Easy Halloween Craft

From Shelterprop.com:

What you'll need:
Crepe or Tissue Paper
Paper Glue
Scissors
Ruler Pencil
Holepunch
String
Stapler

How to do it: 
1. Measure, mark and cut two equally-sized rectangles from paper. Accordian fold each like a fan, trying to keep each fold the same width. Trim excess at end.

2. Fold pleated paper fan in half. Staple at the center point of each fan. 

3. Glue folds of fan together where they meet in the center. Then, glue the first fan to the second fan along each edge. 

4. Punch a hole in one pleat along outside edge and tie a long string to hang ornament. If desired hot glue a colored button at the center. 
5. Vary the sizes and colors of each rectangle to create a mixed grouping. Think about using patterned paper (lightweight works best) as well as making a scalloped-edge, by trimming the square ends into a rounded shape.

Halloween Decorations

I am so excited for Halloween! It's the first holiday in awhile, and I can not wait to get making my boys' Halloween costumes, and decorating the house.

Here's some fun stuff we got over at the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co.

Your kids Halloween party will be extra scary with these haunted house votive candle holder set! These spooky haunted houses hold standard size votive candles or other candles. Hand crafted out of stamped metal with black powder finish. Comes in a set of 2. Small candle holder measures 4.125"h x 2.625"l x 2.6225"w and the large candle holder measures 7"h x 4"l x 4.25"w



I love the vintage look of this Halloween Glass Potion Jars Set! These vintage glass potion jars are sure to be a hit this Halloween. These vintage glass poison jars can be used to hold candy for trick-or-treaters or party guests. We love that they are perfect for both kids parties and adult parties. Made of glass with vintage potion labels. Comes in a set of 2. Small glass potion jar 8.25" x 4" and the large potion jar measures 14" x 3"


These tombstone candles are great toppers for Halloween cake! These novelty Halloween candles are a great addition to your Halloween decorations. These spooky tombstones have debossed text and stone finish. Comes in a set of 3 in a box tied with black raffia. Burn time 1 hr each. Measure range is 2" to 2.5"h and 1" to 2.5"w

This decorative skeleton pillow is a great for leaning against as you tell scary stories on Halloween. Two skeletons by spider webs bookend the word "Boo" in this Halloween pillow. Made of felt with a laser cut applique.Measures 12" x 7"

Upholstery Fabric

Hopefully the past from yesterday whetted your appetite for a new upholstery project. If you need to get an upholstery fabric, check out some of upholstery fabrics over at the Warm Biscuit Bedding Co.


Looking for a simple and classic geometric upholstery fabric? This maroon lattice upholstery fabric is an easy fabric to use and match with almost any room. With a 12" repeat, it is great for accent pillows, chairs or couches. Made from carefully woven 100% Oxford cotton for extra durability...which is good since lattice fabrics never go out of style! At 8.7 ounces per square yard, this heavenly heavy-weight oxford cloth will remain gorgeous throughout the years.


Looking for an upholstery fabric kids will love? This novelty mixed fruit upholstery fabric is perfect for kids and adults alike. Brightly colored fruit with a bit of whimsy form this novelty upholstery fabric. The bright fruit theme makes this perfect for kids furniture, or darling kitchen drapes. Apple measures 2.5" across, Orange measures 3" across, making this fabric perfect for smaller upholstery projects, like pillow cover slips or chair cushions. 

Looking for a chic and modern design? Add this beautiful large brown trees upholstery fabric to your home. This modern pattern with dark brown and coral forms abstract trees is sure to make your next upholstery project really stand out. The pattern is based off of Copenhagen designs. Treelike motifs measure over 15" high, so this is ideal for big projects like sofas or drapes. 

How to: Upholstery

As a dog owner, and a mother of three boys who are not exactly gentle with...well, anything, I have had to do some re-upholstery over the years. Upholstery is a fairly easy process for many items of furniture. Whether you desperately need to repair a cushion, or just are redecorating, here is a list of great resources of information on upholstery.

The folks over at Craftzine give very detailed directions with instructional photos on how to re-upholstery and cushion old dinning room chairs. They make the whole process easy to understand, so if you've been wanting to spruce up your dinning room chairs but been nervous about trying check out their page here. 

The internet being the internet, their is a whole page (several actually) devoted entirely to upholstery. I like upholster.com It's not a fancy or pretty site, but they give detailed instructions with photos. Their directions on how to upholster an ottoman are very easy to follow.

If you are still looking to get inspired, check out this amazing before and after upholstery story: believe or not, this chair was bought at Goodwill for 4.99 Look at what the writer was able to do with just a bit of fabric:

Fabric Design - Print on Fabric Using a Paper Printer!

