But, before I am allowed to go, I took one of the ghosts from the ghost lights and toss it in a glass jar. He has been naughty lately and not following the rules. This time he ain’t going with me, I hope he learned a good lesson and behave well when I am back.

Along with the ghost lights decoration, I found a bunch of mini mandarin oranges holiday lights in my store room which I have been decorating for my Chinese New year since years. Now, they become part of my Halloween light decorations. All I have to do is to draw the oranges with permanent marker, easy and quick!!!

Here is the round-up of Halloween crafts of 2009-2011:

1. Pom-Pom Jack ‘O Lantern
2. Pom-Pom Black Widow Spider
3. Sock Skeleton Couples
4. Skeleton Costume
5. Pumpkin Costume
6. Pumpkin Treat Basket
7. Ghost Lights
8. Mummy Holder
9. Candy Corn Memo Holder

Not enough Halloween crafts to inspire you? Here are some more from others which I think you might be interested:
That’s all for now… till then…. BOO!!!

Halloween Egg Carton Bats and Leaf Ghosts by Happy Clippings.

Pipe Cleaner Yarn Spiders by Make And Takes.

Pipe Cleaner Spider Ring by Crafts By Amanda.

DIY Spider Sacks by Modern Parents Messy Kids.

Orange Jack O’ Lantern by Momtastic.

Flexi Mummies by Family Chic.

Black Grape Vine Pumpkin With Lights by Jen Goode’s 100 Directions.

Halloween Candles by Fresh Home Ideas.

Ghost Jug Lights by Family Fun Crafts.

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Halloween Candy Corn Memo Holder

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This candy corn memo holder is perfect for desk decor during the creepy October. You can make the mummy pencil holder to pair with it and they make wonderful companion on your desk while you work. Or, as a table number holder or menu holder on your dining table if you are having friends and families coming over for a Halloween dinner or party.

It isn’t hard to make and I have gotten this candy corn idea after drinking from a disposable paper cone cup of a water dispenser machine. While I was drinking, I think: “Can I do anything with this paper cone cup?” The idea struck and so I took some of the clean cone cups and put them inside my bag… shhhh… don’t tell the manager that I st*le some cups from him yay… lol… As a reward for not telling him, ahemmm, here you are, the method to make the Candy Corn Memo Holder made from a paper cone water cups.

Candy Corn Memo Holder

Make: 1

Materials:
1. Paper cone cup or make your own cone from card stock
2. Yarns – white, orange, yellow and short length of black
3. Googly eyes
4. Wire – Aluminium or white floral wire 18 – 20 awg (I didn’t measure the length but I guess 2 feet should be sufficient, you can always join the wire if you don’t have enough for 1 length)
5. Craft glue
6. Cellophane adhesive tape
7. Long nose pliers
8. Scissors
9. Wire cutter

Get ready all the materials and tools as per the above list.

Use a pair of long nose pliers to make a few rounds of spiral memo clip.
Cut a small hole at the tip of the paper cone and insert the straight wire end into it.
Bend the wire to follow the shape and size of the base of the cone.
Total height is 6″, from clip to base.
Cut away extra wire.

Secure the wire to the cone base with some cellophane adhesive tapes.
Use your hands to press the round cone base to an oval shape.

Apply craft glue to the entire cone outer surface. You can add glue as you wrap the yarn on it or you can do it as once.

Wrap the yarns to the cone, start from white , orange and lastly yellow.

Attach googly eyes and some black yarns to give your candy corn an unique expression.
Leave it overnight for drying.
Done!

Not only spiders, seems like the pingpong ball ghosts are getting to this pity candy corn memo holder tooo… oh no!!!
Happy Halloween!!!!

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Halloween Mummy Pencil Holder - "Oh no! The spider is getting to me..."

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This mummify pencil holder is easy to make and kids can help in tearing the fabric into strips and wrapping it up. You can always adapt this method to wrap around a clean used food can or container. Or, turn it into napkin or serviette holder, or even utensil holder during the Halloween dinner with friend and family. And, may be as treats holder for Halloween lollypops, cake pops, stick bites etc….

