Posts tagged ‘halloween crafts’

October 13, 2011

Teaching Thursdays: Martha Stewart Pumpkin Centerpiece


By: Chris Williams

Who does not like the fall season and decorating a gorgeous fall tablescape this time of year?  The contrast of weather crackled wood and glittering glistening paints is fabulous.  You too can create and enjoy this gorgeous fall centerpiece incorporating three everlasting pumpkins displayed at varying heights!  Now let’s gather our supplies …

Supplies:

Martha Stewart Crafts

32056  Adobo – Satin, 32165  Carnelian – Glitter, 32057  Mace – Satin, 32166  Fire Opal – Glitter, 32058  Marmalade – Satin, 32155  Orange Sorbet – Glitter, 32082  Beetle Black – Satin, 32075  Summer Linen – Satin, 32070  Chestnut Brown – Satin, 32201  Weather Crackle Effect, 32256  Birds and Berries Stencil, 32243  Foam Pouncers, 32245  5 pc Basic Brush Set

Surfaces:

9.5” Chippendale Plate, 7” Wood Candlestick, 4.5” Wood Candlestick, Large White Pumpkin,Small White Pumpkins (2)

Miscellaneous Supplies:  Brush Basin or container for water, foam plates, paper towels, white craft glue and fine grit sandpaper

The wood candlesticks and plate are given a weather crackle finish that is fun and so easy to do.  Gather your wood items, Summer Linen and Chestnut Brown along with Weather Crackle Effect medium.

Begin by removing the bottle cap to expose the heat seal.  Remove it and replace the bottle cap.

Basecoat all wood surfaces with Summer Linen using a small utility brush.  Allow to dry and sand smooth using fine grit sandpaper.

If desired, add an accent of Mace on the edge of the plate as well as a ring on the candlesticks.

Again using the small utility brush, basecoat each pumpkin a different shade of orange.  (My pumpkins were purchased white, however, you may choose to use orange pumpkins instead.)  The large pumpkin is Adobo.

Basecoat one small pumpkin Mace.

And basecoat the last pumpkin Marmalade.

Once dry, next step is to gather the Weather Crackle Effect medium. Apply a coat of Weather Crackle Effect and allow to completely dry.

Once dry, paint Chestnut Brown over the Weather Crackle Effect in a criss-cross pattern.  The heavier you apply the paint, the larger the cracks. (Be careful not to over-brush the paint as it will move the cracks.)

Continue crackling the edge of the plate and two candlesticks.  Set aside to dry.

Next begin glittering your pumpkins!  Using a foam pouncer in a dabbing up and down motion, apply several light coats of glitter paint to each pumpkin until desired effect is achieved.  Paint Carnelian on the Adobo large pumpkin, Fire Opal on the Mace pumpkin and Orange Sorbet on the Marmalade pumpkin.

Paint pumpkin stems Chestnut Brown and allow to dry.  Then add Brownstone glitter paint.  What good is a glittery pumpkin if the stem does not glitter too?

I decided to accent the glitter pumpkins with a silhouette stencil or branches, berries and a bird.  Using a foam pouncer, stencil a Beetle Black branch and berries first.

Add a black bird (maybe a crow for this time of year).

The largest pumpkin has the most detail with a large branch, several berries and the black bird.  Accent the two smaller pumpkins with smaller sections of branches.

Apply a ring of Beacon’s Tacky Glue around the rim of the shorter candlestick.

Attach the Fire Opal glitter pumpkin to the candlestick and allow to dry.  Apply glue to the rim of the second (taller) candlestick. Attach to the center bottom of plate.  Allow to dry.

When dry, create your fall centerpiece; maybe add a garland of fall silk leaves and berries at the base to accent and enjoy!

October 11, 2011

Tuesday Huesday: Halloween Living Room Decor

Many people often assume that you can only use Halloween themed colors to create scary or Halloween only decorations. Well I am here to help inspire you to use traditional Halloween colors, to decorate your interiors with. I recently stumbled across this living room on a blog called, Modern Design. Look at how unique and different this living room is. I was amazed by the colors used to decorate this room. It looks so vibrant and modern. These colors I normally would only see during the Halloween and fall season, but clearly after seeing this room, colors such as these can be used to decorate all year round.

This palette was created using FolkArt acrylic colors: #627-Tangerine, #508-Orange Poppy, #416-Dark Brown, and #2241-Apple Orchard


October 7, 2011

Congrats to the Winners of our Paint Me Plaid Halloween Giveaway

Two lucky Paint Me Plaid readers have won our Paint Me Plaid Halloween Giveaway. The winners are,

Melissa Cook & Ajsarts

 

They both won a gift package that includes the following:

A 4 pack of Apple Barrel Glow in the Dark Paints

A bottle of Glo Away

A 8oz. bottle of Stiffy

Thanks to everyone that entered our Halloween giveaway. Please check here on our blog, because we will be having another giveaway very soon.

