Mike has been great about helping me get out of my rut. He had the perfect solution for me. “Heather, you know Halloween is coming up…why don’t you start decorating?” Halloween is my favorite favorite favorite, and I am determined to make Annie love it, too. The kid already wears several princess dresses per day, so I think we’re off to a good start. I was especially happy when, after Mike brought in my decorations from the garage, Annie started shrieking, “The punkins are here! The punkins are here!”
Mike also told me to go buy a few new decorations. I didn’t have to be told twice, and went to the fabric store near our house (by myself!) because I know they always have good deals. I grabbed a couple things, and then just started wandering the store. It was so nice to walk around without worrying about Annie getting into anything. My gramma was a big quilter, and I loved going with her to the fabric store. I used to touch all the different materials and imagine them as pretty dresses.
While I was there, I decided I want to challenge myself to make a different Halloween decoration every week leading up to the 31st. I am hoping this will lead to money-saving on decor, and it will force me to be creative. And if they suck, I can just say I did it on purpose to make it look “creepy.”
The first thing I came up with was a no-sew felt jack o’lantern. I wanted to make something I knew Annie would like. I’d made her a felt Christmas tree and she loved it, so I figured a felt jack o’lantern would go over well, too. I got a three-foot square piece of orange felt, a few 8 1/2 x 11″ sheets of black felt, a sheet of green felt, some tacky glue, and command strips.
After an embarrassing amount of tries, I had my brother draw me an oval pumpkin shape on the orange felt.
After I cut out the pumpkin, I asked Mike to draw some jack o’lantern faces on the black felt for me. I am clearly the worst at drawing anything if I can’t even draw an OVAL, so there was no way I could draw complicated things like mouths.
While Mike drew faces, I cut out a pumpkin stem from the green felt. I will not comment on how many stems I drew. I then glued the stem to the back of the pumpkin with some tacky glue.
Mike came up with some cute faces:
I used command adhesive strips to attach the pumpkin to the wall since they are safe for the paint. I had to use several for the body, and one for the stem. Once it was up on the wall, I called Annie over and she went to town:
The felt sticks to the felt like magic. Annie played with the jack o’latern for the hour leading up to bed time, so I’d say it was a hit. I am sort of tempted to quit while I’m ahead and coast on the success of this craft…except I did enjoy making it, even if I got my brother and Mike to do the hard parts. I felt good while I was putting it together, and I felt great when I saw how much Annie liked it.
So…I don’t know. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll become a crafter after all. For this month, at least.
Sinead says:
That looks brilliant, Heather. Congratulations. You are so creative. I can’t believe how much Annie has changed since the Christmas tree photo. She is such a little girl now.
Lynn from For Love or Funny says:
What a great idea! You are DEFINITELY a crafter.
Sara says:
Crafting can be so much fun and with the internet, it is so easy to come up with ideas.
Lamb says:
You’re so crafty that I’m going to share this little gem on Pinterest. Clearly, you’ve been holding out on us!
Looking forward to seeing next week’s craft (no going back now)
Brooke says:
There are so many easy, fun ideas on Pinterest that it makes me want to craft all day and night. And I’m not crafty either. Cute idea for Halloween!
Amanda says:
Love this! I laughed so hard at this line, “And if they suck, I can just say I did it on purpose to make it look ‘creepy.'”
Jenny says:
Pinterest! Unleash your crafty McCrafterson!
Jenn says:
Mike does know you well. I’m glad you found something that brings joy. Some times it’s the little things that mean so much!!!
Shannon says:
What a cute idea!!
Steph says:
I love the pumpkin. You have inspired this non-crafty girl!
S says:
That looks awesome, and I think I need to steal this idea! My daughter would love it. (Of course, I’d probably find pumpkin mouths in her bed at night, so I should factor that into my willingness to make it.)
Kristin Hicks says:
So cute! I agree with pinterest. I have several that I want to try this month. I promised myself I would. Enjoy!
Momma Lioness Michele says:
I love this idea. I am not crafty, but I think I can handle this. My sons will have a ball with this, just like your Annie did. I really like how this was a family project too!
Thank you so much for the idea!
Elaine says:
What a great idea. One that I might steal when my grandson is old enough. Can’t wait to see the rest of the craft so no wimping out. Haha
Rebecca says:
You can put a ghost next to the pumpkin and make ghost faces for the ghost…and the ghost faces and jack o lantern faces can be interchangeable because that would be fun and then you could also do a witch next with a witch face. You’re awesome Heather!
Skye says:
Love this! If you think one craft a day is too much you could downgrade to one or two a week… still a major accomplishment! I hope you keep doing Halloween/fall crafts because i want to see what you come up with!
Annalisa says:
I am not the super crafty type (that would be my mom), but as a former teacher I’ve done my share of them (I still own felt and a glue gun, among other supplies), and I’d say you only get better with practice, so don’t worry about your ability to draw, if you keep crafting the output will only improve (and if you’re like me, you’re overly critical of your abilities, so you’ll get over qualms of “less than perfect”).
Sherry says:
GREAT IDEA, totally stealing it!
Tara says:
Oh, what a fun idea!! I LOVE it! I am totally doing this for my son now. You are so creative! Mike did a great job on the faces too.
Andrew H says:
What a great idea! Fun, inexpensive and it makes for a great decoration. Thanks for sharing.
Christina V says:
You’re so blessed to have your family close by
Lindsey says:
Terrific!!! I am a grandma-in-training, though none of my kids are engaged, much less married, but I will be ready! How about a turkey at Thanksgiving with different colored feathers and hats? Annie is so darling – I love the pictures!
Leslie K says:
What a GREAT idea!!
JT says:
Love the way you and Mike came up with helping you get out of your rut. A decoration once a week will definitely give you something to look forward to and help you move away from your restlessness. Plus you have something nice for your house and that you can use for future Halloweens, so you’re creating new memories too. I’ll have to remember this when I start to feel any restlessness too.
Kristen @ The Chronicles of Dutch says:
I’ve never seen anything like this before! That’s pretty genius!
Tess says:
a) cute craft
b) cute daughter
c) cute family
d) VERY cute brother
Auntie_M says:
This is sooooo awesome!!! You’ve inspired me!!! I totally want to do this for my nieces & nephews!!! You rock… Thanks for giving the “ingredients” needed too, cuz I need help with crafty things like that.
Could you please figure out what would be needed to do a felt scarecrow? So they could dress it up in different clothes & hats? Because I think that would be fun too.. Chop, chop, lady! I want to make all my purchases at once, so get to it & figure out how to make my project idea! LOL
Also, my favorite line: “And if they suck, I can just say I did it on purpose to make it look ‘creepy.'” LOVE IT!!!!! hahaha