Halloween Crackers

If it wasn’t for Iris and Bertie I don’t think I would bother with crackers but making memories is so  important and starting special meals by pulling a cracker or two has become a bit of a tradition at Nanny’s now, especially as she puts extra special bits in them!

Having said that, that’s all I usually do, I buy the cheapest crackers I can find and take out the festive jokes, as I really can’t be ****ed in making my own from scratch, far too much fiddle fart, however this year I did make an exception in covering the plain, gold ones with a whole pile of stickers left over from a couple of years or so of crafting that really needed to be finally used up.

Unfortunately Poundland are not longer selling the Ty Mini Boos they had last year, for just £1 each (now £2.99 each in other shops, ouch!). They were perfect for crackers, once taken out of their boxes, but left in there mystery bags.

This year I found some squidgy light up pumpkins and ghosts (79p each from Home Bargains) and some monster shaped erasers (packs of 4 for £1 reduced from The Works) which I am sure will go down a treat, however I am still searching for something exciting for our Christmas crackers ……….. I do love a mission!  Happy days!

My Halloween Door Sign

Just a bit of fun today, the Halloween sign on my front door!

I am pretty sure that it contravenes several by-laws (?!?) in my leasehold (Health and Safety, Fire Regulations etc.) and must be sending the gentleman upstairs bananas, but it’s Halloween, we are in the middle of a pandemic ….. and to be honest I just don’t care! Anyone who doesn’t like it should see the rest of my flat!!!!!!!

Anyways up ……. I think the sign came either from Home Bargains or Poundland (£1), I can’t remember, but it was bought in Bournemouth, where Lu and I managed to spend a couple days a few weeks ago. I just loved the sentiment.

…… But, that wasn’t enough for me, was it? I just had to tweak it up a notch by drilling holes in the bottom from which to hang three skeletons …….

I could have been all professional and drilled holes into the skeletons skulls and then fit them with a screw eye hook, but this time I went down the lazybones path and simply glued a baille finding on the back of their necks instead.

Before Iris and Bertie’s Annual Halloween Sleepover I think I might just stick a few spiders on the door too  …… and upset my neighbour just a little more!

Halloween Shadow Frame Using Daler and Rowney Mini Canvas

Hmmmm, I am beginning to think that I should have bought a few more of these tiny, 50p, 5cm x 5cms Daler and Rowney canvases from Poundland while I had the opportunity. I put eight white and two black ones in my basket, but now I’m experimenting with them I can really see their potential. Never mind, it’s always something to look out for when I am out and about.

Having said that, I had a bit of a disaster with one of the black ones when trying out a Halloween idea. 

For some reason the green Dovecraft 3D Enamel Effects didn’t take too kindly to the back of the frame after I had coloured it black, in fact the green colour all but disappeared and the enamel wouldn’t set (see below) and to be honest looked most unsavoury!!!!!

…… and I thought it was going sooooo well! However, it was also pretty obvious that by using black as the main colour for the frame the black bats disappeared, so it was back to the drawing board …….

…… opting for a white canvas and colouring it over with an orange Sharpie pen ……

……. before putting a scrap of green patterned  paper in the back, with a wooden pumpkin embellishment, also coloured orange. A few tiny stars and clusters of three black dots, plus a little faux stitching round the aperture ……..

…… it was now time to try, with fingers and toes tightly crossed the green enamel effects again.

It worked ……. with a mdf skeleton and bats (eBay) duly coloured and then glued on, along with a few tiny stars here and there.

The final touch was made by adding “trick or treat” on the back of the frame using black peel-off letters (Hobbycraft £1) with a few more stars (excuse the wet glue!), plus a screw eye hook to hang it by.

Really chuffed and loving the potential of the canvases so much …… but did you spot my deliberate mistake?  ……. Doh!!!!

Iris and Bertie’s Halloween Sleepover Invites

Just a bit of fun today …….

……. Iris and Bertie’s Halloween Sleepover Invitations ……….

…… an event when less is more just doesn’t count ……..

……. and a perfect excuse to try and use up all the odd Halloween stickers I still have left over after a couple of years of collecting.

Along with each invitation I popped one of each of my two Halloween house decorations,  along with one of my pin badges and a couple of chocolate coins in the envelopes for good measure ………

I am nearly ready, I just need to adapt the Christmas crackers I bought for the occasion, make up a suitable spooky Pass the Parcel parcel and perhaps blow up a few balloons.  Happy Days!

Simple Birthday Badge

I’m really not into making cards at the moment, goodness only knows why, but this is what I made for my Sister-In-Law's birthday instead.

As you can see, there’s not an awful lot to it…….. 

.......... just a metal birthday pin from Paperchase (£3), a tiny canvas from Poundland, a Dymo tape sentiment, a few stars and a little faux stitching.

….. Poundland seem to be stocking “proper painting stuff” at the moment, including miniature Daler and Rowney 5cms x 5cms stretched canvas and at only 50p each (also available in black) they are a no brainer craft wise, even though, aghhhhh, I had vowed not to buy any more stuff after my recent sort  out/tidy up, however, I did buy six white and four black ones …… I have a couple of ideas already so hopefully they will all get used by Christmas.

