Halloween Time! Spooky, fun and creepy crafts, galore!

 Happy Spooky Season folks!! 

If you are anything like me you LOVE this time of year for a couple reasons.  1. Candy. And as if that's not reason enough, what about the FUN!!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE crafting for Halloween!  This last couple weeks I made a few things and thought I'd share with all my crafty friends how I made them, what I used, some trials and tribulations along the way and of course, the super cool finished products!  

A lot of times, if I have a couple hours before bed when I SHOULD be relaxing and even hitting the sack a little early, I get the crafting bug and just have to do something crafty!  I can hang out with my family, watch a movie, carry on a serious conversation or even help the kiddos with homework while I'm crafting. I sometimes have crafters remorse if I waste a couple hours 'relaxing' and wish that I'd spent that time doing a craft.  I'm a little crafty crazy, I guess! 

A couple months ago a friend picked up some of the witch hat forms for me at Dollar Tree.  I just had to try something with these forms! I had seen so many amazing creations and I'd never worked with this type of form before.  Since Halloween was approaching I decided what better time to start my Halloween creations, right? 

I grabbed my Dollar Tree purple, orange, and black mesh and took a deep breath as I sat down to figure out how to make this witch hat come to life! I had no clue how to work with mesh but I had watched people do it so I was sure it wouldn't be too difficult. The only thing I learned is that I need to buy a better, quality mesh for future projects.  It was ok, but it frayed A LOT!  I had to keep tucking and snipping the whole time.  Maybe it was user error, but there has to be a better way. The mesh wasn't even the tough part.  I needed to cover the top of the witch hat with something and all I could find was an old black, cloth table cover. It was basically a prop in my Halloween decorations anyway so I cut it into strips and wound them around the top of the hat. I covered a little wooden pumpkin with a piece of a scarf from DT and added that and a cute bow. I found a 'Spooky' metal sign in my stash and glued that on as well. I also used cardboard to shape the tip of the hat before I wrapped it so it would sort of hang down at the end. I used a string to hang a little spider, you know, for spooky effects!  And lastly, I had picked up some witch legs from DT. They're a bit saggy so I may fill them and reattach! All in all, didn't take too long and turned out pretty cute! 

After the witch hat I was scrolling Pinterest one day and was inspired to do a skull candy dish.  It looked easy enough so I went to the Dollar Tree to get a couple things.  I made this one in about 2 hours as well but I didn't do it live so I don't have a lot to show you on the actual construction.  I started by cutting slits in the heads of the skulls and sliding them over a plunger handle.  I hot glued them to each other and to the handle for stability. I painted a plastic silver platter with black chalk paint and glued the tower of heads to the center of the platter.  It didn't feel very stable so I put a few screws through the bottom of the platter, into the plunger handle and the bottom skull. I glued on a bunch of purple and black flowers to the platter, some spiders, and 2 eyeball ornaments.  Then I took a screw and attached the dish to the head of the top skull.  Unfortunately, it was a little lopsided.  So I found a glitter covered black foam ball and wedged it between the bottom of the dish and the skull to level it out. The dish looks kind of small, but this was meant for trick or treating or even a few treats at home so I didn't need a big dish.  We only get about 10-15 little ghouls and goblins each year. The spiders, eyeballs and branch embellishments were all part of the flower sprigs so that was convenient! Fun, fairly quick and super inexpensive candy dish. Wala!

The next project I dove into was the Spooky candle tower!  I had seen this one made a few different ways and watch part of a live video where Scott, from Waterman's Loft made one.  It turned out so cool!! I just had to try it! I decided to do a little spooky make up and hair for my live, you know, to make it fun!! (I'm such a dork!)

