Classic Creature Feature Friday: The Mummy!

Did you guess the Classic Creature right? Carolyn did! It's the Mummy! Have you ever watched this movie? It is a really good Classic Creature Feature (but not for the kiddos), even though the man's mad laughing in the beginning is kind of crazy.

Make the Mummy body the same way as all of the other felt trinket box characters. To save a few steps instead of cutting out 4 head pieces (since the center seam will be covered with mummy gauze) you could just cut out 2 circles and instead of 4 body pieces cut out 2. For the 2 body pieces: cut out two body paper pattern pieces and lay them side by side with the straight sides touching, pin and then cut out a single felt piece for the front. Do this step again for the back.

The Mummy is covered in strips of 1" cheese cloth. You can find cheese cloth in the baking aisle or where the canning supplies are located. I didn't even glue the ends, just tucked them in. For a more old antiquey mummy look, you could soak the cheese cloth in a weak brew of tea or coffee.

Back of box.

Paint lid a sandy color and the box a light brown. Hieroglyphics are painted with black paint.

Front of box.

Paper clay eyes. Make a ball of paper clay, flatten one side, let dry and paint white with black centers. Mouth is embroidered on using a running stitch, you could easily use a stem stitch. I lightly dusted the cheek area with blush.

I did glue some sand on the lid. To do this, finish painting the lid. Pour a little sand into a paper plate. Using masking tape, tape two spots about 1/4" x 1/4" square where the feet will go. Now mod podge the entire surface, leaving the taped pieces free of mod podge. Smosh the lid into the sand. Let dry for about 30 min. Lightly brush off loose sand. I globbed mod podge on top of the sand using a 1" wide brush, being very careful not to "pick up" any sand. This may have to dry for a while. I think mine took about 3-4 days to completely dry. After dry, with a needle, pick the tape off. You can now glue the mummy on.

Pattern found here.

The Monster Mash is almost complete! Just two more to go.

The next guy is going to give you a shocking good time. Can you guess?

Have a wonderful crafty night,

Holly

A Murder By Crows.....Or Rather A Murder Of Crows?

Just popping in to say "Hi". Things have been so busy around here lately. D#1 off to college, D#2 back to school and Son filling out paperwork, etc for the Navy. I think that he is a little undecided about the Navy, but he says that he is going to join. I'll keep you posted. Some kind of test that he needs to take is offered in about 6 weeks, meanwhile he is enjoying his electrical job.

The weather is turning a little cooler. The other day I was doing yard work, temp was about 70 and the crows were cawing. Did you know that a group of crows is called a Murder? One morning last fall while I was making my daily walking around the neighborhood, a bunch of crows started following me. They hopped/flew from tree to tree for about 1/2 mile. Weird, I thought. As I was watching them, I also thought "Oh man.....a group of crows is called a Murder. Yikes." All of this while I was walking up the dreaded really, really, really steep hill. My heart was already thumping out of my chest. Good thing it wasn't a group of vultures.

(photo courtesy of internet, no....I was not followed by that many crows. YIKES!)

All of this cooler, crow cawing weather has me thinking about Fall. I love the word Fall, but I also love the word Autumn. I love making Fall/Autumn crafts. I hope that you don't get tired of seeing them. Anyway, here's something recently that I designed and though that you might enjoy. For this particular one, I have the pattern listed on Etsy. My sweet sister and dear daughter have convinced me that I do need to add a few to Etsy.

I know that Sandy (521 Lake Street) and Deb (Garage Sale Gal) are having a Halloween Spoolie swap. Wouldn't these look so cute on a spoolie? I haven't decided if I am going to join or not, I am crazy busy right now, so feel free to use my Etsy pattern. I have another idea that I will use if I decide to join. It does sound like loads of fun!

Crazy monster. Love the hair. All four sides of his cube are painted with different monsters.

You can personalize your little guys! Doesn't he look hilarious with that hair?!?! I used fake fur instead of a hat. What a character!

