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Make your own Halloween Throw Pillow

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This year, I have added another Halloween decoration to my Halloween collection – a Halloween Throw Pillow. It is a quick and easy to make since it is using bleach stenciling plus painting. For your convenient, I have prepared the downloadable and printable stencil pattern, all you need is to print it out on the freezer papers, cut out, stick on with warm iron, bleach and paint. You can use black cotton dish towel or black pillow cover.

If you are interested on the Mr and Mrs Skeleton next to the pillow, you may find the tutorial in this post. You may also find the previous years’ Halloween projects and tutorials, here.

Need more inspiration on making costume for your kids instead of buying them from the shop? you may find the at: How to Make Your Own Halloween Costumes: 9 DIY Halloween Costumes eBook from All Free Sewing.

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DIY Faux Brick Wall

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Some times, in order to make my photos more impressive, I will bring my handmad to other places for photography, such as beach, restaurant, park, jetty etc… That’s why you may notice that I need more time to prepare my tutorial which is normally 1 or 2 weeks of lagging. But, if I have a choice, I prefer to do the photography in the comfort of my home. With that in practice, that means I need some portable backdrops… fabrics and wooden backdrops came easily, but real brick is impossible to be “portable” due to it’s weight.

I have put off the idea of having brick wall in my home till I renovated my new condominium to purposely make a painted old brick wall at one of the corners…. until… I shop in my local Ace Hardware Store…… I was searching for some aerosol paints for repainting my old wicker basket when I saw the “make it stone!” texture paint on the shelf. I was so impressed with the effect shown on the cap of the aerosol can. I bought it back and thinking of “stoning” my old plastic wall-hung planter. That night on my bed, just before I fell asleep, I suddenly came out with the idea of making a faux brick wall with this paint after recalling that I saw a video using polystyrene foam panel to make similar backdrops for the stage. Guess what? I was insomnia that night because the processes of making this faux brick wall kept me awake, I was very excited and can’t wait till the next morning!!!!

I am glad that I had a sudden inspiration of making it and see how I did it after the jump….. There after, you will see it appears in my photos more often too.

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Martha Stewart Craft Paint and Tools (by Plaid)

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Hope you have had a wonderful Mother’s Day… Are you ready for something new in Craft Passion? Yup, the Martha Stewart’s Craft Decorative Paint series (products by Plaid). A new craft materials that I wanted to try out when I first saw it in the market.

I knew Plaid launched this paint line in Q3/Q4 2011, a paint line and its accessories that every crafter would dream to own a set or at least a few bottles of them. Well, I am not that lucky to have the products delivered to my house from USA during the introduction period, but lucky enough to chance upon them in a craft shop in my country, Malaysia. As a good excuse to buy some thing for myself during Mother’s Day, I swept almost each of everything the shop has for the Martha Stewart craft decorative paint and its tools & accessories (too bad they ran out of stock for some I really wanted to buy). Check out the full range of what Plaid has to offer for the Martha Stewart’s series, here.

Wow…. I am still feel excited to be able to buy them locally, as I can do so many DIY projects besides the usual craft I did (should I grow more hands at the mean time?). If you have been close to me, probably you heard me telling that I bought a condominium on the island, that’s even excites me, with these paints, I think I can do so many thing for the new home… just hope I can get the key as soon as possible to start my dream home design and decoration Please scroll down to see my top 50′s project selection found among the fabulous craft bloggers. As you may notice, these paints are also good for embellishing fabrics, T-shirts and fiber… basically almost any surface. If I have these before hand, I should have used them for this, this and this. Never too late, I have great ideas to use them for some new tutorials. So…. STAY TUNED!!!!

WHERE TO BUY:

Shop & Workshop
Papier (M) Sdn Bhd
Lot 161, 1st Floor, The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, Malaysia.
Contact: 03-7725 4815
Website: http://papierlove.com
Blog: http://papierlove.blogspot.com/

If you would like to know where to get these fantastic paint line outside USA, visit Plaid‘s International Distributor list, here.

50 Inspiring DIY Projects to Make:

Never too later for some last minute Valentine’s project though it is just 3 days away. I have compiled 40 Valentine’s DIY tutorials for you to choose and many of them are my favorites too. Hope you will find them inspired to make for your sweetheart

This is the fourth and the last compilation for 2012 Valentine’s Day projects to make. If you have missed out the first 3 Valentine’s Round-ups, here are the links: Sew Valentine Round Up, Food Of Love Round Up, and, For The Love Of Yarn Round Up. 4 of them total up to 100 projects for you to make for Valentine’s Day, which will also inspired you to adapt the method and turn into some projects for special occasion through out the year. Happy crafting and …..
Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

1. Valentine Heart at The Idea Room.
2. Say It With Love – Paper Heart Garland at Happy Clippings
3. Crayon Heart Valentines at Whipper Berry.
4. DIY Ombre Heart & Striped Canvas Totes at Four Flights Of Fancy.
5. “Love Struck” Pillows at Homestitched.
6. Painted Cross Stitch Pillow at Craft Berry Bush.
7. Painted Heart Bag at V And Co.
8. Sparkly Valentine Banner at Lemon Tree Creations.
9. Homemade Heart Soaps at Sun Hat And Wellie Boots.
10. Asterisk Heart Garland at How About Orange.
11. Paper Punch Heart Garland at Oh! Crafts.
12. Love You Bookmark at Mmmcrafts.
13. Book Love at Craft Berry Bush.
14. Upcycled Valentine Garland at Just Something I Made.
15. “52 Reasons I Love You” Cards Tutorial at Papervine.
16. DIY Project: Valentine Lightbulb at Design Sponge.
17. Pipe Cleaner Heart-Shaped *LOVE* Goggles at Make And Takes.
18. Heart-Shaped Paper Clips at Design Sponge.
19. Clothespin Planter at Family Chic.
20. Valentines Day Countdown at Infarrantly Creative.
21. Valentine Gnome at GardenMama.
22. Puzzling Cards for Your Valentine at Make And Takes.
23. Birdseed Hearts: Eco, Easy and Inexpensive DIY at Intimate Weddings.
24. Valentine Garland from Plastic Grocery Bags at Aunt Peaches.
25. Doilies & Hearts Tied on Jars with Strings Tutorial DIY at Crescendoh.
26. Chalkboard Hearts Ornaments at Embellishing Life.
27. DIY Chalkboard Picture Frame at The Moody Fashionista.
28. Salt Dough Hearts at One Clever Mode.
29. Salt Dough Tags at Intimate Weddings.
30. Gold Beaded Heart Pendant at Mod Podge Rocks!.
31. Chalkboard Craft at Creative Organization.
32. Love Letters Picture at 30 Handmade Days.
33. Clay Valentine Necklace at 365 Days Of Crafts.
34. Valentine Love Boats at Green Jello.
35. Love Potion no. 9 Labels at The Idea Room.
36. Friendship Bracelet Valentines at Dandee.
37. Love Pop Up Card at Under A Cherry Tree.
38. Pop Up Love Card at Cut Out And Keep.
39. Pop Can Key Chain at Diary Of A Crafty Lady.
40. Quilled Heart Pendant at Craftzine.

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Remold Oil Pastel into Colorful Star

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As I cut and fill the pastels into the mold, it creates lots of waste debris on my table, very small and can hardly pick up by hand. So, I collect them and pour into one of the molds. Surprisingly, it turns into a star dust with all the colors I have used. One glide at the tip will give stripes of colors, my daughter shouted out: “Mommy, it is like a rainbow! So beautiful!”

Kids will be kids, they just like to fight over the same thing. When I remold the star pastel, I kept in mind to make sure that 2 stars must be identical in color and shape. Even with all my hard-work to try to duplicate the twin-star pastel, they still fight, sigh….. “Mom, I want that piece she is using, it has more red in it”, “Mom, not fair, my star is smaller…”, “Mom, sister used my star…”, “Mom…..” …… What can I say? Just love my kids the way they are… even sometimes they really made me steaming mad with all the mess and fights around. If you have kids like mine, welcome to my MOTHERHOOD….

Get the tutorial on how to make the Colorful Star Pastel after this:

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Freezer Paper Stencil is so easy, we made this for daddy with a little help from mommy!!!

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Father’s Day is just around the corner, if you need to make a quick father’s day craft with the kids, this “We Love Daddy” with hand prints stencil T-shirt would be a perfect gift for the daddy that he would want to wear it everyday. It is a freezer paper stencil method, the stencil design can be done very fast if coupled with computer and printer. You can either download the stencil pdf pattern I made or create your own, the font I used is “American Typewriter”. If you can’t find freezer paper locally, you can always substitute it with sticker paper, like the one I used on skeleton Halloween costume I did for my son last year.

For those with only 1 kid, I have prepared another letter for you with an “I”, so you can make a ” I Love Daddy” Stencil T-shirt instead. For the hand prints, simply print both left and right hands on it. For those has more than 2 kids, adjust the hand prints position so that every kid has his/her share to touch the daddy’s “heart”. You can always enlarge the heart shape when printing to cater for more hands. Cool!!!

Last year, I sewed a boxer shorts for father’s day and he loves wearing it till now. This year the kids made him a great T-shirt, he sure is one of the luckiest daddies in the world to have 2 consecutive handmade from his loved ones in 2 years and more to come lol…. In fact, seeing him wearing them makes me so happy and dying to make more for him!!! Next year, I have to get prepared earlier for 2 father’s day crafts, one for the kids and one for me to make.

Get the detail tutorial on how-to make this stencil T-shirt with freezer paper after this….

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When we celebrate Chinese (Lunar) New Year / spring festival, we decorate our house to make it look RED and GOLD. There are stories behind the reason, but I am not good in story telling, so I leave it to About.com, and Wikipedia who give better pictures and details if you are interested to know more.

This is a quickie project and the only time consuming is waiting for the paint to dry. The gold nuggets are only at the top layer of the pot, and not filling inside the pot. Let’s get the method and details of how-to…..

Materials:
1. River stones (rounded edges), the quantity needed depends on your pot’s size. Mine is about 1 lbs.
2. Gold metallic aerosol spray paint
3. Newspapers
4. A pot
5. Rubber gloves
6. Facial mask
7. Red ribbons
Remark: spray at well ventilated area, preferably outdoor or spray booth.

Instructions:
1. Wash the river stones to get rid the mud and sand. Soapy water is needed if the stone is greasy.
2. Dry them under the sun or hot air (for instant: from hair dryer)
3. Cover your work space with some newspapers.
4. Spread and spaced the stones on the newspaper.
5. Wear gloves and face mask. Shake the gold spray paint as directed on the can.
6. Spray a thin layer of gold paint on the stones (8-12″ away) by swinging your hand zig-zag across all the stones. Wait for them to dry.
7. Repeat step 6 another 2 – 3 layers or until you are satisfied with the metallic gold they present.
8. Turn to other unfinished area and repeat step 6 & 7 until the whole stone is covered with gold paint.
9. While waiting for the paint to dry completely, stuff the pot with crumple newspapers.
10. Fill snugly until it is almost full, press it down a little and start putting the stones on the top portion of the pot.
11. Tie a red ribbon to decorate.

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Skeleton Costume With Sock Skeleton

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Running out of time to sew a Halloween costume for your kid? Don’t worry, here is a quick way to transform a footed pajama into skeleton suit…. If you can get a black color footed long sleeve body-suit, it is even faster because you don’t have to dye it into black color like I did

Want to make it spookier, add some glow-in-the-dark powder in the white acrylic and your kid will sure “boooo” in the dark!!!!

I even prepared the skeleton stencil artwork for you, just print it out onto sticker papers or freezer papers (the non-waxed side), cut it out and stick onto the black footed pajama, and you are ready to paint it up. If you are using freezer paper, you need to iron with the wax side down and stick it on the pajama. It is fast and easy to do! Get the how-to with photos for stenciling method after this jump.

By the way, there are few more photos above, take a look by clicking the “next” button. Also, if you wonder how to make the sock skeleton in the photo, click here.

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Light Bulb Angel Ornament

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Light Bulb Angel Ornament, click here for the tutorial!

From now on, don’t throw away your burnt light bulbs. You can recycle them into beautiful Christmas tree ornaments!

I was so delighted when I saw these at “Craft By Amanda” where Amanda posted the first Angel ornament made out of a burnt light bulb. She made them in Dec 2000 and they still look brand new although they have been put on, taken off and put on a total of 9 times.

You should look at her another 3 light bulb ornaments by clicking the “next” button above. The links for the individual tutorials are at the bottom of the photos!!!

Try this out for this Christmas

P/s: You can use a good light bulb if you don’t have a burnt one…. shhhh…. don’t tell my husband that I am going to get them from the lamps and told him that they are burnt!!!!