Make a quick and easy Mummy Holder with an irritating spider climbing on it……

Mummy Pencil Holder
Make: 1

Materials:
1. Cardboard tube
2. Thick cardboard – size of the tube’s diameter
3. White felt – size of the tube’s diameter
3. White fabric
4. Googly eyes
5. Small piece of black paper or black-shaded paper
6. Craft Glue / PVA Glue / White Glue
7. Masking tape
8. Scissors
9. Spiders (for decorations)

Prepare the fundamental pencil holder by attaching a round base and felt to the cardboard tube. This tutorial shows how to do it.
Get the rest of the materials ready.

Glue the black backing paper to the pencil holder.
Put some glue at the back of the googly eyes and stick them on the black backing paper.

Snip the edge of the white fabric, about 1″ apart. Tear the strips of mummy wrapping fabric from your white fabrics.
About 3-4 strips of 1/2 yard length each should be sufficient.

Joint the strips by tying them in dead knots.
Dot some glue at the bottom of the pencil holder, bond the strip end to it and wrap the mummy all the way up.
Tear and tie to add additional fabric strip length if it is not sufficient.

Tag the end of the strip within the wrapping and glue it there.
Done!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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Basket Weaving - in Geometric Shape

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Material:
1. Thick Cardboard or paperboard, non-corrugated (around 1/6″ thick).
2. Felt for bottom and base.
3. Weaving material, example: yarn, twine, fabric strips, ribbons etc….

Tools:
1. Sharp scissors (able to cut thick cardboard)
2. Hole puncher
3. Tapestry needle (#13)
4. Clothes pin
5. Craft / Tacky Glue
6. Pen or pencil
7. Ruler

Download the basket weaving template (consist of triangle, round and square) in pdf format.
{It will either open in new tab or open a small window asking you to save it as file. If you can’t find the saved file in your computer, the default folder usually is in “/downloads”}
{If you can’t download the pdf pattern, probably you don’t have acrobat reader, download the latest version for free, here.}
Print it and enlarge 200% to get the size I made.
Trace it on the thick cardboard.

After tracing the template on the thick cardboard, use a pair of strong and sharp scissors to cut the template out.
Punch the holes with a paper hole-puncher.
Trace base on felt, cut 2 pieces.
Get the rest of the tools & materials ready.

Brush a layer of tacky glue on the bottom of the basket, press & stick the felt onto it.

Repeat the same to adhere the felt to the base.
Snip the edge of the felt follows the grooves between the fingers.
Being to weave over and under around the fingers of the frame.
Push the twine into the grooves of the felt that you have just snipped.
Keep on weaving over and under the fingers until the end of first round.

When begin the second round, you will notice that you are weaving in the reverse side of the first round.
A full wrap on both sides after finish the second round.
Continue weaving and push the twine down to make them closer to each other. This will avoid gaps in between and will also hide the cardboard away.
As you go higher, the frame will stand up vertically and form the side of the basket.
Continue until you just over the hole’s level.
Allow a long length of twine for rim stitching later.
Put on clothes pin and allow some room for rim making.
To make the rim, insert another type of twine through the space between the clothes pin by using a tapestry needle.
Since the length is quite long, divide the twine by halve and work both ends from middle.
Keep going round by round. Take note on the corners and arrange them neatly.
Lay the twine until it fully covers the top portion of the basket.
Secure the rim by stitching the original twine through the holes.
Stitch again on the opposite direction to form criss-cross pattern.
When reaching the corner, pierce through the gap and make another stitch there.
Hide all ends into the braid to neaten up the basket.
The basket is ready to be used.

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新年快樂！ Happy Chinese New Year!
A basket full of mandarin oranges symbolizes prosperity !!!

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Chinese New Year (CNY) is just around the corner, I am spring cleaning and decorating my house during the weekends. Last weekend, hubby took out a huge box of past year’s CNY ornaments and decorations, including this, this and this I made last year (click the links for tutorials and patterns). My son found his king crown – a large treat holder I sewed last year, I used it to put mandarin oranges. He refused to let me use it this year “This is MINE!!!!”, holding his crown behind his back while running away from me… he is being a classic “terrible 2″ toddler… he wants to be in total control!!!!

