13 Crafts for October 31

It's not too late to make one of these fabulous craft projects for Halloween! Julee from D.I.Y. Louisville and I love Halloween. Here is a quick collage of some of our best projects to make for the Holiday, or as I like to call it, Craftoween! Be sure to pin this image to remember it for next year too! Just hover over the image with your mouse and click "pin it."

Projects from left to right on the image:

1. Eat, Drink and Be Scary sign
2. Edible blood recipe
3. Frankenbox craft
4. Ghost Garland
5. Monster Wreath
6. Spooky Styrofoam Spider
7. Pumpkin Needle felted scarf
8. Trick or Treat bag
9. Wall Witch decoration
10. Floating Ghost 
11. Owl plaque
12. Ghost cupcakes
13. Crayon transfer treat bag

Trick or Treat Bag tutorial

Last year my nephew modeled reversible trick or treat bags for me that I was selling in my shop. This year I thought that I would share the instructions with my blog readers so that you can make your own reversible trick or treat bags at home! It's a very simple project, good for beginners and experienced sewers. 

It's always easy to find awesome Halloween fabrics, and this year was no exception! For this project I chose a fun monster print with Dracula, Frankenstein, a Werewolf, and a Mummy. For the reverse fabric I chose eyeballs. For this project you will also need some cotton webbing for the straps, scissors, and a needle and thread or sewing machine.

Cut 2 rectangular pieces from each print, then cut two small squares out of the bottom corners.

Flip the fabric so that the 2 pieces of each print are facing each other (for the monster fabric and the eye fabric). You are then going to sew 3 sides of each fabric (left side, right side, and bottom) leaving open the tops and the bottom corners.

Once the 3 sides are sewn, stitch up the corners, leaving only 1 open on the lining fabric.

To stitch the corners, open the corner fabric and flatten the opposite way. Sew a straight line.

On the eye fabric, I left one corner open, since that is the lining on my bag. One the monster fabric, I sewed up both corners.

Next you can turn the lining (inside) fabric right side out. 

The next step is to place the lining (eyeball) fabric inside the monster fabric, so that the right sides are facing each other.

Cut the cotton webbing into 2 strap pieces.

Put one strap on each side of the bag, in between the 2 lining and outer fabrics. 

Use pins to hold the straps in place.

Then sew all the way around the top of the bag, making sure to remove the pins.

Trim the excess thread and strap pieces, then turn the entire bag right side out through the small corner hole in the lining fabric.

Once the bag is all turned out, sew the corner of the lining (eyeball) fabric closed and tuck the lining into the outer part of the bag.

The last step once the lining is tucked into the bag is to stitch around the top of the bag.

Now the bag is finished! I really love the combination of the monster and eyeball fabrics. Remember that the bag is reversible too! You could turn it inside out depending on your costume... or your mood!

Needle Felted Pumpkin Scarf

It's gotten pretty cold around here this October. Halloween week will definitely be scarf weather! Because of that, I decided to make this needle felted pumpkin scarf. I used the same fleece as my last minute scarf, this time in black. Although wool is usually needle felted to other wool products, I found that it worked pretty well with the fleece too.

To make this needle felted scarf you will need:

Black fleece or felt cut to the length you desire (this is the base)

Orange wool roving

Green wool roving

A needle felting tool

Foam or brush base for needle felting

Place the fabric over the foam/brush pad for needle felting. Take a strip of the orange wool roving and coil it into the pumpkin shape.

Using the needle felting tool (multiple barbed needles), begin to poke on the orange wool, pushing it into the scarf.

Continue to "felt" the orange wool with the needle tool.

When you are finished with a nice round, flat pumpkin, you can add some green wool roving for the stem.

Using the needle tool, poke the green wool multiple times.

Continue until the stem is to your liking.

Repeat on the other end of the scarf by making the same pumpkin design. Once you have completed that, the scarf is finished!

You can trim away loose fibers with scissors and tidy up with a sticky lint roller. I hope you enjoy this fun needle felting project for Craftoween!

Got any good homemade Halloween costume ideas?

Autumn Beauty

I have to admit that the Fall season blows me away with its bounty and beauty. Maybe it's the realization that Summer is over, or it's the chilly weather, but I always seem to have a heightened awareness of the sights, sounds, and smells of Autumn.

I can smell my neighbor's firewood roasting and see the blooming mums in all their glory around the neighborhood. The sunsets appear to be more dazzling and the crisp air and crackle of the fallen leaves underfoot leave me with such a happy feeling. Everyone seems to be outside, soaking up the last days before winter. Even the spiders creating their webs add to the beauty of Autumn.

Nature sure puts on a spectacular seasonal show! I think this weekend will be the perfect time to look for a pumpkin to complete our Autumn decor. It's a fun way to really get into the spirit of the season!

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend and can also take some time to enjoy the seasonal offerings whether it's carving a pumpkin or sipping something pumpkin flavored, or taking a walk through the park to admire the changing leaves. 

Ghost Garland

I've been pushing myself to more craft tutorials on the blog, so here's another project for Craftoween! I hope that you are not tired of them yet!

As a kid I loved taking suckers, wrapping them in a tissue, tying them with a bow, and drawing faces on them with marker to turn them into ghostie pops. As a grown up, I thought I could create something to remind me of that, without buying a bunch of suckers to eat by myself! Hence the Ghost Garland! 

For this project you will need:

9 squares of white cotton fabric (they don't need to be perfectly cut)

black string

9 medium sized white pom pom balls

30 small orange pom pom balls

scissors

glue (optional)

The first step is to take each square of fabric and wrap them around the white pom pom balls. Secure underneath with a black string tied into a bow.

Once the bow is tied,  you can add a droplet of glue onto the bow and allow to dry. This is an optional step, but it keeps the bow tied and the ghost secured.

Next, thread a needle with the black string and push the needle through the stiff center of 3 orange pom pom balls.

After stringing on 3 pom poms, string a ghost on the needle on the back of its head.

Next string 3 more orange pom poms. 

Sew on another ghost and repeat until all 9 ghosts and 30 orange pom pom balls are on the string.

That's all it takes to make this easy and cute ghost garland decoration! You could add faces to the ghosts if you want, but I think I like the simplicity of the anonymous ghosts. I hope that you have been enjoying my Craftoween series! Check back for more, and as always, leave me a comment with a link to your own projects.