Wooden Candy Corn Leaf

Today, I am going to show you how to make a Fall decoration.

All you will need is a wooden leaf (I got mine in the craft section of Target), yellow, orange, and white craft paint, a paintbrush (I recommend a large paintbrush with a straight edge), paper towels, and optional painters tape. 

To start, lay down paper towels under your wood, so the paint won't get everywhere. Now is when you'd put on your painters tape and divide the leaf into thirds, but I didn't have any, so I just eyed where thirds would be and skipped that step. After that, paint the top section white, but remember to paint in the same direction of the wood. If you have painters tape, just paint normally and stop at the tape, but if you don't, lay the straight edge of a paper towel down where you think the line dividing the sections are, and hold it there while you paint close to the line. Once you think it's straight enough, paint the next section orange, and repeat these steps when you get to the bottom of the middle section. Paint the last section yellow. Remember to rinse out your brush in water in between each color. 

And your done! If you'd like, you can tie a bow on the stem. Happy Halloween!

Fall Tulle Pumpkin

Today, I am showing you how to make the cutest Halloween craft! I call it a Fall Tulle Pumpkin! There are other crafts out there similar to it, but using tulle and ribbon is not something you see everyday! Its quick and inexpensive, too!

Before you start, you'll need orange tulle. They sell it mostly at craft stores, but I got it from Walmart. I searched the whole craft department and was so annoyed because they had every color except orange, but then we went to the Halloween department, and that's where all the orange was. I got a package of 6 inches by ten yards of glittery tulle for $1! You will also need black ribbon )which I also got from Walmart for a dollar) and mine is 3/8 in by 3 yards. Both of those items could make you a few more of these crafts without having to buy another package. You also need a mason jar which I bought from Walmart for around $2.50, but you could do it the old fashioned way and rinse out a jar of spaghetti sauce! Lastly, you will need Flameless LED Tea Lights. We got ours from Walmart in a package of 6 for $2.50 which is really cheap, but if you only need a few they sell some in smaller quantities from the Dollar Tree. Plus, you'll need scissors, optional paper clips, and a glue gun. I got a mini glue gun from Target that was the store brand, which came with 10 sticks of glue, but we finished the whole project with only one! This craft only costs about $7!

To start, cut two pieces of ribbon around 10 centimeters long, and one piece about 12 centimeters long. Remember to cut the ribbon on a diagonal to try to prevent fraying. Now is  the hard part. Fold your two 10cm ribbons nearly every 3 centimeters into a triangle shape. If it is too long, just leave it and we will cut it off after. Once you get it where you think it's even, you can paper clip the ribbon on the folded edges so it doesn't get out of place. Now hot glue the ribbon right under the fold, so when it folds over, you won't see the glue. Do that on all three sides by moving each paper clip as you go. I only had one, so I would just reposition it as I went and hold the other sides. Once you finish those two, cut off the extra ribbon if there is any and try to make them even, because they are the two eyes. After that, take the 12cm ribbon and fold it in half. I did it at about a right angle, putting both ends pointing up because it is the mouth, but you can do whatever you like best. Lastly, just cut a tiny triangle out of the ribbon for the nose. Hot glue all of them on the mason jar, but lay it out first on the jar to make sure you like where everything is. Just put a dab of glue on all of the edges, no less, and if necessary, add more. 

Now take however much ribbon you need to fit around the lip of the jar and tie a bow in the back and cut. I put a little glue under where the bow is, just to hold it in place. I put the bow in the back, because when Halloween is over, you can turn it around and it becomes a regular Fall/Thanksgiving decorative craft!

Following that, comes the easy and fun part. Put your tea light in the jar and turn it on. Then, take a whole bunch of tulle and stuff it into the jar on top of the light. You can do as little or as much as you want. I didn't want to actually see the tea light, so I stuffed a lot in the jar and cut. I measured 15 feet of tulle is what I stuffed in there, so I used half of it. 

That is all! I really like this craft and I know I say that about all of them, but this is one of my favorites! It took me less than one day to make, so maybe it could be a Halloween tradition! Or even a craft for an activity night. Happy Fall and Halloween! Remember to turn it around on November 1st!