Wow, this is so cool! Of course, as the blogger points out, this will not work on all printers, and could potentially damage a printer, but this is definitely worth looking into. As anyone who has looked into custom fabric printing knows, it can get expensive, especially if you only want a few yards. That's why the idea that a paper printer could be used with fabric is so exciting. He uses an Epson R1800, which is by no means a cheap printer, but you can get one used for under $300. So for serious designers, or even an ambitious amateur, this is a possibility!

For more details on how to do this, and what kind of printers work, go to his blog post. Overall, very exciting...I can see this leading to a lot more experimentation with designers who are just starting out, or even for pros who just want to try out a new idea.

Kids Back to School Craft

I can't believe summer is already over and the kids are back to school. As we just moved, all my boys are dealing with a new school, so it's been a little crazy at my house lately. I'm just trying to support my boys as much as I can during this transition period.

One thing I know I can do to help is to keep them organized. Which is why I was excited to see this Back to School craft over at Kaboose. This homework center lets you write messages about homework and after school activities, and lets your child organize important school papers with clothespins. All you need is a wooden chalkboard, yellow paint, scrapbook paper (optional), 3 clothespins, craft glue, and scissors. Click here for directions.

Easy Fashion Craft

Here is a craft that is easy and fashionable. What a great combo! I can't make one of these fishing lure earrings. The folks over at Craft Zine have easy to follow directions. There are only two steps, and all you need are pliers, a pair of fishing lures (obviously),  a pair of earring ball and loop posts, and wire cutters. 

I particularly love this because I have a bit of a history of using fishing accouterments for purposes unintended. When I was a little girl I was taking a walk in the local park with my Mom. It was near Christmas time, and so when I saw a red and white fishing bobber stuck in the reeds my first inclination was to shout "Look Mom, a Christmas ornament!" Of course my Mom couldn't convince me otherwise, and so that year our tree was graced with a less than traditional decoration.

Fall Craft

The weather is still warm in Austin- such a change from New York- but I know in much of the country the nights are starting to feel cool. Every season has its crafts, and my favorite fall crafts have always involved gourds. My parents had a garden growing up, and they grew ornamental gourds since us kids had so much fun decorating them. We were not too classy about it...and pretty soon my parents had more sloppily painted gourds than they knew what to do with.

If you are looking for a different idea, the folks over at Craft Zine show you how to turn gourds into decorative lights. A warning: this is not a simple craft, and does require a hand-held drill and pumpkin carving kit. But if you've got those, go for it!

New Fabric Designer - Ann Kelle

Okay, Ann Kelle is not actually new to the design world. She started out with paper, but has recently moved to fabric, and we over at The Warm Biscuit Bedding Co. just started to carry Ann Kelle fabrics. I can't wait to see her next collection.

I love the simplicity and playfulness of her prints. As she says on her site "Designs inspired by all that we have always known and loved…from dad’s tie, spring flowers, ice cream, our favorite rock band, and even the sweaters we wore in the second grade. All the things we loved as kids. Their work motto is quite simple…work is a passion. Laughter is a requirement." 

I also love that she is an inspiration to everyone in another career path who is thinking about moving in a different direction. Kelle Boyd started in public policy, but then one day she went to a craft store to purchase art supplies as a stress reliever. With her childhood love of art rekindled, just two years later she began Ann Kelle Designs. Now she's a full-time creative designer. I love it! So check out her bright colorful fabrics.

Easy Back to School Craft

Do you have tons of fabric scraps lying around the house? Why not use some of them to spruce up a binder? All you need is a fabric binder, some HeatnBond, and an idea! The folks over at Craft Zine give these detailed directions. They focus on this as a school craft, but really you could use it for anything...photo album, baby book, recipe collector, etc. I love it when crafts have limitless applications!

I'm Back!

Sorry my recent hiatus....moving almost all across the country (from to New York to Austin) was fun but time consuming! It was a great way to spend time with the kids before school starts. Since my husband and I are usually pretty busy, and living in New York without a car, we tend to not leave beyond what can be reached by the subway (i.e. let's go to Coney Island!)  so the kids have never really seen most of America. We went down the east coast, through Tennessee, down to Louisiana (loved loved Cajun country...my heart really goes out to that community...so friendly, despite their recent tragedy) and then across over to Texas.

Congrats to Noreen for winning the pencil case! I'm going to take a break with the giveaways, as they've lost traction on this blog. We will be doing giveaways at other blogs in the near future, which I will mention and link to here.

And of course, this blog will continue to feature craft ideas.

And now a few photos from the trip: