Over 35 Swell Halloween Projects Compiled!

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Over the past few years, I’ve created a lot of crafts, especially Halloween crafts! There’s something about Halloween and the fact that it’s a bit funky/silly/spooky and subversive that I connect with. I love that it is a time that people get to express themselves in a different way and just have fun!

I wanted to compile all these projects for you to enjoy over the Halloween season. I know I’m already starting to think about my Halloween craft projects and I’m betting you are too, so enjoy these ideas and check back to my blog for more inspiration and ideas in the next couple of months leading up to Halloween!

halloween 13

Dollar Store Candle Charger

Snooki Halloween Pumpkin

Twilight Cupcake Stand

halloween 14

Candy Corn Cupcake Stand

Cupcake Wrapper Wreath

Upcycled Starbucks Vase


Simple Halloween Button Earrings

Decopauged Halloween Tissue Ornaments

Deviled Egg Halloween Costume

halloween 14

Green Slime Lantern

Easy Halloween Ribbon/Button Bracelet

Spooktastic Halloween Pennants


Simple Halloween Button Earrings

Decopauged Halloween Tissue Ornaments

Deviled Egg Halloween Costume

Glitter Boo Banner

Mini Grim Reaper Glitter Trinket Box

Bewitching Plaque

Halloween Pennant Cupcake Picks

The Easiest Halloween T-shirt you’ll ever make

A Halloween Costume Masterpiece

Easy Stripe and Polka Dot Pumpkins

Dark Shadows Photo Frame

Vintage Halloween Character Ornaments

Halloween Sticker Crafts

Frightfully Funky Feather Wreath

Polaroid Pumpkins

Breast Cancer Awareness Pumpkins

Halloween Swirly Doily Purse

Halloween Spooky Swirl Vase

Fun and Funky Halloween Doodle/Star Earrings

Veggie Head Halloween Party Idea

Halloween Composition Notebook

Diva Witch Canvas

Ribbon Fascinators

Glow in the Dork Wall Hanging

Pumpkin Dip

Black Cat Pendant

Doodle Pumpkin

Polka Dot Treat Cups

My Octomom Costume

Halloween Cup Labels

Bloody Pumpkins

Cute CD Cupcake Stand

Halloween Cupcake Picks

More projects coming soon!

Halloween Spooky Swirl Vase

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Make a sophisticated and spooky vase on the cheap! It will be the perfect accent for your Halloween dinner table. Here’s how I did it!

Halloween Spooky Swirl Vase

What you need:
– tall cylinder vase
– orange 12×12 cardstock
– black diecut swirl cardstock (I purchased mine at Joann)
– Aleene’s Tacky Spray
– paper cutter
– ruler
– double-sided tape

What you do:<
1. Spray the back of your diecut cardstock and place on top of orange cardstock.
2. Measure the height of your cylinder vase. Cut paper to that height using paper cutter.
3. Wrap around cylinder vase and secure in place with double-sided tape.

Fill with your favorite floral arrangement. I chose flowers in fuchsias and orange; however you may want to use faux flowers or black roses.

In honor of my 24 Halloween crafts in 24 hours, I’m giving away a Swell & Spooktastic Halloween prize pack. Click here to check it out and enter!

Check back next hour for another spooktastic Halloween idea!

Alexa

Spooktastic Halloween Pennants

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halloween pennants

Here’s a cute project I did a couple years back…I really had a blast making these and they are a quick evening craft. If you love making pennants and banners, you will love making these!

The idea for these was sparked after I saw these at a local bookstore…

Original pennant design

I really loved them, but didn’t like the price tag ($8 each), so I got my crafty thinking cap on and decided to make my own (with my friend Lorilyn’s help). Here’s what I did!

Spooktastic Halloween pennants

What you need:
– wooden kabob sticks
– black cardstock
– white or cream cardstock (I used 8.5″ x 11″ size)
– scrap printer paper
– gold glitter
– 1″ wooden Woodsie balls
– Aleene’s Tacky Spray
– gold metallic paint
– decorative edged pinking shear-like paper scissors
– scissors or cutting knife (with mat)
– ruler
– pencil

What you do:
1. Find a fun and spooky font that looks gothic in nature (peruse www.dafont.com for ideas and free downloads).
2. Lay out spooky sayingsideways in word processing program or Photoshop and print out onto scrap sheet of printer paper. Use pencil and ruler to draw out pennant shape around text and cut out with scissors.
3. Print out onto saying onto white or cream cardstock. Lay down pattern you just created and lightly pencil around it.
4. Using Aleene’s Tacky Spray, spray pennant shape to black cardstock. Using cutting knife on mat, cut around pennant and leave approx. 3/4″ black border. Cut around border with paper pinking shear-like scissors. Set aside.
5. Paint balls and kabob sticks with gold metallic paint. While ball is wet, sprinkle on gold glitter to ball. Position balls on end of kabob sticks. If they don’t fit exactly, wrap end of kabob stick with a couple layers of tape and then securely place ball at end. Let paint dry completely.
6. Cut two slits with craft knife for kabob to poke through (refer to picture). Poke kabob through holes.

Here’s how I displayed my pennants a couple of years ago:

Entryway

My friend Donna Bush made my pretty Pixie portrait (for visitors of my blog, Pixie is my cat).

In honor of my 24 Halloween crafts in 24 hours, I’m giving away a Swell & Spooktastic Halloween prize pack. Click here to check it out and enter!

Check back next hour for another spooktastic craft idea!

Alexa

The Return of Terrorific Tuesday!

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terrorific tuesday banner

Well, it’s about that time of year again and I’m excited to announce that Terrorific Tuesday is back this year!

Yes, you still have about a month til we actually start sharing the linky love, but I’m announcing this now so that you can get your Halloween thinking caps on and so that you plan accordingly. I know how hard it is to do a last minute project on the fly, so hopefully this will be a way for you to have a little more time in creating your craft, art, and inspirational projects!

For those who are new to Terrorific Tuesday…here’s the deal: Each week during the month of October, I ask you to post a Halloween project/craft/food craft/anything creative and centering around Halloween on your blog. I then compile all the posts of various participants and make a mini photo mosaic along with the links to each project. I then send you the code for you to insert into your blog on Tuesday, thus why it is called “Terrorific Tuesdays”. This is a way for you to be inspired each and every Tuesday during the month and share in the joy of Halloween creativity!

Still a little confused? Here’s the posts I compiled for each of the weeks last year…

Terrorific Tuesday Week 1
Terrorific Tuesday Week 2
Terrorific Tuesday Week 3
Terrorific Tuesday Week 4

This year, I’m doing things a bit different. I’m compiling a Yahoo group so that it will be easier for me to compile all the entries. Also, I’m asking that everyone who has a project to feature send me their link by Sunday night. This gives me Monday evening to compile all the projects (last year I was up to 2am working on the compilation and it was kinda stressful – hopefully everyone having their links up on Sunday will make things a little less hairy).

I’m not going to any more of the details right now, but if you are interested in participating, please e-mail me at swelldesigner@yahoo.com and I’ll send you an invite to the group. Once on the Yahoo group page, you will see a section called “Files” and I’ve posted “TT Guidelines” on there that further outline what you need to do to participate!

If you are still confused, please e-mail me directly at swelldesigner@yahoo.com and I’ll try to answer any questions you may have! I really hope you decide to participate, even if it is just for one week during the month of October! I can’t wait to see what you have “brewed” up!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Terrorific Tuesday: Week 4

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terrorific-tuesday-week-4

This month has flown by as fast as a witch on her broom! Can you believe we’ve completed 4 Terrorific Tuesdays?? Well, unfortunately this is the last Terrorific Tuesday of the year and I’d like to thank everyone who participated and shared their project or idea! Hopefully everyone had some fun and got some good traffic to their site…oh, and I also hope everyone came away from this with some positive inspiration and ideas up their sleeve for the few final days of the holiday and next year too! I wish that all my ideas could come to be by October 31st. I really do try my darndest, but I can’t do it all! I know you guys probably feel that way too! Doing a project a week is a LOT of work. All the designers and artists who participated know this…so for you non-artist or crafter types, this stuff doesn’t magically brew itself up! It’s the result of a dash of time and patience, a pinch of technical know-how, and a handful of creativity! Mix all that in with a whole lot of passion and you’ve got a wonderful brew!

So without further fanfare (and melted cheese), I present to you the fourth and final Terrorific Thursday!

Spooky Jewels Katie Hacker strings this red and black set using a Fresh resin pendant, polka dots, and metal skulls.

