10 Things About October

My friend Mary sends out Mary Mail every so often.  I LOVE getting her emails and eat them up!  She is a creative genius!  At the end of each month, she asks us for our top 10 things about the past month.
So here is my top 10 for October:

1. It is always and forever my favorite month

2. Halloween, of course

 

3. I did my 1st ever 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop

4. Taking my grand niece, Lauren to her first haunted house

5. We decided to curb eating out except for anything related to Halloween - it was fabulous!

6. I got to tried new techniques like this pumpkin plate

7. I was thrilled that my daughter loved the zipper pull I made for her

8. I fleshed out, if you will, an edible zombie morsels project I've batted around for 2 years

9. I finally finished a shrine for our little Conan who we lost this year

10. Hubby made this the best Halloween ever!  He went with me to the Witches Tea and and took me all over to Halloween shops looking for treasures and seeking out decorated yards - he helped me dress up the garage as a graveyard for Halloween night!  Thank you, Hubby!  You are the best!

31 Days of Halloween - Happy Halloween! Dia de los Muertos Shrine for Conan

Oh my heck!  It's Halloween on the Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Yea! What a fabulous month!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a wonderful holiday that celebrates the lives of loved ones who have passed. One of the symbols of the holiday is the sugar skull, usually decorated in bright colors. I wanted to use the sugar skull icon in a shrine for our dog that we lost early in the year, but I did not want them to be the focus.
I punched out skulls from colorful card stock and glittered them in monotones. I started the shrine by covering Conan's bowls with handmade tiles, beads, baubles and all kinds of things that have meaning for our family.
It's not a traditional mosaic process. I glued everything on with hot glue and did not grout. I made a polymer clay sugar skull to add as a finishing touch.
Let's start with that tutorial and go from there.

Materials:
Polymer clay
Mark making tools - needle tool, pencil, craft knife
Glitter in several colors
Glue Black felt pen
Card stick in several bright colors
Skull shaped punch - I used Martha Stewart's Glitter glue in the colors of your card stock Silk flowers in bright colors
Hot glue

	I was so happy to find Martha Stewart's Halloween glitter kit!  The little glue bottle has a tiny nozzle - perfect for delicate work. To make the polymer clay skull - use my shape as a guide. Shape it on your work surface to keep the back flat. Bake as directed. Color in the eyes, nose and teeth with the felt pen.
	Add tiny dots of glue where you want one color of glitter.
	Sprinkle glitter. Tap off excess glitter. Repeat for each color.Allow to dry.
	Now for the Dia de los Muertos border:Punch out the skulls. Outline and make designs with glitter glue the same color as the paper. Allow to dry.
	Here are the mosaiced bowls in a dimensional frame. Due to the heaviness of the bowls, I glued and screwed them on the backing.
	Alternate silk flowers and skulls all the way around the inside edge. And there's a rat!

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 30 - Make your own glittery pumpkin Buttons

 

Day 30 and once again you are hopping onto the Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Yea!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

Making your own buttons is a hoot!  These simple pumpkin buttons began as a piece of polymer clay that I shaped, baked and made a mold of. But, you don't even have to make an original piece to begin with, you can make a mold of ANYTHING!  Just think of the possibilities!

Materials: Polymer clay - Orange and scrap clay Mold making medium Crochet needle Wire Round nose pliers Chan nose pliers Wire Cutters Needle tool or toothpick Glue Glitter

