Pinspiration - Halloween Signs from Pallets

Morning all!

Gosh, Halloween is getting closer and closer, and I am sooooo not prepared! My project list is huge! Thanks Pinterest, haha!

This month I've been working on some upcycling. Actually, this project, cost me nothing! Nope, not a penny! I already had the paints and brushes, and the pallet boards I used to paint on came free from a store that was getting rid of them! A lot of companies that receive goods on pallets will give these away for nothing, so it pays to ask around.

We'll be moving mid year, and as yet I don't know what space we'll have for a haunt, so I've been making things I can easily adapt for any space. These signs are perfect for that.

I can hang them on walls, attach them to trees or add a base and sit them in the yard!

So, how did I do it?

First, cut your pallet up and make the planks the size you want! Mine are 43x8 cm (give or take on height) and that wasn't actually planned by me. It's just the size the planks came off at when I started cutting. Of course, you can actually measure if you want to have signs the same height. All 3 got a coat of grey primer first that I let dry overnight.

Spooky:

This was the easiest sign to make. I picked a font out, opened it in Photoshop and printed out the letters to the size I wanted. Once a coat of black paint dried, I just laid the letters over the plank and traced them on. The pressure was enough to lightly mark the wood so I could see where ti paint. The words are white, just one coat, and then once that dried I touched the edges up with some red paint. See, super easy.

Headstone Scene:

This one took a few more steps, but still, pretty easy. I started with the blues and purples for the background, and brushed them on, getting darker at the top, lighter at the bottom. I also took some black (a very tiny amount) and brushed it into the wet paint around the edges. Then I took a pencil and outlined where everything would go. The moon went on first, then the hill. I popped the headstone on the hill and waited for it to dry, and then came in with a super fine brush and some black to paint in some grass in front of it. The tree went on last, so that it could over hang the moon.

Black Cat:

I can't take credit for this one. Miss M found the image on Pinterest (which started this whole post today!) and recreated it in pencil onto the wood for me. Thankyou to Bronwyn Goulding for sharing. This one started with an orange background, and again some black on the edges. I painted in the spider and cobwebs first, then the house and cat, and the cats eye last.

I'd call this a Pinterest Win Right?? YES!

I have a bunch more to make yet! Free Halloween decor? YES PLEASE!

Pinspiration - Button Art

Good morning lovelies and welcome to another Pinspiration Post!

If, like me, you are a bit of a craft hoarder, chances are you have buttons. Im not talking about a few sheets, a handful of offcuts or some leftovers from a project... I'm talking masses of buttons, that have accumulated from everywhere! Including the tins from nanna, and the jars of random ones from second hand shops. No? Just me? Nah, I didn't think so hehe 😉

If I'm being honest, I'd have to say my random button collection has reached epidemic proportions, and like all craft supplies, I just CAN'T throw them out! The only option left is to use them up!!!

If you don't have a monstrous stash of buttons already, head to your local op-shops! It's a treasure trove of goodness, for just a few dollars!

A quick Google search lead me to this article by The Whoot, featuring a whole bunch of button art ideas! They look amazing, and use up large quantities of buttons, so this one was right up my alley!

I also grabbed out some sequins, beads and stick on gems, because who doesn't need extra sparkle, am I right?

The process was pretty simple. I sketched out a rough shape on my paper (I used some 12x12 scrapbooking paper) and started by placing down the larger buttons, so I could get a feel for where everything needed to go. Once I had those figured out, I went ahead and started gluing things down.

I used 450 quick dry glue for the buttons, and any larger beads, and some Modge Podge for anything smaller. Mainly because Modge Podge is easier to dab into and onto little spaces with a dotting took or a toothpick, and 450 tends to be more thick and harder to spread.

As I worked I filled spaces with a combination of beads (large, small, seed and stick), all sizes of stick on gems (which I also glued for extra staying power) and small solid flowers (I completely forget what these are called)

The process wasn't hard, just fiddly. But it was a lot of fun, it used up oodles of buttons, and I have some pretty unique wall art at the end of it!

I trimmed mine down and placed them inside frames (with no glass) that I picked up from a second hand shop, so YAY for upcycling too!

Pinterest Win? I think so! 

Pinspiration - Halloween Mason Jars

Morning all and welcome to another Pinspiration post! WOOHOO!

Actually, this one is an oldy, that I completely forgot to share last year! In October last year I was searching for some ideas of fun and easy decorations to add to the shed display for Halloween, something that would help with subtle lighting in there. I saw this really awesome post over at Adventure In A Box for some really fun Halloween themed mason jars.

