Last minute Halloween costume idea

I thought I would share the Halloween costume I made last year. It can be made in less than an hour and looks super-cute when finished.

Loofah Halloween Costume

Supplies:
-About 9 yards of any colored tule
-Enough elastic to fit around your waist
-About 1 1/2 yards of thin white rope.
-Safety Pins
-Sewing Machine and Thread

1. Fold the tule in half lengthwise.
2. Starting at one end, sew the elastic to the tule. On the first layer, do no gathering.
3. When you get to the end of the elastic, fold your tule over and sew another layer to the elastic gathering it quite a bit.
4. When you get to the end again, use safety pins to make poofs along the elastic. You will go about 2 feet down and safety pin it to the elastic.
5. When you finish this, you will be able to wrap the elastic around your waist and safety pin it shut.
6. Fold your rope in half and tie a knot on the side that has two ends.
7. Safety pin the rope to the elastic deep in the folds of the tule.

I topped mine off with an empty bottle of body wash tied around my neck to help people see that it was a loofah and not just a tutu :)

Do any of you have any fun costumes that you have made in the past? Send them to sjohnson@heraldextra.com and we will feature them throughout the week!

From the Web Wednesday: Carving Pumpkins

There are TONS of ideas for fun ways to carve your halloween pumpkins this year. I have an idea that I want to work on this weekend and I will post when I finish it :) Until then, I have found some of my favorites from the web and thought you could use them if you needed a little extra inspiration. Some are more elaborate (I am not that talented at carving pumpkins!) while some are unique but still simple!

The first ones I found were from the blog Cool Pumpkin Carving Ideas. They have quirky Jack-O-Lanterns of all kinds. My favorites were the Pumpkin Pie, the McDonald's pumpkin and the ;-) pumpkin! Check out all of their pumpkin carving ideas. 

 

 If you have kids who love Disney, you might try turning your Jack-o-Lantern into a Disney character. DisneyFamily.com has templates that you can use to cut out all of your favorite ones! Click here to see all of their pumpkins.

If you are looking for more crafty ways to carve pumpkins for decorations check out Beckham and Bloom. They have very cute ideas that look fun, crafty, cute and elegant all the same time! Click here to see all of their ideas.








If you didn't see anything that fit your personality, try any of these links for printable templates:

• 10 fun templates from M&M's.
• Some traditional and some non-traditional templates from Celebrating-Halloween.com.
• Printable templates from ehow.com
• Unique templates from Hershey's including a Reese's cup.

I also thought I would throw this one in there! It is so amazing, and I know that I could never get it done, but I just thought it was an awesome idea! R2D2 and Death Star Pumpkins.

If you have any pumpkins that you have carved, send your photos to sjohnson@heraldextra.com and we will feature them on Being Crafty.

Challenge update

Remember our challenge from July about finishing 10 unfinished projects before the end of the year?? How are you coming with it? (If you don't remember, check it out here.) This morning I received an update from Kristin Wu, a reader in Orem, Utah about two unfinished projects that she finished! YAY for her!

The two quilts were gorgeous and she even sent a link to the instructions for them. Thanks Kristin and congrats on two more projects done!!

Unfinished (NOW FINISHED!!) Quilt Projects

The instructions for these quilts can be found at http://www.quiltville.com/striptwist.shtml

Thanks Kristin!! If any of you have projects that you have finished, feel free to submit them or email me at sjohnson@heraldextra.com.

Football Jack-o-lanterns

I am posting a pumpkin carving idea today that my husband and I did a few years ago. I loved how they turned out and they were super simple to do.

Football Player Pumpkins

Supplies: (for one jack-o-lantern football player)

• 2 pumpkins (one larger than the other)
• carving utensils 
• Paint
• Paintbrushes
• Stickers, etc. for your favorite team

 1. Cut the bottom out of and clean out the larger pumpkin. Make sure your hole is large enought that the smaller pumpkin can fit inside. Also, make sure that it is not a perfect circle, that there is one side for the facemask. Also, cut off the stem completely.

