Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Halloween Decorations & Treats for Parties : How to Make a Ghost Decoration with Foil
Easy ghost decorations for Halloween! Learn how to make a ghost for a Halloween party in this free video clip about a Halloween parties for children.
Want a step by step guide to making ghost decorations - Visit HalloweenMania.co.uk
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
LadyBug Slippers Knitting Pattern
I found a free knitting pattern online you can download the PDF here...
The pattern says that you need fleece yarn, but because it's just a silly Christmas gift I didn't want to go to that expense, and I just used two strands of double knitting yarn. I knitted the 'adult medium slipper' working to the sizes in brackets and my slipper has turned out to be 22cm in length, but as the pattern says the slipper does stretch. I have size 7 feet and they fit me fine.
Another alteration I made was to the spots, instead of sewing some spots on my ladybirds, I knitted them some.
Using size UK 8 kneedles and single strand of black double knitting wool cast on 12 st and knit a row.
Row 2: K2 tog to end then cut the yarn and thread it through the remaining stitches. sew the knitted row ends together so that it makes a circle. I made 5 spots for each slipper.
I also made the ladybird some eyes. I thought that plastic eyes wouldn't be very comfortable on your feet, and besides I wanted to keep the cost to a minimum and I have lots of oddments of knitting wool.
With size UK 8 Knitting needles and white double knitting yarn cast on 20 stitches and knit 1 row.
Row 2: P2 Tog to end then cut the yarn and thread it through the remaining stitches. sew the knitted row ends together so that it makes a circle.
Pupils
With size UK 8 Knitting needles and black double knitting yarn cast on 12 stitches.
Row 2: K2 Tog to end then cut the yarn and thread it through the remaining stitches. sew the knitted row ends together so that it makes a circle. Sew the pupil in place on top of the white of eye.
To make antennae I cast on 16 stitches, and knitted 1 row quite tightly and then cast off. The knitted strip has a natural curve to it. Go with that curve and toll the one end of the antennae to make a small ball on the end. Tack into place and then sew the other end of the antennae on to the slipper.
Monday, 10 October 2011
How to Make ‘Pencils’ to Tie Your Hair Back With
Gather your hair together in a pony tail.
Put the pencil on top of the ponytail base with the nib to the right and wrap the tail up and around the end of the nib end of the pencil.
Next, twist the pencil around as though you are turning a cooker knob. The nib should pass over the top of the pony tail base.
Finally, you need to turn the pencil so that the nib is facing the starting point again, but instead of twisting, the nib needs to turn in towards the head and go through the base of the ponytail and out the other side.
It does take some practise to do, buy watch the video and try it yourself. It doesn’t take long to master, and it does hold your hair up really firmly and it doesn’t damage the hair like tight hair elastics can.
Once I had got the hang of tying my hair up a pencil, I wanted to find something nice to tie my hair up with. The Video suggest using a chopstick, a fork, and of course a pencil, this is great if you have nothing else to hand, but to wear your hair to go out in this style, you would look a bit kooky.
It is this that inspired me to make an alternative.
To make these hair ‘pencils’ you will need...
6mm Dowel Available cheaply at B&Q costing around 60p
Beads, ribbons and exciting things to decorate your pencil with.
Strong glue and sandpaper.
Cut the dowel into pencil length pieces at around 19cm.
Then with a Stanley knife cut the tip of the dowel as if you were sharpening a pencil, making sure that you are cutting away from your body. You want to shape the end to a blunt point. Then sand the point and the rest of the dowel so that it is smooth and wont pull on the hair as you push it into your hair style.
Next comes the fun part – decorating the end. I tried a couple of designs dangling beads, a bumble bee and ostrich feather and flower.
To create the dangling beads I took lengths of thin ribbon, on one end of the ribbon I glued a small bead and the other ends of the ribbon I glued the ends altogether into a bigger bead. Next glue another bead onto the end of the stick, and then stick in place the bead filled with ribbon ends, and leave to dry.When using beads, you may need to ‘sharpen’ the decorated end of the dowel to make it thin enough to feed beads onto.