I am also intrigued by the idea of using the back of the canvas too, a few people have used similar frames to create a sort of shadow box .........

...... so, I am thinking a couple of coats of white paint is all it would need to transform the back ...... I just need to find something small enough, like a resin embellishment to create a scene, hmmmmm I did have some small snowmen once upon a time, I wonder if I have any left?  

Halloween Haunted House Skeleton Tree Decorations

I can’t tell you how much I adored putting these little Halloween decorations together, when you’ve had a barren crafty patch like I have had, something like this can really put you back on track again.

Yes, the idea is very similar to other house type decorations I have made over the past few months, but I these are my favourite by far.  The houses are made using small, coloured craft sticks from Hobbycraft (pack of 50 assorted colours for £1)

The MDF skeletons came from eBay, the ones used measure 40mm and 30mm, I also got some that measure 20mm, they are teeny tiny but I have yet to find a project for them.  The heads are separate from the body which gives you a little wriggle room to pose them. I gave the skeletons two coats of white Posca pen followed by another two, using an iridescent Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen to give them an extra spooky twinkle.  The MDF bats were also from eBay and were coloured black and then given two tiny, green nail art eyes.

I added the skeletons to the house and then added the green Dovecraft Enamel Effects to the roof and shelf, it has been my top find of 2020, it’s brilliant, it goes on like a dream and the shiny, gloopy effect it gives to any Halloween project is just fantastic and makes the piece.

While the Enamel Effects was still wet I was able to add the bats knowing that they would be well secured.

The whole thing was finished off with three white dots on the bats, and five tiny silver stars scattered in the background.

On the back I added a confetti web and spider, a silver bail so that the decoration could be hung and for continuity coloured the back of the bats black and the skeletons white.

I think I have said over the years but I just love the purples, yellows, oranges, and greens generally associated with Halloween, if I could find a way of using them for Christmas I would, without being/looking disrespectful to the celebration ……. but green snow ……. hmmmmm!

It’s Beginning to Look Like Halloween ………

You may remember last October when I was musing that if money was no object I would really love some Halloween bedding ……… well …….

……. look what Marc went and bought me!!!!  What can I say, except that I love that boy to death …….  but obviously in a purely platonic way!!!!!!!  It looks fantastic.

I am slowly getting ready for my Halloween Sleepover with Iris and Bertie and this just the perfect finishing touch, even if my blow-up skeleton is having a tough time staying fully inflated.

I think I have kept things pretty tasteful, not too over the top,  but enough, hopefully, for Halloween memories at Nanny’s to be cemented. 

There will be crackers to pull, a treasure hunt and midnight walk with hot chocolate, biscuits, torches and this year light up bouncing balls, spooky Halloween type treats, a suitable film and lots of Halloween stories (if the Charity Shop prevail), among other things.

It’s been such a rubbish year with this retched virus, when we spent far too many days apart without a single kiss, cuddle or snuggle, time that can never be got back ……..

……  so we have an awful lot to make up.

Object of Desire–Beaded Lamp Shade

This is the lampshade I spotted in the Acardo Lounge Cafe Bar while visiting Christchurch the other week ………

……. it’s exactly what I want to go on the old fashioned standard lamp Rick and Marc gave me during my last visit to their Worcester cottage ……..

…….it’s perfect, it’s fringed, it’s beaded, it’s braided and it’s not for sale, just standing there, behind a pillar, probably unnoticed and unlusted over, except by me ……. aghhhhhh. I would have offered at least £40 for it, if I had been brave enough!  Oh well, the search for my perfect lampshade continues ……….

2020 Decorated Elizabeth Shaw Mint Favours

Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without a few decorated Elizabeth Shaw mints and this year, as you can see I have started really early, with this flipping virus you just don’t know when/if you’ll be able to get to the shops to get the things you had planned for or even want to, if you have to queue outside as the cold, wet weather closes in.

The puffy stickers used came from The Range, costing £1 for a pack of 24 stickers. 

The stickers are a little smaller than those I have used in the past, which is why I in turn used a smaller circle punch to cut the gold mirror card, rather than my usual bigger, plain Stampin Up punch …….

The gold card gave the stickers a very fine gold border which helped give them just a touch more glitz. 

The matted stickers were then layered onto a scalloped edge circle ……..

…….. to which I added either white gel pen or red fine liner doodled dots to decorate the edge of the scallops.

The mints were then sandwiched between two identical scalloped circles.

It’s become a bit of a tradition to send Marc a box of decorated mints for his festive table, but as I wanted to use all the stickers up in one go I still had quite a few left over, which I was initially just going to bag up simply in small cello bags in sets of three ……..

……. but to be honest they looked as if I hadn’t given them that much thought, so I decided to cut two pieces of gold card for each bag, taping them together to make them double sided ………

…… before adding a red glitter sentiment sticker on the back (Hobbycraft 2019 I think) to complete the much more festive look.  These little favours will then be tucked into cards, as well as being given, with other small fairing gifts, to the staff in both Iris and Bertie’s classes. 

I used my vacuum sealer to seal all the bags before putting them away to ensure that the contents remain fresh and untouched in the coming weeks before Christmas.