Halloween 2016 Blog Hop Finale and Winner

Happy Halloween! Welcome to the final night of our Halloween 2016 Blog Hop.   Each host picked three features to share with all of you. It was hard to pick my favorites - I had so many of them. I love all things Halloween! Pin the features and make yourself a collection of cool ideas for next Halloween. Don't forget to check out the winner of our $100 giveaway!

MOST VIEWED

Halloween Vignettes @ A Vintage Green

HOST PARTY FAVORITES

Sherry's favorites | Retro Painted Halloween Cake Plate | Wicked Witch Halloween Wreath | Shrimp on the Brain Molded Dip - A Halloween Treat! |

Mistie's favorites | Burlap Accordion Pumpkin | October Halloween Free Printable Planner Stickers | DIY Pumpkin Magnets | Lacie's favorites | Spooky Spider Halloween Wreath | Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Halloween Cake | Halloween Motley Crew: Halloween Figurines | Erlene's favorites | There was a crooked house | Styrofoam Spider | DIY Creepy Halloween Dreamcatchers | Marci 's favorites | Candy Corn Fairy Costume | Thrifty Last Minute Costume Ideas | There was a crooked house | Gail's favorites | Halloween Paper Mache Houses | Halloween Gourd Garland | Fabulous, Frugal Flowerpot Costume (no sewing required) | Beverly's favorites | Not So Spooky Halloween Party | Halloween Gourd Garland | Styrofoam Spider | Kim's favorites | Raven Halloween Wreath | Halloween Sugar Skull Couple | Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Halloween Cake | Donna's favorites | Halloween Spider Cake | Oreo Spiders | No Place Like Home - Halloween on the Front Stoop |

Megan's favorites | spell books - diy  | Realistic Cauldron for Halloween | There was a crooked house |

Halloween 2016 Blog Hop Giveaway Winner

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for joining us for the Halloween 2016 Blog Hop.  See next year on October 1, 2017 for a hauntingly good time!

DIY Wire Witch and Happy Halloween Link Party

"When  The witches fly

Across the sky,
The owls go, "Who? Who? Who?"
The black cats yowl
And green ghosts howl,
"Scary Halloween to you!"
                                                                  --Nina Willis Walter

Welcome to our Happy Halloween Link Party!  We are a group of creative bloggers here to share with you our love of Halloween and to showcase your awesome Halloween projects and ideas by joining in and linking up!

It's that time of year when you get to make silly and frightfully funny and spooky looking things for your Halloween special occasions and events! 

For me, no Halloween celebration is complete without a witch! And they're so much fun to make like this recycle witch I created here!  But the best part is how easy it is to make one! For this witch, would you believe I started with wire?  Yes wire, from the dollar store, and then added a few scraps and materials I had around the house. And the fun part  .  .  .  she's sitting with her broom on a styrofoam crescent moon!  What a cute Halloween accent piece!

   To make, gather:

18 gauge wire (Dollar Tree)

Styrofoam ball
Toilet paper tubes

Masking tape

Craft knife

Felt
Acrylic paint

Material scraps/fabric glue

Scissors

Yarn (hair)

Raffia/twig
Eyes template
Styrofoam circle wreath/Proxxon Wire Cutter/Spackle

• Begin by cutting and folding together the wire to your desired witch's height. Then, twisting the wire for the head, body and legs. Add arms by wrapping more wire around body just below head area.

•   Slip a small styrofoam ball over the head area.

• Slice a toilet paper tube open, add glue on one end and fold over wire body.

                           

              Continue wrapping tp tube around wire body, adding glue as you wrap.

• Wrap the arms and legs in same manner, cutting and adding smaller tubes to fit legs.

•   Wrap tp tubes and exposed wire with masking tape for additional volume.

•  To make witch's narrow face, shave excess foam off of ball using a craft knife while squeezing foam tightly on sides. Add a nose made of hot glue - by dropping hot glue on parchment paper, cool slightly and shape. Indent eye area with finger tips and paint head. Cut yarn, wrap around fingers and tie together. Pick out the fibers and glue on for hair.  

