On a more Spiritual Note.

One of my most favorite speakers to listen to is Linda K. Burton. 
Scrolling through Pinterest one day I found a link to LDS.org with 9 suggested ways to draw closer to God suggested by Linda K. Burton. I loved the list and decided to make my own copy to hang where I could see it. Here is what I came up with:

I am excited to have this list up to help me remember what I should strive to be doing! Partly because I know when I am doing these things, I literally am blessed with peace in my life and divine intuition.  It also strengthens my testimony of Jesus when I am working on these things. #GratefulfortheChrist Feel Free to print out a copy for yourself. 

Glass jars and their new lease on life.

I started this craft last year, got busy, didn't finish it before Halloween, and was very sad. 

But not this year. This year crafts are getting done. Ha! I think I have made more crafts in one week because I finally have had the time to finish the ones I started over the years. 

Spooky Jars

Supplies:
Random glass jars--I used glass vinegar bottles, chili sauce bottles, pimento jars, and a few that we bought at the store with lame stickers on them
Spray Paint--much easier than enamel paint-- the light orange jar I used enamel paint on and didn't love it as much as the spray painted jars. 
Corks for random jars if needed- I got mine at Hobby Lobby
Spooky Labels http://ginasdesigns.blogspot.com/2013/09/freebie-friday-spooky-labels.html#_CwLnZJ
Spray Adhesive 

Step 1- Clean all jars. Remove any labels and wash with soap

Step 2- Decide a color scheme and paint the jars accordingly with spray paint and allow them to dry completely--- remember, not a wise idea to do this around things that could get paint on them. Go in your garage away from you car...

Step 3-  Print off spooky labels and pick which ones go with what jars. Cut them out.

Step 4: Stick labels to jars by spraying adhesive to the back side of label and placing on the jar.

Smooth out the label and presto-- you now have some way spooky jars. The pickle jar you are about to throw out is so jealous!!

--Alexsis

Pinterest Success--White Ghost Pumpkins & Creepy Jar/ Finishing Touches on the Cauldron

Whilst working on this portion of my overall Halloween Witch's Caldron, I got a little impatient and decided to heat up my oven just a little bit and put foam pumpkins in it with paint on them to dry faster. Totally forgot I put them in there until like half an hour after I did so. Thank heavens the oven was turned off or I would have been up crap creek...

Ghost Pumpkins. 

Supplies:
Foam/Craft Pumpkins---I found mine at Dollar Tree
Creamy White Acrylic Paint
Dark Green or Brown Acrylic Paint 
Foam Brushes
Fake Black Birds--Also from Dollar Tree

All you need to do for this craft is paint the pumpkins white with the paint. I painted one coat and let it dry, then painted another coat and let it dry, and again, and again, and again. Once it finally started to look white and not orange was a good place to stop. I ended up dabbing the stem with a little green paint to cover up where I got white paint on it. 

Once the pumpkins were completely dry, I stuck the little black birds on them and they were done!

For the Creepy jar:

1 random glass jar
Black Spray Paint
Matte Spray Paint
Spray adhesive or Mod Podge
1 Spooky Label http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovemanor/2783512654/in/set-72157602788222231/  

I was searching the house for a glass jar I could repurpose and couldn't find one. I was getting a little bugged because I have been trying not to throw away glass jars, but try and repurpose them. I started on dinner and due to my very busy day, ahem, crafting, I uh, didn't have time to make a proper dinner. Whoops. So, I heated up some red sauce from a jar and cooked some pasta. Lo and behold, the red sauce came in a glass jar!!! Muhahaha! So I washed out the jar and peeled the label off and let it dry. 

I spray painted the lid black and spray painted the jar with the matte coat for esthetics. While they were drying, I picked a label and printed it off and cut it out to size. Once the jar was dry to touch, I took the label and sprayed adhesive to the back of the label and stuck it on the jar. Super easy craft. 

For the finished product, I picked up a the Witches sign, the spanish moss, and the creepy cloth all the the dollar store. I stuffed the inside of the cauldron with a box and grocery sacks and laid the cloth on top, added the moss, and topped off with all the decorations. I love how this turned out and because I had a lot of the stuff to make it, I only spent about $20 bucks to get it all put together. 

Thanks to:

http://let--it--shine.blogspot.com/2010/10/faux-iron-witches-cauldron.html

For the super cute craft idea.

I have a super cute display! Hopefully, I can find some small witches brooms to go with it soon!

Love them!

--Alexsis---

Pinterest Success---Glitter Skull

Let's be honest. Everything is better with glitter. Almost everything anyways. 



Black glitter+cheap halloween decorations= epic amounts of happiness.