	Make a small, flat backed pumpkin shape.Use a crochet needle to mark the sections of the pumpkin. You can use scrap clay for this, because this will be the piece you make a mold of. Bake according to directions. Allow to cool.
	You will need a mold making medium. THis is a Sculpey product that I like.You'll also need powder and a brush to spread it.
	Brush and dab the powder on the original piece.
	Push the powdered piece into a ball of mold medium.Turn it over and push a little bit to even the surface.
	Very gently pull the mold medium away from the baked piece ever so slightly and push a tiny bit on the back side of the mold medium to release the piece.Bake the mold as directed and allow to cool.
	To make the button and shank you'll need orange clay, the baked mold, a water spritzer, 20 gauge wire, round nose pliers and chain nose pliers.
	Cut a 1" piece of wire and bend it around the round nose pliers.
	Bend both ends out to the side with the chain nose pliers.
	Put a bend in both ends keeping the ends level.
	Push a small amount of clay into the mold. You may need to adjust the amount of clay. You don't want it to extend beyond the edge and have it be sloppy.
	Place the wire on the clay.Press down slightly.
	Put a dot of clay over the wire ends.
	Smooth the dots the best you can.Turn the mold over and gently push the back to release the clay.
	Bake as directed and allow to cool.
	Paint the pumpkins with glue and pour glitter on. I held the button with pliers while I glittered. It worked well.Pull through the wet glue in the creases for more depth. Allow to dry.

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 28 - Blinged Out Witch's Hat

 

And here we are on day 28! Yea!  And you are hopping onto the Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Yea!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

What does every witch need to shine at a Witch's Tea? A fabulous hat! I started with a cool hat I found on line after last year's Witch's Tea, for a huge discount! That was my very first Witches tea and I wore a hooded cloak, which I love, but...there was a best hat contest! Who knew! So, as I said, I started with one that was already cool and had a ball blinging it up!
Materials:
A pointed hat
Hot glue
Feathers
Wire
Beads
Bangles
Knick knacks, doo dads and glitter glue

	Here's my cool hat.I love all the black gauze and and bent over point!
	You may recognize many of the bling I'm adding as Halloween projects from earlier in the October.This is the first bling - a small bat pendant with a skull bead dangle. I sewed it on to make it easy to switch out for next year's tea.
	I cut 6 3" to 4" strips of tulle 36" wide and tied them in a bow.
	I hot glued the bow on the back and added this bauble.It's Smeared Ink's It's About Time Pocket Watch stamp glued on the back of a glass blob. I added glitter glue to the tulle.
	I glued feathers all the way around and sewed on a pendant piece and added wires that I curled up and attached dangles to.

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 27 - Edible Zombie Morsels

Ahh!  It's day 27! That's right, and you are hopping onto the Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Yea!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

Now will come the making of the zombie candy! Muhuhuahahahhhh! No baking required, but you do need clean hands, warm pockets and fruit flavored Tootsie Rolls!
Materials:
Tootsie Roll Fruit Flavors - make sure the mix includes vanilla

	Tootsie Rolls take a little time and moderate strength to condition, so the first rule of Tootsie Roll Sculpting is:  Put the wrapped candies in your pockets for at least half and hour before conditioning it.  Rule 2: The Tootsie Roll will pretend it doesn't want to stick to itself at first. After a moment, you won't be able to separate it! Condition them as you would polymer clay - smooshing and rolling them in your hands until they are soft enough to shape.
	For a toe, you will need 2 green, a tiny piece of white, purple and pink.
	Combine the 2 green and shape into a cylinder. Flatten and widen one end. Roll the purple and fatten it into a circle, place it on the toe and tear the end away to make a gross toenail.
	Make a button shape with the white and push it in the back of the toe. Roll a tiny piece of the pink and lay it around the white. You can put some pink under the toenail if you like.
	For an eyeball, you will need 2 white, 1 pink and a tiny bit of blue. Combine the 2 white pieces and roll into a ball.
	Twist all but a little of the pink to make the root and then roll small strings to to make veins. Mix a tiny bit of white and blue together to make a hazy looking iris.
	For the teeth I used 1 white mixed with 1/2 a yellow for the piece of bone, yellow for the teeth and a bit of pink for the little bit of gums. The brain bit is a blue and white combined. Make a random lump and roll the rest into a long string to wind back and forth all over the lump.
	And there you have it! Zombie Morsels! Oh, and the slogan is: Zombie Morsels When you care enough to send the very beast

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