•   Make hat out of felt by rolling a cone shape (ball head) size and gluing together.  Use cone base to measure opening for drawing brim, and cut out. Glue together.  Make stockings out of scrap material by cutting a couple of small long strips of material and gluing edges right sides together and turning inside out. Make dress by cutting out a large rectangle, right sides together, baste sleeves and body, turn inside out.  Cut opening in back, gluing down edges once on. 

•   Glue on eyes from witches eyes template (google).  Paint on mouth. Add cape from black scrap material.

• I removed rubber shoes from an old doll and glued them on, but you can also use  a witch's shoes template and cut out of felt, glue together, and stuff with fiber-fil for shoes.

For the Crescent Moon, 1.  Place a styrofoam ring in Proxxon Hot Wire Cutter and remove a portion for a "C" shape.  2.  Cut ends at an angle.  3.  Fill in foam crevices with spackle and .  .  .   4.  Let dry. 

And of course, the witch is not complete without a broom.  Just gather together a bit of raffia around a small twig .  .  . tying it off with a piece of the raffia! And don't forget to give the raffia ends a smooth straight finish using scissors, for the perfect witch's broom!

"When witches go riding
and black cats are seen,

the moon laughs and whispers,

tis near Halloween"  - Unknown

Be sure to visit all of us on our blogs to check out more awesome Halloween projects and to link up your favorite and frightfully fun and spooky Halloween creations!  Have fun visiting and linking up new or old DIY Halloween projects, crafts, recipes, costumes or party décor - anything Halloween!

Beverly - Across the Boulevard

Gail - Purple Hues and Me

Mary - The Boondocks Blog

Monroe - Sew Crafty Crochet

Victoria - Dazzle While Frazzled

An InLinkz Link-up

Bowdabra Fall Wall Hanging

Looking for something different to style your office or home that shouts FALL?  Why not create this lovely wall hangingfilled with pretty Bowdabra bows!


I'm over on Bowdabrablog showing you how to make this awesome fall wall hanging.   Head on over and check out my easy to follow tutorial!

Have Fun  

and

Keep Crafting! 

DIY Newspaper Framed Mirror

Fall represents for many of us a time to decorate and refresh our homes.  I love making things that are inexpensive and earth friendly for my home.  It's amazing how many different kinds of accent pieces you can create using ordinary newspapers.  From flowers, vases, baskets and even a holiday tree, it's interesting to see how newspaper can be transformed into very unique decorative objects. And the best part, they costs next to nothing to create.

So, how did I make this framed mirror?

I started by cutting strips of newspaper, rolling them up using a thin wood skewer and .  .  . 

gluing the triangular ends with plain white glue.

Next, I placed the tubes on a cardboard circle the same size as the mirror in a clockwise pattern .  .  .

filling tubes in-between .  .  .

and gluing in place with a fast grab tacky glue.

Next, I placed together two additional tubes horizontally, gluing in place, and then clamping down to dry. 

After drying, I glued the mirror on top with tacky glue, weighing down with a heavy object to dry.

To weave the frame, begin by taking the two tubes twisting one over the other, and picking up the next tube, over one, and between the tubes.

Continue twisting the horizontal tubes and picking up the next tube between the twisted tubes - or one tube over and one tube under.

Lengthen the twisting tubes by adding glue to the tube end and inserting a new tube.

It may be necessary to twist the tubes more between tube spaces before overlapping the next tube.

Be sure to tighten and push together the rows as you progress.

To finish off the rows, tighten any loose areas by pushing the rows together and then turn the frame over to the back. Place tacky glue on each tube at woven edge and bend the tube over, clamping down to hold until dry.

Once dry, cut off excess tubing. Spray on a matte varnish or sealant after covering mirror for protection. Add a removable command strip for hanging on the back cardboard.

This handcrafted framed mirror from recycled newspapers is an earth friendly inspired accent piece that's very stylish, innovative and inexpensive!

Take a little time to enjoy

and

Happy Crafting!

