Happy Halloween!

Now, I have not quite got this round the right way today but never mind. 

Sophie was allowed to be in charge of the pumpkin and the knife this year.  ( I was watching like a hawk mind you.)  She decided what it would look like.

Sophie emptied it out and saved a large number of seeds.

 I have my pumpkin and decorated jam jars outside glowing with candle light and it is too dark to take any decent pictures!  I should have taken them earlier, doh!

So here is a copy of last years pumpkin................

Well, I have just been asked by Sophie to replace the candles so I took a chance and used my camera anyway.

This is a little blurred but I think you can see the hand painted jar with tissue paper.  We made them in my Textiles club so I hope the others are shinning well in gardens .

Sophie made this one and then we popped a third outside to give off some more light and I will definitely do them again next year.  They worked really well.

This is Sophie's pumpkin and we decided it was a Happy Pumpkin and the smile sort of reminded us of  Monsters Inc.

Once Sophie and a few friends, plus a parent went off to Trick or Treat I set about roasting the seeds.

I found a Jamie Oliver step by step on what to do just for something to refer to. At the same time I had a good sort out of my herbs and spices.  Amazed at how many had gone out of date!

Basically:

*Rinsed them.

*Put on a tray

*Cover in Olive oil

*Add Sea Salt

*Any herb or chili something,  I added Italian herbs as everything else by now was in the bin!

*Mix round to cover all of the seeds

*180 oven for 10 mins or until golden brown.  Mine did take longer than 10 mins.

*Allow to cool and then pop in a dish.

*Can be kept for a few days in an air tight container.

I am nibbling a few as I type this. Yum.

Sophie decided to dress up as Hermione Grainger and her friend went as a clown.  I had a few visitors to my door but not as many as last year.  One year I rang out of treats, just have no idea how many will show up.

When Sophie got back we watched Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie!  Followed by Scooby-Doo and Spooky Island!  I know how to live  on a Friday night!

Anyway, another day tomorrow and my first Christmas present is finished and because the young lady who is going to be receiving it does not visit my blog, I shall post a picture or two.

Take care, Oh nearly forgot made a cake as well today.

xx

Happy Halloween

 We thought that this year we would try something a bit different with our pumpkins.  So the one shown above is hubby's which has been sprayed with white paint and allowed to harden off and then the eyes and teeth were cut out which splinter off some of the paint.  We thought it was a disaster to start with but then we felt that it added to the scary look of the pumpkin.

 The next one we went for the more traditional approach but highlighted some areas with a marker pen.  This one will go outside with a candle later this evening.

Over the past few years I have always looked at the pumpkins that Alisa Burke designs and said that I should have a go, well this year Sophie and I both decided to try.  Sophie's is the one nearest the front of the picture and has also been sprayed painted with white painted and then once hardened it is decorated with different sized permanent marker pens.  The pens did not smudge at all on the white paint and Sophie created her pumpkin all by herself.  Inspired by the zentangles that we both like doing.

Mine is at the back and I sat in front of the TV with some newspaper on my lap and just kept doodling until I ran out of space.  We have decided to keep these indoors by the fire instead of cutting them for outside.  We all had a lot of fun with these and during the evening there was a programme about supermarkets and how they supply their customers and branches.....guess what?  There was a whole section dedicated just to pumpkins.  Apparently we buy over 2 million in the UK just for carving.  Years ago I remember carving out a pumpkin and using the insides to make some gorgeous pumpkin soup, but today they are basically hollow already and there is nothing there to cook with.....Pity.

Happy Halloween!

xx

Spooky Hair-Do

I saw this on CraftZine...............

Should I?

Would anyone notice at school?

What do you think or will I get put in detention for my scary hair?

HHmmmm!

Fun idea though.

Have a great Sunday.  I have finally made a break through with my evening class sketchbook.  Pictures next time as i have not actually taken any yet. 

Many thanks for all of the visitors who came to look at my knitted snood.  It is lovely and warm without being too hot and soft, very soft so not in the least bit itchy or uncomfortable.

I can see ma making another of those.

xx

OPAM September Round Up

I am not sure where September went and I  do seem to be saying this a lot just lately.  The days seem to be going so fast.  I am also having my usual struggle with technology as the Internet seems to not want to play ball at the moment and I have in fact been writing this post for several days.  I am also having problems replying to comments too so please bear with me.

I thought that I would do a little round up for the 5 makes that I managed to squeeze in last month.

This was for Septembers entry for Le Challenge and the theme was heroes.

Three felt book marks with lovely chunky buttons on the ends.
I also made a couple of items for a Halloween swap that I
 recently took part in as well.

These are two two swap items I sent and the Halloween Book mark is counted for Opam September.  The pincushion is a little older than that.
I have made an item for October and as it is Autumn a knitting project seemed appropriate so I shall how that is my next post.
I have been to my evening class tonight and a little of my mojo may be back as I have been Mono-printing and Lino-printing all evening and it has been great!!  I need to take some photos tomorrow in daylight but some have turned out pretty well.
See you tomorrow.
x

Halloween Pumpkin Fun

Last year we seemed to miss the whole pumpkin carving fun so this year we decided to make sure and we bought ours a week or so ago.

