Halloween and my obsession with DIY decorations - Pt 2 - 2012

In this post, I will show you some of the awesome ideas I found and tried for my Halloween party/decorations for 2012. 

First of all, chain! Those plastic chains you can get at the store for about $5-$10 for maybe a few feet? Psshaww!! That's what I have to say!! The reason being is that it is SO easy to make  your own!! Now, it may not have all the details the plastic chain would, but you can always add your own details later!! The site I used for reference was : Tutorials: Easy Chain Pipe Insulation

And voila!! a 6' tube of pipe insulation = 12.5' of homemade chain!!! Once done, you can just add a slight spray of a light gray paint or even black to texture it up, and you're good to go!









Next on the list? Dripping candles!! Fake, mind you, but awesome dripping candles that you can reuse each year!! Reference? How-to: Making a Faux Dripping Candelabra

I didn't actually use the instructions though, just the idea, so mine didn't turn out quite like I wanted. They still look pretty awesome though IMHO and there's always next year to make them better!!

Grab yourself a PVC pipe (I used a 3" diameter by 6' for about $7.50) and a Miter Saw to cut them

Glue gun (with very old sticks apparently that ended up more yellow than clear!)

Spray paint white to cover the yellowed glue and the blue lettering on the sides of the pipes

Add bases the candles can sit on

Yay fake candles!!

I was actually too paranoid to light these for my Halloween party however as bf was worried if anyone knocked them enough, the styrofoam would go up in flames!! When I fix these up next year, I'm going to try and adjust what the candles are sitting on more like the original post and also maybe find clear glue sticks (see: new) and make them a bit more drippy. Thing is, I can totally see using these guys throughout the rest of the year also!! Red and green for Xmas, brown, orange and gold for the fall/Thanksgiving, pastels for Easter? I might have to try these out as well as maybe different ways to create easy bases/insides so you don't have to worry about lighting them and will let you guys know how all that turns out!


Next on the list? Bats!! And instead of just buying the plastic bats to put on the wall, here's an idea: cut out of paper and put on the wall AND string from the ceiling!! Reference : Flight of the Bats

Tried getting a good perspective shot.

And another.

Closer-up of the bats.

And re-used some of the bats for Halloween night on the wall to our front door.

My bf is the one who cut out all the bats, free-hand no less!! I couldn't believe how good these guys turned out and yes, I'm so jealous he can do that!!! And they only cost me about $5 for the 50-pk of black cardstock, some fishing line and a handful of clear push pins! He adapted the handle of a broom with a socket that the pushpin could sit in with the metal part sticking out, I would reach up and just pop those suckers in the ceiling! The other end of the handle with the loop isn't perfect, but it works in catching the edge of the pins later to get them back down again!

Something easier you can get the kids to help with is Finger Weaving! My brother taught me how to do this when I was younger but a reference for anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about or how to do it: How to Finger Knit

I mixed orange and black at the same time. A little harder to do the knitting, but you get used to it.

Works like a charm for using as a type of garland!!

It may not be shiny, but if you only spend the $4 or so each on black and orange yarn, you can easily get many yards of garland to use as you wish!! I wasn't able to measure exactly how long these skeins got me, but the ball when I wrapped it all up was about 7"-8" in diameter!! I only used about a 1/3rd to do this decoration, and saved the rest for next year. 

I'm going to go ahead and wrap up part 2 as this is getting long, and there's still a few more things I wanna show you guys plus the reveal for the full effect later!! 

Craft ya laters!!

Halloween and my obsession with DIY decorations - Pt 1 - 2012

I - LOVE - HALLOWEEN!!

Why? Because you can scare the little kiddies? Well, that's only a part of it ;)

The biggest reason I think I love Halloween is because it is the absolute best holiday for the DIY-er!!! This holiday has so many ways you can make things and use your creative genius to side-step the atrocious prices you see for things at the stores!! Of course, one of the best ways to save money would be to hit up the after-Halloween sales after the holiday's passed, but what about when it's a month or two til the big day, and those ghouls are rocking their $60-$200 price tags, the garlands are at their $10-$15 tags, the props are sold separately at $5-$40 for the smallest things, etc!! YIKES!! I just couldn't justify spending that much on any one item unless it was the most awesome thing ever which truly, it usually isn't!

To give you an idea, below is a picture of the walkway between my mobile home (perpendicular to the street) and the garage, only connected on one side by the covered patio to the kitchen and the gate entrance on the street side, where this picture viewpoint is taken...

