Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The Best of Halloween From Around the Web

There are so many wonderful Halloween ideas out in blog land. I thought since we only have a few more short days til Halloween, that I would put the best of what I have found around the web to inspire you for those last minute details for your Halloween get together.



 Halloween Vignette and Mantles

Gotta love this Craftberry Bush Halloween Vignette


















Visit Love Manor






Why not visit The Crafted Sparrow's creative Halloween Mantel?



Go on over to Apartment Therapy


I love this go over to The House of Whimsy
































I believe this Haunted Mantel belongs to Centsational Girls amazing Blog site!

















I adore the creativity and bookpage ruffle of Shabby Creek Cottage Mantel






This is from 2009 but it's so amazing! Visit Rhonna Designs



















Pretty Painted Pumpkins
(or decoupaged  even)
Alisa Burke Pretty Painted Pumpkin Tutorial














Omah Trends Halloween Decoration





Oh, So freaking cute! UK Craft Blog Designer Pumpkin Ideas






I Lovvve turquoise Ode to Inspiration







Stephanie Lynn Mod Podge Faux Pumpkins






Eddie Ross Ric Rac Pumpkins





Pottery Barn






Shabby Lanes Shops Vintage Inspired Pantyhose Pumpkin



















  







Chic on a Shoestring
DIY Halloween Crafts and Printables


BHG




















Tatortots&Jello Creepy Specimen Art








Tatortots&Jello Spooky Subway Art






TatorTots&Jello EEK Blocks









Martha's Awesome Printables Hallowen Clip Art






Spooky Label Printables

(If your not into the witchcraft/spells part of Halloween, and I"m not, you could always just use the labels as some sort of mad spooky scientist type thing, which is what I do. I"m not sure if it's allowed but maybe you could edit them a bit?)

Halloween delectable,spooky, and down right cute treats


Visit Babble Oreo Mummies









































































































































































Betty Crocker Vegetarian Cheese Pumpkins








Visit Vintage Style Files Eyeball Martini


Meet the Dubians Owl Pops









Craft-O-Maniac Frankies















Visit Something Swanky Fudge Candy Corn

And last but certainly not least.......
Don't you love it!!!?? This has to be the most amazing Halloween room I have ever seen!
Visit Love Manor














Sunday, October 23, 2011

Z-Gallerie Inspired Felt Rosette Pillow

First, notice that the title of this post is Z Gallerie INSPIRED pillow. It's definitely inspired , cause this puppy looks nothing like the original. :(  If you are a fan of Z-Gallerie then you probably already know about this pillow.

And you probably already know that it's no longer available. I really wanted this pillow! Man, did I want this pillow
!  I just didn't get to the point where i could justify the 40 or 50 dollar price tag. So, today I decided to try and make my own.

If you've read my other posts, you know by now that something went wrong in making this pillow. This seems to be a regular happening around here. So much so that I have thought about changing this blog's name from "Design Fluff" to " This Ain't Martha's House." Anyhow, the pillow didn't turn out like Z Gallerie's pillow but it did turn out. So, without further ado here is my new pillow.....




The second photo is the actual color. It's a very dark black and in person it's very lovely. My photo taking skills are in definite need of improvement. I included the other 2 photos so you could see the detail.

If you want to make this pillow all you have to do is make your pillow form. We talked about this at this posting: http://designfluff.blogspot.com/2011/10/west-elm-origami-inspired-pillow-no-sew.html Cut out your rose petals they should look something like this:
Pinch and sew the flat end of the petal together. They should look something like this:
Make a center for your rose. You can just take some fabric and twist it around itself and hot glue it. Here is a photo:
Now take your petals and glue them around the center til you get the amount you want on your pillow front.














BTW, If you make a mess with your hot glue on the seam you can always put some sort of decorative edging around the pillow seams to hide. (No one has to know!)

Monday, October 17, 2011

My New Halloween Mantel using Mod Podge and printable spooky labels.



I love my new and improved Halloween Mantel. You may have read my other post where I did a Dollar Tree Halloween Mantel Design Fluff Dollar Tree Mantel . I grow tired of things quickly and wanted something different and less busy. Not to mention the other one kinda creeped me out. I know, weird.

Well, I  love me some vintage so this is something simple and affordable that I came up with. 2 apothecary jars from T.J. Maxx, 3 Dollar Tree plates that I Mod Podged on some wonderful vintage graphics from The Graphics Fairy, and a dash of Mother Nature.

(If I remember right, I think someone did a similar plate project on The Graphics Fairy with the same printouts).  I used 3 plates of varying design and shape to give it some visual interest. I downloaded and printed out some free Vintage Halloween labels for my apothecary jarsVisit Love Manor and voile, a simple, much less busy, with vintage appeal Halloween Mantle!

By the way, (this wouldn't be my blog if it didn't happen) I messed up on the plates. I thought the Mod Podge wouldn't show and it does if in the right light.  So, if  you are going to make these plates be careful only to apply the Mod Podge to the back of the printouts like a glue, so it won't ruin your plate. If you do use it as a sealer on the plate, keep a wet rag handy for any oopsies and apply carefully and evenly.

Last but not least, pay no attention to the funky dirty ceiling fan in the first pic. That beauty is coming down! But that's for a post down the road, and I can't wait to feature it on here!


























My Painted Pumpkins

The white on the books was my way of erasing text to preserve my online identity.
The theme of my living and dining rooms are black and white. So, I decided to do black and white painted pumpkins. They didn't turn out exactly how I'd like but they are cute enough. Besides, I don't feel like re-doing them:)

My advice to anyone painting pumpkins is don't use latex paint, it peels. If you do decide to use latex paint, I used black latex for the black victorian cameo pumpkin, then be careful not to rub it against anything else. As a matter of fact it doesn't matter what paint you use cause it comes off easy regardless. I used spray paint on the white and metallic pumpkins and no matter which brand (I used a cheap dollar spray paint for the white pumpkin and Krylon metallic spray paint for the little one) it still chips off easy. So, just be careful about moving them very much. Also, make sure whatever paint you use is matte. I didn't realize that the black and white paints were gloss paints and it made them a little funky looking:)  Matte paint would definitely be the best for a project like this, it's easier to hide the flaws of the pumpkins bumpy surface.
                                                           
My victorian cameo pumpkin.

For my Victorian Cameo Pumpkin I downloaded a stencil from a really cool site I just found called, "The Graphics Fairy". It's such an awesome site, she has tons of amazing vintage graphics you can print out for free! I printed out a silhouette and then cut it out and used stick pins to pin it to my pumpkins. I got inspiration for this pumpkin and the Jack Skellington Pumpkin (below) from HGTV.
Anyhow, after stick pinning the silhouette to the pumpkin I stick pinned some black ruffles around the white edge to give a nice even finish and pinned a white ribbon to the bottom.


For my Jack Skellington Pumpkin, my husband and I cut out felt and hot glued it on for the mouth (see below). And that's it guys! What type of pumpkins did you do this year? Would you consider painting a pumpkin or are you more of a traditionalist and carve?