Making "roses" out of Autumn leaves

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
―Albert Camus

Was anyone else so caught up in Halloween that they didn't really notice the leaves changing colors until this past weekend?  Anyone, anyone?  *Cricket chirps*   Oof.  Maybe it was just me.  I guess I was just stuck in my own little candy and costume daze.

But now that my head is back on straight I'm seeing color... and I'm liking it!  Wowzers!  The trees are looking a-mighty gorgeous.  I'm going goo-goo ga-ga over all the brilliant reds, happy yellows, and rich oranges that greet me on the street. 

Last year I pinned this DIY autumn leaf bouquet, and I swore to myself that I would try it next year.  Well, it's now next year!  So, I grabbed a bunch of leaves and made myself some autumn "roses."   Quick and simple, this craft perfectly captures the colors of fall. 

The "rose" on the left was made with different types of leaves than the "rose" on the right.

Halloween photos (Past and Present)

How was your Halloween?  Ours was pretty jam packed.  We entertained some out-of-town guests, carved pumpkins, attended a couple of kids' parties, and went trick-or-treating.  I was loving most of it until the very end.  I was definitely burned out by the last Halloween party.   Phew.  Too much candy and partying for this mama.

Here are some photos from our Halloween adventures:

Several pieces of felt and dozens of hot glue sticks later.... I finally finished both Mack and Lightening McQueen costumes.  Chuck and I wore them out when we trick-or-treated around our neighborhood.   (Click here to see how I made the costume and click here to see how I made his matching Lightening McQueen shoes,   Or, click here to see Chuck's previous  Thing 1 Costume and his Mr. Potato Head Costume.)

In addition to trick-or-treating, we attended two Halloween parties at the library.  It was uber-cute seeing dozens of toddlers dressed up in costumes.  I also couldn't help but ooh and ahh over the cute treats that some moms made.  Check out these marshmallow monsters.  Too. Darn. Adorable. 

Happy Halloween from a little Lightening McQueen

Happy Halloween everybody!  

Hope you have a wonderful and magical day!  

As promised, here are some photos of Chuck in his Lightening McQueen costume at a church party.
(And if you want to see my matching Mack costume, click here.)

(Did you see shoes?  Click here to see how I painted his Lightening McQueen Shoes.)

And here are a couple of photos showing how I made it. 

Make Sugar Skull Sun Catchers and Crystallized Sugar Skull Ornaments

Alright everyone... the countdown is on.  It's just a couple of days till Halloween.  Are you excited?  Or, are you over all the orange and black?

I'm in the first group and still SUPER excited for Halloween.  I just finished Chuck's costume this past weekend, so he's ready to go.  I'm not sure if he'll appreciate the idea of trick-or-treating (plus his allergies prevent him from eating a lot of the candy out there), but I think he'll enjoy seeing other kids in costumes and all the spooky decorations.

I'll upload some photos of his costume later on this week... but today I just wanted to share the last of my sugar skull crafts.

So, we already made DIY sugar skull candle holders and DIY sugar skull luminaries and Allison shared her lovely tutorial for DIY sugar skull shoes.  Today's sugar skull crafts were designed with kids in mind.  They're easy to make and the resulting products look great.

1.  Sugar Skull Window Clings

Colorful and fun, these two skulls will float happily on your window.

Materials:

• Contact Paper (Buy the cheap stuff from the Dollar Store)
• Black paint pen (You could also use a Sharpie marker, but the lines won't be as dark.)
• Scissors
• Cellophane 
• Tape

DIY Sugar Skull (Day of the Dead) Milk Jug Luminaries

Currently my college friend Kim is visiting us for the week.  It's been really nice having someone else here while hubby is away.  Time just passes by much quicker when you're having fun with a friend.

And just how have we been having fun?  Well, we've been playing with Chuck... and eating... and watching tv... and crafting... a lot... a whole lot...  Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos are right around the corner, so all of our crafts have been centered around those two holidays. 

I'm currently on a sugar skull kick.  I just love the way they look.  So when I was staring at an old milk jug the other day, an idea dawned on me.  Ding!  Why not use them to make some sugar skull luminaries?  So tada, here's what I came up with:

I'd seen tons of posts for ghost milk jug luminaries for awhile, so I figured this was a nice twist on that craft.  It uses skulls and colorful lights instead of ghost faces and white lights.   I just love how this little guy turned out.  He's so cute and smiley... and gosh darn it, I've just got a big ol' soft soft for any craft that involves twinkly, colorful lights.

Guest Post: DIY Sugar Skull Shoes

Earlier this week I shared that Allison from Dream A Little Bigger and I were doing post swaps.  On Monday I visited her blog and showed how I made these cute and colorful perler bead bracelets.  Surprise!  Today Allison's over here, presenting this super cool sugar skull shoe tutorial.  With Halloween and Dia de los Muertos coming up, this craft is a great one to do.   It'll certainly get you into the spooky spirit!




 Hello! My name is Allison and I'm a crafty cat lady that blogs over at Dream a Little Bigger. Crafting and creating is what I love to do and I'm so happy that I'm able to share that with all the sweet readers at Pink Stripey Socks! I'm a huge fan of Leslie and I'm so excited to be guesting here today! I've kind of sort of got this huge thing for shoes. Not fancy or designer shoes or anything but shoes I've made up and crafted on. It's a pretty big deal and so far I've made almost 60 DIY shoe tutorials. Don't believe me? Check this gallery 
out.

Two Toddler approved Fall Crafts

Even though I really enjoy crafting, sometimes it takes a bit of persuasion to get Chuck to join in.  Currently he's much more into playing with toy cars than crafting with mom.  Go figure! :)  But I'm a persistent bugger, so I keep encouraging him to make stuff with me.

So far several of my craft plans flopped, but here are two crafts that Chuck actually participated in. (Hooray!) 

1.  Paper Bag Pumpkins:

Materials:

• Lunch bags
• Tissue paper squares
• Glue stick
• Marker 
• Googly eyes (optional)
• Pipe Cleaner
• Newspaper

Directions:

1. Glue your tissue paper squares onto your lunch bag.
2. Add a face
3. Crumple up newspapers and stick them into your bag.
4. Use a pipe cleaner to seal up the bag.

And here are some pumpkins made during our toddler craft time:

2.  Contact Paper Leaves
 

Materials:

•  Leaves
• Contact paper
• Scissors
• Tape
• Tissue paper (optional)

Directions:

1. Place leaves in a heavy book to flatten them.
2. Tape down contact paper, sticky side up.
3. Stick leaves and tissue paper squares onto your contact paper.
4. Place a piece of contact paper(sticky side down) on top of your first piece of contact paper.
5. Trim the edges and tape your leaves onto a window.

Have a great weekend!

DIY Candy Corn Perler Bead Bracelet 1

Are y'all going Halloween crazy yet?  (Or is it just me?)

Last weekend I took Chuck to Target and we had a blast seeing all the costumes and decorations.   Doesn't matter how many times I've seen a dancing skeleton or singing skull, this stuff never gets old.  I guess I'm a kid at heart because Halloween is my very favorite holiday.

So that's why I'm super excited to share this craft with you.  I went a bit crazy with my perler beads and designed two candy corn inspired bracelets.  Today I'm sharing the simpler design with you.  If you like this one, head on back tomorrow to see how I made the more complicated one.  

Here's a photo of my candy corn inspired bracelet: 

Materials:

• Perler beads
• Scissors
• Elastic Cord (I used a thin 0.5 mm elastic cord for these bracelets, but honestly a thicker cord is better to use because it's easier to string the beads with and the finished bracelet feels sturdier.)

Directions:

1.  Cut out about 40 inches of cord.  (Honestly, it doesn't matter what length you initially use.  You'll just end up tying on more cording later.)  Tie on a bead to act as a stopper.  (I used a black bead.  It doesn't matter what color you choose because you'll end up removing this bead at the end.) 

2.  String on 

• white bead (#1 bead) 
• white bead (#2 bead)
• orange bead (#3 bead)
• orange bead (#4 bead)
• yellow bead (#5 bead)
• yellow bead (#6 bead)

(I labeled the beads with numbers to help out with step 3.) These six will be your first column of beads.

3.  Now you're going to add your second column of beads.  Add on a yellow bead (#7).  Then,slip your string through your #5 yellow bead.  Add an orange bead (#8).  Then, slip your string through your #3 orange bead .  Then, add a white bead (#9).  Then, slip your string through your #1 white bead.   Then, pull tight.

 Now you've got the basis for the rest of your bracelet.  See how some portions of the bracelet jut out and some portions of the bracelet don't?  As you continue to build your bracelet, you'll alternate between adding a bead to fill in the gaps, and stringing your cord through the beads that jut out.

4.  Let's add the fourth and fifth columns. 

• Column 4:  Add a white bead.  Slip your string through the jutting out white bead.  Add an orange bead.  Slip your string through the jutting out orange bead.  Add a yellow bead. Slip your cord through the jutting out yellow bead.  Pull tight.

• Column 5:  Add a yellow bead.  Slip your string through the jutting out yellow bead.  Add an orange bead. Slip your string through the jutting out orange bead.  Add a white bead. Slip your string through the jutting out white bead.  Pull tight.

Keep going and continue to follow the pattern.  Add a bead and then slip your string through a bead that's jutting out.  Keep pulling your string tight after adding each column of beads.  If you run out of cord, no worries!  Just tie on another strand.

Soon you'll get a long bracelet like this:

Now make sure that (1) it fits your wrist and (2) both ends fit together like zipper teeth.  Then, string your cord through both sides of the bracelet and pull tight.  Remove the stopper bead and tie your beginning and ending cords together.

Tada!  Done. And that's how you make a simple candy corn inspired perler bead bracelet.  Like it?  If so, come back tomorrow to see how I made a slightly more complicated candy corn bracelet.

Happy beading! 

Make a Mosaic Bean Pendant

Hi everyone!

How was your weekend?   We had a pretty quiet Sunday, but our Saturday was full of fun activity.  I attended a bridal shower while hubby and Toddler Chuck visited family.  (I'll post up photos from the bridal shower later on this week.) I thought I'd start off the week with this crapty (and slightly crappy?) pendant that I made.

I think mosaics are lovely.  There's something quite special (and dare I say, possibly mathematical?) about laying pieces of varying shapes and/or colors together so that they fit a space and create a desired image or pattern.

Wanting to make a wearable mosaic of my own, I used some household materials to create this mosaic bean pendant:


Yeah.  I know what you're thinking.  Girl, that's a lot of look.  And my reply? Girl, I know.  But really, what does one wear with beans anyway?

Erm.... I'm not sure if I like the result, but I did have fun making it.  And who knows?  If you ever find yourself trapped at home with a couple of bored children, then perhaps you could whip these up for fun.

Materials:
- dried beans
- cereal box cardboard <--crap!
- craft paint
- paint brushes
- Tacky glue (I used Aleene's)
- String
- Felt
- Scissors