{Free} Halloween Costume E-Book

Are you thinking about Halloween Costumes yet?   All Free Holiday Crafts has put together a fun e-book filled with tutorials for 14 different Halloween costumes to make at home and it's FREE!

 "Creative and Cute Halloween Costumes:

14 Costume Ideas to Make at Home" eBook

Quoted from All Free Holiday Crafts:  "In this free, downloadable eBook of 14 Costume Ideas to Make at Home, you'll find everything from adorable character costumes to cute animal-themed outfits and so many more creative and cute Halloween costumes, we can't even begin to name them all!"

The little cardboard box train costume (with a real working light) that I made for my son(s) is one of the costumes featured in the e-book, go check it out, it's a fun one. :)

Todays Fabulous Find:   

Creative and Cute Halloween Costumes [FREE] eBook

Featuring: Book Page Pumpkin

Kara at Creations by Kara has shared some fantastic craft ideas (and delicious recipes too), so it was no surprise when she posted this fabulous Book Page Pumpkin.  It's creative, fun, and best of all easy and inexpensive to make! 

You can read about how she made it here, or go ahead and watch the video of her TV appearance here.  She did a great job!  So hurry and go visit Kara to learn how to make one of these cute pumpkins for your fall decor, party decorations, or as a special gift for a friend or teacher. :)

Today's Fabulous Find...Book Page Pumpkin

Fall Burlap Wreath

I've been busy today putting up some Fall decor and couldn't wait to show you how I spiffied up the burlap bubble wreath for Fall.  It's all dressed up now and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

Yesterday I went to JoAnn's to look for a zipper pull, well I didn't buy a zipper pull, but I did buy some fun things for Fall.  Isn't that how things usually go?  All of the Fall flowers were 50% off, so I took advantage of the sale and picked up some berries for $1.00 each, and a stem of flowers for $1.50.

I think it's just what the wreath needed to brighten it up.  I just bent the stems, poked them right into the foam wreath in-between the burlap bubbles, and then used a straight pin to attach the flower to the burlap.

Every time I walk by my little decorative door now, that yellow sunflower catches my eye and it actually makes me feel happy.  Crazy, but true. :)

Today's Fabulous Find...Fall Burlap Wreath

Linking up to...

Centsational Girl's Fall Craft Party
Finding Fabulous
Door Decor Fall Party at Southern Hospitality
Tator Tots and Jello
Just A Girl
My Repurposed Life

Under the Table and Dreaming

I Heart Naptime

Skip to My Lou

The Girl Creative

Dittle Dattle

Today's Creative Blog

Someday Crafts
Creations by Kara
House of Hepworths
Somewhat Simple

The Idea Room

Celebrating One Year of Blogging!

It's hard to believe, but Today's Fabulous Finds is one year old today!  

One year ago today I made the decision to click on the little box to make this blog public for all to see. Boy, was I ever nervous! My heart was racing as I wondered if I was ready, if I knew enough about computers to figure out what I needed to know, and most of all, if anyone would even be interested in what I had to share.  (That was a big one.)

I was in unfamiliar territory and had little knowledge about writing a blog, very little.   It's probably good that I was so naive at first or I don't know if I would have had the courage to do it.  Over the last year I've learned so much. Google searches provided me with an answer to almost every question that I had. I learned how to make my own header, what a gadget was, and I even learned what an HTML code is.  Like I said, I really didn't know much!   Every single day I continue to learn something new.  This is one of the biggest reasons why I love blogging.  Another huge reason would be how great it feels to have a way to share with others and also to promote others creative ideas.

Over the past year, Today's Fabulous Finds has had a few different looks, wanna see?  There were a couple others at the first, but I'm too embarrassed to show them to you. :)

Past and Present Header Designs

 

It's crazy to think that over the last year, this blog has had over 500,000 page views.  Are you curious what people were looking at?  Ya, probably not so much, but I was. :)

 

All-time Top 10 Posts

#1  Paint Stick Ornaments

The paint stick ornaments post has been in my top 10 (of the week) over on the sidebar since the day I posted them.  They never dropped out once, not even during the summer months.  This post alone has been viewed over 25,000 times, so I expect there may be a few of them hanging from Christmas trees this Christmas, which is so exciting to me! 

#2  Burlap Bubble Wreath

I took a chance with this one, declaring that I wanted to bring back the 90's bubble wreath, lol!  I don't know, but I think we did it. ;)  Thanks for your help! 