I wanted to make some, but realised quickly that I didn't have the right supplies. So, I found another way to do it! Below is my version, inspired by the original post from Adventure In A Box

You Will Need:

Jars
Black paint (for the outside image)
Food Colouring (for tinting the jar)
Modge Podge (or something similar)
Print outs of Halloween images (I just googled mine, look for things in strips so it can go around the jar and print them out)
A Paintbrush
Scissors

Step 1: Cut the images you printed into strips and place them inside the jar, with the image facing the glass so you can see it from the outside.

Step 2: Grab a paintbrush, and using black paint, copy the image. You could also use a sharpie if you like, but the one I had didn't have very good coverage and you could easily see through it, making it streaky. Wait for the paint to dry before moving onto the next step.

Step 3: This is where the magic begins! Did you know, that you can tint Modge Podge? No? Well, you can! Because it dries clear, the food colouring leaves a stained glass look behind! PERFECT! So, mix some food colouring with the Modge Podge. A little at first. I added more as I went for an ombre effect. Use a paint brush and paint the inside of the jar with the tinted Modge Podge. I did about a half inch high, then added more drops of colour to the Modge Podge to darken it. Or in some cases added another colour gradually to fade the layers from one colour to the next.

Step 4: Let it dry!

That's it! That's all there is to it. Now, these won't be waterproof, but I can't see why you couldn't also seal them if you wish. Pop a LED tealight inside for light (not a real flame, you'll catch the Modge Podge on fire) and you have a customised Halloween mason jar!


This would work with pretty much any image, so long as you can paint it. I'm going to do some later in the year for Christmas too!

Pinspiration - Wall Hanging From Yarn

Good morning all and welcome to yet another new theme for the blog, Pinspiration!

What on earth is Pinspiration? Well, according to Urban Dictionary it's "Using the website Pinterest to find inspiration"

Now, I know if you've landed here on a craft blog, you've probably at some point gotten some Pinspiration yourself! I spend a LOOOT of time browsing Pinterest, sometimes, I'm ashamed to say, for many many hours. I can't help myself!

Well, while browsing about the other day I spotted a bunch of lovely wall hangings made from yarn, and I thought, you know what, I bet I could do that too!

Mostly my Pinspiration for this came from a photo I saw on My Desired Home which linked back to another site, which appears to not exist anymore. So, if anyone happens to know of the original, let me know and I'll update this, because as always, credit where due <3

This isn't a tutorial as such, but at the end I'll list my supplies and let you know m process. Maybe you'd like to have some fun with yarn wall hangings too!

So I started looking through my stash, looking for some yarn to use. It's no surprise I was drawn to this amazing green, it is after all, my favourite colour! I knew I wanted to make something earthy, so I picked a handful of browns, greens and greys to pair with it, but I really wasn't sure which I'd use until I started playing with it.

I hung the branch from a chair before I started looping yarn, I figured it would be easier than trying to loop it all flat. Oh boy was I right!

The best part about this kind of decor is you can totally customise it. Even if you used the same items and colour scheme of mine, it'd still come out different!

I had a lot of fun deciding where to place the splashes of colour. I ended up only using 3 additional colours of yarn. The thick chunky grey for an off set braid, a purple/green mixed yarn for some knotting and braiding and a variegated green which I just looped 1-2 strands at a time in between the solid green to break it up a little. Some of the solid green is also braided and knotted. It's completely random, and I didn't plan any of the knotting or braiding, it just happened as I went. I decided to go with a triangular edge, instead of straight across.

Once I was done with the yarn, I realised it needed something else to really make it POP so I went for a craft room rummage. Boy did I rummage! I ended up finding a jar of these little irregular shaped beads and thought they would work fantastic against the green.

The hardest part was trying to figure out how to attach them. My yarn was too thick to thread them on, and my needles had too large a eye to fit through the beads. Honestly, this perplexed me for much longer than it should have, and a few hours later after putting it aside for dinner, I had one of those AHA! moments. Sewing thread! I had a dark green in my stash already, so it was just a matter of adding the beads to the thread, and then looping the thread to the branch in a triangular shape, so it matched the bottom of the hanging.

Overall, the project didn't take more than a few days, from hunting for the right stick at the park, to adding the last bead. I think it came out fantastic too! Pretty sure I'll need to make some more of these for friends in the future!

Supplies List:
Yarn (a hank of solid green, and part balls of chunky grey, green variegated and a green/purple mix)
A Stick that's reasonably straight (I found mine at the local park)
Scissors
Beads
Sewing Thread
Thread/String/Yarn to hang your branch