10 Ideas for Peep Fun PLUS a Factory Peep Video

School Party Candy Gift Bags

A Photo Essay 

for an easy project

make your candy gift bags
with pretzel bags,
candies and your favorite stamps

White Christmas Mice

My first Christmas decorations of 2013. I'm enjoying needle felting and it's been an easy craft to carry around and work on. Everything fits into a cute box. This week I'm showing some of my White Christmas Mice in Crystal Pink.

Halloween Black Cats are finished and etsy start up

     I've thought about it for years, and now I've got an open etsy shop called... (what else?) Victoria Lavender. I finished my Halloween Black Cats and they each have their own candy box now.

     These are some of the photos of the kitties at etsy.  Also check out my link to learn how to needle felt with videos.

Handmade Black Cats for Halloween

I've found a new craft, it's called needle felting. Wool roving and barbed, very sharp needles. Not a craft to do carelessly. But what a great way to relieve stress! The needle is jabbed hundreds of times as you create the shape you are after. I have 6 parts to a cat. Body, head and 4 limbs all joined by the needle jabs. It takes an afternoon to create the cat and another afternoon to dress her. I've made five. They all have a candy box that I've dressed up too.

The Box the Blue Mason Jars came in

 I'm seeing lovely blue mason jars everywhere online. Well, they are cute! I couldn't  resist them either- so I  I bought a case of 6 at Bear Canyon Ace, in Tucson. While there I also picked up a 12 pack of clear. I smell some future crafting....The 6 pack and the 12 pack were $10.99. Not bad, I've seen the blue for more.

But that box! I love boxes and this case box is going to become a tray...today!

Halloween Paper Mache Trio

My favorite craft this season! As with the the pumpkin (a few posts back) I've used paper mache and paper clay to create these fine little fellows

I need to start right off the bat and tell you that I was inspired by Joanna Parker Designs. She's quite famous for this type of sculpture. I copied her greatly...but I did something that made me feel pride. This past September was the first time I'd ever seen her work. Stunning! Expensive too!

See Joanna Parker Designs.

It was so fun making their little hats and ruffled collars. With the drying times, this project took me weeks.

I'm sooooooooo pleased.

Wow! I've spent the last week wrapping up ALL my current crafts. Time for a breather and regroup for Christmas! Weeeeeee, I'm just having so much fun in Sunny Tucson.

This was the last installment of my Fall season crafts. I've gathered all 4 posts 

at "Handmade Halloween"

Thanks so much for the visit, leave me a note, I'll be sure to drop by your blog too.

Happy Halloween to all!


I'm sharing my post with:
Have a cup with Mrs Olson

The Thrifty Groove, Thrifty Things Friday
Common Grounds, Vintage Inspiration
Alderberry Hill, Make the Scene Monday
Elizabeth & Co, Be Inspired

Halloween Crows Poison Candy Boxes

Aren't these just the cutest! Crows are big this year....and they're only a buck each!

Halloween Dollar Store Craft

 

My boxes and straw are also from The Dollar Tree. 

I saw a similar  project from the cool folks at Spookville Stoodios Flicker page

Too easy! Paint, decoupage, glitter or glued prints onto the box. The birds have an inch and a half of wire coming out of their feet. Poke three small holes (in a row) on the top on the lid. Use the middle hole and a short length of wire to secure your straw and the two outer holes for the foot wires to poke through. 

Secure with tape.Bang! Quick and great looking. I created labels and

 distressed them and glued them on quite haphazardly.

I love Halloween! Thank you the visit, this was post number 3 in a Halloween set. 

See all 4 crafts at "Handmade Halloween"


The crows are sharing this post at:
Have a cup with Mrs Olson 
The Thrifty Groove, Thrifty Things Friday
Common Grounds, Vintage Inspirations

Vintage Halloween Cards Poster

Paper arts is my thing! I tried to do some fabric quilting, but gave it up to quilt on my computer instead. I found LOTS of great Halloween background while looking through fabric sites. All kinds of fabric prints, and I saved plenty! I created a whole file on fabric swatches to use as printed paper projects. As a card maker this is a great thing to file away.

16 x 20 is too big for a home printer, so I really did have to "quilt" this together. The inner background is from 6 print outs, cut, sized and glued. The outside border was multi printed and pieced together. I located vintage party decoration heads for the 4 corners. And I know you recognize vintage Halloween postcards.

 That's what got me going on this poster. I really wanted to use and show vintage cards. The poster could certainly be made without the use of a graphic file....but for me that's not where the fun is!

