Halloween Party

This year, my parents generously allowed me to throw a Halloween party. A rare occurrence, I decided to take advantage of this opportunity to go all out and show off my crafty skills.

PUMPKINS:

• The first one I decorated was a simple white pumpkin, any size will work, but try to pick one out that is evenly rounded on all sides. I started by tying black strips of tulle to the stem. Once I situated those and flared them up, I fixed an orange bow around the bottom of the stem. For the purple and green stripes, I used a paper cutter to evenly make the stripes quickly and efficiently. I cut mine in two different size, but you can cut them however you want. To attach them, I veered away from gluing them on, seeing that it would require a lot of time, patience, and glue! Instead, I used sewing pins, sticking them through the paper in the top and bottom of the pumpkin in order to secure it. Make sure you have plenty of pins before doing this...if not, a little glue at the top and bottom of the strip will be fine. You can made the stripes as wide or narrow as you please, it's your pumpkin!

• My favorite pumpkin I made was the chevron monogram. All I did was use painter's tape to lay out the zig-zag design. Then, I spray painted it white, adding about three coats to make sure orange didn't poke through. After it dried, I carefully peeled off the tape revealing the chevron pattern! It won't be perfect, but it doesn't have to be. Next came the monogram "H." I printed out a letter from the internet, cut it out, and traced it on the pumpkin. Then, I simply filled it in with black paint. Once that dries, you can tie on a bow at the top, any that you like! I had the green and purple/white ribbons laying around my house. Use what you can find!

 

 

 

•  Unfortunately I failed to take a picture of my next pumpkin, but I assure you it worked perfectly! I used a small pumpkin, carved out the face, and set it on a bed of purple chips. Then, I seperated the chips from a little crevice where I was going to have the salsa spewing out. The picture below depicts guacamole, but I can make some killer salsa, so that's what I went with. I poured the salsa where I made the path, making sure to stuck some in the pumpkin's mouth for effect. It adds some pizazz to the snack table at the party!

 

• The simplest of them all, I found these cute little baby white pumpkins. I made hem center pieces for the card tables at my party, tying a simple orange and black gift ribbon to the stem. They were the perfect touch to the simple tables covered in a plastic orange table cloth!

 DECORATIONS:

•  I loved these cute balloons characters! All I did was blow them up, flip them upside down, and draw various faces on them according to color (white=skeletons and ghosts, orange=pumpkins, green=Frankensteins, purple=spiders). To hang them in the cascading way that you see below, I used a needle and thread. Using a very long strand of thread (DO NOT DOUBLE OVER THE THREAD, it will be too thick to go through the latex and rip the balloon), I tied one end to the needle and fed it through the nub on each balloon, making sure not to go too low or high. Once all the balloons are on, you're ready to hang! Be careful not to tangle the thread...it's a huge pain, trust me. It's best to find someone to help you keep everything straightened out.

• Since the party was held in my garage, I decided to throw streamers wherever a bare spot looked like it needed something colorful. I twisted orange and black around the garage door pole things...I don't think anyone know what they're called. They added a little spunk to a simple spot! Also, I placed a twist across one of the tables.

 

 

• For the banner, I had to cut out lots of triangles from construction paper first. Then, I printed off letters from an online template, but you can just use Word if you want. It doesn't matter! I cut the letters out, leaving a white circle around it. I glued each to the triangles. Then, I taped them to the string, making two different strands (one for Happy, one for Halloween). The taping was pretty strenuous, so a better idea would be to hole punch the triangles in it top left and right corners. Then, feed the rope or string through the holes. Either way, it turns out adorable!

• I forgot to take good pictures of this, but my friend brought a bunch of cute Halloween light strands, each being from the dollar store. It's hard to see, but the little pumpkins hanging down from the cabinets in the picture below are some of the lights! Although cheap, they were an amazing addition to the garage. When it was dark and they lit up, it really set the fun party tone. Christmas lights are fun too! We places all different kinds of light strands around the inside of the building and it was awesome.

 

FOOD:

• I'll never disclose my fabulous chocolate chip cookie recipe, but decorating them is something everybody can do. Orange, purple, and green food coloring adds to effect.

