My Halloween Banner

Is it too late to post my cute Halloween Banner? It is still (barely) 24-ish hours before the official Halloween holiday arrives. Sometimes life and good times just get in the way of my good crafting intentions. Anyway . . . I finally had time tonight after the boys were in bed to finish the last parts of putting this banner together. Now it is hanging on my mantel and I absolutely love it!

It was so simple - cut some 6 inch black burlap squares. Using the amazing freezer paper stenciling technique I previously blogged about HERE, paint Halloween silhouette images on the burlap using white acrylic paint. Let them dry well - in my case, that turned in to a few weeks :-).

Cut out some larger (at least 7 inch, preferably slightly larger that that even) squares of cute Halloween fabric. Zig zag stitch the burlap centered on the Halloween fabric. Then find some cute clearance trim at Hobby Lobby and sew the blocks on to the length of trim that you need for your mantel.And wa - la, there you go. The cutest Halloween banner ever! I like the pops of color from behind the black burlap blocks.
Plus - best news ever - I used fabric and burlap from my super giant stash of fabric. The only thing I bought was the roll of orange/black trim for $1.19. Thrifty and cute - even better!Happy Halloween!

Halloween Bingo

I love the fun printables people take the time to create and share - - all over blogland. This is one that I found the other day over at Artsy Fartsy Mama - Halloween BINGO.

A quick print, a stop at the store to laminate all of the cards and pieces, and now we have a really fun (and cute) game. The boys love it!

Freezer Paper Stenciling

I'm probably the last person on earth to try freezer paper stenciling . . . but I officially {LoVe} it!
I've had a new little Halloween decoration brewing in my brain for a while and I had some unplanned time on my hands today. So I decided to get brave and try it out. The project is still taking shape and I'm using lots of inspiration from other craft blogs. But hopefully by the end of the week I'll have a finished project that I love. Just a couple of little peeks at step one of the whole project. For a great tutorial on Freezer Paper Stenciling go HERE.

Catching Up and Getting Ahead

By some miracle, I made some time this week to finish up a cute little baby blanket that needs to be sent off. It goes with the "A" monogram taggie I made recently. The theme for this baby was monkeys. I had made this same blanket a year and a half or so ago for my husband's nephew's baby. They loved it and baby D carries it around with him all the time. It took me a long time to find the same fabric but I finally got it ordered and it has been sitting here, staring at me, waiting to be sewn together. So off it goes in the mail this week.

And by another miracle (or an unplanned trip to Hobby Lobby), I whipped up two of the cutest Christmas pillowcases for my boys this week. Yes, I am a little obsessed with these pillowcases. They absolutely love their Halloween pillowcases as well as their Thomas the train and Curious George pillowcases. Why not add Christmas ones? I had been looking for some cute fabric that would be "cute" to them, not just me. I found it as I was buying some frames at Hobby Lobby. These pillowcases stitch up so quickly. A huge thanks to Little Birdie Secrets for her custom pillowcase tutorial. These pillowcases are some of my favorite crafts of all time! Husband has now requested that I find Thanksgiving fabric for the boys, since they are already a little sad knowing that the Halloween pillowcases go away at the end of the month (I have to draw the line somewhere!).

Halloween Pillows

Slowly, but surely I'm getting in to fall. I really hate to see summer end, but at least we're having a beautiful fall to end it with!

I wanted to decorate the house and yard for Halloween this weekend, but it was too nice outside to be stuck cleaning the garage - to get to the decorations. So I rounded up a few things to put up so that it felt like we acknowledged the fact that it is now October - like our Halloween Advent Calendar.

I also whipped up these adorable Halloween pillow-cases for the boys. I'm completely in awe of these super easy and incredibly cute pillowcases from Little Birdie Secrets. I made the boys each a custom pillowcase earlier this year and they have been a huge hit. I think I'll work on rounding up some cute Christmas fabric and make them each one for December.

So quick, so easy . . . why not have one for every holiday? Love them!