The bumble bee is simply two bead stuck onto the end of the dowel. I drew some stripes on the yellow bead with a black permanent marker pen and I glues on some wobbly eyes to give him a fun character. The bee’s wings are simply a piece of transparent silver ribbon folded into an ‘M’ shape. I then sewed a few running stitches along the bottom of the ‘M’ to hold the two ends and the central part together and to gather them. Then I put glue on the gathers and stuck on the bees back and left it to dry.
The ostrich feathers are just a section of ostrich feathers wrapped around the end of the dowel and glued into place. I held it with a peg whilst the glue dried and then I stuck a ribbon rose on top of the feathers where the ends joined. The great thing about these hair accessories is that you can use anything to decorate them. One Idea I had was to get Hello Kitty danglies from the slot toy egg vending machines that you see in supermarkets. Hello Kitty hair accessories would be so cute.
Top Tip – I found that standing the pencils in a glass was great when leaving them to dry.
Monday, 19 September 2011
How to paint shabby chic furniture!
This video shows you how I paint old furniture into shabby chic style. I hunt around boot fairs for cheap furniture then paint and sell it as a hobby in the holidays. Hope you enjoy!
Top 5 Shabby Chic Decorating Tips
Ready to bring all the charm of a vintage, country cottage into your own home? Take note of and apply the following five tips and you'll have an adorable shabby chic home in no time!
1. Furniture
Solid wood furniture is ideal for shabby chic decor. Painted pieces of furniture can also compliment a room nicely. Basically, you want to utilize simple furniture that is less decorative or ornate like the furniture you might find in a home with a more formal interior design. If you have antiques, use them! They make great accents. Some popular antiques commonly used in these chic and shabby homes are pie safes, kitchen queens, and jelly cupboards.
2. Colors
As far as colors are concerned, you can't go wrong with pastels. Using pastel colors in conjunction with whites and off-whites is very common in shabby chic decorating. Painted walls as well as patterned wallpapers are also a great way to bring out that country cottage home feel.
3. Flooring
Often overlooked in the grand scheme of this particular type of design is the floor. The most popular floor styles for this type of decor are probably natural wood or ceramic tile. However, painted patterns and also diamond or checkered design schemes can also work very well. If you decide to paint your floors with your own design, make sure you add a coat of varnish on top to protect it.
4. Fabrics
The best fabrics for shabby chic design should incorporate floral patterns, stripes, and checks. Using these fabrics will help pull together the distinct look of this charming and unique style.
5. Be Creative
Although the suggestions here will help nudge you in the right direction, it is of the utmost importance that you give yourself creative license to mix and match and experiment. There are no real rules in shabby chic design, only guidelines. So don't be afraid to get creative, and of course, have fun!
Often times, all the pieces and accents you need to turn your home into a shabby chic home are already in your house (or perhaps stored away in the garage). Mixing and matching existing pieces is one of the best ways to achieve this style. However, if you'd still like to shop around for pieces of furniture and other items that will help compliment the motif, check out Shabby Chic Furniture.
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Halloween Toffee Apples
What You Need:
6 x small apples (Russet apples are best but any will do)
300g sugar*
Small saucepan*
Lollipop sticks
Slips of natural paper
Slips of white card
Hole punch
Natural jewellery cord
Orange and clear cellophane wrap
Assorted ribbons - orange, brown and purple
Alphabet rubber stamps
Brown ink pad
This Project
Allow: 45 Minutes
Skill Level: Beginner
- Prepare a sheet of kitchen foil by oiling it lightly with vegetable oil. Push a lollipop stick into each apple.
- Melt the sugar in the pan and allow to boil gently until it turns a caramel colour. Do not overcook as it will taste bitter. Remove from heat.
- Take each apple in turn and holding it by the stick, dip each apple in the sugar until it is well coated. TAKE CARE AS THE MELTED SUGAR MIXTURE IS EXTREMELY HOT. You might need to spoon the mixture over the last apple as the level in the pan drops.
- Place each apple on the oiled foil sheet and allow to cool.
- Place each cooled apple in the centre of a 30 cm square of cellophane sheet and draw up and around the apple securing where the apple and stick meet with a knot of ribbon.
- Attach a stamped label to each stick with the cord if desired.
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