 

Now, it may be a little hard to see, and I apologize for the poor quality but this was taken in 2006 by a friend, and we both regret not having gotten much better pics!! The ceiling is made of black trash bags, cut in half and taped together to cover, with fishing line hanging from it (what the heck did I just walk under?! EEK!). Then you've got the webbing tossed here and there, covering the path... the glow sticks in the yard and in the webbing, there's a fog machine and a strobe light (the light towards the back, middle left). What you can't really see is a ghoul hanging middle right and the creepy music we've got playing. The very middle of the picture back there, is the covered patio with the light on. This way, the kids could see my friend standing there, telling them "It's ok, come and get your candy!" What you (and the kids) couldn't see was right next to him on the left, I was sitting in a chair, hunched over, right behind the red strobe light. When the kids would be so focused on getting their candy and congratulating themselves, "We made it all the way through!! Yayyy!!", they'd start to turn around, ready to head home when right in their faces.....

HISSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, the screams we heard that night!! And of course, some laughs after they realized they just totally screamed as loud as they did!! **siigh** That was a very fun year! Again, not (just) because we scared a good bit of kids, but because we made such an impact with so little a budget and decorations!! I don't want this to sound like such a sales pitch, but seriously, with just a little bit of money and a lot of imagination (and time of course), even YOU can create your own awesome decorations!! And think about it this way, if you have kids, what better way to spend time together and to start teaching them to use their imaginations than to sit down and make your own decorations together!! EVERYBODY WINS!!!

What I'm going to do now is show you some of the things I did this year for Halloween that were very little cost, but had a really big impact! First of all, ghouls! Those guys are way expensive IMHO, am I right? Well, instead of spending $60 a piece, why not go to your local thrift shop, Goodwill, wherever and buy a cheap mask! The most I've spent on any of my masks was about $6 I believe. Then you head over to the linens and spend about $5 on a whole twin size sheet (or two or three for color variety) or even the fabric store where some have solid cotton fabric for as cheap as $2-$3/yd and cheaper if you have a coupon!! Lastly, party section for black balloons! What do all these make?

On the side gate in the backyard for party.

In the backyard for a party.

Front yard for Halloween night!

Coming around the wall from living room to kitchen.

Look at how freaking awesome those are, right?! And each cost me only about $10 max total supplies!! I don't know about you guys, but I would definitely call that a win!!

I'll go ahead and end this post now as it's getting long, and next post, I'll show you guys a few more low budget ideas you can try!!

Howdy Hello Hi!!

Hi!!

My name is Teresa and I am the person behind "BeadsByCelleste". I came up with this name when I was 18 and not entirely sure where I got it from except that I liked the name Celleste (named my new cat this) and that I made jewelry at the time and wanted to make my own beads eventually. I currently live in the Cedar Park, TX area, am 27 years old and hold down a day job at a computer that makes me so anxious to just go home and craft most days!!

My personal interests include but are not limited to: jewelry making, scrapbooking, crafting, resin, polymer clay, mod podging, candle making, latch-hooking, cross-stitching, sewing, glass bead making/flameworking, DIY, riding my motorcycle solo or with my bf (he has his own, he doesn't ride passenger on mine!), playing videogames, watching movies (all genres), reading fiction and more!!

I learned how to make jewelry from my Grandma (G-ma) when I used to go over and spend the weekends with her in 6th grade since she lived just down the road and we'd spend our time playing SNES games, watching movies and crafting. For the record, this means that I've been crafting and making things for about 15 years now and I hope to continue crafting as long as I can! She has been my crafting role model and who I always blame (credit :p) for my addiction to the world that is Crafts/DIY! She taught me straight beading, then a beading technique I called figure-8 for years until I only recently discovered it was a double 'needle' right angle weave, how to make basic jewelry pieces, how to latch hook, how to decoupage and fabric painting/embellishing. Somehow she had the patience to do the sequin/bead designs and fabric prints that she'd cut around (all those details!! yikes!!) so she could put on a sweatshirt and paint on. She unfortunately passed in 2004, but I feel I carry on her spirit in all the crafts I do and all the new things I learn to do as I know if she were here today, she'd be just as excited as I am on what all there is to make and how!

Nowadays, I cruise Pinterest and I seem to have a board for everything... until I realize I in fact don't have a board for this, or for that, and then I create one!! This my friends is how you get up to 48 boards (and counting...) on your profile!! Yikes!! Please feel free to follow me if you'd like or just check out my pins/boards if you're interested or ever bored one day! http://pinterest.com/kiwikitty531

I wanted to create this blog so that I could share the projects I endeavor on as well as document the mishaps as well as the successes I have as I learn and try new things and grow as a crafter and DIYer and invite you to share along in my journey! With this in mind, I hope to see you back soon!!