Happy Little Monster Hiding Under My Bed!

Well....not really under my bed, but more on that later!

I finally got through this past week and weekend. D#2's birthday party was a lot of fun. The children were so sweet and well behaved. We had 6 girls and 1 boy. I think that the little boy didn't know what to make of 6 giggly & screaming girls. He was very quiet. I included him in everything and he really had a great time. We played Hot Potato (side story: when Son was in 2nd grade, we had a party at home for him with about 8 of his friends. We played Hot Potato with a real, hot potato! I thought that I was being so brilliant by using a real potato and warming it up in the microwave for about 2 minutes. I bet nobody at Son's party had ever played a game with a real potato. Half way though the first round, the still warm potato started to come apart! At the next child the potato totally disintegrated! Uggg....what a mess. As I looked on with horror/embarrassment, one sweet, bless his heart child looked at me and asked if he could eat it.....It was time for cake!) lesson learned-we used a mini Christmas Elf, Story Cubes & Musical Pillows. We also painted Christmas cookies while we listened to Christmas music. If you can't tell now....our theme was Christmas Slumber Party. Sweet D#2 wanted everyone to wear their pajamas and I added in painting cookies because it is so fun and makes a great "goody bag" gift. I used the Christmas theme because it is an easy theme. At the very end we watched Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas and ate popcorn made on the stove! Fun times indeed!

I did get a little craft ready. I hope that he inspires you to try your hand at making something crafty. He is a Little Monster based on a cup D#2 drinks out of. This is my take on the image. The word "Boo!" is made out of paperclay to look like bones. Dried overnight, painted white and then antiqued with water pigmented with a little bit of brown paint-just enough to give it a light wash. While wash is still wet wipe off gently. Paperclay is not very forgiving when water touches it, so be careful.

Happy Little Monster is only 4" tall!

I did add a little matchbox (altered to make smaller) filled with about 3 broken toothpicks. When shake gently, the little toothpicks sound like bones rattling :)

The swirly part of his eye is embroidered. The dot on his other eye is a little seed bead. Pipecleaners twisted together make the "pole" of his boo sign.

Pattern for you!

 The monster on the left is to show placement. The one on the right is the pattern. The ears and arms are only one dimensional. I put a tiny drop of glue in the dotted areas and then placed them on the wrong side. I did cut the mouth out (see pic below), add teeth (dot glue in place-you will eventually sew them on when you buttonhole stitch the mouth)

and put a piece of red felt (a little bit bigger than the cut out mouth-of course dot glue, let dry. Sew eyes on. Buttonhole stitch side strip to front piece, making sure that you include the ears and arms in the stitching. Now stitch on the back stitching 3/4 of the way. Stuff the feet and legs only. Now is the time to add the shaker if you made one. Stuffing the rest of the body, stitching closed. Basically it is just like the pumpkin shakers several posts ago.

View from above. He is sitting on a spool of ribbon. Circles were cut out of Halloween themed paper and glued to the spool. Happy Little Monster was also glued to the spool. The pipecleaners are glued

to his sides. Pinning them in place while they glue will help them stay put.

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I am having so much fun making pumpkins and things out of paperclay. The only problem I have with it though, is that it dries out too fast. I have always used polymer clay but I am loving the paperclay. It's texture is so much more vintage looking.

I hope that Happy Little Monster makes you want to get your fingers busy and make something!

Have a wonderful night and Happy Crafting!

Holly