Fangtastic figurines Retta a.k.a. Attercat breaks out the polymer clay and whips up some glow-in-the-dark figurines.

Cool canister Serena the Crafty Mom revamps a bargain bin canister into an awesome Halloween decoration!

Gothic Pink Melissa J. Lee explores the spooky side of one of her favorite pastel colors.

“Eye”gor pin cushion Kiki of Kiki’s Craft World knits up this eye-catching pin cushion bracelet.

Stamped paper coffin Kate Pullen, the Rubber Stamping Guide at about.com folds and stamps up this little coffin box that Dracula would envy!

Fun party food ideas Amy at Living Locurto threw a Halloween party and came up with tons of great ideas for the food table including this adorable witch cake!

Double the goodness from Margot! The Impatient Crafter™’s final Terrorific Tuesday offering is a two part story of friendship, Goth Style. Here are links to see Morticia Invites Miss Havisham to Tea and The Invitation.

Spiderman pendant (but not the Spiderman you’re thinking) Kim Ripley a.k.a. Stoopidgerl pours up a glittery sweet skull and crossbones resin necklace.

Quick & easy polka dot treat cups Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner shows you how to make quick and easy Halloween treat cups sure to wow your guests!

3 brand new Halloween jewelry projects! Tammy Powley, the Jewelry Guide at About.com does an all-nighter (almost) as she pushes for a few more Halloween jewelry projects, including a super cool sterling silver spider, a glass framed mixed-media Halloween-themed pendant, and to top it off, a silver headless skeleton charm.

Fast & Fun Halloween Boa Sarah E. White, About.com’s Knitting Guide knits up this super cute boa perfect for those chilly fall nights!

Dia De Los Muertos Cigar Box Shrine Kathy Cano-Murillo a.k.a. The Crafty Chica honors the Day of the Dead with this beautiful shrine.

Happy Haunting Greeting Card Phyllis Dobbs treats us once again with this cute Halloween card, perfect for all your favorite goblins!

Gypsy Traditions Lorilyn Hurley of the Dream Life shares a touching story of her family’s love for Halloween & their passion for playing dress up at their annual party!

Boo Bucket Michelle McGee crafts up a spooky and scary bucket that will leave goose bumps on all your guests!

Vintage Postcard Banner
Kris Tuey aka: the Collage Contessa has made it official. Now you know exactly what time it is when you walk into her house. It’s HALLOWEEN time! This vintage project using fun Halloween postcards is so simple you can even entice the kids to help as well!

Fall Wall Hanging
Kim of Sew Sugary Sweet stitches this wonderful and whimsical wall hanging for her Fall Swap partner.

Honestly, this was a lot of work for me to do. I’m not sure at this point if I will do this again next year. I don’t want to say for sure yes, but it’s a possibility. I may try to do a big post around early December as well packed with great Christmas projects, but I’m afraid a project a week for December is just too much for me to coordinate. I’m sure you guys understand! If anyone has suggestions or would like to do the links and I do the graphic, I might be up for that. I just don’t think I can do it all. I’d be open to your suggestions…so e-mail me at swelldesigner@yahoo.com

And in closing, I say farewell to Terrorific Tuesdays and so does my precious little black cat Pixie!

bw-pixie

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Super easy polka dot treat cups

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Favorable

Halloween décor and party favors shouldn’t break the bank! I’m always scoping out ways to create quick easy crafts on the cheap and I did just that with this project. These would be perfect for party favors or handing out candy to kids at school or trick or treaters. Also, this is an idea you can take into other seasons as well! Choose red silo cups for Christmas or yellow ones for little Easter favor baskets! Fun and simple!

Super Easy polka dot treat cups

Supplies:
– Silo cups
– Americana Acrylic paint in color of choice
– hole punch
– pipe cleaners in colors of your choice
– tulle in color of choice
– pouncer brush
– paint palette or paper plate

Instructions:
1. Load pouncer brush with paint and dab off excess onto plate or paper towel. Pounce dots all over cups randomly. Let dry.
2. Pounce two holes on opposite sides with hole punch. Insert pipe cleaner through holes and twist to for a secure handle.
3. Wrap small strip of tulle in a bow or knot at top of pipe cleaner.
4. Fill with candy or treats and delight your ghouls and goblins!

Check back tomorrow for the final Terrorific Tuesday roundup! I hope you’ve enjoyed all these little roundups. It’s been a lot of work, but very fun and everyone who has participated seems to have really enjoyed doing it!

Have a happy Monday!

Alexa

Terrorific Tuesday: October Week 1

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terrorific mosaic

Yep, it’s that time. It’s the first official post of Terrorific Tuesday!!! Eleven artists posted projects over the past week on their blogs in celebration of their love for all things Halloween. The pics above are in order with the links below, so check out these spooky and inspiring projects by some of the most inspired crafters on the “web”.

Eye of Newt Necklace Melissa J. Lee treats us to this stunning necklace filled to the brim with lots of texture and gothic appeal!

Halloween Knitting Patterns Sarah E. White whips up some insanely fun knitting patterns on her About.com Knitting Blog. Learn how to knit a ghost, pumpkin hat, Halloween bag and more!

Spooky Googly Eyed Crafts Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner creates 6 projects which includes a frame, pumpkin, and fashion accessories with her crafty stash of googly eyes.

Trick-or-Treat Candy Pot Phyllis Dobbs paints up an adorable pot that will make all the little ghosts and goblins smile.

Owl & Witch Halloween Cards Brenda Pinnick uses her Sizzix dies to craft these totally spooky cards. So swell!

Franky Halloween Card Marice Rodriguez crafts up this adorable glittery and colorful Halloween concoction on her Flickr page.

Resin Halloween Cabochons Tammy Powley’s experiment with resin turns out to be a success! Check out her adorable cabochons and ideas for using them on her About.com Jewelry Making Blog.

Pumpkins & Swirls Halloween Candle Kate Pullen shows you how to make this beautifully-inspired candle using simple rubber stamping techniques on her About.com Rubber Stamping Blog.

Crystal Web Necklace Margot Potter a.k.a. The Impatient Crafter wins the webby award with this dramatic necklace using CRYSTALLIZED™-Swarovski elements and Beadalon silver plated wire.

Happy Haunting Collage Lorilyn Hurley of the Dream Life creates this collage filled with vintage goodness and an oh-so-risque flying witch!

Halloween Ephemera Collage Christina Tuey a.k.a. the Collage Contessa shares her artful wall hanging filled with all kinds of whimsical Halloween goodness.

If you’d like to participate, please read more about it here. It’s open to all bloggers out there who want to join in!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Ornament Thursday: Something’s brewing up!

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cute witch canvas

This month, we didn’t have as many Thursdays in September, so I totally flaked on Ornament THursday! I got caught up with other things. So my project is a day late, and a dollar short, huh?

The theme for Ornament Thursday this month is “Brew”. so I decided to share this project that I did last year that I posted on myspace. I wanted to create a retro witch wall hanging that was cute and fun and divalicious. I haven’t gotten her out yet for this year, but hopefully will in the next week!

RETRO WITCH WALL HANGING

SUPPLIES

Americana Acrylic Paints:

Jack O’ Lantern Orange

Royal Fuchsia

Bahama Blue

Flesh Tone

Cherry Red

Americana Acrylic Writer:

Black

Dazzling Metallics Paints:

Purple Pearl

Ice Blue

Craft Twinkles Paints:

Purple (DCT15)

Orange (DCT13)

Crystal (DCT1)

Christmas Red

Brushes:

Flat brush, liner brush

Surface:

8×10 white art canvas

Additional Supplies:

Fuchsia sequins

12 small crystal rhinestones

1 large purple rhinestone

1 medium crystal rhinestone

1 starbust sparkle

Sakura Gelly Writer Silver Pen

craft glue

Water basin

paper towels

paper plate

tracing paper

pencil

Sharpie marker (optional – see optional ideas section)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Draw or trace onto canvas

2. Paint in face area using Flesh Tone.

3. Squeeze out Black writer onto plate and paint hair, inside glasses area and hat stripes (refer to photo)

4. Paint around glasses Royal Fuschia.

5. Paint lips Cherry Red.

6. Paint hat brim and stripes Purple Pearl.

7. Paint wider stripe just above brim Jack O’ Lantern orange.

8. Paint background Ice Blue.

9. When background is done, paint stars Bahama Blue and swirls Royal Fuchsia.

10. Paint stripes on side of canvas alternating between orange and black.

11. Use black writer to outline hair, neck, chin, nose, and hat. Let dry.

12. Use silver pen to add details around stars, swirls, and for reflection on glasses.

13. Use matching twinkle color to paint over selected areas…For Purple Pearl, Purple Twinkles; Cherry, Red; Jack O’ Lantern, Orange Twinkles; and Black, I mixed it up and gave it a purple twinkle tint as well. For stars, Ice Crystal twinkles was used.