Have a wonderful crafty night, Holly

Kid Notes: D#2 (who is 7 years old, by the way) informed hubby and I that she has a crush on a certain little boy in her class. Uh oh.....last time she had a crush was in preschool. She like this little boy so much that she said "He is just so cute that I have to give him a hug every day before we leave.". Oh man, how was I going to explain to a little 3 year old that rules in the preschool handbook specifically state "no physical contact between students, ex. hugging, hitting, pinching, .....". Well, I told her no more hugging cute, little, huggable Jeffrey (name changed to protect the cute & huggable little J), because the preschool handbook tells us not to. So, off to school we went. When it was time to go home, D#2 told J that she would give him one last little hug, she did and then he bit her. Yes, that cute, huggable, now devilish J. Cured her right then and there. No more hugging cute, little, huggable, seemingly harmless boys. Yep, cured her, until yesterday. But she quickly informed hubby and I "I have a crush on -------, but I am sure that it will pass in time, so don't worry." I am not worried, nope, not at all. She still talks about devilish J and the time he decided to take a bite out of her, but she has moved on. 

Creature Feature Friday! The Wolf Man

Thank you so much for all of the sweet comments on Kitty Girl! She is really easy to make and such a cute ornament. Now, for  the next Creature Feature. Did you guess correctly? It's the old movie The Wolf Man! That one was scary to me, but also a fun movie. I loved the old Gypsy lady. Did you see the one called Silver Bullet? Oh boy, was that movie SCARY and intense! I saw it as a teenager on t.v., I can't imagine watching it on the big screen. Well, my Wolf Man is not that scary. He is rather cute.

Tiny claws on each hand!

Movie poster for the Classic!

"...howl at the moon...." is painted on the lid. I couldn't find the round box to match this lid, so technically he is not a trinket box yet ;)

Side view.

Back view.

Supplies:

Remnant of fake fur (found at Hobby L)

Wool felt: mossy green, black, & brown

2 black safety eyes, clip the "stems" off

white paper for the teeth

paper mache box with lid, painted black using mod podge as a sealer

embroidery floss to match wool

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Pattern here

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Cut all pattern pieces out. Cut wool felt pieces. Be very careful when cutting out the fake fur pieces. You will want to take tiny snips at the fur when cutting. Do not take full scissor cuts because this will cause the fur to look unnaturally cut.

Sew the arms, legs (don't forget the foot gussets), body and inner head. Attach all of these parts using glue or thread. I like thread because you don't have to wait for it to dry.

The main thing working with fake fur is to not get the fur caught in the stitches. So, carefully sew the fur head, leaving the chin area open so that you can slip it over the inner head. I used a button hole stitch as I pinched the two pieces of fur together. I did put a few pins in it before I started sewing to keep it from slipping. 

Now trim the fur from the face area, pattern will show you the area to trim. Glue eyes on (I made a comma shape on the lower area of the eye to give it some depth. I just used acrylic paint. If it rubs off, I can always just paint it right back on so I didn't worry about sealing it.), glue nose on and then mouth. The teeth were cut out of copy paper and glued on using a glue stick.

Sew the clothes onto the body. Pants first then shirt. Now place the fur head on. You can leave it loose or glue it in place. Glue claws on and then glue him onto the trinket box. I like to "brush" Wolf Man's fur by blowing on it. I find that this works great at making the fur stand on end, plus it's fun!

That's a wrap!

(next Creature Feature clue above! Can you guess?)

I hope you have some howling good fun making him,

Holly

Winner!

We have a Winner!

"3rd time a charm??? way back when I was a kid my mom made all our costumes...and I think the year we went to a party as the scarecrow family was my favorite..my favorite thing about fall...all the colors....reds, golds and all the oranges...love those colors."

Shelley K. 

Shelley, please email me your address and I will get the Kitty Girl to you asap. Thanks and have a great night! Holly

Trick or Treat!

Every year I made my children's Halloween costumes. Fun, exciting and non scary. Over the years I have made: Snow White, Prince Charming, Cheerleader, Woody from Toy Story, Scooby Doo, Kitty Cat, Bat, Ash (cartoon character), Dalmatian, Angel and many others. I love looking back at these pictures and remembering all of the fun times. I wanted to capture those memories in a Halloween project, mainly an ornament. I have a cute feather tree that was just begging for ornaments. This is a fun and very quick project. Very small amount of sewing and painting involved. I have made several of these Trick or Treat Kids that I will be sharing with you in the coming weeks. The first one is my favorite: Kitty Cat Girl.

