Pixiepalooza

pixiepalooza

In honor of Halloween, i’d like to share 5 interesting facts about my little black cat Pixie!

1. She has a little, skinny face and a big belly. Admittedly, I feed her too much. I can’t handle that little meow when she follows me into the bathroom and I always give her some food. She’s kinda swayback too, her back sinks in and then her belly almost scoots on the floor as she runs. It’s a funny sight.

2. She’s a BIG scaredy cat. She’s even still scared by sudden movements I make. She likes to be dominant and in control. She’s not scared of me when I’m in a normal spot like my bed or computer chair (where she can relax right next to me in her own chair). She also isn’t timid when I sit on the couch. I’ve used her as a head pillow before and she doesn’t mind, but the minute I turn around to face her, she darts right off the back of the couch.

3. She doesn’t really like meat like chicken, tuna, new foods, etc. If I ever pick off a little piece of mine to give her, she just sniffs and goes on her way. Not very interested at all, though she did dig a few small nibbles of Kraft cheese I gave her once.

4. She has a few favorite spots…she loves sitting in her chair in front of my bedroom window, under my bed, and on my shelf in my closet. Otherwise, she’s very random and unpredictable in the places she chooses to be.

5. She’s so good when it comes to not bothering stuff. I’ve never had her bother my Christmas tree or had her knock stuff off. She doesn’t get on counters or tables very often…only caught her doing that a time or two. She does occasionaly play with buttons/craft supplies she finds that she can cup into her paws. She’s not much into store bought toys. The favorite thing that I know she likes are some little plastic cherries that I have on a dish. She can bat those for hours and never get tired of it!

Bonus: I think she goes to do the door after I leave and sits there for a little bit. I’ve had to rush back in to get stuff before and I always find that she is running away from the door. Does this mean she misses me? I don’t know, but I kinda do like the thought. It’s sweet (and swell).

I hope you enjoyed these my little black cat factoids. She’s really a very sweet girl to me (other people find her shyness and scaredy cat nature kinda annoying). She’s definitely going to be found safe and sound inside my apartment on Halloween! I’ve heard that people do awful things to little black kitties on that day. Sad.

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Terrorific Tuesday: Cute CD Cupcake Stand

cupcake full view

Hello Swellions! Today I am presenting to you an idea that I kinda changed last minute. I knew along that I wanted to make a cake stand, but yesterday after looking at an ejected cd in my car, I got the idea that I wanted to use a used CD as a base for adorable project. And it’s the perfect size for a cupcake (in my case, mine is faux and I’ll show you how to make them as well). So onto the show!

Cute CD Cupcake Stand

Supplies for Stand
– 1 used CD
– 1 piece of 12″ x 12″ orange scrapbook paper
– 1 piece of 12″ x 12″ silver polka dotted scrapbook paper
– Xyron runner or self-adhesive spray
– 1 package self-adhesive rhinestones (I got mine at Michael’s in Halloween section)
– 1 small styrofoam cone

Supplies for Cupcake
– Jack o’ Lantern Orange Americana Acrylics paint
– Black Craft Twinkles Writer paint
– jar of Snow-Tex (4 oz.)
– Glamour Dust Glitter by DecoArt
– White jumbo cupcake holders (mine were from Wilton)
– medium sized smooth foam ball
– Orange seed beads (mine were an assorted mix)
– medium sized wooden orange bead

General supplies for both
– Glue gun and glue sticks
– scissors
– palette knife
– paper cutter or ruler and exacto knife with cutting board
– small liner brush
– pencil
– kitchen knife
– skotch tape

For CD cupcake stand

1.
Take spray adhesive or Xyron runner and coat back of 12″ x 12″ paper. Wrap paper around cone until tight and secure. Cut off top and bottom of paper around cone.form conefinished cone

2. Lay cd on top of adhesive on remaining 12″ x 12″ paper and trace with pencil. Cut out with scissors.

3. From the 12″ x 12″ black paper, cut out two strips 12″ long by 2″ wide. Lay side by side to form one long strip. Place tape in middle to join the two strips.