I need a new basket this year so I made this – Hexagon “flatten-able” Basket. Simply tie it up to construct a steady basket. It is easy to stow away when not in use, just untie the cords or ribbons to flatten and it won’t take up much storage space.

It is made of silk and satin for oriental tradition deco but it could be for any occasion with different color scheme and fabric. Just adapt the pattern to suit the occasion you are celebrating, for example, red/green for Christmas, orange/black for Halloween, white for wedding, etc…..

Following is the method on how to make this quick hexagon basket.

Difficulty level: Basic
Time required: Approx 2 hours.

Material:
1. Silk, 15″ x 15″
2. Satin lining, 15″ x 15″
3. Thick cardboard (about 1mm thickness), 15″ x 15″
4. Batting (low loft), 15″ x 15″
5. Cords (72″) or ribbons (72″) or china knots & loops (6 pairs)
6. Rick racks (optional)

Tools:
1. Sewing machine
2. Heavy sewing needle that can handle thick material
3. Scissors for fabric and cardboard
4. Drawing Compass
5. Pencil (sharpened)
6. Ruler
7. Right angle ruler
8. 3M spray adhesive (super 77) or equivalent
9. Fabric glue or hot glue
10. Matching sewing thread
11. Pins

Download the instruction on how to draw the cardboard. It is basically derived from 2 hexagons (4″ & 6″) with same center point. For detail on how to draw basic hexagon with step-by-step photo, click here.
If you have a wide printer, you can simply double the size the of the pdf document and print it out.

Cut cardboard by following the outer pink line of the drawing. Use cardboard as pattern reference, cut batting, cut silk and satin (with 3/4″ to 1″ seam allowance).
1. Cardboard
2. Silk
3. Sating lining
4. Batting
5. Cord
Mark the cardboard outline on the wrong side of the satin lining & silk.
Trim off the diamond shapes (between the flaps) from the cardboard. To prevent the sharp edges from spoiling the dedicated satin, smooth out all corners by trimming them round.
Spray adhesive on the batting and cardboard (follow the instruction on the can). It is sticky and tacky, so be careful when handling.
Position the batting (with adhesive side down) on the wrong side of the silk. Due to the slippery of the silk material, align the corners and outline before press the batting to the silk by hand.
Repeat the same to cardboard and satin.
Glide you hand across the right side the satin and silk to smooth out the adhesive and get rid of any bubbles captured within.
Place some fabric glue near the edges of the cardboard flaps. Fold the seam allowance and stick to the cardboard and batting for both satin and silk.

Secure the adhesion with pins on silk since it is a little difficult to set in place.

Spray adhesive to the wrong side of the satin set. With adhesive side down and wrong side facing each other, position the satin on top of the silk set.

Adjust the corners so that both layers are aligned. Pin to secure.
Cut cord or ribbon to 6″ length, 12 pieces. Insert the cord between the silk and satin with 1″ depth at the vertical edge of the cardboard. Repeat all 12 cords.
Sew near edges around the basket to stitch up both layers.
Top stitch around the cardboard. Note that the vertical lines are next to the cardboard and not on the cardboard.
Top stitch the smaller hexagon inside the basket, slowly to prevent needle breakage.
After finish sewing through the cardboard, the sewing machine’s needle is more or less damaged. Dispose it correctly.
Glue rick rack to the edges with fabric glue as optional decoration. Set aside to let it dry.
Bend the flaps and fold over  to form the sides of the basket.
Tie the cords or ribbons to entrench it.
The basket is ready to be used.

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Quick Craft: Pencil Holder {Tutorial}

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If you happened to find some paper cores or paper tubes from your kitchen, toilet, badminton court, craft room or writing table, please don’t throw them away, … recycle them into these yarn wrapped pencil holder and get back to school!!!!

