10 Favorite Fall & Halloween Tutorials {plus a little something for you}

 

Tomorrow is September and, in my mind, the beginning of Fall. 

And since I'm such a Halloween Freak -- I am excited for Halloween!! 

The other day the new Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts Magazine came in the mail -- and I was excited and honored to have my {Creepy} Specimen Art included in this issue.  

So fun!! 

This issue has a many fun Halloween ideas PLUS 78 Winter Holiday projects -- including ornaments, wreaths, pillows and stockings!!

And all the info on how to make the projects, including patterns for many. 

So, in the spirit of Fall and Halloween, here are 10 of my past Fall and Halloween projects to get you in the Autumn mood: 

 {Ruffled Fabric Pumpkins}

 

{Fall Reversible Candy Corn Bunting}

{Modern 3-D Fall Wreath}

{Fall Wreath Redo}

 {Dollar Store Painted Pumpkins}

{Halloween Ribbon Wreath}

{Spooky Subway Art}

{Painted Halloween Pennant Pillows}

{Pumpkin Topiary}

I'm so excited for Cooler Weather, Wearing Boots and Soup in the Crock Pot!

I have a copy of Holiday Crafts for one of YOU! 

**To enter -- all you need to do is leave a comment with what YOU love most about Fall! 

Have a Wonderful Day!! 

xoxo

PS -- I will be sharing my first Halloween Project tomorrow over at the Halloween Spooktacular at eighteen25. It's going to be fun!!!

Guest Project -- Make Soldered Pendants {tutorial}

 Hi! I'm Malory from Snips & Spice. I am so excited to be here today at Tatertots and Jello!

  For Mother's Day, I wanted to create a pretty, soldered pin for my sister-in-law.  

She has the two cutest kids!  George (curious George) also made the cut because he goes everywhere the kids do.  I placed a cute picture on one side of each pendant, then a colorful background on the other.  There are lots of fancy alphabets and backgrounds on Etsy that you can purchase if you want something already done, or you could use drawings of your own.

To make a this soldered pendant pin, you will need the following items:

1.       Soldering iron

2.       Metal tray & sponge with water (I found the tray at the dollar store)

3.       Small clamp

4.       Solder

5.       Foiling tape

6.       Memory glass (I used 1 inch squares)

7.       Tinning flux

8.       Printout of whatever you want in your necklace (not pictured)

9.       Q-tips (not pictured)

10.    Tweezers (not pictured)

11.    Pin (not pictured)

12.    Jewelry rings (not pictured)

You should be able to find all of these at your local craft store.  

Don't worry, this is actually much easier than it looks.  

Are you ready?  Plug in the soldering iron to heat, and let's go!

• Cut your paper/photos to fit your glass pieces.  You want the paper slightly smaller than the glass.  Place your two images back to back and sandwich between the glass pieces. 

• Cut a piece of foiling tape about 4 and 1/4 inches.  Tape around the edge of the glass.  Flatten the foil all around the edge, and wrap on each side.  You may want to use the back of a spoon, or a popsicle stick to make sure the foil is stuck down.

• Rub a q-tip in the flux, and rub a thin layer of flux over all of the foil.  This is what makes the solder stick to the foil.

• Unroll some solder from the coil.  Melt solder onto the tip of the iron, then rub a thin layer of solder onto the foil.  Cover the foil completely.  (If the tip of your soldering iron is not shiny, melt solder on it, then wipe on the wet sponge)

• Rub a little more flux where you want to connect your ring.  Hold the ring with your tweezers, and solder to your pendant.

• Now you can add your pendant to your pin.  Repeat with the rest of your pendants, then wear or give as a gift!

Some tips:

• don’t touch anything with your fingers—it’s hot!


• don’t mess too much with the solder once it’s on the pendant


• if you have any sharp bumps, file with a nail file


• if you have any gunk on your glass, clean with rubbing alcohol


• if you have black spots on your solder, rub with steel wool


• have fun with this—it’s not a perfect craft

 

Thanks for letting me visit today!  I would love for you to stop by and visit me at Snips & Spice!

 Thanks for the great tutorial, Malory!! 

I have always wanted to learn how to solder jewelry! 

Some other things that I love Malory has made are: 

{Felt Rose Tutorial}

 {Zipper Rose Tutorial}

{Anthropologie-inspired Tote}

Pop over to Snips & Spice and say hi!! 

xoxo

PS -- have you heard about Mandi's Epic Giveaway over at Vintage Revivals?? She will come to your home and make over a room. Check it out.

Guest Post -- make a Nautical, Anthro-inspired Necklace!! {tutorial}

 Hi, I'm Nina from Momma
Go Round, and I'm SO excited to be here today with Jen!
 

Since day one of my blogging adventure I've looked up to Jen, so it's a real
honor to be on TT&J!

Momma Go Round is
all about the miracles, milestones, and meltdowns of
motherhood. I love to figure out my style in my series Real
Momma, Real Style, share crazy tales of life with a 2 year old, my
weight loss journey, recipes, things I love, and of course crafts!

Flutter
Flower Shirt Tutorial

Composition
Book Cover Tutorial

Today I would like to share with you my latest Anthropologie
knock off inspired necklace!

Pleated Bead Necklace

Fabric - Large Round Beads - Scissors - Thread - Needle

Cut a strip down the length of your fabric that is twice as
wide as your beads. My beads were about 1/2 inch in diameter, so I cut
my strip 1 inch thick.

Iron your strip in
half.

Leaving a few
inches at the end, fold strip into two pleats and stitch through.
(My fabric was 42 inches, so I needed
to leave a tail to attach another strip to tie off the necklace. If
you are lucky enough to have a fabric from a longer bolt, you may want
to leave more of a tail for tie off)

Feed bead onto needle and stitch through.

Add two more
pleats to the other end of the bead and stitch through. Then stitch
back through both sets of pleats and the bead.

Continue until you have desired number of beads. If you got
lucky and have long enough fabric, you could stop here by simply tying
off the ends. I was not so fortunate, so I had to add some
on.

I simply knotted on additional strips of fabric to the tails
of the beaded strip.

I LOVE my new Anthro necklace without the Anthro price tag!
Perfect for dressing up a "getting stuff done today" outfit
:)

Thank you so much
for having me today Jen!

--


Nina Banks
www.mommagoround.com

Nina -- that necklace is awesome!

I LOVE nautical stripes for Spring. So cute!!

Nina has so much fun going on at her blog.

Not only does she craft: 

{J Crew-inspired Scalloped Petal Tee Tutorial}

But Nina is also so cute and she has great fashion tips and advice

to help REAL women wear trendy, stylish clothes in flattering ways!

 

And she has a link party on Mondays called Real Momma, Real Style where Nina shows off a fashion idea and YOU can link up something to help other women feel good about themselves.

 {Nina showed how real women can wear leggings in this post. Love it!!}

Be sure to stop by Momma Go Round and say hi to Nina :) 

xoxo

PS -- Have you checked out Jamielyn's fun Spring Into Silhouette Party?? 

It's a Blog Hop, with Guest Tutorials and Giveaways!!  

Such a fun party!!