Something Witchy This Way Comes

 

I love Halloween! I enjoyed every minute of this summer, but I will admit that I get unreasonably excited when I see the Halloween merchandise start sneaking into stores in the middle of August. And I have to say that, in my humble opinion at least, Halloween seems to be celebrated with a little more panache here in New England than it does in other places I’ve lived! Maybe it’s because New Englander’s have an unfair advantage in that there seem to be far more cool and creepy old cemeteries scattered about, and that whole ‘witch trial’ thing they have in their past. Whatever the reason, Halloween decorations are everywhere and I want in on the fun!!!

This year I had planned to throw a Halloween party, but certain things have come up, so I thought that instead I would share a week of Halloweeny things with you. And to start off. . . . a little something I’ve been wanting to do since I made all those fairies for Amelia’s birthday party! See for yourself . . . .

 

For the witch, you’ll need: black pipe cleaners, a round wooden bead for the face, another (any shape is fine, I used a pear shaped one.) bead for the body, a scrap of velour or some other non-raveling fabric for the skirt, embroidery floss for the hair and a sharpie to mark her face, hot glue & gun

For the witch’s hat, you’ll need: cardstock, a nickel, stiff sparkly felt, hot glue & gun

For the witch’s broom, you’ll need: a brown pipe cleaner, thin twine, hot glue & gun

For the witch’s hat, cut out a fan shape from a scrap of cardstock.

 

I just fiddled with it until I got the right shape.

 

Roll it into a cone and trim the edges if needed.

 

Flatten the cardstock back out and trace it and also trace a nickel onto some stiff felt.

 

Here are the cut out pieces.

 

For instructions on how to make the body of the fairy/witch, please click here.

 

For the skirt, I just used a lid from a jar to trace out a circle of velour, then I snipped a small hole in the center and threaded it onto the witch.

 

Run some hot glue around the top of the body bead and press the skirt down into place. (otherwise she’ll look like she’s got on a poodle skirt, not at all spooky!)

 

Run some hot glue around the top of the head bead and press the hair down into place. Let your inner hair stylist out ;)

 

Roll the fan-shaped piece of felt into a cone.

 

Holding it by the point, dab a bit of hot glue onto the corner of the bottom edge of the cone.

 

Press into place. You shouldn’t need any more glue than that, but feel free to dab a bit into the tip of the cone if it refuses to behave.

 

Glue alone the bottom edge of the cone.

 

Plop it onto the base of the hat.

 

After it’s dried, take a pair of scissors and poke a hole in the bottom. Make it a largish hole so it will sit nicely on the witch’s head.

 

Speaking of the witch’s head, dab a bit of glue there and . . . .

 

Pop the hat on! Straight up or at a jaunty angle, it’s up to you.

 

For the broom: take a length of brown pipe cleaner  (Maybe a half a pipe cleaner), and a wad of twine (wrap it around your fingers several times to make the bristles of the broom.).

 

Bend it in half and catch twine in the center.

 

Twist the pipe cleaner together tightly at the base to catch the twine.

 

Finish twisting the broom handle. I like to fold over the tip and pinch it down so there’s nothing sharp and pointy sticking out.

 

Cut the loops of the twine to form the bristles. Dab some hot glue in the center and  . . .

 

Pinch it together and hold it for a second while it sets.

 

Cut a small length of twine and dab some more glue at the base of the broom handle.

 

Twist the twine around the glue, making sure to get the end down tightly. Trim the ends of the bristles.

 

Lay the broom on the end of the witch’s arm.

 

Fold her ‘hand’ over and pinch tightly.

 

Fold over one more time to make it secure.

 

Draw a face on with a sharpie.

 

She’s done! Isn’t she cute!?

 

If you do make a witch, I’d LOVE to share your pictures here! Just email them to me and I’ll add them to this post! Happy Witching :)

Flower Fairies

 

First I have to apologize for the tutorial photos. It was a rainy day, Jilly had just woken up from a nap and I was rushing to make the fairy before she started crying. So the pictures are badly lit and somewhat blurry, but you can still see what I’m doing, so I’m just going to go with it!

Pipe cleaners, faux flowers, embroidery floss, scissors (My scissors are from Cutco so they’re really sturdy. You may want to grab some wire snips if you don’t think your scissors are up to the job.), tulle, thread, fine-tip sharpie marker, wood beads (mine came in an assortment pack from Walmart and had just the perfect bead for the head!) bells (optional), hot glue gun, and embellishments. I used buttons, sequins, multi-colored rhinestones and some little papery flowers that came in a scrapbook kit.

Choose a pipe cleaner for the body. Cut a third of it off the end. (that will be the arms) Bend the remaining piece in half, that will be the body and legs.

Wrap a length of embroidery floss around your fingers and snip the end off. Six or seven times should do it. I really loved how the variegated thread looks.

Take a length of tulle (mine were in strips from another project and worked just right for this.) about 2 inches wide and 20 inches long. Fold it in half, then in half again.

Thread your needle and tie a knot in the end of the thread. Run it through the middle of the folded tulle.Pull the thread tight, run the needle back through the other way, and tie a knot to secure.

Trim the excess off the ends and pull the layers apart a bit. Wings!

Strip the petals off a faux flower.

Assemble all your bits and pieces for the fairy.

Place the loops of embroidery floss in the fold of the body portion of pipe cleaner.

Push a wooden bead up the legs so it is up pinching the hair into place. It’s fine if the hair stands straight up, we’ll ‘style’ it later. If your bead is a tad too big just use a bit of hot glue to hold it in place under the hair.

 

Place the arms behind the body and twist each side 360 degrees around the body.

Pinch the ends up, then fold them in again to make hands that don’t have a sharp edge.

Thread the petals of the flower up onto the fairy. Make sure to alternate the petal spacing a bit so your fairy is decently clothed.

Thread two small bells, or 1 big one, up the fairy’s legs right up to the petals. This will help hold the petals in place, otherwise they have a tendency to fall back down. I also used some of the other wooden beads in my assortment when I ran out of bells. Then fold her feet up the same way you did the hands. No sharp edges, please!

Pinch the petals of the skirt down and out of the way and put a dab of glue on her back to attach the wings to.

After you attach the wings you can add a little embellishment, I used a sequin.

Flip your fairy over and add some embellishment to her ‘bodice’, I used a large rhinestone.

Use your scissors to snip the loops of her hair in half.

Hold her wings out of the way and run some hot glue around the base of her hair. Carefully push her hair down over the glue to secure.

Repeat with the sides of her head.

Use your sharpie to give her some eyes and a mouth. Be careful not to touch her face after this. The sharpie will set after about an hour, but I’d wait at least 24 before giving her to a small child who might be heartbroken if her fairy’s face gets smudged!

 

Use some embellishments to create a little hat. I used a paper flower, button and a sequin.

 

Fluff her wings back up and adjust her skirt if you need to, and voila! A beautiful, little flower fairy!

                   

Then go crazy and create a flock of fairies! I really loved the ones made from hydrangea petals! They look like little blue tutus! And don’t forget to make use of the greenery that comes on the stem, and the plastic whatchamacallit at the base of the flower petals. (I’m sure it has a name, I just don’t know what it is and am too lazy to go look it up.)

For our Fairy fun headquarters, click here!