I hope you are having fun this Fall season! Thanks for dropping by,

 this is post number 2 in my Halloween series on 4 crafts. 

See them all at "Handmade Halloween"

My Paper Mache Pumpkin

Pumpkins are grown in southern Arizona, there's some really nice pumpkin patches too. This year we won't make it to one. I'll just get back from a Missouri wedding before Halloween. But this past September I decided to make a pumpkin to last for YEARS!

I went searching through yahoo images and came up with a few great ideas. I was thinking about those vintage german paper mache pumpkins with the silly faces. I saw lot's of folks making really cool pumpkins.
I got the general idea how to start and the trash bag part and the paper mache too,
but paper clay is new to me.
I found a lovely website on a sculpture artist who creates her own paper clay.
Her site is called "Ultimate Paper Clay" You can find a recipe here.
She does some beautiful sculptures pf animals. You'll enjoy the visit.

(D'oh! pictorial, but illustrated would be a better word)

I let the pumpkin dry for two weeks. Look often for developing mold, and kill it. A wipe with bleach works.

Spray painting is ok to stop at and enjoy the piece, but I painted yellow and orange highlights later that evening. I also painted green into the stem and brought in some green leaves left over from my topiary project. Some floral wire and I'm good to go. I didn't do the vintage style after all, but I like the pumpkin. Since I'll have it for years... I could dress it up differently each holiday season.

Thanks for the visit, this post is number 1 in my Halloween segment.
Please see all 4 crafts. at "Handmade Halloween".
Boo!

Bright Fall Topiairy

Living things die on my front porch. It's not from lack of water....just too much sun. Artificial flowers look fake and funny around here. So, if I'm gonna use artificial flowers, I won't use them the ordinary way...

Let's go ALL OUT!

This was a surprisingly quick craft. A little pricey, but I'll keep these for years to come!

Thank goodness for the $1.00 flower bunches at The Dollar Tree.

 Here's my list of materials:

2 dowels

2-12" Styrofoam Ring

2-8" Styrofoam Ring

12 bunches gold flowers (big fluffy heads)

8 bunches orange/yellow flowers (big fluffy heads)

500 pins with ball heads (used yellow tipped quilting pins) (!$$$!)

Rust colored spray paint

black craft paint

planter pot and fill

Here's the page break, click below to see step by step photos from start to finish.

There's a Pumpkin in my bath!

Just finishing up in my bathroom. I took another Dollar Tree pumpkin and covered it in glitter and then wrapped it in tulle. I've combined my last two craft posts into one project :)

 Glitter & Tulle Pumpkin

I'm also having lots of fun with my graphics program today as well.  The pumpkin is siting in the back corner of my tub. I've taken two baths since placing it there...and we've had no fall ins.

Check out my "Make a Pumpkin" post and "Two toned glittered pumpkin" post to see how the two crafts have been combined into one.

Happy Fall Everyone!

sharing with...........

Share your cup Thursday
Share It One More Time

Two toned Glittered Pumpkin

I changed out the Summer flowers in my bath and put in Fall. I'm still pretending it's Fall.

Let's get messy with Glitter!

My counter decorations mostly come from The Dollar Tree. Everyone has been buying these great crows this year...they are soooo cool. And the best prices on Fall flowers have been there too this year. On my last visit I saw 6" pumpkins and a little 5 pack of very small tabletop gourds.

I love glitter! The little 6" pumpkins are actually awful looking and they have a pronounced seam through the middle. I tried to sand it off..and got bits and chunks and knocked out color. The little gourds are perfect. I thought glittering the pumpkin would look nice, and it did. But something wasn't right...ah ha! I need shading. After the orange glitter dried I painted new glue in the crevasses and sprinkled dark rust colored glitter. In the same fashion I glitter the top green too. I pulled out a trusty sharpie and tightly wrapped gold wire around it to create little metal spirals for it's leaves. They poke right into the pumpkin easily.

For the flower picks I stuck a skewer in the gourd and glittered them with browns, golds and clear glitters.

I like this set up, but I wish my cat, Bitty, would just stop spreading glitter everywhere.

Well here's a couple of my secrets. I'm off the decorate the bath now. Cheer's!

Sharing with...........

Share your cup Thursday

Make a Pumpkin!

I'm just back from Las Vegas and the Mining Expo Convention and couldn't wait to get back to crafting. 

Let's make some pumpkins!

I'd seen a real pumpkin wrapped in tulle somewhere. Since I'm having problems locating the right size pumpkins...I thought I'd just make 'em! Below is a quick photo essay.