Last evening we were all sat around the kitchen table drawing the designs on to the pumpkin with pencil and then using an array of tools we set to work carving out our designs.

We shall start off with hubby's pumpkin which had a very unusual nose shape which was achieved first by drilling a large hole and then cutting a point on the top of it.  He also added "hair" to his pumpkin  along the top using a small penknife (carefully!) and this worked really well.  This year the pumpkins were really firm and well shaped for doing this and the insides scooped out easily.  I remember one year struggling so much that I was really glad when it was all over...took a bit of the fun out it.

Sophie drew on her design and I helped her to carve it out as I was scared that she may end up with a digit less on one hand.  The idea is completely hers and the eyes were again drilled using an attachment normally used on wood.  Cleaned up very carefully too and worked really well but I still think that was due to the firmness of the pumpkins in the first place.

You can see in this picture that I added some "Harry Potter" style lightening flashes to the lid of the pumpkin and they turned out pretty well when the candle was added.

The little tea lights that we use give of a surprisingly good amount of light and shone through the carved areas well.

We took these pictures outside in the garden once we had finished and Sophie is delighted with the outcome and it really is fun to go back to our own inner child as well. 

For the first time I was able to gather enough pumpkin seeds to dry and bake in the oven.  I found an idea on what to do on the Internet and then crossed my fingers.  They tasted good, they are golden brown and not much to look at but with a dash of salt we were quite surprised at their taste.  Last time I tried this it was  rather a disappointment as there was only have about 10 seeds...hunted for more in the pulp but only 10 seeds were found!!!

We have kept a few seeds unbaked as Sophie would like to try and grew some for next year.  Not so sure on the success of this but I am willing to give it a go.

We hope to go to Eden later as they have some Halloween activities going on but we shall see what the weather is doing and maybe take our lanterns with sone battery operated fairy lights inside instead of candles.  They will then sit in the window for a while and then off into the garden.

Have a Happy (and Safe) Halloween

xx

 



Happy Halloween

Hope you all have had a fun Halloween.  We stayed at home this year and Sophie dressed up as a witch and painted her face bright green!  Has taken quite a bit of washing off too!  We had some great costumes standing on our dooor step and I have to say that they were all polite, complementary of our decorations and only took one of any choccy item on offer.  A very friendly Halloween.  Pumpkins have been rather small this year so the picture is of last years creation.

Take care

xx

Halloween PDF Pattern

I am gradually sorting out my Etsy shop.  I have added the above PDF pattern for a Halloween bag which I made for Sophie to use and thought that you might like. 

Halloween often creeps up on me and I have listed it earlier this year so avoid this and get me to think about it too.

There are more pictures here if you are interested. 

You could easily change the colours and method of decorating it and this can be made without a sewing machine!

xx

Happy Halloween!!

Sophie had a great time with her friend,all dressed up as Witches. Above is our carved pumpkin and I also found the little Munchkin Pumpkins, which I had never seen before. They were rock solid to try and cut. Eventually I managed to cut a little dip and use it as a candle holder.

Sophie's bag was well used and I am glad that I double layered the handles. When we got home there was a knock at the door and Sop0hie said that if they were trick or treating they could have some of hers as she would not eat it all. Ahhh! I think that maybe I am dragging her up right after all.

I got some excellent pictures of her all dressed up which I shall send to Grandparents. Once she settled down at home all of the excitement turned into a massive headache and she went off to bed a little quiet but looking forward to seeing here friends at school tomorrow.

Honestly, I wish I was seven again................

xx

Halloween Bag PDF

The PDF for the above Halloween items are now in my Etsy shop.

Plenty of time to still make them up.

xx

Happy Halloween Bag

Sophie came home just before the holidays to say that she has been invited to her friend's house to go Trick or treating. Mummy alarm went off but then I was told that hubby and I are also invited and we go with them at a safe distance.

Guess what was next! That's right......"Mummy can we make a bag for me to take?"

So last Friday night the above bag was created, we had loads of fun making it and I promise that I will show you my new table tomorrow, it is just that this has sort of taken over.

The tinsel came from ASDA believe it or not and I dare say other places will sell something similar.

Then we had another idea...............

Ghostly Egg Cosies, we like novelty Egg cosies in our house! Sophie made the grey one all by herself. Hilarious, aren't they?

I have decided to add another section to my Etsy shop (as a bit of an experiment) a pattern and PDF section "Pattern Palace" Here you will find the pattern and fully illustrated instructions for this bag which I can email as a PDF. So still plenty of time to make one. I have other ideas that will need to be tired out first, but hopefully one idea every month or so will hopefully be added.

Then I will try and stock the felt to go with my patterns too, but I need to look into that more.

Well hubby and Sophie have gone swimming and I am shortly due to go to my sewing group.

So back tomorrow.

xx

Halloween Holidays..............

I found this picture on Craftzine and thought it was great!

It is half-term and until I start to feel more human some key words to sum up things at the moment:

* Shattered

*Brain Dead

*Gardening

*Birthday Cake Trial Run

*My new sewing table (more on that later)

*Searching Ebay for vintage Polly Pocket Compact toys(I buy one for Sophie's birthday each year)

Halloween Bag making

*Switched off ALARM!!

Back tomorrow with some pictures and crafting news.

Take care

xx