For when your hands need to move and your mind needs to breathe. Art, poems, doodles, messy DIYs, and the creative things that make life feel more alive.
Base Layers: Remove all stickers before doing the base layers. Spray paint was used for the base. I like an even coat so we did two layers with the stray paint. Once the base layers were applied spray with a matte mod podge.
Detailing: this is the easy part. It all depends on what you want your house to look like. I recommend you hunt around and see what you can find that might suit your haunted house. I think twigs, spiders, and pumpkins can be fun.
As a basic witch who loves getting spooky, I’ve been busy.
Every Halloween my friend has a party for her daughter and her friends and other little kiddos who live in the neighborhood. It’s always super cute and fun and we go all out decorating.
The theme this year is a kid-friendly hell house. We’re going spooky but not too spooky.
I don’t know where my friend gets her ideas from but I love them.
We got a little bit of a headstart on some of the decors since we’re making most of them ourselves.
These milk carton skulls came out amazing. Now they are a little tricky to make.
What you’ll need
• 1 skull made of cement or resin (whatever won’t melt)
heavy dutyglove
heat gun
ice water
sponge
scissors
electric hot knife
masking tape
glue gun with glue
Steps
Step 1: Set up your guide skull in a safe place to use a heat gun and hot glue so you don’t accidentally set something on fire or melt something you didn’t mean to.
Step 2: Cut the handle off the jug and position the jug over the Guide skull with the long part over the face.
Step 3: Wear gloves. To begin shaping the jug, set the heat gun on HIGH and begin to sculpt but holding the jug about 3 inches from the plastic until it turns clear. Once clear, you should be able to manipulate and shape it. Using your gloved hands, shape the plastic against the Guide skull and tuck at the cheekbones.
Step 4: Now begin to heat the rest of the plastic again until clear. Then grab your sponge and dip it in ice water. This will cause the jug to mold to the skull’s details. Press it gently into the nose and eyes to deepen them, but be careful not to rip the plastic. The harder you push, the more detailed it will be, but watch out for tears.
Step 5: Trim the excess plastic under the mouth and tuck the remaining plastic to finish the jaw.
Step 6: Now you can cut the back of the skull to get it off the Guide skull. The easiest way to get it off is to draw a line going up the back of the skull, then a wide V on top. This will create the guide for the Y-incision you will have to cut to get the jug off the skull. Heat your hot knife then cut on the Y-incision guide. A box cutter will also work.
Step 7: Pull the mold forward off the skull. Tape the incision from the outside. Use your hot glue gun to seal the incision closed from the inside. Let dry.
You can fill them with LED lights for a cool nighttime look
If only California had sweater weather. I’m ready to cuddle up with a book and warm tea and enjoy the peace. Instead, I’ll cuddle up with an iced coffee and read.
I Fear My Pain Interests You by Stephanie LaCava is a short novel that follows Margot, the daughter of a famous mother and father. Margot is an aspiring actress but feels the pressure of living in her parent’s footsteps build up, so she leaves her hometown and stays at her friend’s secluded house in a small village. The book focuses on the characters and Margot’s complicated relationships with the people in her life.
I read all my murder mystery books these last two months I needed some drama.
I go into a lot of books blind but I think it allows me to make predictions about the story and analysis the book as I’m reading. These predictions have become helpful when I’m watching a movie or tv because I can infer what’s going to happen in scary movies and makes me less afraid.
My predictions for I Fear My Pain Interest You.
At least one Suicide attempt from the main character.
A toxic relationship with a male. “savior” character. “I just want the best for you.”
A friend will either die or abandon the main character due to the drug abuse and parting
I don’t think the main character will grow as a person. For some reason, the book gives me Breakfast of Tiffany’s vibes
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is an annual event in which participants commit to writing a 50,000-word novel between November 1st and 30th. To win this November writing challenge, you’ll need to write an average of 1,667 words per day. Once you’ve hit the 50,000-word mark, you can upload your novel to the NaNoWriMo website to verify your word count.
I’m participating this year for the second time. If you remember my 2021 goals I put I wanted to finish my novel. I originally started it in 2018 for this same completion. as the years passed I changed the story and now I’m completely rewriting it.
Instead of just mentioning my novel I should probably announce my NaNoWriMo project. This month, I will be working on my WIP. A romantic story that’s lived in my heart for a while. A zany romance with:
early 2010s internet throwbacks
idiots to lovers
hurt/comfort
All We’d Ever Need
Joy and heartbreak are hopelessly entwined.