For this little craft, I used:

A cheesy looking plastic skull from Dollar Tree
A Foam Paintbrush
Black Paint
Black Glitter
Mod Podge
Spray Adhesive

Step 1: I mixed some Mod Podge and black paint together in a plastic bowl and promptly painted it on the skull with the foam brush. 

Step 2: Working in sections, paint the skull and apply glitter to glued area. It goes without saying, but it would be good to work over a large bowl or plate to collect the glitter that does not stick on the skull. Keep doing this until the entire skull is covered. An alternative is to use spray adhesive instead of the Mod Podge. I personally prefer to use the Mod Podge for the most part because the spray adhesive tends to make the glitter look less sparkly-- you have to reglitter areas because of the way it makes the glitter look. However, the spray adhesive works great in hard to get areas and small missed spots.

Allow Drying time. Remember, it will still shed glitter even after it is dry so be careful where you display it and take extra care not to drop it. 

Pinterest Success --Cauldron

Hi, my name is Alexsis and I am addicted to Pinterest. I would like to say I have been Pinterest free for more than 1 hour, but let's be honest. That's a lie. Like Pinterest is open in another window right now as I am typing. 

Well, now that I got that off my chest, I want to share what I have been working on. 

I saw a super cute craft on Pinterest that I needed for my own Halloween Display. 

It is a cauldron with various spooky things adorning it. 

I already had a plastic cauldron that I could use, but it desperately needed some distressing. I saw a couple tutorials on different blogs, but they all took more than like a week to make due to drying time. That is way too long for me, I am an instant gratification kind of crafter, anything more than a day and I struggle to stay motivated to finish it. Back to the cauldron.

Supplies Used:

1 Large Plastic Cauldron from Target

1 Bottle of Spray Texture from Home Depot

1 handful of sand from my backyard (hard to come by wear I live. Not.)

Black Spraypaint

Gray Craft/Acrylic Paint

Brown/Rust Craft Acrylic Paint

Step 1: Dig out of your basement or go buy a cheap cauldron. If you are indeed an actually witch, skip this step and the rest as you already have an excellent cauldron waiting for you.

Step 2: Lightly cover cauldron with Spray texture. I would do this somewhere where you can make a mess--like unfinished basement, out in your garage. Places like that. 

Step 3: Once you get texture to desired consistency, lightly toss sand on the texture-- it will adhere to the spray. Allow the cauldron to dry somewhere warmish overnight. 

Step 4: Spray paint the cauldron with black spray paint. The sand is merely there for texture, if it's bumped very hard, it will come off... Try and be gentle with your very pretty cauldron. 

Step 5: After spray paint has dried, lightly dab on gray paint with a sponge or a scrunched up grocery sack. Add until you feel content with how it looks. After the gray, I made a brownish rust color and VERY LIGHTLY dabbed it on the cauldron to give it a more antique look.

Allow paint to dry before filling it with complete Halloween awesomeness.

Fall Wheat Grass Decoration

I have a wonderful friend who loves Wheat Grass Decorations. After having been unexpectedly gone from home for almost two weeks, she picked up a lot of slack for me while I was away.

I wanted to make her a little something for helping me out so I made this Decoration, I loved how it turned out!

First, I went out to a field (not private land) and cut gathered some good looking grasses to work with. 

 I purchased some floral foam from Dollar Tree. Holla! 

 With the grass and the foam on hand, I started taking small bunches of the grass and cutting them so they were all about the same length. 

After getting a bunch of the grass stems cut to length, I started pushing them into the green foam. 

 I kept doing this until the whole top of the foam was filled with the grass! After the top was filled in, I took Jute Cord and tied it at the top and started winding it down the bottom to cover the foam. Once I got to the bottom, I used my glue gun and glued the Jute together. For the base, I glued the Jute with a glue gun in a spiral-- The glue won't stick to the foam very well, so you have to make sure to glue the Jute together. 

This is what the decoration looked like after I wrapped it with Jute Cord once around. I decided to wrap it again to help cover the green foam. 

Here is the final product! I love this for fall!!

Supply List:

Local Grass or Wheat Grass Stems from a Craft Store

Green Foam from the Dollar Store

Craft Jute Cord

Hot Glue Gun & Glue

Scissors

Total Craft Time Took a couple hours from start to finish. Turn on a good show and make a few!

-Alexsis-

Gearing Up For Halloween

As much as I love Fall, I am obsessed with Halloween. I'll be honest, we have never been Booed before--My whole life amounts to nothing because of it-- I am just kidding, I am not worried about it.  But I love the idea of doing something nice for others without them knowing who it is giving to them. So this morning, I woke up and while my Hubby was still snoozing, I decided to make a Booed sign and instructions to take to neighbors and friends. Feel free to copy and use for personal use! Happy Hauntings!
--Alexsis--