October 7, 2011

Freelance Friday: Creepy Halloween Bottle Decor Using Mod Podge

It’s FRIDAY! I know you are excited for the weekend, and in case you are looking for a great craft project to do check out these creepy bottles from,  Joy’s Life. We stumbled across Joy’s blog awhile ago, and have loved seeing her creative crafts. Since Halloween will be here before we know it, we wanted to share a craft project you can use as Halloween decor. These awesome bottles are easy to make, and require very minimal supplies. Create these to add to your scary Halloween decor. To see how Joy created these bottles, click here.


October 6, 2011

Teaching Thursdays: Elegant Witch’s Hat Centerpiece

This project was created by Holli Long. To see more of Holli’s work visit her blog, Every Days A Holli Day.

I’ve always wanted to paint a witch’s hat for my yearly Halloween decorations.  I found this little baby at Michaels and couldn’t resist!  I decided to use the beautiful new Elegant Halloween trend to paint it.  It’s a quick project, this one taking me just a couple of hours one morning.

I decided to basecoat the hat with Licorice to begin with, but definitely wanted the hat to be glittery silver when I was finished.

I double loaded a large flat brush with Light Gray and Silver Sterling and coated the entire hat.  Every so often, I would pick up a little bit of Gunmetal Gray to add to the mix.

When it was dry I painted three light coats of Silver Extreme Glitter over the entire surface.

I freehanded these swirls with a liner brush, using Metallic Sequin Black.  This paint is thin enough that I didn’t have to add water to it to make these beautiful swirls.

I used hot glue to add the ribbon and bat as embellishments.

Elegant Witch’s Hat Centerpiece Supplies:

Folk Art® Acrylic Colors: 424 Light Gray, 928 Licorice

Folk Art® Metallic Colors: 662 Metallic Silver Sterling, 667 Gunmetal Gray

Folk Art® Extreme Glitter: 2787 Silver

Paper Mache Witch’s Hat, large flat brush, liner brush, orange sheer ribbon, black rick rack, black bat with glittery wings embellishment

October 5, 2011

Paint Me Plaid’s Halloween Giveaway

With Halloween right around the corner, we would like to help out our blog readers by doing a Halloween Giveaway. There are so many great Halloween crafts to make, and in case you are still looking for ideas, make sure you check out Plaid’s Halloween page. We are giving away 2 prize packs to 2 lucky Paint Me Plaid readers. The prize pack will include the following:


A 4 pack of Apple Barrel Glow in the Dark Paints

A bottle of Glo Away

A 8oz. bottle of Stiffy

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below, telling us what Halloween craft you would create using any of these items.

For extra entries (leave a separate comment for each):

Check out our sister blog, Plaid Kid’s Crafts, and let us know a project you find there that you think is cool

Like Plaid on Facebook and let us know you entered the giveaway

Follow @PlaidCrafts onTwitter

Entries will be accepted beginning today, and end on Friday October 7th at 12pm EST. We will announce the 2 winners on Friday afternoon October 7th.

October 3, 2011

Make it Monday: Elegant Halloween Wreath Decor

Project created by Julie Lewis

Halloween has always been a favorite and fun holiday. It’s not just for kids anymore and Halloween crafting and décor is fast becoming a seriously hot trend. Pairing elegant with Halloween takes crafting in a new direction and this hanging wreath shows what levels you can go to.

Here is what you’ll need:

FolkArt® Acrylic Paint – 479 Pure Black, 660 Pure Gold, 741 Glazed Carrots, 2577 Toasted Vanilla

FolkArt® Extreme Glitter™ – 2786 Gold, 2793 Orange, 2797 Black

FolkArt® Crackle Medium – 696

Wood bird cut out, 3” wood disk, 14” paper Mache or wood wreath, Black feathers, Glue, #1 Liner brush, ½” Flat brush,

Pencil, Black/Cream damask ribbon, Wire, Scissors, Antique gold purse/drapery ring, a Ruler

Gather your supplies…

Basecoat your wreath and bird with Pure Black.

Let dry thoroughly.

Generously apply Crackle Medium to wreath in a slip slap motion.

This is what it will look like when completely covered. Set aside to dry while you go on to something else. It should lose its shiny appearance when dry.

Apply Black Exteme Glitter to bird. Let dry between coats and apply as many coats as desired for maximum glitter.

Paint your wood disk with Glazed Carrots and when dry, apply Orange Extreme Glitter. Extreme Glitter is awesome anytime but, it’s especially awesome for Halloween!

Now let’s crackle! It’s no secret that I love crackle so I have to use it again here. Apply Toasted Vanilla in the same slip slap motion all over the wreath.

