More Vintage Halloween Goodness!

Hi All!

Weren't Nixiebum's goodies terrific? I felt pretty spoiled when I opened that package, and since this was my first Craftster swap, I wanted to spoil my partner, too. Here are the goodies I made for her.

First up, a little pumpkin pincushion and some Halloween straight pins.

I sculpted the three pins, the witch hat, the bat and the tiny pumpkin out of Fimo, I haven't used that stuff in eons! It was fun to play with that material again, and now I'm on a kick wanting to make several other things with it! The pumpkin pincushion came out pretty darned cute, especially since it was conceived to be a Halloween inspired hot air balloon...

Yeah, no.

All righty then, moving on!

Check it out, I got crafty with paint and Mod Podge! This vintage inspired keepsake box was the plain, brown, paper mache variety you can get at most craft stores, I changed it up a bit starting with a coat of black spray paint all over as a base coat, then a coat of acryllic black, then crackle coat, then a coat of a sort of creamy white that I blended myself. Mostly white with a couple of drops of a two other browns. This was the first time I've ever used crackle coat (I know, super late to that party) and I thought it was magical! Now I want to crackle everything!

Next I layered these cutie pie vintage Halloween girls over some scrapbook paper that looks just like handwriting. Mod Podge is awesome, I will never bemoan it's price again. I trimmed out the papers with sparkly, silver pipe cleaners and a few rhinestones. 

I'm not sure if it was because of the layers of moisture (several layers of paint & Mod Podge), but after all of those layers were applied, the box didn't stay closed, so I added a simple elastic-over-button closure so the box would stay closed by drilling tiny holes and using one of these cute fabric brads I bought a some time ago from Stampin Up. Worked like a charm!

I also glittered the bottom, inner ledge of the box, yay glitter!

The inside of the box got the full treatment, too. More paint, scrap booking paper & Mod Podge, woo! 

A couple little vintage looking Halloween ornaments were quick and fun to put together. I could make these all day.

BOO!

You know I had to make a bunting, I have a thing for buntings. These cool letters came off the bottom of a fabric panel that I'm using for another project, they started out like this, in case you're interested in making one yourself. I trimmed the top of the bunting with polka dot ribbon and added some large, felt flowers to inbetween each with some stripey ribbon, too. Then I blinged out the bottom corners of the individual flags with buttons, rhinestones and tiny felt flowers and trimmed the very bottom of the bunting with black pompom trim. I'm really happy with the way this lil bunting came out. 

♥

Every trick-or-treater needs a new candy bag! I made this one out of some pretty, Halloween fabric, the very essence of "Vintage" Halloween, me thinks.

A simple drawstring bag, start to finish - 15 minutes! I used the same polka dot ribbon for the handle as I used on the top of the bunting. 

Lastly, I made this little kitty sweetheart!

 

I sculpted her head & ears from Fimo and painted her tiny little face the next day after it had plenty of time to cool. That was hard, I don't think I'm a very good painter as far as itsy bitsy details go. Her body is made from fluffy pipe cleaners and she's perched atop one of my stash of antique thread spools that I trimmed out with pompom and that same polka dot ribbon.

She looks like she's leading a Halloween parade, doesn't she? Her baton is actually a toothpick that I painted white & black and added another of the teensy pumpkins I sculpted from Fimo to the top, and an an orange wooden bead to the bottom. Oh, and I added a tiny bit of purple, metallic DMC up under the pumpkin for extra pizazz. A small felt flower and purple rhinestone on her lil ear make her a fancy kitty.

Her shirt is another pipe cleaner wrapped around the main portion of her torso, and her skirt is a bit of ribbon that I gathered with a running stitch until it looked about right, simple & cute!

I think she might be my favorite thing that I made for this swap, I've never made anything like her before. Fun stuff!

So here again is my entire package for Nixiebum, I like to think it has a theme and is cohesive, I can get a bit obsessive about things, can you tell? *wink*

Anyway, like I said this was my first Craftster swap and I was tickled to pieces with the whole process, the moderators were great and communication with my partner was excellent which made the whole process a lot easier. I still found the high level of craft a bit intimidating truth be told, the folks involved in this swap make some incredibly detailed, imaginative and amazing items! If you'd like to see the picture gallery of the items from this swap, click here. I still get major swap anxiety (which I think is pretty common) every time I send out something I've made, will they like it? Did I hit the mark, etc, etc. But my Nixie liked everything, and I'm so happy that she did. Swapping is good, keeps you on your toes - keeps your skills sharp!

Once wasn't enough, and I love Halloween, so I joined another swap after this one! Once again I was blessed with an awesome partner and I can't wait to show you what she made for me! I've got a whole bunch of Halloween posts lined up, so stay tuned, folks!

I hope you've enjoyed this little peak into what I've been up to, do you have a favorite? I'm still crushing on the Halloween Kitty. ♥

oxo,

Lisa