PaperChaserTO

This easy DIY is perfect for any last minute Halloween costume ideas. I was inspired by a pin, but can't seem to find the picture anymore :( Regardless, I love how the head band came out and it's perfect for the Day of the Dead sugar skull trend going around this year!

The eyeballs in the centre of the rose give this headband a unique, spooky, Halloween feel to it teheh. Give this project a try, won't take longer than 2 hours taking your time while you watch a an awesome movie like Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring on Netflix.

Remember to check out my tutorial "How-to Sugar Skull Makeup"

Materials

For 5 roses

4-5 sheets of paper
Eyeballs (got these from the dollar store $1.25)
scissors
hot glue gun
glitter
glue

1. Cut your paper in half, width wise twice, then into 4. You will have 16 pieces. Repeat with other sheets of paper

2. First layer petals Cut your 1/16 piece in half, then into a curved U shape. Make a slit at the tip of the curve, bend the flaps towards each other and glue into place. Bend the curved edge back on itself.

3. For the rest of the layers, cut your pieces into a tear drop shape.

4. Second layer petals Cut 2 slits, one and the top of the curve and one at the bottom pointed tip. Bend then flaps inward and glue into place. Repeat for the top and bottom slits. Curve the top edge back on itself.

5. Third layer petals Cut 1 slit into the bottom pointy end of the teardrop. Again, Bend and glue into place. Use your thumb to help you curve the edge back.

At this point I added glue to the edging of the petals and rolled them in glitter. This step is optional, but I think it gives the roses an amazing look.

6. First layer petals You need three (3) pieces. Glue into triangle formation on the eyeball.

Second layer petals You need five (5) pieces. Add glue onto 1 side of the petal, attach. For every consecutive petal, add glue onto the same 1 side, slip under the unglued side of the previous petal and press into place.

Third layer petals You need five (5) pieces. Repeat as you did with the second layer petals. Once complete, flip over and glue down the unglued side of the petal.

7. Add a 1 inch circle to the back of each rose. Glue onto your head band.

You can skip out on the head band completely and attach floral stems to the roses to make a bouquet fit for your Halloween needs.

Happy Crafting!

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Hi girls and boys!

Here is the post where you can find the pattern templates for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Shell bag.

Download: Pattern

Instructions

This is my first sewing project so if I don’t use the same practices as an experience person bear with me, I will get better =).

Here is the video to follow with the instructions

Printing

Each page is created with an inch margin marked by the solid black box. Simply print each page out and arrange to for the pattern to look like this:

Blue arrows should align to make a diamond and the test square should measure 2x2 inches.

Cutting your pieces

Patterns do not have seam allowance, so give yourself ¼ - ½ inch gap when cutting the patterns out.

Piece A requires 2 pieces cut on centre fold; one will be the outer shell portion, and the other will be used to line the inside of the bag. Cut 1 piece on centre fold without seam allowance on your batting or interfacing. Remember to mark the top of the pattern.

Piece B requires 2 pieces cut on centre fold with the same fabric as your outer shell. Cut 1 piece on centre fold without seam allowance on your batting or muslin. Remember to mark the top of the pattern.

Piece C and D requires 2 pieces cut on centre fold OR cut on fabric folded twice like such:

Cut 1 piece on centre fold only, without seam allowance, on your batting or muslin.

For the strap pieces (not shown), cut 2 rectangular pieces 4x20 inches, and 1 rectangular piece 4x40 inches

Materials

Sewing machine
Scissors
Pins
Fabric marker
Piece A (3) – outer shell, lining, batting
Piece B (3) – 2 outer shell, batting
Piece C (3) – outer, lining, batting
Piece D (3) – outer, lining, batting
Straps (3) – 2 4x20, 1 4x40

Sewing

Taking Piece A, sew the pleats on the wrong side of the fabric. Repeat with other Piece A.
Taking Piece B, place right sides together and sew along outside edge. Cut perpendicular to the sew line at corner curve to alleviate bunching. Turn right sides out. Repeat for Pieces C and D.
Taking the batting, line the wrong sides for all Pieces A-D
Sew the batting to the pieces. See reference photos
With the strap pieces, fold them in half lengthwise and sew up the sides.
Take 1 of the 4x20 straps and the 4x40 strap and hem the end by folding it in twice and sewing straight across
Now take the remaining 4x20 strap that you have not hemmed and sew the centre to the outer shell. See reference photos
Flip the outer shell over and place the lining wrong side into the shell. Pin that down. Then with Piece B, pin the edges facing the right side of the outer shell. Wrap the strap piece around Piece B and pin down.
Sew around the pinned piece. Flip wrong sides out and tuck in Piece B and the strap to the centre of the bag.
Pin the longer strap to the top right corner and the shorter strap to the bottom side opposite the top.
Pin Piece C to the top of the inverted shell, wrong side up. Then Piece D to the bottom, wrong side up
Sew around the whole piece and flip right sides out.
You have completed your turtle shell bag

references

Sewing your batting or interfacing:

Piece A

Piece B

Piece C

Piece D

Sewing your straps:

Sewing the strap to the outer shell

If you need any clarifications or help making your bag, shoot me a message - I'd love to help you out.

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Here's another cute, simple, and fun tutorial for this upcoming Halloween season! DIYs for this holiday are plentiful, here's where I got mine: INSPIRATION.