14. Once all is done, adhere sequins and embellishments with craft glue.

OPTIONAL IDEAS:

1. Glue gun a matching tulle or grosgrain ribbon to the top of your canvas for hanging.

2. Use a Craft Twinkles paint pot instead of buying every single color of Twinkles or get a similar effect by just applying Ice Crystal Twinkles over selected areas.

3. For finer details (instead of using Black Americana Writer), use Sharpie Marker.

Also, I can put the pattern if anyone wants it on my flickr. I will have to draw it up though. So, if you’d like to have it, please e-mail me at swelldesigner@yahoo.com.

Here’s what the other ladies of Ornament Thursday have brewed up!

Art Bead Scene
Jennifer’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Bracelet

BeadStyle & Milwaukee’s heritage
Linda shares her Amber Bock Bracelet

Brewin’ Up A Few Witches
Witches born of glass

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
New Beads are Brewing…

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble…
Joolz by Lisa has a “Hairy” Twist on OT Brew

It’s not easy being green
Michelle yearns to be the Wicked Witch of the West – we think she’s hit pay dirt here.

Strands of Beads
Something wicked is brewing at Melissa’s place

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

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

Join me for Terrorific Tuesdays!

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terrorific tuesday banner

If you haven’t already guessed I just love Halloween! I would call myself the queen, but I’ll settle for princess (I do have the tiara after all). And I have my own black cat too! That’s my cat Pixie in the banner above, the official mascot of Terrorific Tuesdays. She’s actually more of a scaredy cat than a scary cat!

If you have been reading my blog for a couple of months, you may have noticed that I’ve been posting a project each Tuesday and titling it my Terrorific Tuesday project. Well, I wanted to expand upon this idea and open it up to all my blog friends out on the “web”! I wanted to create a blog circle for October focusing on Halloween crafts and ideas. Tons of people are looking for clever ideas during this season in every shape and form and I wanted to create a positive, happy network of crafters for that!

You can choose as little or as much as you want to participate. I don’t want this to be something you stress over! Halloween is supposed to be FUN after all!

All I ask is that you please contact me and atleast let me know that you are interested so that I won’t be surprised last minute by someone I don’t know.

Guidelines:

1. Project can be a new or old idea. There will be no set theme from week to week. You can choose to include or not include instructions in your post, but I do ask that you post a photo and a brief description or explanation as to why you were inspired to make that particular project.

Consider one of the following ideas for your post:
– home décor
– jewelry/accessories
– spooky food and drink recipes
– party and table decor
– clever costumes
– cards and paper crafts
– invitations
– outdoor décor
– pumpkin carving/painting

2. I want to keep this simple for everyone. I don’t want there to have to be a set day of the week that you post your project. For example, if you want to post your project on the Friday prior to October 6th, that’s fine, just send me the URL to that post via direct message on twitter (swelldesigner) or e-mail (swelldesigner@yahoo.com). If you want to be included in the Terrorific Tuesday Halloween Crafts and Ideas Roundup for that week, the absolute deadline is 6pm (Eastern time) on each Monday of October 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th. I will send a reminder on Monday morning on Twitter. Please get it to me each Monday by 6pm, or expect to have your project left off the roundup until the following week.

On that Monday evening, I will compile all the links and create a cute photo mosaic of all the featured projects and write up copy for everyone to use on their blogs. I will e-mail you back late Monday evening this info for you to be able to post in your blogs on Tuesday.

As you probably already know, I like promotion, so I’ll try to stir up some interest on the “web” after our first post! Hopefully it will generate excitement, while also generating us some positive traffic.

Here’s a little button I made for you to be able to promote this fun roundup on your web site. Click on it and it will take you to the HTML code and the Hot link information that you can then copy and paste into your own web site.

terrorific web banner for promotion

I can’t wait to see what you guys “brew” up!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa