog Party is tomorrow. I suggest you hit up hostess Lori Anderson's Pretty Things blog to get the ball rolling. There will probably be plenty of posts up around midnight Eastern US time.

While I've got you here, let me go ahead with some links so this feels more like a real post.

• Since I've already mentioned the fabulous Lori Anderson, here's one of her wonderfully informative posts. This one is on Going to a Bead Show - How to Prepare.
• Jo at Daisychain Jewellery also offered up an informative but techy post on how to add a photo to your Blogger sidebar.
• For a fun crafty tutorial, check out this neat DIY Antiqued Mercury Mirror Glass from 17 Apart.
•  Today I stumbled on this great post from Handemadeology about how to Never Run Out of Blogging Ideas. What a great list of inspiration that is. I only hope I can make it work as easy as they make it sound. Check out the comments too as they do ask for suggestions from readers at the end of the post.

As soon as I returned from vacation, I did put a few items ON SALE in the Etsy shop. In addition, I added these new earrings in there.

Gathering Flowers Earrings

I hope you found something cool in the links today and hope to be back in the next day or two with something more than links, but we'll see how busy the Bead Soup Blog Party keeps me before I make any promises!

A Little Link-a-palooza and a Laugh (at myself)

It's really a shame how much the weather affects my mood and motivation. It's overcast and dreary here today and I'm really having to push myself to get anything done. Sigh. Am I the only one with this malady? What affects your motivation?

I really want to mention the great laugh I had Wednesday evening. Here in the states, the Fourth of July is our Independence Day. It's a day of bar-b-ques, watermelon, and fireworks.

Tons of people flock to their favorite firework-watching spot over the course of the day. Once the show is over, they all trudge back to their vehicles and homes.

This was the middle of the road. . .there was a car to my right stuck following the people walking.

As we joined the masses in this trek, I couldn't help but imagine that this is similar to what it would look like in apocalyptic scenarios, or that it's what a zombie hoard would look like. It really tickled and frightened me at the same time (I kinda like to be scared.)

It just goes to show you what an overactive imagination I can have and how easily amused I am.

Anyway. . .since my motivation is running low, it seems like the perfect time for

**Cindy at Sweet Bead Studio offered up this pretty sweet spiral wire clasp tutorial a few months back. I'm finally getting around to sharing the link. Maybe someday I'll get around to actually trying it out!

Cindy's Spiral Clasp Tutorial

** Handmadeology gathered up a pretty neat list of 25 Things to Do on Your Lunchbreak to Further your Handmade Business. Whether you have a lunchbreak or not, I think this list is a really great example of some tasks you can do pretty quickly to get inspired, manage your business, and think outside the box.

**Mary & Patch has a tutorial on altering plain metal bangles with macrame. I really love all the color it adds.

I've a PILE of videos to watch saved up. See. . . .I've got no speakers and heaphones don't seem to work on this desktop. As such, I really need to sit down with the iPad and the Apple TV and get to watching. Maybe soon I'll have a list of those for you.

For now, I'll leave you with the three items I put on sale today. The first two are from the Suor Angelica collection. Please note that although I've marked those items down, Melanie will still receive the 50% of the ORIGINAL price, not the reduced price.

Cross My Heart Necklace

Music Dreams Necklace

Bright Blossom Necklace

The bottom has finally dropped out of the clouds. Maybe once the rain passes I'll get my sunshine. Wishful thinking?

Words For Valentine's Day

I've found that ever since we got this desktop set up in the living room. I haven't ventured very far from it. This means I've only gone into the craft room to gather my photography supplies. I think I need to remedy that issue this afternoon. Of course, I still have LOADS of photos to take and edit. . . .Oh well, I need a crafty break!

Today is Day 2 of the February Photo a Day Challenge and the topic is Words.

Here's the picture I captured.

Day 2: Words

I made this canvas for the hubs back in October for our anniversary. I thought it would be perfect to share today as Valentine's Day begins to creep up on us. Here's a link to my Sign of Love tutorial and a better shot of the finished piece.

I've got a notebook full of crafty jewelry ideas but am at a loss for what to make HIM for Valentine's Day this year. I was going to share some of the neat items I've made for Pat int he past for Valentine's, but all I can find documented is this Valentine's one from 2010. I wonder what's up with that. . .
Anyway, have you found or made any cool V-day projects? I'd so welcome the suggestions!

Bead Table Wednesday and Other Bead-y News

My bead table is a little sparse today. I'm just not feeling very inspired. However, one of my best friends came over Halloween night and gifted me with these beauties for my birthday.

She was so worried I wasn't going to like them since they're not the vibrant colors that are usually typical for me. She was right about one thing: I don't like them, I LOVE them!
Thank you AFA!!

There's more Bead Table Wednesday in the Flickr Group.

In other new, there's A LOT going on in bead blogger world.
1. Art Bead Scene has revealed their November Monthly Challenge.

2. Shel over at MiShel Designs is hosting a "Holiday Shop Hop" the weekend of December 3rd & 4th. You can read all the information about it over on her blog and join in the fun!

3. Julianna Cannon of Julsbeads fame is kicking the holiday season into high gear and will be sending out some Surprise packages as well as offering some sales for the next several weeks. Read all the details on her blog post.

4. Lorelei is having another challenge. This time with Jade Scott Flowers. She's selecting SEVEN comments at random to participate in the challenge. Go to her blog post to leave a comment and be entered.

5. Erin at Teasure's Found is hosting a Color Blog Hop. It sounds like a lot of fun and there's even a chance you could win some prizes!

Here's the news in my little bead corner of the world:
One of my most favorited (as in many people have marked it as a favorite) necklace has made its way into the ON SALE section of the shop.

White Trash JUNK Necklace

And, there's a new necklace in town!

Bubbles Ascending Necklace

Well, that's all the new news I have for you!

Pushing Through

I mentioned yesterday that I got some crafty work done over the weekend. . .but I failed to snap a photo of it to show you. So, here's a sneak peek at some of the beady bliss in which I enveloped myself.

I'm trying to focus on getting some tasks accomplished today, so this will be a fairly short post (especially since I posted so late yesterday. . . not much has happened since then.)

Basically, I listed a new necklace.

The Cat's Meow Necklace

I've also been working on getting some more earrings made. Earrings tend to be my go-to project when I'm working in short bursts like I am today.

It's been a while since I've shared some links, so let me do that and be out of your hair.
Crafty Links 
(Topic: Purse/Bag . . .these are items that you could keep in your purse or how to make a purse/bag) Unfortunately, most of these are sewing centered, so they're on my list of items I wish I could make.

• Sew a coffee cozy
• Here's another coffee cup cozy you can make
• Sew a passport cover 
• Drawstring bag
• Coupon clutch 

I think I've gone over the time limit I'd given myself to write this. . back to the grind.

Sharing Some Sales

I guess it was a good thing I listed those split personality earrings yesterday since that post was a bit schizophrenic in itself!! (BTW, I just spelled that really long word without the assistance of spell check, ThankYouVeryMuch! Of course, I DO have a degree is psychology and should be able to spell schitzophrenic without aid. Dangit, I knew I couldn't do it twice. . .)

Anyways. . . . I don't have much to share today. I couldn't even find any new giveaways. However, I did stumble upon a few bead sales that I thought I'd mention.
1. Gaea announced her NEW SHOP that contains her less favorite/"goof" ceramic pieces. Of course, they're all lovely gems to me. Anyway, with the announcement, she's offering up a coupon code. Now, the sets she has for sale are already QUITE reasonable even without the coupon code. I should know, I didn't realize that she was offering the discount until after I purchased THESE pretties. I'm not fretting about it, but I thought I'd save you the trouble.

2. Ema K is having a 20% off customer appreciation sale at both her Etsy and Artfire shops. Check out her blog post for details!!

As well, I listed a new item in my shop today.

Baby Blues Earrings

I've been admiring all the flowers blooming everywhere you look down here. But, I know that many of you up North haven't even really had your spring start yet, so let me share the love with some Flower-themed Crafty Links:

• Flower hairpins
• Coffee filter roses
• Paper flower tutorial
• Crepe paper roses
• Button flower pins
• Fabric flowers

And, that's it for me today. I've got some other tasks I NEED to bust out, and the day has almost slipped away from me.

Loving Those Links

Just dropping in to share a few quick links with y'all.

I listed these uber-girlie earrings

Pretty Pink Earrings

There's another giveaway going on at Beaducation for Craft Month.

How about some Totally Random links:

• Cute chameleon - my fave lizard. I want one. This doesn't help.
• Some tips on getting or staying inspired to create from the Creative Goddess.

And finally. . .some Home Decor ideas/projects. Of course, these are all Sewing-related, so it'll be a while before I ever learn to make them. Instead, let me just share the pretty ideas!!

• Fabric boxes
• Make felt fabric curtains that still let in plenty of light.
• Ribbon table runner (the example one was done for Halloween, but could be adjusted for any theme/color palette.)
• Here's another table runner. This one is a patchwork design (Again, the example is for Christmas morning, but can be adjusted)
• Staying on the table-scape theme, here's some mix and match napkins.

Short and sweet, how about that?

Thrifty Thursday

I've been saving up all kinds of thrifty-related pictures and projects to share here, but somehow it always gets away from me. I'm making a point to got to it today.

Last week, I showed you pictures of the thrift store goodness I found. I didn't mention the ones I didn't buy. However, there were two items I spotted at an antique store which I passed on buying. I was still thinking about them on Sunday, so I knew they had to be mine.

This Holly Hobbie lunchbox (WITH Thermos) was a steal at only $8. It does have some damage to the back of it and really needs to be cleaned. But, it's just SO AWESOME!!

As well, this little jar of buttons was a whopping $5, but it had SO MANY colorful buttons that I just HAD to have it.

On other 'thrifty' topics, I've been wanting to share these Christmas gifts (YES, I KNOW it's March!) that I made for two of my friends. They were not only thrifty because they were handmade, but also because I made them with items I already had at the house.

I've been collecting zippers for some time to try to make these rosette brooches and finally broke down and made them. They turned out better than I expected. I might actually work on some more for the shop before too long as I keep finding fun zippers at the thrift stores. However, I've got to find a "prettier" way to secure the pins on the back. How bo-bo does that look to you?

These coffee cozies weren't completely thrifty as I did have to make a trip to a well-known coffee chain to purchase me a hot beverage in order to ensure that I made these felt ones to the right size ;) . I did enjoy getting to use my embroidery supplies for actual embroidering though!

I hope y'all checked out the Giveaways I mentioned yesterday (because what's more thrifty than FREE). In that vein, I found a few more to share with you today.
1.  Lady Noble is having a necklace giveaway. You just need to help her name her newest design.
2. Cyndi L at Beading Arts is giving away a copy of "Vintage-Style Beaded Jewelry". Go check out her review of the book and the details for entering.

To round-out this post, here are some related links

Thrifty Thursday:

• DIY mercury glass 
• Make a lazy Susan supply organizer

Crafty Links (topic: recycle):

• Make a super simple recycled quilt 
• Magnetic bookmarks 
• Make coasters with curling ribbon 
• Craft supplies from your kitchen 
• Pantyhose petals

The sun is out and shining today so I might actually get something accomplished in the craft room. . .if I can get off this dang computer first! Let me go see what I can do.

Beady Basics

How'd you like that picture-fest yesterday?

Today, let's rock it old-school with just the basics.
First, here's a sneaky peek at my completed Bead Soup Blog Party pieces.

Don't forget to check back on Saturday to get a much better look at what I made with the lovelies Patty sent me.

Today's Wednesday and that means it's Bead Table Wednesday.

Bead Table Wednesday

Close up on my table, you see the remnants of my crafting the bead soup pieces.

However, if you back up all you can see is the mess left behind from working on and sending out a custom piece as well as the Bead Soup spillage.

I'll tackle that mountain of a disaster tomorrow. For now, why don't you go check out some really cool bead tables in the BTW flickr group.

This morning I listed one of my most FAVORITE pieces. It just screams SPRING IS HERE to me. And, since I started seeing traces of spring in the yellow pollen that's begun to settle on my car, I thought today was the perfect time to go ahead and list it.