Palm Tree Hat Costume

Hey my loyal blog readers! Today, prepare to have your mind blown. Picture your mind as a palm frond, blowing in the wind! Hahaha, get it?

Today, I will show you how to be a palm tree for Halloween. It's a really quick project (it only took me an hour and a half to make up the design and complete it). All you will need is some brown clothes of any kind (or if you don't have any like me, they should understand anyway), some tape, scissors, a hot glue gun, 2 pipe cleaners (preferably green), and four pieces of regular sized green paper.

To start, I just drew an oval shape on one piece of paper, taking up most of the page. It doesn't have to be perfect, you know the saying, 'No two snowflakes are alike,' well these are the snowflakes of Florida. I drew off the page so on the top and bottom, it's flat because it's not a full oval. Cut that out and trace it on all four pieces of paper. It should look like this.

Now I cut little triangles out of the sides all the way up both sides. On the flat part on top of each leaf (the smaller of the two ends), I cut one triangle out of that. Then on two of the four fronds, I cut around 4-6 slits in each division, also known as the paper in between two of the triangle spaces. Look at the picture below for a better understanding. 

After that, cut off the first division on (the ones we were talking about up there ^) on the bottom of the frond on the left and right side. It should look like this.

Once you finish that, all of your fronds are done. Now's the harder part. You will take one pipe cleaner and bend it into a circle. You will fold the trapezoid (bottom part of frond) over the pipe cleaner and tape it. Don't do it too hard though, because we will take it off later. Set it up, so the two with the slits are every other one, so slit, no slit, slit, no slit. Make sure that all of them slightly 

overlap, except for the two in the front. Make them wider apart so that it's not in your face. Once you've taped all four over the pipe cleaner, take the tape off, and hot glue it to the pipe cleaner, so it's more secure. Then put a dot of hot glue on every spot where two fronds overlap.

Now, you take the 2 pipe cleaners and glue them vertically down the back side of the two front fronds  for more stability. If you want it even more stiff, cut a large circle out of cardboard and cut a circle out of the middle so it lines up with the hole on the top of the hat and glue them together. I did not do that because I didn't have much time when I made this, but it will work well.

Now for the 'how to wear' part. I put my hair in a bun on the very top of my head and pulled the pun through the hole on top, so it looks like my bun is a coconut on the palm tree. It will still look good even if you don't have brown hair though. ;) If you don't have long hair, you could just bobby pin the hat to your head or even attach a headband to it.

That's all to it! Happy Halloween and I hope to see some of you making one! 

Mermaid Makeup

Today is the first Sunday in October, which means... My Halloween themed costume/crafts ideas begin! Today, I will show you how to do some mermaid/fairy makeup.

To start, I curled my eyelashes and put on Clump Crusher Mascara by Covergirl on my top and bottom eyelashes.

Next, I put on BareMinerals Extreme Glimmers Eyecolor Collection in the dark purple color. I can't find it on the website anymore, but it's just like glitter. You first apply the Eyelid Primer on the top of our lid and gently rub with your finger where you want it, which will make the glitter will stick, and just put the glitter on with a brush. If you can't find it, you can just use any sparkly looking eyeshadow. Then, above that, up right under the eyebrow, I put on Roll On Eye Shimmer. If it doesn't come out very well, you need to roll it over a paper towel or your hand or something and push down sort of hard until it comes out.

After that, I put a bright blue eyeshadow underneath my eye, starting in the corner and working my way out. I also put it in the creases of my nose, and up in my hairline.

Now for the lips. I don't wear lipstick, so I didn't have anything to use, so I applied my Nivea Chapstick, then put my blue eyeshadow on my lips with a brush. It stays perfectly and works really well.

For my hair, I put on my Secret Color Purple Hair Extensions and my Curly Hair Extensions with a blue headband. I wore my mermaid halloween costume from two years ago that my mom and I made together, but here is the pattern: http://www.simplicity.com/p-2083-costumes.aspx

Happy Halloween! If you have any Halloween costume or craft ideas/themes you would like me to post this year, let me know!