a mummy, a bat, and some creepy hands

I was so excited to make the mummy this year, I actually made it in July :) with the help

of my 14 year old son, unfortunately there was a casualty in the making, his prized silicone bracelet

he got while we were in Paris :( so warning if you are going to make the mummy make sure all

jewelry is off and you are wearing clothes you don't care about because scissors are involved!

I found a great tutorial here http://craftymommyandme.blogspot.ca

for the mummy, it was a little harder than I thought it would be, I used packing paper in the end

to stuff it, it worked much better than the plastic sacks.

The bat is inspired by Disney, they had it in one of their store windows, I bought the cage at hobby lobby and the bat was a perfect squishy bat from Target.

The hands are another favorite part of Halloween this year I love this pic

and wanted to recreate it, so you can imagine my excitement when I walked into Taipan and

saw these beauties, I know it's not the same, but it works just fine for me!

Some day I might figure out how to make this actually design though!

The End

Masks and Wreath

These spooky masks and wreath have really added to my entryway this year!

I found the masks at Michaels, painted them a cream color and then used a gray for shading,
here's a close-up of where I got the idea from (Porters in Idaho)

The black wreath I followed this tutorial http://thelongthread.com/?p=1310

Enjoy!

Witch's Hand

I just love this hand! I saw it on etsy but it was sold out so I thought, "I can make this!" Here are the details:
You will need:
Pencil
paper
scissors
floral wire
batting
thread and needle
muslin
crochet hook or chopstick
lace
antique button
black sweater sleeve or cable knee high socks or just regular knee high black socks
spider
hot glue
Black DMC floss (pearl)
Coffee
Wood Candlestick
Paint

I traced my hand onto some paper, making sure I spread out my fingers and then elongated each finger about 1 1/2 inches. I cut it out and then traced the hand onto some muslin. After cutting it out (folded muslin in half to make two hands) I sewed them together (1/4 inch seam) leaving an opening at the bottom turn the hand inside out, this can be difficult with the fingers ( i used a crochet hook to help or something pointy like a chopstick) be careful not to put a hole in the finger (if you do just sew it up with some thread, it adds character) I then dipped the hand in liquid coffee and then poured some grounds onto it and rubbed them in. I would drip water on the grounds to help them "melt" into the material. I then let it air dry. I took an old pair of cable knee socks and cut them making a tube 6 inches long. I found the lace at walmart and cut it the width of the sock all the way around. I found some pearl buttons at Joann's, I used a needle and thread to sew the lace and button on. I then cut the floral wire just long enough  to go in each of the 3 middle fingers so they met in the middle of the palm, then I stuffed the hand with batting (again the crochet hook or chopstick come in handy) the trick to getting the batting into the fingers is to not use too much batting, just tiny pieces. I found the spider at Michaels it came in a pack of 6 (they are glitter). I pinched the thumb and index finger together and used a thicker DMC floss (pearl)  to sew them together, i then hot glued the spider to the floss and then put the hand on a wood candle stick I got from Hobby Lobby (not pictured, right now its sitting on a cutex bottle) and painted it a turquoise blue (love it against the black) That's it! I thought about making some warts or adding a big ring, make it yours!

Harry Potter Spell Book

    I've had several people ask me how I made this spell book so I thought I would share the details. It's so easy and inexpensive.

You will need:

The prints from here Etsy  it is $5 ( I lucked  out and downloaded it before they were selling)
(You can also follow their tutorial) (http://www.thisisdoable.com/harry-potter-spell-book-tutorial/)
dollar store book
Coffee
foam brush
Lighter
modge podge

First I dip the edges of the book into a container filled with coffee, I then pour some grounds onto each side (not too much just a few) and then drip some water on them to help them "melt", this helps give a darkened look, I then let the book dry for a few days, or if you are in a hurry I use a blow dryer.

Print out images, I then cut the paper to size and placed the sheets on a cookie sheet. I took a foam brush and gently applied the coffee (just filled a mug with water and poured coffee in) the ink can smudge so be careful not to brush to hard. After the paper is well saturated, i trickle a small amount of coffee grounds on it, if there isn't enough water/coffee I will drip it onto the ground to again help it "melt" making it darken, I will then use the brush again to spread it, just a little bit. I then transfer the papers to another dry cookie sheet (I use a beat up one, because the coffee could be a little difficult to get off) and bake it at 200 degrees for about 5 minutes, just keep checking it. After it's dry, I then took a lighter and burned the edges of the paper.
Next I found the center of the book and brushed mode podge down the center and onto the pages, I then lined up the paper with the crease of the book and slid it in, then pressed the page onto the actual book page to help it stick.
That's all there was to it :)
To make the wands I just got some chopsticks and a big bag of decorative wood beads (found at walmart in the jewelry section) and then using my hot glue gun attached the beads in different ways, I then used craft paint to paint them different colors