Marbled Blacklight Pumpkin DIY

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If you’re a pumpkin crafter, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of nail polish pumpkins.  The thing with nail polish pumpkins; however, is that you have very little polish to work with and you generally can only dip smaller-sized pumpkins with them.  Also I personally think using nail polish is a lot more stinkier than spray paint (this may be a personal preference).  Anyway, after seeing this post a few years back Alisa Burke marbleizing paper and ornaments, I knew I wanted to try it with a pumpkin and I’m actually happy with how mine turned out.  Let me show you how easy and fun these are to make!

What you need:

— faux pumpkin
— various colors of spray paint (I used neon so they’d look good under blacklight)
— large bin filled with water
— Gloves (get the gloves, see below)

Before you begin:
Fill a large plastic bin with water. You want enough water so you can submerge your entire pumpkin.

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Spray the first color on top. It will spread out as you spray into a halo shape in the water.
Keep spraying and adding more colors till the surface of the water is totally filled with colors.
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Once you’ve sprayed the surface, immediately dip your pumpkin.
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It takes a little force to push the pumpkin below the water.  It was hard for me to capture on camera, but once your pumpkin is totally dunked, you need to pull it up lifting off the paint from the surface of the water.
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If there’s an area of the pumpkin that you’ve missed, you can dunk it back in and focus on that area. You may layer over top of a. section you’ve already covered, but because this is abstract and random, it’s hard to mess it up!
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Remember when I said you needed gloves. This is why.  I got the spray paint on my hand and it took a couple days for it totally to be off my hand. There was a lot of hand washing those two days. LOL.

Here’s what it looked like when I set up my blacklight.  I was wanting the neon to really pop and pop it did!  I am looking forward to putting this in my glowing decorations this Halloween!

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Over 35 Swell Halloween Projects Compiled!

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!

The Return of Terrorific Tuesday!

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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

Halloween crafting starts early in the house of swell!

Tonight I spent 3 hours or so doing Halloween crafting…wanna see what I made?

I made 2 tulle/felt/button headbands and several ring stacks ready for their blanks!

halloween headband 1

halloween headband 2

future halloween rings

So what does this really mean? Well, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve I want to share:

– I plan on once again doing Terrorific Tuesday. I’ll be sharing details in the next couple of weeks how you can get in on the action and share in the love of Halloween Crafting! I want to give you a bit of a headstart. I know holidays can be hectic!

– I plan on opening an Etsy site exclusively selling my Halloween goods. I have a couple of weeks to get it up and going…I plan on selling the goods above on there, so stay tuned. I’ll let you know when it’s prepared to launch.

– And finally, I’m taking on a big endeavor…early to mid October, I will be posting 24 Halloween craft ideas in 24 hours! More than likely it will be on a Wednesday or Thursday, but I will keep you informed. And don’t worry, I can set my blog up so that I can save posts ahead of time and for them to be launched at a certain time. I used to think that you had to physically go in and post a blog every hour. Man, that wouldn’t be any fun!

Hope you are excited about these future Halloween crafts I plan on sharing. Are you busy working on any of your own, or am I the only nut out here doing stuff ahead of time?

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Terrorific Tuesday: Week 4

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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!

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Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Super easy polka dot treat cups

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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