For the sake of simplicity, I skimped out on painting the pumpkin because it looked totally awesome without :P

The materials needed are few and simple:

pumpkin
beads for eyes
x-acto knife
vampire teeth
glue gun
paint (optional)

Peel off any stickers and wipe down your pumpkin for any dirt and grime.

Next you want to take your teeth place it where you want the mouth to be and trace around. Tracing and cutting on the line didn't give me perfect fit for the vampire teeth so use this more of a guideline for the width of the opening.

Then take your x acto knife and start cutting on the line you traced out.

When you finished cutting out the mouth use the x acto knife to pry at a angle the mouth that you traced will eventually pop open so you can empty out the seeds.

Be careful cutting out the mouth. If you are under the age of 18, make sure you have an adult do this for you.

You can wash and clean these seeds, salt and roast them for delicious pumpkin seeds!

Go for a clear bead for the eyes, it gives off a glow-ey gleam!

Pop in the vampire teeth and you got yourself a cute DIY pumpkin carving ready to scare all the kids off your block! MUAHAHAH

Happy Crafting!

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» » Materials:

Balloon

Leaves (real or fake)

Roll of tape or big bowl

Glue/Mod Podge

» » Instructions:

First you want to rip the leaves off of the plastic vine. Next blow up your balloon until it’s at your deserved bowl size, set that aside and iron your leaves flat. Set the balloon onto the roll of tape and begin gluing the leaves onto the balloon. Allow it to dry for at least 24 hours.

So this week I made a leaf bowl by decoupaging plastic leaves to a balloon mold. I was inspired by this PIN and SoCraftastic to make this video. It really is simple to make and with very few materials.

When I found this pin it had been described as leaves mod podged to a balloon - it's actually carved from maple wood!!!

First you want to rip the leaves off of the plastic vine. Hold it from the base of the vine and rip away from you. Sometimes the vine will snap like this so you want to peel it from the vanes inward. You could use real leaves for this but make sure you collect ones that are fresh and aren’t starting to rot. I got mine from the dollar store for 1.25. Blow up your balloon until it’s at your deserved bowl size, set that aside.

Next you want to iron your leaves flat. Be careful because they get hot really quick. Also, you might want to use a disposable towel because the colour from the leaves does transfer slightly. If you’re using real leaves, you’ll have to sandwich them between some heavy books for a couple of days so they lay flat.

Set the balloon onto the roll of tape and begin gluing the leaves onto the balloon. See how the leaves lie flush onto the balloon? I was having a lot of trouble when I didn’t iron them first. I laid the leaves on randomly but faced them upside down when I reached the edge. This will be the rim of your bowl. Flip the balloon upside down to see the progress of your bowl.

As you get closer to being done, make sure there aren’t any large gaps between the leaves. Set the balloon into a well-ventilated area and allow it to dry for at least 24 hours.

I couldn't wait for the bowl to dry completely; when I removed the balloon, you can see pockets of wet mod podge. I ended up letting the bowl sit like that til the next day.

The bowl doesn’t dry hard so when you pop the balloon it will curl in on itself. Remove the balloon and you’ll find that there is excess dried mod podge on the edge. Just rip it off, it’s actually kind of fun.

TIPS (if you decide to give this a try):

Buy plain balloons
Mark the balloon where you want the bowl to end

Extra photos:

The sky that day was so beautiful. Blue skies scattered with thick storm clouds with a peep of light.

Happy Crafting!

After reading this article 27 People Confess To The “Fattest Thing” They’ve Ever Done, I want to share my story:

I had just came home from having a late dinner and was awfully tired. I seen some leftover pizza on the table and was enticed by the greasy box and the smell of cold cheese. This was the point where I should have gone to bed, but I just had to have it! So I grabbed a slice and ran to my room. The events that happened next were a big blur; however, when I awoke the tv was on, there was a half eaten slice of pizza in my hand, and a half chewed piece in my mouth. Yes, I fell asleep mid chew. Don’t worry, I still finished whatever was left, even the piece in my mouth…

This is really why I struggled with my weight. I didn’t use food as it’s meant: to supply your body with the energy needed to carry out your day. Food to me was something to be conquered whether it be how fast I could eat or how much I could eat. My family used to say, “Going to the buffet isn’t worth our money unless Kathy comes”. It was funny then but to think of it now, I did not accomplish anything by gorging myself. Food had conquered me, taken over my mind, and moved into my body.

I knew I had to change the relationship I had with food. The most important was recognizing the signs of hunger and fullness. I never ate until I wasn’t hungry, it was always to the point where I couldn’t even keep the food down. The next was building my will to say no. It was easy to say no when someone else would offer me food because I would be too ashamed to eat anymore. The hardest part was saying no to myself.

Self discipline. I had none of that when it came to food. The one thing that helped a lot was keeping myself busy. When I was doing things I enjoyed, I didn’t have the urge to open the fridge. Scheduling my day so that I had a list of things to do helped me become more organized and my meals became more regular. I found an active lifestyle made food taste better oddly, like my body deserved the food.

I write this as a reminder to myself as to why I had to make a change in my life. Unlike people relationships, I can’t dump food and never see it again. Healthy relationships lead to happy people. But, a treat once in awhile keeps life interesting :)

And as a Flashback Friday, I’ll throw it back 5 years with this: