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Friday, October 4, 2013

Halloween crafting

Crafting.

If there's a word that screams "sexy" or "hip" or "trendy," it would have to be crafting, am I right? I mean, if Miley Cyrus isn't twerking and sticking her tongue out, she's sorting out her glitter by shade. If Justin Beiber isn't peeing in a bucket in a restaurant kitchen, he's warming up his hot glue gun. If John Boehner isn't shutting down the government, he's at JoAnn's, using his 40% off coupon in the yarn aisle.

Did it work? Did I make crafting sound cool? I lost you at John Boehner, didn't I?

Oh well. I love crafting. I've been advised to not blog about crafting because I could lose my male readers, so I'll include something in this post for them. It's a list of things men like. Some of them might be wrong, and some might be suggestions. I'm not going to tell you which though.



Ok, for the rest of you, I had a super fun craft night last night with my good friend, Holly. She is a crafting queen, and is so skilled. She taught me how to make a decorative witch last night - a project I couldn't have been more excited about. She made one for herself a couple years ago and I have been coveting it ever since. I am suuuper excited to have my own!

Here are a few pictures of the process. We started with basic dress doll forms,  painted the bases, then started covering them with fabric:



We made the hats (Holly made one too) out of fabric and cardboard and stuck them into the form with a tall nail and hot glue. The broom is made out of cuttings from an actual broom, a stick, twine, and hot glue. The shawl is made from painted lace which stiffens when it dries.

Here is the final result:


I am crazy in love with it. In fact, Beyonce wrote her song "Crazy in Love" about how I feel about this witch.

While we were crafting, we talked about everything in our lives, laughed a lot, made a McDonald's run, etc. But at one point, since we were making a Halloween craft, I started thinking about scary movies and stories. I confessed to Holly that two things have always scared the crud out of me (pardon my French):

1. The story of Lizzie Borden.  Why did you do what you did, Lizzie!? Why!? That story scares me so much. I know she was acquitted, and the glove didn't fit and all that, but I still get scared whenever I think about her.

2. Karen Carpenter - when I was a kid my mom told me about how Karen Carpenter died of anorexia. I saw a picture of her when she was really skinny, right before she died, and it scared me so bad. Sometimes when I'd be laying in bed at night feeling scared, I'd picture the ghost of Karen Carpenter floating into my room and I'd have to close my eyes tight, and get under the blankets for safety.

What was the one thing (or two things*) that scared you the most when you were a kid?

*or three things.

6 comments:

E McL said...

I loved the story of Hansel and Gretel, but I had no idea that it was what gave me nighmares, and as it was a book on record (I just dated myself didn't I?) I imagined the witch from the Wizard of Oz. I had nightmares; cold sweat, screaming bloody murder nightmare over that. And the flying monkeys. What in the world? What kind of movie was Wizard of Oz; certainly not a family show!

violet50 said...

You lost me at Miley and I don't think Beyonce was thinking about your craft witch. But it is adorable. I love the feather in the hat. That is a nice touch. Two things that scared me when I was a kid were: ghosts and our fruit cellar. Cellar is the operative word - dank and in the farthest reaches of the basement. But I was convinced that ghosts couldn't get me if I was completely covered up with my bed covers. It's surprising that I didn't suffocate as a child.

rebecca @ older and wisor said...

The list of things that scares me is incredibly short, because it's pretty much everything.

I can't watch even remotely scary movies (I'm looking at you, Disney's Watcher in the Woods)(or even just intense...I had to close my eyes during the war scenes of Lord of the Rings...which is practically half the movie).

I don't like people on stilts.

I can't do ANY kind of ghosts/spirits/voices from beyond the grave after being traumatized by my first fireside when I was 12 where a member of the High Concil {who was also a detective for the county} spoke about the "Dangers of Satanism" using REAL stories and PHOTOS (!!!).

And deep water. Just a mere google image search of fjords gives me shivers.

Unknown said...

I love your craft witch!

I love crafting. However, I was really relieved when I missed craft night at church and they told me I could just have the displays if I wanted. Is that bad?

)en said...

karen carpenter--hahahahaha. Oh, poor karen. thanks for that one.

Savd said...

Great post! It's definitely getting me into the Halloween spirit! :)