• Also, throwing a various types of good (Sour Patch Kids, cookies n' cream Hershey's, mini Reese's cups, etc.) candy in a bowl will please anyone with a sweet tooth.

  
• As for appetizers, I went with the yummy cocktail weenies, mozzarella sticks (bought frozen, but nobody noticed), little ham sandwiches, and AMAZING pizza wreaths. Pizza wreaths are easy/quick to make, and will please any crowd. [Recipe] Don't always follow the cooking time instructions though . Start with a lower time, checking on the food occasionally. If it doesn't appear done, stick it in for a little longer, no big deal. You can always cook longer, not less!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Binder Inserts

Let's be honest: school isn't the most exciting thing, so we might as well jazz up the binders we hold all of the notes and homework in! Seeing the cute designs always motivates me a little more to open them up and study away. I just created mine in Microsoft Office Word, copying an image of a cool pattern to the document, formatting it so that it fills the page, then overlaying it with text. Very simple, but it can make a difference in your studies, really! There are websites with templates you can use, but Word allows you to choose any design possible. It's completely customizable and completely yours! Happy homeworking:)

School Spirit T-Shirts

As a junior in high school, I love going to all kinds of sporting events to hang out, have fun, and support my team. Instead of buying the usual T-shirt from the pep club with the school logo plastered across the front, my friend and I decided to put our creative minds to work and design our own tops to show off at football, soccer, and basketball games.
Our first design requires the following materials: red shirt, chevron fabric, and iron on letters. All of these things can be chosen according to persona style.

All that needs to be done is:
1.) Cut the chevron fabric into the shape of a pocket (leaving a little extra for the seam line)
2.) Follow the instructions for ironing the letters on
3.) Once it's in place, stitch the pocket onto the shirt
4.) Sew it on, leaving the top over (if desired)
That's it! It's ready to wear! I actually began selling these and had a pretty decent business going. They're quick, easy, and cheap!

A guy asked me to make him one, so I toned down the feminine flare of the chevron and made him a simple pocket shirt.

 

I had many requests for a monogram pocket instead of the school initials, so I tried that. It ended up looking amazing! The only change was obviously purchasing different letters, no big deal.

 

 

Another shirt I made was a cutout logo front/cutout back

For the front, I purchased polka dot fabric, Heat n' Bond, red puff paint, a white T-shirt, and a clip-in red hair bow. I ironed the Heat n' Bond to the polka dot fabric, then cut out my two letters. Then, I simply ironed those to the shirt. Next, I wrote the school mascot in puff paint. After that dried, I worked on the back. All I did was cut three sides of the shirt: the top, left, and right side. DO NOT CUT THE BOTTOM SIDE OF THE "SQUARE OUT." You will be left with a gaping hole in the back of your shirt, and that is bad. Now, you should have a big "flap" in the back of the shirt. Cinch the left and right sides together, bringing them together at the top. Sew this down. Finally, clip the bow in and it's ready to wear! I would suggest wearing a red bandeau top with this for ultimate cuteness.

 

My final shirt attempt was a simple tie-dye. Somehow I managed to mess this up, but successfully create all of the other complicated tops...oh well. I learned from my mistake: always have enough dye. Otherwise, you'll end up with a white shirt sporadically splattered with red splotches. Needless to say this has been banished to my pajama shirt drawer.

Milk Jug Igloo

Of all the crazy projects I have pursued, this one is by far the most interesting. I am a part of the Y-club at my high school, and we travel to Louisville, KY for the Kentucky United Nation Assembly (KUNA). For this, we are assigned a country to represent with a cultural display. Last year, we chose Greenland, an icy wasteland where humanity is scarce. That being said, we weren't really sure how to go about making an interesting display that both portrays the frozen country and captures the viewer's attention. Finally, we came to the conclusion that making an igloo would be amazing.