4. Accordian fold the strips back and forth in approximately 1.5″ segments. When finished, cut diagonally on both sides 1/8″ down from top of folded strip. Unfold to reveal pennant banner design.accordian foldcutting vfinished pennant

5. Carefully glue gun pennant banner around side of CD, and cut off and glue any excess that overlaps.

6. Use glue gun to glue top of styrofoam cone to bottom of CD.

7. Embellish bottom of stand with black and silver self-adhesive rhinestones, and dot in between pennant sections using orange rhinestones.

For cupcake

1.
Using liner brush, paint alternating sections fo the cupcake holder Jack O’ Lantern Orange. Let dry.

2.
Use Black Craft Twinkles to dot in between these alternating stripes as shown. Set aside and let dry.

3. Cut off the bottom of the foam ball to create a flat surface using kitchen knife or styrofoam cutter.cut styrofoam

4. Add a few drops of water to your bottle of Snow-Tex paint. This will give it a creamier consistency for your “frosting”. Frost your cupcake everywhere except for the bottom. While wet sprinkle on beads and gently press into place. Also place wooden ball into place into this wet paint. Sprinkle on Glamour Dust as well over top. Let dry.
spread frosting add beads

5. Once dry, use glue gun to glue cupcake to bottom of paper cupcake holder. Place on top of your finished cupcake stand and admire 🙂

Here’s a detail!
cute cd cupcake stand

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

All content/photos copyright, © Alexa L. Westerfield, 2008

Terrorific Tuesday: Frightfully Funky Feather Wreath

This is the first post in my weekly tribute to Halloween this season. Every week, I intend to share an inspired frightening and fun crafting idea. I noticed today that the project I’m about to share with you was featured on a great new creative site I discovered called One Pretty Thing. I realized that I had never posted this project on this blog (even though I did it last year). I went through a phase there where I only posted certain blogs to my myspace and certain ones to this one, but here lately, I’ve been using this as my central blog and not using myspace as much (is it bad to say I’m kinda over it). Anyway, this is a repost from that Myspace post from October last year. I’m going to keep coming up with some unique ideas and will keep you posted on them (literally), so check back here every Tuesday for a spooky idea! And now…the Frightfully Funky Feather Wreath!

black wreath detail

I made this last night (stayed up late to finish it)…I have always wanted to make a feather wreath and I wanted something that was going to make me smile as soon as I see my door. It’s light, airy, fun, funky and I think that’s more my approach to Halloween.

Went to Hobby Lobby two nights in a row…the first night to buy the styrofoam form and the feathers and the next night to buy the ornaments (all from the holiday section-half off baby!). It took me an hour or so to pick out just the right ornaments to get the look I was going for.

I heart glitterville and kinda took a page from that book in creating this. I think there are options out there for crafters to get that high end look, but for a reasonable price (this cost me about $16 bucks to make) rather than paying an arm and a leg for something storebought. It’s worth it…you just have to know what you are looking for and watch out for sales (oh, and 40% off coupons help too).

Here’s how I did it….

Supplies:
Medium sized styrofoam wreath blank
2 long black feather boas
3 small silver glitter plastic ornaments
3 sm/medium purple glitter plastic ornaments
3 large round glass orange ornaments
25-30 small padded protectors (they keep lamp bases, frames, etc. from scuffing hardwood)
Black Americana acrylic writer
Black spray paint
1 sharpie marker
Glue gun with glue sticks

1. Glue gun end of feather boa to styrofoam wreath. Wrap around half of wreath and glue other end in place. Glue gun and wrap second boa around wreath blank until entire wreath is covered in feathers.

2. Spray paint sheet of padded protectors. Once dry, randomly stick on orange ornaments for “flocked” look.

3. Create large swirls on purple sparkle ornaments with black writer. Set upright in small container or on an ornament hanger and let dry.

4. Draw stripes on small silver balls with sharpie marker.

5. Once all ornaments are dry, adhere ornaments to styrofoam part of wreath with glue gun. Fluff feathers around each ornament after glue is applied to make styrofoam area unnoticeable. Let dry.

Helpful hint: Store wreath in an ornament wreath keeper to prevent loose feathers or damage to ornaments. Since the orange ornaments are glass, they should be handled with care and stored accordingly.

Hope you find this project enlightening and it gets you excited about crafting for Halloween. It’s my favorite holiday if you didn’t already know! Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

All content/photos copyright, © Alexa L. Westerfield, 2008