2. Cut the front out of your larger pumpkin, and cut out the shapes for the facemask.

3. Cut the top off the smaller pumpkin and clean it out. Cut any jack-o-lantern face on it. You may have to some of the back off to get it to fit inside the larger one. That is fine.

4. Paint the base color of your helmet and allow to dry overnight.

5. Paint the remainder of your helmet (lines, logos etc. )

6. Place any logo stickers for your particular team on your helmets once all paint is dry.

7. The candle goes inside the smaller one. It is easiest to leave the top that you have cut out of the smaller pumpkin off. Then just place the helmet over the smaller pumpkin.

From the Web Wednesday: Halloween crafts for kids

I love Halloween. Honestly it is one of my favorite times of the year. I love that even adults can be kids throughout the month of October. I have tons of projects to share this year and I am already planning my costume :) I thought I would use this 'Web Wednesday' to share some fun decorations that kids can make for your home that I found. They are pretty simple, but remember to come back throughout October for ideas on carving pumpkins, homemade costumes, adult decorating ideas and other fun Halloween crafts!

These pumpkins made from a paper bag are VERY easy for kids to make. They can be used for decoration or you can use them to hold candy or other party favors if you plan on having a Halloween party! (via Kaboose)
Click here to see the project.

I LOVED these little glue ghosts. They would be adorable hanging from strings around your house, outside your house, or you can add a magnet and put them on your fridge. They are super easy and end up looking so cute! (from Family Fun)
Click here to see the project.

These cute Plastispooks looked really fun to make, and you probably have the supplies sitting around your house!! Kids will love to create their own skeleton and can customize them to match their personality (maybe a football player skeleton :). (from Women's Day)
Click here to see the project.

Kid's Craft: Educational craft idea from a reader!

I received this fun idea from Jennifer Ulm, a Being Crafty reader with shoddyshirtbooks.blogspot.com. It's a great idea if you are looking for a fun, educational craft project for elementary-age kids. She created planets using Wikki Stix. I have never used Wikki Stix before, but after seeing Jennifer's creations, I think I might go over and order some. They look like fun!

Jennifer created planets that go right along with a story called 'Planetary Personalities' that you can get from shoddyshirtbooks.com. Thanks for the submission Jennifer!

Planetary Personalities Characters Come To Life! 

My box of Wikki Stix just came in the mail, and I couldn't wait to start building some Planetary Personalities characters with them. I started with Earth. First I wrapped some blue Wikki Stix around a golf ball. Next I added some continents and facial features, but I didn't like the way it looked. It was too bulky, and everything was resting on top of the ocean instead of within it. So I disassembled it, leaving the pieces I liked together. (That's the best part about this project - since Wikki Stix are reusable, mistakes aren't final!) On my second try, I put the continents and facial features on first, then filled in the gaps with the blue ocean. Not too bad for a beginner's effort!

 

Next I created Saturn, but this time I used Glow-in-the-Dark Wikki Stix! Whenever I read the book to groups of kids, they all "oooh & aaahhh" over Saturn's beautiful colors. Learning from my first attempt, I put the facial features on first, then wound multiple colors around the golf ball until it was covered. For the rings, I attached one Wikki Stix to the back, then attached multiple colors end to end so that they spiraled around Saturn's body. All that was left to do was plug in a blacklight and watch Saturn shine!

 

If you would like to try this project, here's where you can get the materials:
Planetary Personalities, a fun rhyming story about the characteristics of the planets in our solar system: http://www.shoddyshirtbooks.com/
Wikki Stix, the One-of-a-Kind Creatables: http://www.wikkistix.com/

 

(As far as I know, Wikki Stix is still running a 25% off promotion using coupon code MB24 during checkout. I have not seen an expiration date for this code so far.)

If you have a craft project that you have completed and would like to feature on Being Crafty, submit it here.