Halloween is coming soon - hooray! I used to not-so-much like that particular holiday, but the decorations and other surrounding "stuff" have improved greatly in recent years, so now it's one of my faves!
Remember this guy?
It would seem that I am completely unable to use this stamp (from Stampin'Up!'s "Best Fiends" set) without adding googlie eyes to the "booquet" (which is eyeballs, anyway). It inspired me to make my own eyeball "boo"quet:
Wanna make one of your own? It's pretty easy! Here's what you need:
- Some semi-raggedy red flowers (I got mine at Michael's)
- A pack of eyeball party favors (I got mine at Party City)
- Red craft paint (from my stash)
You'll also need a hot glue gun and glue sticks, some wire cutters (or strong scissors), and a hammer and small nail. Here's what you do:
Using the wire cutters or strong scissors, cut the flower stems apart so that they are no longer a "bush". Pull all of the flower heads and leaves off of the stems. Separate the flower heads as shown above. Set aside the leaves and flower centers for a future project (we don't need them for this one). Paint the stems and the sepal (that little thing on the far right in the pic above) with the red paint and set aside to dry.
Use the small nail and hammer to pierce a hole on the back of each eyeball. Enlarge the hole by wiggling the nail around in the hole and/or using a small file or reaming tool until it is the right size to slide onto the stem where you pulled off the flower head. Heat up the glue gun and reassemble the flowers like so:
When you put the flower together the usual way, the sepal goes onto the stem with the points pointing up, as shown on the left above. We're doing it differently, though, so put it on the stem "upside down" - with the points pointing down, as shown on the right above.
Put the larger set of petals from the flower head onto the stem next. This one goes on upside-down also, so that the petals droop. The smaller set of petals will go on next, and in its usual, upright orientation:
Next, put a little hot glue on and around the hole in the eyeball and slide it onto the stem. Snug the petals up around it a bit. A little glue is all you need - too much and you'll melt the stem and make a mess. It should look like this now:
Repeat with the rest of the eyeballs and flowers, and you're done! My "bush" had 14 flowers, and there were only 10 eyeballs in the favor pack, so I went and got another pack so I could finish. Wanna see it again?
And a little closeup:
Curious about what this project costs? The flower bush was on sale for 50% off, so I picked it up for a mere $1.50. The packs of eyeballs were $1.99 apiece, and I had the paint and glue sticks on hand, so that's a grand total of $5.48 (not including tax), and I still have 6 eyeballs left over!
Okay - that does it for my first Halloween project offering! If you'd like to revisit a few others, click on the title below the picture for these:
Okay - that should keep you busy for a bit! If you decide to try any of these projects, I'd love to see the finished results! Post a comment or shoot me an email, okay? Thanks so much, and thanks for stopping by!