^Yes, that's me casually nestled in the enclosure of our "Milk jug Igloo." The resources were very simple, but required superfluous amounts of each. Using literally 400+ milk jugs and tons of hot glue sticks (I mean TONS).
To start, we laid out a big piece of cardboard. Then, we drew a big circle in order to evenly direct the placement of the jugs. Finally, we were ready to start constructing. The first layer of milk jugs went down, top facing inwards. As the jugs are built up, they should be slightly glued a little closer to the middle each time a new layer is added if that makes sense. Refer to the picture below: It's hard to see clearly, but the structure is already starting to slant inward, which is good!

 

Once it begins to take shape and you get used to the pattern, it's a pretty simple process. Very time and supply consuming, it's best to go about doing this with a group...although I'm not sure why someone would want to randomly make a milk jug igloo solo...

When all is said and done, the finished product is magnificent!

 

Just a word of advice--If you plan on transporting your igloo a decent distance, keep in mind a few factors:

1.)    The size of your structure and means of transportation (A trailer would be the most sufficient, that’s what we used. Don’t make the igloo too big to fit!)

2.)    Temperature…if the weather is very cold, the hot clue will detach from the milk jugs, causing the whole thing to unfortunately fall apart

 

How do I know this? Simple: Experience. Our group made both of these mistakes, resulting in the messy heap of sadness you see below.

 

 

 

We made the igloo too big to start with, so we had to cut it in half in order to transport it to Louisville. As if that didn’t make it unstable enough, this was all taking place in March. The winter snow and frigid weather hit the structure hard, causing all the glue to detach, ending in a collapsed project. Luckily, our group persevered, worked together, and reconstructed the entire thing in less than four hours. Although it didn’t exactly look like the very first picture anymore(note the gaping hole in the top), it was still visually acceptable. We ended up placing in the top three for "Best Cultural Display," which was an outstanding achievement for us!

 

Fabric Wallet

Summer: it consists of a substantial amount of boredom and thinking; thinking about the many productive things that one could possibly be doing. Over my break, I decided to explore the many ideas Pinterest had to offer. One project that seemed doable and functional is a "DIY Fabric Wallet." [Tutorial]

 

All the supplies needed and full step-by-step instruction can be found in the link above rightfully labeled as "Tutorial." In all, I believe the supplies only ended up costing me $13, this including all the fabric(plus extra), a zipper, button(and an extra). I already had a things like thread and the elastic at my house, which most people do.

I made a few minor alterations to the original tutorial, the most obvious being the replacement of the magnet with a cute button and elastic band. To do this, just stitch in the elastic before permanently sewing the flap in a triangular shape. Going over the elastic more than once with the sewing machine would be a good idea for extra hold. Next, simply secure a button of choice to the wallet where it appears to best be placed. Ta-da! This gives the wallet a much cuter flare than the magnet, in my opinion.

Another small change I made was to use a solid strip of fabric instead of the patchwork strip the tutorial suggest. This makes the construction of the wallet less time-consuming and it look just as good.

 

I love the overall outcome of the wallet, but allow me to say it was the most stressful project I've taken on. Luckily, my grandmother is a talented sewer as I am definitely not. I basically assembled it and allowed her to sew it together. It literally took three days for us to finish, probably 10 hours total time of labor. Granted we did not really know what we were doing at first and goofed on occasion, it still took an overwhelming amount of time to fully complete. My suggestion is to thoroughly read through the tutorial and understand the instruction completely first before blindly diving straight into it.

Aside from that, I'm extremely pleased with the outcome o the wallet! I love the patterns I chose and the fact that it can hold up to 12 cards (not that I have that many, but it's still pretty handy). Also, it has a two-sided zipper compartment for bills and coins. I'm so pleased with mine, and I continue to use it to this day!

Introduction

 

I'd like to start this blogging adventure by introducing myself, of course. My name is Haley Higdon, I'm a junior in high school and live in Kentucky. I have a very creative mind, and I love putting that to good use. Completing DIY projects always gives me a sense of accomplishment (that is, when they actually turn out right...). Sometimes they fail miserably, other end in great success. Regardless, I always learn from my mistakes and never regret taking a project on. I like to challenge myself and actually "Do It Myself," but there's no shame in asking for a little help. This year I've been especially crafty, and I'd like to share both my failures and successes in attempts to show what DIY projects actually work, and which definitely do not. Enjoy!