There are many sources that you can get the paper tube for free, just to point out a few….. from your cling wrap, aluminum foil, or kitchen paper towel in your kitchen; toilet paper roll; shutter cock tube after your badminton match; yarn tube, fabric roll tube found in your craft room; even thermal paper roll of the fax machine!!! Turn the trash into treasure and help mother Earth in reducing the dumping load. I got mine from the raffia yarns I made for the recent crochet straw projects, i.e. beach bag, sun hat and the daisy brooch.

I made them for a recent charity event and all of them were sold during the pre-sale. Many came back to me and asked for more…. so I made a “come back” but in a DIY way. This is so simple to make and if you have the materials on hand, it costs nothing!!!!

Let’s get to the how-to after the jump…..

Materials:
1. Paper Core x 1
2. Thick Cardboard x 1
3. Stash Yarns
4. Stash Felts
5. Masking Tape
6. Craft Glue / PVA Glue / White Glue

Trace the circumference of the tube on the thick cardboard. Cut the circle out.

Attach the circle to the base of the paper tube with masking tape.

Cut a piece of felt and glue it to the base with craft glue.

Leave it for a few minutes or until the felt tack on well to the base before you start to roll the yarn around the tube.

Start gluing the yarn from top. If you find the yarn is a little difficult to attach to the tube, wait until the glue is tacky before wrapping the yarn around. The beginning is always the toughest part to start with for this project.

After wrapping a few rounds, turn the tube upside down and continue wrapping. I found that working from bottom to top is much easier than working from top to bottom.
You may change color of the yarn or just keep to 1 color.

Decorate the pencil holder with embellishment when the yarn is securely affix to the tube.
Wait till everything is dry, place the pencil holder on your desk to keep your stationary in it.
Easy, right?

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draw-hexagon-main1

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I can’t remember if I learned this during primary school, but I definitely remember the way my mum taught me while making hexagon quilt blanket for us… using a compass to draw…. My first lesson to sew a hexagon flower quilt block is to draw this cardboard hexagon templates. Till today, I still hear my mum’s voice mumbling in my ears….

“a perfect hexagon flower quilt block comes from precised hexagon templates”…..

Until I was a little older, I learned to use an angular ruler to draw hexagons in my formal education, like divide the 360° into 6 part in a circle etc…. But, I still love my mum’s way, with just a simple tool, a compass…. so straight forward and fool proof!!! If you are using computer aided software to generate hexagon template, this is one of the simplest methods…. just replace the compass with circles.

Draw your own size of hexagon template by using this tutorial to make your hexagon quilt.

Tools:

1. Drawing Compass
2. Pencil (sharpened)
3. Ruler
4. Cardboard
5. Scissor

Draw a circle on a cardboard with a drawing compass of your desire radius.
The radius is in fact the width of one of your hexagon’s edges.
The widest width of the hexagon is the diameter of the circle, which is 2 x the radius.
Mark the first point arbitrary on the circle.

With the same settings on the compass, place the compass needle on the 1st point and mark the second intersection point on the circle.

Rotate the compass to the other side of the circle, mark the 3rd intersection point.

Repeat the process by moving the compass needle to 2nd point and 3rd point to mark for the 4th and 5th point respectively, then later the 6th point.
You might want to counter check if the marking is correct, for example, when your needle is on 2nd point and you are marking for the 4th point, rotate your compass to the 1st point and see if the pencil still touches the same point.
After you have all the 6 points marked on the circle, draw a straight line segment in between the immediate intersections. With 6 equal segments on the circle, here is your hexagon.
Cut the hexagon out from the cardboard. Used it as template and start tracing out hexagons for your paper piecing quilt project.
Check the shape and size consistency. If needed, draw another new hexagon template if the first one has worn off after doing some tracings.

Draw another bigger template for the fabric. Add another 1/2″ to 3/4″ to the radius for the fabric template, repeat the hexagon drawing technique to create the fabric template. You need only a few of this for just tracing the hexagons on the fabric.

Different sizes of hexagons, starting from 1″ to 3″ width.
Get enough pieces of them (1 size) for your planned quilt project and sew them together.

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Tube Boxes With Christmas Trees

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I have been experimenting of how to make a sturdy tube box to store the Kanzashi Christmas Tree. The box must be strong enough to be able to withstand all the rough handling during shipping and reach the winners’ hands in good condition.

I used cardboard, folded 2 layers, no, not strong enough!

I used a thick cardboard, no, I couldn’t fold it in round!

I shopped around but all I saw were rectangle boxes and they are rather huge for the small tree I made, which means I have to include more bubble pack in the package, no no I don’t want that either!

I want it to be light weight yet strong….. I was grumbling to my technical staff about it during a casual talk while they were having their tea break. The chief showed me a UPVC pipe and said: “Use this!”. Yes, it is the perfect material that I want, why I never thought of it!!! More brains is always better than 1 as long as we are not the cooks and won’t spoil the soup lol!!!

Remark- UPVC pipe / white pipe (mainly use as rain water down pipe from roof) with large diameter has thinner wall compare to normal PVC pipe (grey color), hence the weight is lighter.

Like many Chinese, I love tea, and  I have some nice small tube boxes that store tea leaves. So, I stole its idea to make this box.

Not only can it be used for storage, if you change the dimensions a little, it could turn out to be your treat box during festive season. Just add some seasonal decorations on it

Material:
1. UPVC pipe (150mm diameter and 350mm length)
2. 2mm thick cardboard
3. Wrapping paper of your choice (I got this from Ikea)
4. Craft glue
5. Craft knife, steel ruler and cutting mat
6. Scissor and a pencil
7. A saw with a suitable blade to cut plastic material (I used electrical saw in my workshop)
8. Sand paper
Cut the Pipe to your desire length, a body and a cap (200mm and 50mm). Sand-off the sharp edges from the cut.
Trace the outer diameter of the pipe on the 2mm cardboard, make 2, cut them out for the top and bottom cap.
Cut 2 pieces of 30mm wide and 1 piece of 10mm wide strips from the 2mm cardboard. The length must be
Cut wrapping paper for the top and bottom caps.

Apply glue on the pipes surface. Wrap the wrapping paper around it and seal the open end in by putting some glue there.
Fold the top end of the body and both ends of the cap in and glue it.

Glue the 10mm strips at the end of the body (inner part). Since the strip is thick, you need to roll it so that it curved before gluing it, this applies to the 30mm strips too. Cut off extra length.
Fold in the wrapping paper and glue it.

Glue the top and bottom caps to the wrapping paper. cut off extra wrapping near the curve after the glue has dried.
Wrap one of the 30mm strips with wrapping paper too.

Glue the unwrapped strip on the inner surface of the cap with 5mm below the top border. This should make the bottom end has more than 10mm allowance for the cap to sit properly on the body. Cut off extra length.

Apply glue at the outer ring of the top (wrong side) and bottom (right side) caps. Insert them carefully into the pipes so that they sit on the stopping strips.

Glue the wrapped strip on the inner surface of the top body. Leaving it about 10mm protruded. Cut off extra length.

Cover the cap to the body and check if they fit properly. They should fit, by right!

Brush a round of glue on the caps that they seal better, both inside and outside.

Wait till they are completely dry and you can start storing your favorites in it.

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Merry Christmas Tree

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Congratulation to the 3 winners who won the Green, Red and White trees during the Kanzashi Christmas Tree Giveaway Draw recently!!! For those who didn’t win or missed the boat, don’t be disappointed, here is the tutorial with complete step-by-step photos and even videos to guide you all the way to make the Christmas Tree!!!

Though it looks tedious but if you get your hands on it, it is pretty simple!!! Try it out!!!!

The Christmas Tree is made from 2 types of Kanzashi fold (or TsuNami) petals, round tip and pointy tip. Watch these 2 videos which I made to show you how to fold it. Perhaps you need to practice first before you can get a perfect fold for a start. Trust me, it is not as difficult as you see and think

I also prepared a pattern drawing for all the cut-out materials you need, you can download it here!

Video on folding Round Tip Kanzashi Petal

Video on folding Pointy Tip Kanzashi Petal

Christmas Tree and Pot

Material:
1. Fabric glue or good craft glue
2. Sharp point Tweezer
3. Fabric for the cone base
4. Fabrics to fold the Kanzashi petals
5. Matching color sewing thread and needle
6. Cardboard for cone
7. Cardboard for the base of the cone

Prepare the cone:
Roll the cone and glue it at the glue line. You might need to place 1 or 2 tapes to secure the joints before the glue dries.
Clip the curve of the base and fold it up as shown and apply glue on the that area.

Insert the base into the bottom of the cone.
Glue the fabric to the base. Clip the curve and glue it up to the cone.
Make a small hole at the center of the base. You need this to poke through the floral wire later.

Get ready your Kanzashi petals, both round tip and pointy tip.
Arrange them in alternate sequence, round, pointy, round, pointy and so on….
Apply glue on the 1st row. Raise the cone by placing a stand, it will be easy for you to work on.
Dip the petal base on a pool of glue so that it has enough glue to adhere to the cone.

Start gluing the petals on the cone row by row, make sure the whole petal base touches the cone. Follow the numbers of petal required for each row as instructed in the pattern sheet.
Rotate the stand as you go on. Adjust the position of the petal if needed.

A close-up view showing the alignment of the petals and the base.

Top view: after completing the first row.

Continue to work upward row by row.
Side view: after completing 5 rows of big petals.

Side view: after completing another 5 row of small petals. Reserved the last row for final assembly.

Top view.

Prepare the pot of the Christmas tree while waiting for the glue on the petals to dry or at least semi dry. You can skip this part if you can find any alternative pot to substitute it.
Material:
1. Tube 30mm height (I used shuttercock tube which is about 65mm diameter)
2. A circle base (size: outer diameter of the tube) which I have glued the floral wire on.
3. A circle top with a small hole at the center. (the photo showed 2 but you need only 1)
4. A small cable tie
5. A small bell
6. A short length of ribbon (about 300mm)
7.A short length of paper ribbon 2.5 times the circumference of the tube.

Assemble the pot by gluing the base and the top to the tube.
Cut the paper ribbon into half.
Open/unwrap one of the paper ribbon as shown, wrap it around the pot and glue it.
Glue the unopened paper ribbon at the top edge of the pot.
Cut off extra paper ribbon at the joint.

Tie the cable-tie 15mm above the top of the pot. Apply some glue to secure it.
Tie a ribbon and sew the bell on it, glue it to the pot.
Apply some glue on top of the cable-tie.
Option (left): You can embellish the pot by putting some dry wood.

Now, slowly insert the Christmas tree through the floral wire.
Apply some glue at the tip of the tree.
Continue with the petal attachment for the last row. Top half of the petal should touch the floral wire.

Cut off the floral wire 10mm above the tip of the Christmas Tree.
Apply glue and insert a star on it.
You are ready to decorate your Christmas tree with some beads and bead garland.

Place a circle of bead garland at the 1st row of the Christmas tree.
Glue the first and last beads onto the petals. Secure it with pins.
Apply some glues on the next few beads to secure the garland better.
Cut some beads from the extra garland that you left and glue it on the petal randomly to decorate it.

Let the glue dry by leaving it over night or as long you can.
Done!!! Now you can decorate your table with the Kanzashi Christmas Tree you made for this holy season

Since I am doing it, I photographed the steps just to show you the process to make a hexagon quilt.

First, you need to cut out the hexagon shape cardboards and fabrics of your choice. The size of the fabric must be big enough so that you can fold it over like the picture shown below. An estimation of double the size of your hexagon cardboard is required.

Tack stitch the fabric while folding it to the cardboard as shown. This is to secure the fabric in place in the shape of a hexagon.

The back.

The front.

With front facing each other, sew the 2 pieces up. Only pick the fabric to sew, not the cardboard.

Update!

I have created a pin cushion project from this hexagon quilt, please go there and have a look!