2016 Halloween Blog Hop - A Recycle Witch DIY

When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers, ‘tis near Halloween - Unknown

Welcome!  It's time for the Halloween Blog Hop 2016 & $100 Giveaway! My favorite time of the  year! Join me and nine other bloggers as we host a month-long Halloween bash featuring old and new Halloween recipes, crafts, DIY props and decor, printables, costume design, party ideas, games, and Halloween traditions. On Halloween night we'll announce our giveaway winner and share our favorite picks from the party.
Grab a button and join us! (right-click and save)

MEET YOUR PARTY HOSTS

Sherry | Olives-n-Okra

Mistie | Homespun Engineer

Lacie | Easy Peasy Pleasy

Erlene | My Pinterventures

Marci | Stone Cottage Adventures

Gail | Purple Hues and Me

Beverly | Across the Boulevard

Kim | Made in a Day

Donna | Twochicksandamom

Megan | C'mon Get Crafty

I'm really thrilled to be participating with this group of highly creative and talented ladies! Tis the season for tricks and treats and all things spooky - including a frightfully fun, easy to make
Recycle WITCH! 

I had so much fun creating this adorable recycle witch from an empty Downy In-Wash Scent bottle. The bottle has such a cool shape for a witch.  And it's a great project to make with kids. But the best part is you can make it with stuff you already have around the house or in your stash!

Here's how: 

Materials -
Downy In-Wash Scent Booster Bottle
Pebble rocks or sand
Plastic grocery bags
Masking tape
Paper Towels/toilet paper
White Glue/Tacky glue
Acrylic Paints
Scissors/brushes
Yarn/cardboard
Burlap
Felt
Poster board
18 gauge stem wire
Embellishments

 

1.  Remove the top and cover of the bottle.

2.  Take several grocery plastic bags and squeeze together, making a ball.

3.  Insert the ball into another bag, twisting lengthwise into a tail.  Wrap tail end with masking tape.

4.  Put pebbles inside bottle for weight and insert tail of bags into neck opening.

5.  Mix glue with a bit of water and saturate strips of paper towels and glue on bottle.

6.  Continue gluing on several layers of paper towels until bottle and head are completely covered.  Allow to dry.

7.   To make the nose, take several pieces of toilet paper and saturate with glue. Shape into a nose, adding curvature to the tip.

8.  Press nose onto face, gluing in place. Let dry.

9.  Using the same method for the nose, make a chin and glue on just below the nose. Let dry.

10. Shape mouth by indenting between nose and chin.

11. Paint head and face.

12. Paint body (not shown) 

13. To make hair, wrap yarn around cardboard several times.

14. Tie together at one end and cut opposite end.

15. Glue yarn on top of head for hair. Have fun adding eyes, brows and lip color.

To Make the Witch's Hat:

There are many ways to make a witch's hat, but the easiest for me was to make a old fashion compass with pencil and string and (1) draw a semi circle on the poster board corner. (2) Cut out and form a cone shape, gluing sides. (3) Use a round object to draw a circle pattern for the hat brim. (4) Use the base of the cone to draw another circle in center. (5) Cut out center circle.  (6) Place brim over cone and push down toward base. Make slits at base around cone. (7) Fold slits over hat brim and glue in place. (8) Make patterns of brim and cone from scraps of felt to cover hat. (9) Glue on felt and let dry. 

To make arms, brush glue mixture on paper towels and roll into tubes.  Insert wire into tubes and cut off excess at ends.  Fold over one end on each .  .  .

paint arms, let dry and glue on at bottle top sides.

I hastily made hands by taking a strip of toilet paper, brushing on glue at one end and rolling into tiny strips. Then added glue to another strip and pressed together to form a round, flat surface. Once dry, I cut the strips into 10 little fingers and glued to the round surface - kinda scary looking, aren't they! 

And of course, no witch is complete without her broom and cape -  made out of raffia for the broom and burlap for the cape!  

Please don't forget to check out all of the Blog Hosts .  .  . and to Linkup,
Comment, Like, Share, Tweet, Pin, Stumble,
and to Enter the Giveaway for a chance to win $100.!!!

Have Fun and Happy Halloween!

Linkup and enter the giveaway for a chance to win $100 PayPal cash!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

                                  

An InLinkz Link-up