Halloween Updates!

Okay, like I promised.... Here are some of my photos from all my Halloween decorations that I said I would share. I decorated on last Tuesday and it took me a good while, mainly because I had to detail clean the stairwell for the rats to go up!! But I enjoyed it and love how everything turned out!!

I hope your homes are filled with festive decor as well! :)

 I "made" cookies to celebrate!

 I adore mini pumpkins... They're so cute and kind of timeless seeming in a way. :)

 My full potions brew kit!!! I love this piece!

 I did have some store bought ones that I'd had and just added to the home-made ones for some color!

 I love my ghosts! Both bought at Wal-Mart for under $3!!!

 The jar is one of those "pet bat" things... Joc loves it! It's really cute!

 My place settings!

 Full table view for the holidays!

 One of many glitter webs I have!

I really like how my stairs turned out!! :)

-Stephanie

Potions Kit Pt. 2 - Halloween Day 7

You will now have a very stiff, wrinkly piece of paper! Mine took right around two hours to dry, by the way.

And you'll need some scissors for this part as well, and a pen. I'm using a sharpie pen to write my potion names onto the paper.

  

Part One: cut off a good sized piece of your paper. After you cut it start to tear around the edges to make it look old and worn some more. Have some fun with this and make it really uneven around the edges!

This is my first "label" for my potions.

Step Two: You get to have the fun, creative part of naming all your ingredients!! I have found a website that gives a list of all the potions ingredients that were used throughout the Harry Potter books! The website can be found here: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_potion_ingredients

There are some pretty cool names for ingredients here, some that I'd even forgotten about!

Step Three: After you've written your name on your label rub some hot glue onto the back of your label and then place it on your bottle where you see fit! Your result should be a pretty cool, hand-made, potions jar!

I've made a "Dragon's Blood," "Unicorn Hair," and a "Night Shade" so far!

I'm so excited to be able to make he rest of them! I'll post a photo of my whole set together once I'm done with everything!

- Stephanie

Potions Kit Pt. 1 - Halloween Day 6

I'm having to split this one craft up into two segments... There's a good bit to do for it. 

So, Potions Kit Part 1:

I love witches. I was a witch 9/10 times as a kid for Halloween, I LOVE the movie Hocus Pocus, Hermione was always one of my favorite Harry Potter characters... Witches, are cool!

So, naturally I'd want to make a witch's potions kit! I have found one that is so much simpler than most of the others out there. I have seen some that just look way too hard to make, they look too time consuming and are just as good as some of the simpler ones!

You'll need:

1. Empty glass jars

2. Spray paint (I'm using a glossy black... It's only $.98 at Walmart!)

3. A tall bowl, or cup

4. One tea bag

5. Scissors

6. Small paper bag

As you can see I have an assortment of jars here... A wine bottle, pasta sauce jar, and Parmesan cheese jar. I just saved some jars and bottles that ended up having a really neat and different shape to them for this project to make it look really eclectic.

Step One: You'll want to peal off all those pretty labels from your jars!

 I found this on Pinterest... It says some hot water, the Oxi Clean, and then a dash of soap will EASILY remove these!

I just used a hot water/Dawn dish detergent soak and sprayed on (before putting the jars into the bath) some Windex. Mine worked well, I had to very minimal scrubbing to get the last little bits off.

Step Two: Spray paint your jars and bottles! You'll need to really cover those, too. I take mine all outside at once and spray them down then come back in about 15 minutes and spray them again if needed. These are some more that I've already painted.

The wine bottle on the left has a red tint to it if you notice.... It was originally an all red bottle and while spraying it I started to look and noticed how neat it looked, so I only dusted that one. I'm labeling it "Dragon's Blood" in the end!! :)

Step Three: Cut up your paper bag! I kinda butchered mine, oops! :)

But it still works! It doesn't have to be completely together for it to do it's part!

Step Four: Crumple up your bag! I did mine twice to ensure it wrinkled well.

Then place it inside your bowl or cup.

Step Five: Add REALLY hot water to your bowl for the bag to soak in for a little bit! Once the bag has submerged into the water and has started to expand again. Add your tea bag into the mix!

This ages the paper and helps hold those wrinkles, so it looks old and ancient!

I let mine sit in this mix for about five minutes. I made sure to dip the tea bag multiple times to release it into the water for the bag to soak up.

Step Six: Remove your paper bag and lay it flat on a towel or something to dry. I'm not quite sure how long this will take. I'm guessing at least an hour or two! (Which is why this is a two part blog!!)

At this point if you need to paint more jars or something for this project I'd do it now! You'll have plenty of time to do so! :)

That's all the steps I have for you now! My papers are drying and I have to go get ready for a wedding in a few hours!! We'll finish this project tomorrow!!!

- Stephanie