Materials needed:
Leftover grocery bag
Old newspapers or "other" left overs for filling
Tape
Fabric, enough to pull around the shape
Pins
4 layers of Tulle, cut larger than the fabric
Pipecleaner
Wire Ribbon

Painted Pumpkins BOO!

Easy and fun! (Quick note, I'm testing out Mr Linky for 2 days. While you're here visit this post and please help out by leaving a linked post. All for fun...thank you: CLICK HERE:)

Black, White and Gold Pumpkins

Materials Needed:
Black, White and Gold Spray Paint ($$)
300 Pumpkins (Why not, the paint was costly)
Light Wire
Sharpie (for it’s tube shape)
Glitters
Glue
Craft Paint
Small Tip Brush

Version 2 (You could hand paint them :)
Pumpkins
Craft Paint

Wash and dry all of your pumpkins. Make sure they are really dry. Now we can create those cute little wire curlee cues. Take a loosely measured yard of wire and bend in half. I cut a tiny notch on a ridge of the stem to catch the loop end of the wire. This allowed me to wrap the wire tightly around the pumpkin stem about 3 or 4 times. Remember the wire is doubled up, so it looks like you wrapped it more. Separate the two pieces and take out the sharpie. Get comfortable, you might want to hold the pumpkin in your lap. Hold one wire at the base where it becomes free from the stem wrapping. Wrap the wire like a spring around the sharpie. Slide out the sharpie and do the same to the other wire. Stretch them a bit to get the look you like. They’ll be painted along with its pumpkin.


Set up a paint station outside. For me it was the ground. I used an old tree stand and ugly wide mouth vase to hold the pumpkins while spraying and drying. Start spraying the bottoms first, let dry well before giving them the flip. Black will cover nicely and white goes on great! But as for the gold pumpkins, you’ll need to base coat them first with white. Gold paint is too expensive to do several coats. You should find that you’ll only need one gold coat if you made a base coat. (more information, buttons and photos when you click)

Painted Jars

Fall is finally coming! I've seen some lovely painted mason jars, many at Pinterest. You can paint the inside or outside. Spray paint looks great on the outside, I've painted the inside of mine with craft paint. I like how the gloss of the glass is still there when you paint on the inside. This was a "no cost" project for me. I already owned some nice autumn paint colors and had a few jars and flowers too.

While shopping at Michaels, I saw a orange milk tin for sale with raffia ribbon, a label and fall toned flowers...$29.99.  I took that idea, went home and applied it to painted jars. I first painted the jars (they need to dry overnight), then created/printed some vegetable labels. I used a length of silver wire to attach the labels. I just twisted, and twisted and twisted the ends into a knot. Regular raffia tied to a knot at the jars neck. And now a little trick....paint can scrape off the inside with those sharp artificial flowers ends. Use a tissue or fabric to cover the part of the flowers you can't see. I used a baby sock.

This is a REALLY EASY PROJECT! I hope you make some time to try this one too.

Love Monsters

I just started making some monster dolls for the grandkids, some will also be Christmas presents. This project may be too difficult for a child to do alone, but as your sewing helper you'll all have some great summer fun.

Here's some loose directions with photos

Ho Ho Ho Mailbox, Recipe Challenge with The Crafty Pad

Making a card for The Crafty Pad today was almost impossible. The weddings continue around here. One more tomorrow in the park. But I digress...for our challenge this week with The Crafty Pad I went for a craft that also allows me to get a start on decorating my home. I've used the "Ho Ho Ho Santa" digital stamp, and you could too. It's available at The Crafty Pad Design Store- along with many, many other cute digital stamps. This week our challenge is a Theme Recipe of 3's - Use 3 papers, 3 brads or buttons, 3 ribbons.

I can put paper on MY mailbox...because I live in Tucson. Meaning, we don't get much rain. On the sunny side of the box (also where traffic passes by) I covered with 12 x 12 Christmas scrapbook paper. (covers my numbers too:) My extra large digi stamp is brightly colored, I did so in my Corel graphics program. I spray glittered everything except the 3 recipe pieces. For the challenge I made 3 little medallions with 3 buttons, 3 ribbons and 3 different papers. I then wrapped dark red organza ribbon around the whole box and tied a 3 layers bow. It's cute.

This is an easy project to do around the house. Any image can be used. To waterproof (a bit) you could spray the project in clear acrylic first. I wish you all a wonderful start to the new holiday season. Merry Christmas!