#3  Valentine Subway Art

This print is one of my favorites.  It's the first time that I added a color accent.

#4  Crepe Paper Flowers

#5  15 Gift Ideas Under $2

#6  January Subway Art

#7  St. Patrick's Day Subway Art

#8  Gift Idea:  Game Night in a Bag

#9  Christmas Subway Art

#10  Spring Subway Art

As a stay at home mom, blogging has been a wonderful way to continue learning and a fun hobby to keep me busy. Wow, has it kept me busy! I had no idea.   I also didn't realize that I could actually make friends through blogging or that I'd have so many opportunities to get to know women with similar interests from all around the world. What an amazing opportunity this has been!

Thanks to those of you who have left me kind and encouraging comments or have featured one of my projects, they made my day! 

I apologize that I don't have any wonderful, huge giveaways for you today, that would have been nice I know.   What I do have for you though is my great appreciation for making this such a positive and fun experience. :)  I look forward to seeing what's coming ahead!

 

Thank you for reading Today's Fabulous Finds!   

Square Block Pumpkin {Tutorial}

I mentioned in the Fall Subway Art post, that I thought it would be fun to display the prints in a new way and decided to just tape the print to a wood pumpkin.  I didn't take pictures of the steps this time, but I think it's pretty easy to see how it's done if you decide to make one.  

Supplies

Square block of wood
(This block is from a 2 x 6 which really measures @5 1/2" square.)

Paint and Foam Brush

Scrapbook Paper

Ribbon

Sand paper

Distress Ink or Dark Stain

Mod Podge and a Foam Brush to apply

Small piece from a branch

Reindeer Moss (or whatever you have on hand)

Leaves to embellish (wood, fabric, or artificial)

Craft Wire

4" x 5" Photo (optional)

When I was at JoAnn Fabrics the other day I saw this bunch of painted wood leaves.  They were priced at $7.99 and then were 40% off.  I already had a purpose for the larger leaves and thought the smaller ones would look great on a little wood pumpkin. 

Directions

1. Sand the edges of the block (an electric sander gets the job done quickly)
2. Wipe off any sawdust with a damp rag or paper towel.
3. Paint.  (I bought one of Lowes sample paints in black to try and was impressed with how much nicer the paint looked when applied than acrylic craft paint.)
4. Allow paint to fully dry. 
5. Sand all of the edges and corners to distress.
6. Wipe over the edges with an ink pad (dark walnut works well) or with some dark stain on a rag.
7. Cut out a piece of scrapbook paper about 3/8-1/2 inch smaller than the wood block.  Run an ink pad over the edges to give it a distressed look.  (I used scrapbook paper from a book by My Minds Eye, that was discontinued, but I just saw some really cute Fall prints at the craft store.  I'm sure you'll find something that you'll like, most likely even cuter than the paper I used.)
8. Apply Mod Podge to the front of the wood block and press your scrapbook paper down over it.  Allow to dry.
9. Mod Podge over the scrapbook paper running your brush in the same direction.  Then with a dry brush, run it in the opposite direction to give it a mat look.
10. For the stem, cut off a small section from a branch (large pruning shears will work or a small hand saw) and hot glue it to the top center of the block.
11. Use wire to attach the leaves.  Curl the ends around a pencil.
12. Hot glue moss around the stem.
13. Cut a length of ribbon long enough to go around the block and hot glue or tape it together in the back.  (I bought this ribbon at JoAnn's in the Fall section.)
14. Tape or use sticky tack to add a photo, quote, etc.

When I was done, my daughter said, "Mom, you know that pumpkins aren't black don't you?"  Yes, it's true, generally pumpkins aren't black, but I painted the block thinking I'd make something else with it and then was too lazy to repaint it orange when I decided to make a pumpkin with it instead.  I'm okay with a black pumpkin, I'm really not too picky, at least when it comes to pumpkins.  ;)

 For more ideas, here are links to the [orange] 2x4 pumpkins that I made last year.

2x4 Pumpkins

 Fall Pumpkin Patch

Today's Fabulous Find...Wood Pumpkins

Linking up to these fun parties...

Under the Table and Dreaming --Annual Pumpkin Parade Party
The DIY Showoff

Tator Tots and Jello

Chic on a Shoestring

Funky Junk Interiors
Home Stories A to Z
Creations by Kara