This super cool candle tower called for pool noodles, which are difficult to find this time of year.  But Dollar Tree often carries them in Halloween colors, for the crafters, I'm sure! I went to so many Dollar Trees!! I went to some other stores as well but just couldn't find them. I could've ordered them online from Dollar Tree but when I got the bug to make this, there was just no time to wait for shipping!! So off to Lowe's I went!  I picked up some plumbing insulation tubes and crossed all my fingers and toes!!

I bought 4 of these tubes because I wanted to have at least 10 pieces once I cut it up.  The tubes had plastic strips covering the glue where you adhere it when you wrap it around your plumbing. I removed that plastic and stuck them together but it wasn't very sticky!  I had to hot glue them a little to be sure they stayed together. I used my favorite kitchen knife to cut them because it was easier than scissors.  No one was injured in the making of this project...promise. lol 

I dripped hot glue from the top lip of each piece to make it look like melting candle wax.  The first one turned out great but by the time I got to the second one the glue heated up and it was sort of melting right through the tube!  I was worried because I didn't have enough glue sticks for my low temp glue gun to finish this project. And since it was live, I had to improvise! I continued with my fingers crossed!! After I did the melting wax tops I covered them in a coat of black, indoor/outdoor paint that I bought at Lowes.  I wasn't sure how much paint I would need, or how many coats, so I bought that instead of using my acrylic paint because ultimately I feel like it was cheaper. I used my heat gun to dry the paint faster and save time since I was doing it live and trying to avoid another 4 hour project! You can see in the pictures that I let them get a little too hot in some areas because it altered the shape of the tube. This created an issue later so stay tuned!

Funny, not-so-funny story though.  When we returned from Lowe's the other day, my son opened the truck door and the paint can fell out, onto our driveway. The can lid popped off and we are now the proud owners of a big dry puddle of driveway paint. We have a pressure washer and will try to remove the paint that way. But once again, fingers crossed!!! lol  I managed to save enough paint to do this project so it wasn't a complete loss. 

I debated painting at all but the wax drippings looked much better once they were covered.  Here you can see the very subtle difference in a painted tube and an unpainted tube.

After the tubes were all dry I needed to assemble them to create my tiered candle tower. Remember when I said I watched Scott make this? Well, I started after he had these assembled so I was truly winging it in the live! I didn't use a base but instead tried to hot glue them together.  I grabbed some twine to hold them in place but apparently I have super butter fingers!  

I ended up laying them on the table to tie them together because me and the twine weren't seeing eye-to-eye. Ultimately, I got rid of the twine and tied a couple pieces of ribbon to the bottom, for more stability. I also took some of the left over stems from the flowers and stuck them in to secure the tubes a little more.  I don't know how to explain that any other way.  The tubes were slightly warped from the heat gun so they weren't adhering well to each other. It wasn't enough that the glue was eating through them, I just had to get the heat gun too close! Ugh! But the flower stem pieces worked pretty good to hold them together. I probably used a dozen! That was the most frustrating part!!!

The skull was from DT as well.  The color bothered me. I wanted it to be white so the colors of the whole candle tower kind of matched.  So I painted it white! And then I brushed some silver on it for sparkle.  And because I wanted it to tie into the silver sparkly skulls and leafy embellishments I was planning to use! I glued it to the bottom right side of the tower and thankfully, it stuck pretty good!! 

I snipped some black and red flowers and placed them in a cascading fashion around the tower.  I left part of the stem instead of just gluing the flower heads on because I thought sticking the stem through the tubes would help them stay in place better. I added some spiders, also leaving the little piece of plastic that sticks up from their little bellies, again, to stick them through the tube and hold them in place better.  I had some rubber bats from DT and put one of those around the top, arranging it so it looked kind of like it was flying up the tower. I had 2 skeleton hands that I was determined to use and they fit in perfectly!  

This was another super fun project where, once again, I learned some things!! Don't use heat guns on foam at close range. Use a low heat glue gun when working with foam. Use a base or ANY OTHER METHOD to get your tubes/candles to stay together and STRAIGHT. Sambo's way is not the best way, folks. 

After the live I put the candles in and snapped a few photos in the dark as well as the natural light.  Not too bad, Sambo. Not too bad. 

This last one is not as exciting but a couple nights ago I was rearranging some craft stuff and came across some Halloween napkins.  

It was a week night. Dinner, dishes, homework, and baths were done so I decided to spend an hour and a half creating something creepy with these napkins!  I had a square picture from DT that I bought a while back so I chose that for my 'canvas'. It was like particleboard with a picture on one side.  I was going to sand it off because it had a bunch of glitter.  Then I started to paint it white. But then it started to peel so I got another idea!  I peeled most of the picture off, leaving a little behind.  Then I covered the whole thing with mod podge and adhered the spider napkin. I used a sanding block to sand off the excess napkin.  The excess that I left behind helped create some wrinkles in the napkin that made it look super creepy! 

I cut the skull out of the other napkin and mod podged him to the corner, leaving room to write a spooky message!  After doing the word 'Beware' it was a little off center so I added a spider web in the top, left corner. Once I finished all the wording I put another layer of mod podge over the entire thing to coat it and protect it.  Then, using the holes that were there already, I added a black and white string so I could hang it on my wall.  Another super cute, super fun, super quick and inexpensive craft! 

These are the fun Halloween crafts I've made in the last couple weeks.  And we still have a couple weeks to go!  Make sure you're subscribed to this blog and following my Sambo's Crafts Facebook Group so you don't miss updates on future crafts and adventures!! 

Thank you for stopping by today and reading about all the fun projects I've been working on for Halloween!  Christmas is right around the corner and it's gonna be AMAZING!!!  Can't wait to craft with you again!! 

Happy Crafting!! 

Clouds in my crafting paradise

Hello crafters, friends, family and otherwise curious pals! I hope you are all enjoying the cooler, crisp air we've been feeling in my slice of the world. I don't know about you but I am so ready for fall!! Don't get me wrong, I love summer!! I really do! But after all the 90+ days the last few months I'm looking forward to cuddling up in front of my Cricut and my Mac and finding my happy place.  

Here we are, in the middle of a Pandemic, trying to navigate this very new, very strange world we are all living in, approaching the cooler weather and trying to figure out how we are going to thrive in such a challenging life. One of the things that has helped me keep on trucking and not let fear, stress, worry and doubt take over, is crafting. I still work my regular job. I still have routines to maintain. I still stress and worry.  But I also know that I can't give in to these things.  And while the pressure is mounting with all the craziness in the world, I find myself struggling to stay motivated. 

Back in April I got this crazy idea that I was going to start crafting more, share those crafts and all that inspiration with the world and try to figure out how to make that crafting adventure into something much more in a years time, or less.  That was the goal. I was diving in head first with no regrets.  I still have no regrets.  But I'm kind of in a funk and not sure what to do about it.  

They say we are our own worst critic, and I know you've heard me say that a dozen times in my live videos, blog posts and on my Facebook Craft Page. Well today, I woke up and felt the weight of the crafting world upon my shoulders.  Maybe it's compounded by other things, like the pandemic, online schooling challenges for my 7 year old, guilt about not being able to be there with him as he navigates that brand new world, worrying about my stressed out husband, wanting more than anything to get out of our current living situation and move out to a more country atmosphere, dwelling on my 21+ year career that I fear is holding me back more than helping me, and so many other worrisome thoughts.  Or maybe it's because I haven't taken a big enough leap.  Whatever the culprit, I'm all up in it today, folks. 

