Spooky Mantle

I had fun decorating my mantle for Halloween this year. First, I fluffed a lot of black tulle along the bottom. I added my specially-made witch's hat (see the post below), pumpkins, potion bottles, and then made new covers for some of our books. The titles read, "Things That Go Bump In The Night," "Favorite Recipes with Creepy Crawlies," "Witch's Brew for Two," and "Book of Spells." There are plenty of spiders, including some dangling from the ceiling. (Thank you, tall husband.)

Next year I plan to add some of THESE amazing labels from Love Manor to my bottles.

Happy Haunting!

Witch's hats

This year, I fell in love with some really cute witch's hats I had seen around, so I decided to make a few to decorate around the house. First I used a couple of pre-made witch's hats, but they were a little expensive so I decided to make my own. Here's how I did it:

For my patterns, I used a plastic toy cone and a plate that were the sizes I wanted for the finished product. I traced these both onto black poster paper.Form the cone shape with a lot of hot glue.
Cover the pieces both with black satin (Walmart, $2/yard)


I covered the circle by making a very large stitch around the edges and gathering it over the circle.
The cone was pretty easy, I just made a "finished edge" with a hot glue hem, and then attached that side last.Tuck the ends inside the bottom of the cone and secure well with hot glue. (my mom would be so proud with my liberal use of hot glue.) Then apply a generous bead of hot glue all the way around the bottom and stick it onto the center of the circle
Voila!
Now, it's time to decorate! I had a few different thing's I'd picked up: tulle, sheer fabrics, flowers, feathers and crows. Here are my finished products:
(The first two (below) are pre-made witch's hats that I decorated, the second two are the hats I made, as shown above.)

This last one, I specifically made to go on the mantle, so instead of a full circle on the bottom, I cut the poster board flat on one side so that it will nestle up against the wall. It turned out great for what I needed, since my mantle ledge is only about 6 inches wide.

It was fun and I am really enjoying my new Halloween decorations!

I actually HAVE been working on quite a few things, but I haven't had time to take any pictures!

Here are a couple of things I have sewed for our friend, K. (Isn't she so darling?)
This flowered top is made from THIS PATTERN (so easy.)
I also made the luau version for M: (who apparently wasn't very happy that day.)I made this little jumper dress for K, too, and made up the pattern as I went along:
And there are a couple of my projects. What's next?

My friend Tasha (Cherish These Moments Photography) talked me into making some little crocheted photo props for newborn photo sessions. It forced me to learn to read a pattern (thank you, world wide web) and I was pretty excited about that! The pattern was purchased HERE. And, here are some of her photos of the finished products, on some pretty sweet little newborns:
Makes me want one. (a baby, not a crocheted hat.)