Cute vintage cupcake pick makes an adorable Trick or Treat pumpkin. Just break the pick part off.

Supplies needed:

Cut out patterns. Cut out felt pieces. Paint head and mod podge head.

Cut pipecleaner in half. Bend each piece in half. Push one set into head and bend to make "shoulder" area.

The other half is for the legs. You might need to zoom in for a closer look to see placement of legs across shoulders.

Lay the felt body on top of the arms and legs. Trim the arms and legs within 1/4" of edge of sleeves and hem of "pants". 

Glue the hands and feet on. After glue dries, sew costume body on. I trimmed her wrists, ankles and neck in black pipecleaner. Glue some pompoms on the front of her costume. If you would like to make her into an ornament, carefully screw a tiny eyehook into the top of her head and tie embroidery floss for a hanger. Glue felt ears on. 

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Pattern is here.

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Please do not pin pattern to Pinterest. Thanks.

So sorry, but I will be out of town on Friday, so Creature Feature Trinket Boxes will resume the next Friday. I guarantee the next trinket box will give you a howling good time.

What was your favorite/most memorable costume as a child? Or one that you made for your child?  Or what is your favorite thing to do in the Fall? Leave a comment and let me know before 1pm August 13th and I will get D#2 to draw a name on Tuesday and you could win the Kitty Girl Ornament!

Have a wonderful night and keep those crafty hands busy,

Holly

A Take On Classic Creature Features!

Don't you just love scary movies? No....I'm not talking about those Freddy or Jason movies- I definitely can't watch those, nor do I want too :(  But, the classics....like the old black and white The Mummy or b&w The Wolf Man? My personal favorite: The Ghost and Mr. Chicken! If you have never seen this movie you must watch it. Don Knotts plays the main character: Mr. Chicken, and it is just hilarious. Caution: just like any scary movie some children might be sleeping in your bed for months after watching it-there are some scary elements. My 7yr old will not watch it until she is at least 12 :)  To get ready for the fast approaching October, I have designed a line of trinket boxes that are sure to put a smile on your face and a scare in your bones. We will have a total of 5 Classic Creature Features trinket boxes.

The first one up is (big surprise here): The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. I won't spoil it for you but this is my take on the "Ghost". 

Paint the box white and the top black. I painted piano/organ keys, musical notes, flashlight, ghost and spider web on the box. The words "Atta boy, Luther!" are also painted on. I distressed the box using an oil base stain (I like the oil base because it doesn't dry fast and I can wipe it off easily, but watered down brown paint works well too). Mod podge a very tiny copy of the movie poster on the back after the distressing has dried. Mod podge the whole box.

Cut the patterns out for the mansion and bats, don't forget the windows. Trace them onto black cardstock (only cut the windows out on the front mansion piece). I also used gray cardstock and a tiny piece of yellow cardstock for the top window. A glue stick works best for this part: glue gray and yellow cardstock pieces onto the mansion windows. Now layer the back mansion piece on. Trim if necessary. For the bats: paint white floral wire black and twirl around pencil. Glue bat onto wire using a small square of black cardstock on the back. Ditto for the small bat.

Organ keys, flashlight, filler dots, notes and the "Atta boy, Luther!". To make the movie poster, cut it out and glue it onto an orange piece of cardstock. "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" printed on an old book page. If the page is too small to run through the printer, just tape it onto a regular size sheet of copy paper. Print out a tiny copy of the movie poster: just google "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" for a photo of the poster. I like to save it as a file to my computer, insert it as a picture and then resize it with Microsoft Word. There may be an easier way, I just haven't found it.

Cob webs and poster.

Notice the triangle is holding the mansion upright. Cut a triangle out of cardstock, bend one side and glue that onto the mansion. Now, glue the mansion onto the lid.

Pattern here. The ghost was made using white felt. I stitched the ghost using the buttonhole stitch, you could also use the whip stitch. Small black beads were used for the eyes. You can add a bow or make a bow tie from a piece of felt. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Have a wonderful classic monster scary night,

Holly