I went back through all of my blog posts about the crafts I've done, all the way back to April when I decided to dive right in.  I even re-read my first few posts from many years ago.  Maybe I thought I'd be somewhere else at this point, 5 months later.  I don't know. But I can't help but feel like I'm wasting my time lately.  I love to craft. I will always love to craft. And part of me STILL wishes I could craft all day every day because I love it so much.  But reality is biting hard today.  I love every single crafty thing I've created.  I can look at them and remember the feeling I had while I was crafting it.  And for me, that's where 1/2 of my love of crafts lies, in the making. Not necessarily in the results. I went into this thinking I could teach other people something, inspire people, open hearts and minds.  And in the meantime I'd be creating not just cute little crafts but pieces of my heart that I could share with others who were looking for some crafty inspiration. When I looked back at the crafts I've done in the last 5 months, I smiled at every single photo and relived the moments as I read my entries about how I made them.  I LOVE crafting, guys!! So why do I feel like my crafts have been so mediocre?  People who love me and encourage me regularly tell me how cute they are and how I should sell them.  And ultimately, that's what I want to do.  But the goal for this particular juncture in crafty time was to hone my craft, figure out what direction I wanted to go, what I'm really good at and take THAT to the bank. I look at my crafts with my uber critical eyeball and find every single flaw, every mistake, every embarrassing moment I encountered while making it and hammer my crafty hopes and dreams right into the ground. Why do I do that to myself?? 

I think I need to drink less coffee, if I'm being honest.  

I'm going to work really hard this week to get out of this funk and draw up some plans.  I've not yet found my niche and by no means is this me giving up. I'm going to spend the next couple months coming up with some ideas and I will undoubtedly call on my crafty pals for some encouragement, ideas, support and critique. So buckle up, crafty capers! This girls on a mission!! I'm going to draft some ideas for Sambo's Crafts as well as researching how to get an Etsy page started. I don't know if Etsy is the way I want to go.  In fact, I have no idea what I'm doing, if you haven't figured that out yet. What I do know is that I need to figure out where my passion really lies and THAT is going to take a LOT more adventure!!  

Garage sale season is upon us as well so I'll be looking for things I can use, like old windows, glass bottles, and other useful crafty materials.  If you're the adventurous type, watch for posts about dates to go sale-ing and maybe we can go together! I'll be inquiring about your crafty adventures more too!  As always, please comment, like, and share my blog posts and my Facebook Craft Group page, Sambo's Crafts with your crafty pals as well! I'm so, so grateful for all of your kind words, encouragement and support!!! 

The crazy universe and chaotic world we live in will not stop my crafting adventures! But I can't promise they won't catapult me right into some shenanigans!! Thank you for being you and for supporting me!! I really need to get out of this funk!!! 

Cowboy Wreath

 A Friday Two-fer!! Ha ha! Hello again guys! There's a long, holiday weekend ahead and I'm hoping to get MORE crafting in so I wanted to give you all the details of the Cowboy wreath, since I didn't do this one live.  Once again, I may change it up. But here is what I have for now.

I have been seeing these adorable cowboy wreaths on Pinterest and Facebook for a while and wanted so bad to make one!  I've really only attempted a wreath one time and it wasn't anything like this. In fact, it was completely different. It was for Halloween (hint: future craft will entail recreating this particular Halloween wreath, so stay tuned!).  I knew it would be challenging and more importantly that I'd have a hard time deciding what I wanted to do, so I did not do this in a live video.  I stretched it out over a few days and spent approximately 7 hours creating and recreating until I finally settled with this! 

I used a wreath form from the dollar tree, fabric (in place of ribbon because it's cheaper), one roll of burlap checked ribbon, a roll of lace ribbon, raffia, flowers, some other sprigs and embellishments, a 'blessed' sign, burlap, an old pair of my sons size 6 pants, pipe cleaners, a straw hat and some twine. 

I started by assembling some bows and gluing a flower in the center (You'll see the flowers in the finished product photos).

I tried to do a little math, which is really unlike me when I'm crafting, to make sure I'd have enough ribbon/material to make 8 bows.  I think I cut the material and ribbons about 8" each, or so.  After cutting the ends they are probably closer to 6". Before adding the flowers, I attached the bows to the wreath form with pipe cleaner.  My brain was going in a million different directions as to how I would fill the gaps. I didn't want to use mesh.  I didn't have enough ribbon to make more bows unless I changed them up and I didn't want to overcrowd with the bows and not have room for the other embellishments.  Which would also cause me to cut and waste a lot of ribbon. So I stuck with the 8. 

I don't know if it was because I was crafting in the evening after long, crazy stressful days at work or what, but I couldn't make up my mind on anything with this craft! Every idea I had and tried, pretty much failed and I was ready to give up a dozen times, at least.  I wanted cotton stalks. I wanted wheat stems. I wanted lots of burlap. I even wanted to add a lasso but ditched that idea because it was just too much in the end.  After adding burlap all the way around in one long piece, which took over an hour, I removed the whole darn thing and cut all that burlap into strips.  I made a little messy bow type things out of it and added that all the way around to fill in the gaps.  I wish I'd made the blue buffalo check ribbon under the flowers longer so it was more visible.  I wish I had more ribbon, something off white and wide with a wire.  I wish I'd used only lighter colored flowers.  I wish I had used a different color pipe cleaner.  And I wish I'd bought a bigger wreath form.  Regrets aside, I love the color scheme and I'm not completely disappointed with the outcome.  There's still room for improvement, for sure.

I cut the jeans shorter hoping to make the 'cowboy' appear to be smaller but I hung the jeans too low. If I'd hung them higher so the groin section of the jeans didn't show so much, they would've looked better, I think.  By the time I realized that there was way too much going on and I couldn't change it.  I hot glued some raffia inside the pant leg before tying it off with a piece of twine.  Then I tied 3 pieces of ribbon around it and made a bow with each of the 3 different colors/patterns. 

The hat was the part I had the most fun with! I couldn't find a 'cowboy' hat the size (or price!) that I wanted so I made one out of a straw hat from Michael's.  I used floral wire to secure it and even a dab or two of hot glue. Hot dang! It looks like a cowboy hat now, eh?! Ha! Close enough!

I wanted it a little off center. I'm really not sure why.  I just had this sort of nagging thought of making it 'my own' by not being symmetrical with everything and just going with my gut and winging it. How's that for an explanation!? I added some burlap patches to the knee, a few pieces of tied up raffia throughout the wreath as well as some wheat stems, cotton stalks and little round, stemmed embellishments in white and blue.  You know, splash of color?  I don't know but it sounded like a cute idea.  I secured the hat in a few places with twine.  I had to use my handy dandy pokey tool to make a little hole because the wicker (or whatever that's made of) wasn't cooperating with my weak little piece of twine. But she's secure now! In the end the only thing that I didn't care for was the empty space on the top left side. I wouldn't have had this problem if the wreath form was bigger.  I couldn't go all the way around with the ribbon/bows and flowers because the hat would've just covered them up.  I didn't want anything under the hat so this made it look kind of bare and empty on that corner.  I grabbed my little 'blessed' sign after tripping over a plastic bag handle and nearly killing myself on the corner of my craft table, catching myself while accidentally knocking that sign to the floor. So that sign...was a 'sign' and therefore became a necessary part of the craft. 

All in all it really didn't turn out bad at all.  It's cute.  And as always, there's room for improvement.  Never be afraid to try new things.  And don't dwell on mistakes.  Almost everything in the crafting world can be fixed, changed or replaced. Part of the joy of crafting is learning.  If you saw the mess I created in the first couple hours of this project I think you'd be shocked at how it turned out! Ha!! 

Thank you so, so much for stopping by my blog today and sharing in my adventures! Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any updates or new blog posts! Stop by my Facebook Craft Page for more crafty fun and be sure to invite your friends to do the same! I would love to see more craft people joining in on our live adventures and sharing their own crafty ideas!

Until next time, crew.  Have a wonderful holiday weekend and HAPPY CRAFTING!!!!