Posts Tagged ‘halloween ideas’

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble. – William Shakespeare

It’s getting spooky around here… and the little witches love it.  Even though she can hardly see above the rim of the cauldron.

I always look forward to decorating for Halloween… and I love that many Halloween decorations don’t have to cost much, if anything at all.

This spooky cauldron is easy and inexpensive to create.  I happened to already have everything I needed.

I started with an old twiggy wreath.  It used to hang on my front door long ago.  It’s the perfect first layer for the cauldron.  You could even make a twiggy wreath by wiring twigs to a metal form available at most craft stores.

Next use a couple of pieces of colored tissue paper to make the flames.

Place heat proof bowl into the center of the wreath on top of the tissue paper.  Place a strand of Christmas lights into the bowl, make sure all the lights are in the bowl and will not come in contact with the tissue.  Those lights get hot, and you don’t want a real fire!  It works great to keep the lights bundled up. Plug an extension cord into the lights and run it out the back.

Next comes the cauldron.  This is a copper colored plant container.  You can also use a black canning pot or a dutch oven.

Every Halloween, I make homemade Root Beer or Swamp Juice with dry ice served right out of the cauldron…  Doesn’t that look like a real fire?  When it’s smoking… I almost think I’m a real witch.   Maybe the owl carrying my letter to Hogwarts got lost in a storm over the Rockies.

Hopefully the owl for my kids will have better luck.

I am always looking for ideas for new projects.  One place I love to check out is Anthropologie.  Their products are usually quite expensive… but many of their products have a homemade quality about them that make them perfect for making at home… like this darling dishtowel above.  I took one look and thought, “I could make that.”  I love the embroidery and the wonderful lace.

I started playing with a design using my favorite squirrel template from the Long Thread that I used on Lily’s school bag.  And in the end I think I will making it an applique like the bag instead of an embroidery.

I’d like to make several of these.  One for me and one for a friend.  Hopefully I will have time to finish a towel today and share it on Thursday.  There is never enough time to sew!

I also ran across this old drawing the other day and fell in love.  I am working on making it into an embroidery… I think it should be a Brownwork (meaning using only one color of brown thread.)

I can’t decide, should it be made into a pillow with pom poms?  Or a Halloween kitchen towel, or framed on the wall?   I also can’t decide whether to leave the little bird out of the picture.  If I take it out will it look funny if the owl is staring avidly at nothing?

The other thing I am wondering about this week is… is it too early to put up my Halloween decorations?  I love this time of year and can hardly wait for Halloween.

And speaking of Halloween:

Martha Stewart always has new and wonderful ideas for Halloween decorating.  I love these glowing ghosts.  It’s amazing how many good ideas there are out there.