When Jeanie, a young writer, stumbled into Teddy White’s baker looking for her mischievous daughter, she never thought the encounter would go farther. After a few more awkward encounters, it feels like the universe had been hell-bent on pushing them together.
Being sensible people who know you make your own fate. They decide that being just friends is enough for them. But were they ever really just friends? The answer becomes more complicated the longer they are together.
My goal is to open my manuscript every single day.
Does anyone else go to target and leave with things they don’t need? No? Just me?
I was just casually strolling around target when I found these super cute paint-your-own pumpkins.
Of course, I had to buy these. I brought some for the kiddos and some for the adults, and we all just had a pumpkin painting day, and honestly, I love lazy days like this.
The whole time we were painting I kept thing of the song from Alice in wonderland, painting the roses red.
I stole my pumpkin idea from Pinterest.
You guys may not know this but, I absolutely love anything Frankenstein. Like anything Frankenstein or Bride of Frankenstein I’ll buy it. The Frankenstein storyline was one of the reasons I watched Penny Dreadful. And how underrated was the original show!?!
Time for the big reveal. Drum roll please….
For a little more Frankenstein love here’s my favorite snl clip. I just realized this is 7 years old I remember watching this when it aired.
I’ve been into DIYs so much lately. This time its wreaths!
Christmas is right around the corner, and I’m still doing some basic decorating for myself.
I was due to have my driving test today, and it was canceled due to COVID. And there’s no idea when we will be able to reschedule it. Instead of sulking about still not having my license, I went to a friend’s house, and together we decided we needed a craft day. Which was great because I had no idea what I was planning to write today.
Onto the wreath you came here to make—you’ll need the following:
a metal wire frame
different types of greenery
Ribbon or twine for hanging
An assortment of random things for a little razzle-dazzle
Hot glue for the embellishments
I found a metal wire frame at a dollar tree. It was a total score. 2pack, and the frames are 8 inches.
Target is where I got my greenery. They have fake Christmas tree branches. I also scored a cypress, pine cone, and berry stem filler/decoration thing. Both were $10.
As my niece called the random bells and flowers, the toppings were also from a dollar tree.
Once you have all your supplies here’s how it’s done:
Arrange your greenery how you want it to look.
I cut a few pieces I felt were too long and made sure it didn’t look too bulky. They are made of wire. I used scissors, but if you have wire cutters, I definitely recommend them.
Begin attaching the greenery —one by one—to your wire frame.
If your frame is bigger than an 8-inch frame, I would recommend making bunches, so you have an evenness around the entirety of the wreath. I think groups will help you get so many gaps.
Since my frame was small, I draped the greenery over the edge, winding around each stem a few times to ensure it’s secure. Overlap your bunches with the previous to cover the branches.
Fill in any gaps and add embellishments.
For the purpose of hanging, create a loop. Cut an inch extra of the amount needed to hang your wreath. Tie the circle around the back of the frame and make a knot.
When you begin layering on your add-ons, pay attention to cover the stems. Also, pick flowers that hold their shape.
As you can see from the picture, I didn’t really know where I was going with this. I started placing different stuff I bought, and this was the result. To be honest, in the beginning, mine looked shocking, and I wasn’t very impressed with it. Still, as I got further around it, suddenly all came together. For my first try, this looks great, and this one only took 30 minutes to make.
Suppose I had a place where I could decorate myself. In that case, I could definitely see making a new wreath each year as a new holiday tradition. It’s easy and fun, and you can make them how big or whatever shape you want. Maybe next year I’ll do one again, but it will be a Disney wreath.
Day 5 of Blogmas 2020 is here. Looks like it’ll be a very crafty Christmas indeed!
I’ve wanted to make my own ornaments for a while, and all the DIY ornaments I look the same and boring.
I wanted something, not a dangling bauble. Luckily a friend of mine made her own ornaments.
It’s a macrame Christmas tree. I LOVE IT!!
Maybe it’s the simplicity and homemade nature, or perhaps it’s the combination of textures and simple color. Still, whatever it is, I am happier with this particular ornament than I have been with any previous decoration I have tried.
I should have written down the steps as she was teaching me, but of course, I swore I’d remember how to do it.
If you have extra time and want to start from the very beginning, be sure to watch the short video I attached below. It was the closest to how my friend taught me how to make it. This is how these cute and creative ornaments were born.
I also attached the link to the macrame cord she uses.