2 Sisters, Holiday (12/4)
Hiding in My Craft Room, Mix it Up-Holiday (12/3)
Simply Create Too, All About christmas (2wk 12/9)
Little Red Wagon, Christmas Theme (11/30)
Penny's Paper, Tie One On (2wk 12/7)
Stampin' With The Dragon, Anything Goes/Christmas (12/2)

(Well....it's been up a week. It rained. And it's still ok!!!! I sprayed oil based glitter over the project and it's REALLY made the wrapping last.)

Halloween Candy Bag

Hello, it's time for a new challenge with The Crafty Pad. This week we are using a Halloween stamp from The Crafty Pad Design Store. A great place to get digi's! And our challenge is one for the season..."Halloween". I hope you join us. I've taken another craft avenue other than cards again this week. A Halloween Candy Bag for my grand daughter, Emma. She's going treat or treating as the vampire in "Adventure Time". I have no idea idea what that is:)

This bag is digital and handmade. The purple frame is borrowed from the internet. The stamp in the center is from The Crafty Pad and it is computer colored with pop tape layering. The words and skulls and eyeballs come from a K & Company Halloween pack. I cut a black and green circle then corner punched the black for a creepy lace curve and did a pinking cut for the edge of the green circle. I cut both in half to create the top and bottom accents on the purple frame. My ribbon at the top of the bag looks like a spider. Cool. There is also a little bow and spider at the bottom. In this bright sunlight it's hard to see just how much stickle glitter has been used. Orange, yellow, black, diamond and red. I love glitter.

So fun to make. Take any bag and dress it up for a Halloween goodies bag. This is a great project to make for your little kids too. Take a second to visit Kids4Crafts.com. It's my other blog, it's been slow lately but it's starting to pick up. There's fun Holiday crafts for you and the kids over there. Enjoy.

Thanks for the visit, please come by anytime.

This craft is also entered into these fun challenges:
Allsorts, #126 Halloween (10/29)
Crafty Boots Challenges, Autumn or Halloween (10/30)
Papertake Weekly Challenge, Spooky Hues (10/25)
Crop Stop Challenge, Halloween (10/27)
Delightful Challenges, Halloween (10/26)

UPDATE: Goofy me! I just realized this treat bag won at Crop Stop! Cool, but dumb on my side. I use "Victoria Lavender" as one word and as my online moniker. On all my past wins I would check Feline Playful through their search box under my moniker, but I just realized some folks repeat my name only as "Victoria". So I just found that I've won a couple challenges. It's terribly rude to win and never contact. I'm so sorry to anyone I've been impolite to.

The Crafty Pad #143 Monochromatic Challenge, My Pencil Holder and Reindeer Pencil Topper

Monochromatic Challenge with The Crafty Pad. Our stamp we are using for challenge examples is "Albert Snoozing" and he's available at The Crafty Pad Design Store. I just returned from a nice long trip to Maryland, and beside putting my house back together (1 son, 1 dog and 5 cats can trash a house when Mom is away) I needed to come up with my DT project quick!

I decided to make something that could also be used as a last minute gift item. My Grandmother used to keep a shelf in the closet for odd gifts she had made or purchased throughout the year. She was always ready with a present for ANY occasion:) While you're here please take a quick peek at my Reindeer Pencil Topper too! (Seen in the pencil box and a post at Victoria Lavender and Kids4Crafts) I wish I still had my Grandmom, this is the type of project she might have taught me once upon a time. She and my mom were great at sharing crafts with us as children. My sister, Kemi, and I shared this project with lots of kids already when we used to run "Kids 4 Crafts" demo sessions in Tucson and our crafting blogsite.

My little pencil holder box started out life as a Jack O' Lantern Box from Micheal's. I resurfaced the pumpkin face with "Albert". I made three layers out of him. He has a base scene, cutout of him and third layer cut outs of his hat and tacklebox. All nicely pop taped. Oh I wished I could have found my Cinnamon sticks, it would have smelled so good! But I've used twigs from the yard. Also used were natural wood buttons and hemp cord. Simple, manly and monochrome.

As always....THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS VISIT! Please take a second to check out the Reindeer and/or wander around Kids4Crafts. I'm looking for GT's for weekly posts on great family crafting. If you are playing the challenge at The Crafty Pad....Thanks so much - is'nt it fun! If you aren't...whats keeping you? Join the fun. Peace.

This card is also entered in these wonderful challenge blogs:
Wags'n Whiskers Stamps, Fall Colors (10/27)
Joyful Stamper, Inspire Me Fridays, "Always Anything Goes" (10/26)
Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog, "Masculine" (10/21)
Southern Girls Challenge, "Slugs, snails and puppydog tails" (10/17)