Try not to overlap where you started as it will already have crackled by the time you get around the wreath. It’s so cool to watch!

Ta da!

Paint the inner and outer lip with Pure Gold.

Now apply the Gold Extreme Glitter.

Rub your pencil over the back of your flying witch pattern.

Trace onto your glittered disk. Press hard as the surface will be slightly rough.

It will be slightly hard to see but, there will be enough to go by.

Paint your witch with a liner brush in Pure Black. Keep your pattern handy to refer to if any parts are too hard to read.

Paint a few starburst shapes and you are done with the moon!

Paint accent lines on crow with liner brush. Create eye by using opposite end of brush dipped in paint.

Starting at sixteen inches, cut lengths of ribbon descending in size to about nine inches.

Fold each length in on itself and glue at the center.

When all your loops are glued, stack them and tie in center with wire.

Fan the loops out to create bow.

Glue a small piece of ribbon around center to hide wire.

Cut two lengths of ribbon and glue back to back for hanger.

Glue feathers to bottom end of wreath.

Glue bird and moon in place.

Glue bow and hanger ribbon in place.

Thread ring through loose end of hanger and secure at desired length.

Originally elegant!

September 30, 2011

Freelance Friday: Halloween Door Knob Decor

Here is an elegant home décor accessory for you to make, just in time for Halloween. Ir was designed by one of our newest designers, Laura Bray. To see more craft creations from Laura please check out here blog, Katy Diddys.

This project features a new stencil from our Easy to Paint line, called Curly Tree. It also includes FolkArt paint, and Apple Barrel Paint. This is an intermediate skilled project, which takes 2 or more hours to complete. The new easy to paint line is available at AC Moore, and Michaels craft stores.

Plaid Supplies Used: FolkArt Acrylic Paint – 479 Pure Black, FolkArt Painting Stencil (Curly Tree)-30610, Spouncers Value Pack-34106, and Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint-20504 Black

Additional Supplies Used: (1) 5 ½ ” x 6 ½ ” piece of linen fabric, (2) ¾  ” x 5 ½ ” strips of black and white polka dot fabric, (2) ¾ ” x 7 ½ ” strips of black and white polka dot fabric, (1) 6 ½” x 7 ½” piece of Halloween themed fabric, 16” piece of black and white printed ribbon, Flat backed crystals in Fall colors, Pillow stuffing

Instructions:

  1. Lay down your linen fabric onto a piece of plastic wrap.  Place the FolkArt Stencil on top of the fabric, centered.  TIP: I use painter’s tape to secure the fabric onto the plastic covered work surface and the stencil onto the fabric.
  2. Using your pouncer, gently dab the Apple Barrel acrylic paint onto the fabric, within the stencil.
  3. Gently pull off the stencil and allow the paint to dry.
  4. Apply the flat backed crystals around your image in a pleasing pattern.  Follow manufacturer’s instructions for heat setting them, or use fabric glue to affix them.
  5. Sew the two 5 ½” x ¾” strips of polka dot fabric onto the top and bottom of your stenciled piece of linen.  Sew the two 7 ½” x ¾” strips onto the sides.  Use a ¼” seam allowance.
  6. Press your seams and then lay down your stenciled piece of linen, face up.  Take your 6 ½” x 7 ½” piece of Halloween fabric and lay it face down on top of the stenciled fabric.
  7. Take your ribbon, fold it in half and lay it between the two pieces of fabric. Be sure center the two cut ends at the top of the fabric.  Make sure the looped end is facing down and allow the cut ends to extend about 1” from the edge of the fabrics.  Tuck the ribbon between the fabric pieces so that it won’t get caught as you sew the seams.  Pin everything in place.
  8. Using a ¼” seam allowance, sew around the edges of the fabric.  Be sure to leave a small opening at the bottom of the pieces to allow for turning out and stuffing your door knob pillow.
  9. Turn-fabric pillow out.  Fill with pillow stuffing.  Whip stitch the opening on the bottom closed.
September 28, 2011

Web Wednesday: Vampire Vittles Candy Jar

With Halloween around the corner, I am sure many of you are looking for places to store your candy in. Well why not get creative with that plain looking candy dish, and create this vampire vittles jar instead. This is a great craft project to make for Halloween. To find out the supplies and the instructions to make this candy jar click here.

September 21, 2011

Web Wednesday: Martha Stewart Happy Halloween Apothecary Candy Dish

How are your Halloween craft creations going? Do you need more craft suggestions? If so you are in luck, we’ve got plenty! Here is a great craft for adults to make. This Martha Stewart apothecary candy dish. It was designed by one of our talented designers, Chris Williams. This candy dish is perfect for a side table, this candy dish is a simple and fun container for Halloween treats! To learn how to re-create this Halloween candy dish click here.