Secret Garden Necklace

Now for the routine of some
~*Crafty Links*~ (topic: Embroidery)

• Floral corner embroidery pattern (PDF)
• Embroidered potholder 
• Using stamps to embroider 
• Embroidered paper magnetic bookmark 
• Amazingly awesome felt flowers 

Finally, how about some "Wild, Wild Web Wednesday" Links also:

• honk for boobs (it's not as bad as it sounds)
• Disney princesses as superheros

I'm hoping I can share something more exciting with you tomorrow. Check back to find out.

Feverish and Falling Behind

What does it mean when you wake up Monday morning with a fever? Does that mean you had a good weekend or not? I'm going to go with GOOD weekend, or at least with heck-a-busy weekend. Sooooo crazy busy that Pat and I were both sick on Valentine's Day. That's not too big of a deal since we were planning on celebrating V-Day this coming weekend anyway.

So, what kept us so busy this weekend? Port Trio (Pat's band) played Friday, Saturday was consumed with my Mardi Gras Ball (decorating and hosting it), and Sunday was a day at the beach (literally).

Of course, as I've already stated, I woke up with a fever yesterday and spent all day battling it. I'm feeling a bit better today. However, this week is just going to be a bit off. There will  be no meal plan (sorry) and I have no Valentine post for you. . .oh well. Instead, there will most likely just be randomness. (Hurray?)

First random topic - when not sleeping yesterday, I spent my time trying to decrease the amount of blogs in my feed reader. I stumbled upon a Valentine giveaway for some Industrial Chic pieces and found out this morning I had won. Check out Kristen Robinson's blog  and her Valentine post to see the goodies I'll be getting.

Secondly, I was featured in another treasury. This time the treasury is made of Etsians from the Red Dirt Crafters Team.

From the Red Dirt of Alabama

There's also a new collage bangle in the shop.

French Blaze Bangle

Since I'm going with random today, here's a few links that fit that description.

•  Some tips for getting a home office organized. I really like these neat and different ideas.
• If you've been reading me long enough you should know I like anything Harry Potter, so here's an amazing Harry Potter birthday gingerbread cake - it's Hogwarts!!

And, a few general Crafty Links

• How to make cold porcelain 
• Water balloon candle holders 
• Contemporary pom pom flowers 
• Top 100 tutorials of 2008  - Oh yes, I've been saving links for a LONG time!!
• Duct tape, no sew tote bag

Now, I'm off to get a few more tasks complete and maybe even FINALLY start on my Valentine Project(s) for Pat. Here's hoping your week is going much better than mine started off!

Combining Wednesday and Thursday Posts

I've been a whirlwind of activity the past few days. I spent two nights celebrating my mom's birthday with her and the rest of the family. Yet, mostly, I've been trying to get the house in some semblance of order. However, Tuesday afternoon pulled me into the craft room with the lure of polymer clay. It's been a while since I played with the clay and I needed some new beads in my stash, so I got to work. The polymer clay action bled all the way into Wednesday.

In all, it was a simple process to up my stash of polymer clay beads. I just grabbed some already-conditioned clay from the last time the nieces played with it. I simply rolled out a variety of beads and also used some mokume gane to cover scrap clay. The non-mokume gane beads were textured and coated with some PearlEx Powder. As well, I made a few flat pieces and stamped them. (I'll share pictures of those once I'm happy with their paint jobs.) I snapped pictures with my phone during the process and even used Instagram to capture the images that I used for Bead Table Wednesday on Flickr. {I'm sharing those pics plus a few additional here today}

I just love to use PearlEx powder to make polymer clay all shiny!

A new pair of earrings wound up in the shop the other day.

Got a Little Swing Earrings

That covers what needed to be posted on Wednesday.
For Thursday, let me just share some links.

~*Crafty Links*~
topic: clothes (which means sewing. . .and most of these are a reuse/recycle project too)

• Patchwork belt 
• Turn t-shirts into a ruffled skirt 
• Make a nightie out of a pillowcase 
• Babydoll dress from men's dress shirts 
• Pajama pants from bedsheets 

Since most of those projects were thrifty, I'm not going to share anything additional for Thrifty Thursday today. I want to get back into the craft room and get some more work done instead!