Welcome to Handmade Halloween! This is the first time I have hosted a link up and I am really excited about it. When I approached sponsors for prizes for this event, I was thrilled with the generosity of the gifts they provided! You are invited to link up your blog posts, be they brand new or from prior Halloweens, to this post. Each time you link a post, you will be entered into the drawing for prizes. You can link up one post or multiple posts, it is up to you! I invite you to read posts that are linked up. Surely there will be fun projects, costumes, and decorations to inspire you as we move into Autumn.
With fall weather approaching thoughts of all things autumn have begun in earnest. We have picked apples at my in-laws, harvested our mini pumpkins and three billion decorative gourds from the garden, and (finally) have weather chilly enough to wear a sweater. My parents came for dinner on Sunday and by the time they got home, there was a light snow falling. Certainly not enough to accumulate but I think this is the first time I have heard of snow here on October 2nd!
This is the time of year when children begin to plan their Halloween costumes. Julia has always been very independent. She is a person who very much knows her own mind. When it comes to Halloween, she usually comes up with an idea and there is no changing her mind. I thought it would be fun to share a few of the costumes she has picked over the years. While she comes up with the idea, it is up to me to figure out how to make it. She has only once wanted to be something with an easily purchased costume. That was the year she wanted to be a witch, “a pretty and kind witch, not a mean and scary one.” That was the year I got off easy and we picked out a costume at Target. I think she was in first grade?
Her first time trick or treating was at the age of two. I made her a set of ladybug wings. She wore black pants and shirt with the wings. Using pipe cleaners and two styrofoam balls, I made little antennae that I attached to a plastic headband. She was adorable. She didn’t actually trick or treat but I did take her to my husband’s office.
She also had a Halloween party at her daycare.
One of my favorites was in Kindergarten when she wanted to be…. Wait for it…. A pencil. What five year old decides to be a pencil? It was so funny. Off I went to buy felt in yellow and green.
This was made mostly with glue sticks and simple stitching. I believe the back of it was fastened with Velcro. I stitched rectangles of green felt over the yellow to make the green stripes at the top of the Ticonderoga and made two little yellow should straps. I even made a little pink felt cap so it would look like she had an eraser on the top. At the last minute, she nixed the eraser hat. When she got to school dressed as a brand new Ticonderoga, the kids would look at her quizzically and ask her what she was.
I am certain she thought they were all ridiculous not to see that she was a pencil. Ah, she was quite proud of that costume. She had such a fantastic teacher in Kindergarten. She had each child stand up and talk about their costume, making each one feel very special.
In 2nd grade she wanted to be a bat. I decided this would be a simple one. I made wings with black and silver sparkly fabric and hand stitched the wings to the inside seam of her sleeve and down the side seam of a black long-sleeved shirt.
This was so cute. When she lifted her arms, the wings appeared. She also had little bat ears that I hot glued to a plastic headband.
Julia chose to be a jellyfish when she was in 3rd grade. For this she wore blue sparkly leggings and skirt. We took an old sombrero and covered it with fabric and tulle over the top (lots of hot glue went into this costume!) Then we cut many lengths of ribbon and Rick-rack and glued them all around the brim of her jellyfish/sombrero hat.
She looked adorable, though again,many kids didn’t really get what she was dressed as.
In fifth grade Julia asked to be a black widow spider. I love this costume; it is definitely one of my favorites.
We used a black shirt and pants as the base. I made a large oval for the front and back and attached shoulder straps to each piece. Then I made ‘legs’ with black fabric, stuffed with poly stuffing. At the end of each ‘leg’ was one of those little black knit gloves that you can find in a bargain basket at Target. I stitched one hand to the next so that when she lifted her (real) arm, all of the legs came up with her. We bought some flashy red, sequined fabric to make the tell-tale spot on her belly, signifying that she was a black widow. This year the kids knew what she was.
In seventh grade Julia went to a Halloween party. She dressed up as Wednesday Addams, from the old tv show, The Addams Family.
We found the black dress at a thrift store. It was a heavy knit dress and was far too long. I cut the bottom off and didn’t even finish off the hem. She put a white collared shirt under it, added black tights and boots that she already had. In my opinion, the long braids are what really turned her into Wednesday Addams.
Last year she went to a Halloween Dance held by her high school. She had planned to use her Wednesday Addams outfit since she still had all of the pieces and this was a new group of friends who hadn’t seen it when she first wore it. However, the afternoon of the dance she changed her mind. She decided to go with a more macabre idea and became a pedestrian who had been run over.
The process for making this tshirt was hysterical. Remember, this is the afternoon of the dance so we were working fast. She needed to make the shirt and have time for it to dry. We thought about it and quickly decided to literally run over the tshirt with my car to get the tire track marks. We took black acrylic paint and painted my tire and then strategically place the tshirt on the ground and slowly drove over it. We took a few test runs over pieces of cardboard first so we could see how much paint we needed to put on the tire. She, very wisely, put a fresh piece of cardboard inside the shirt so the paint wouldn’t bleed through to the back side of the shirt. Once she was happy with the tire tracks, she ran into the house with it and dried it with a hair dryer. She added the fake blood and off she went. I thought it was hysterical and it was the fastest costume ever.
Here we are, in the first week of October and she hasn’t decided what she will be this year. Hopefully she will come up with something before the day of the dance!
Halloween doesn’t have to be too fussy or expensive. These costumes were easy to make and didn’t break the bank. If you have any questions on the process for any of them, leave them in the comments.
Now for the real fun – let’s talk about the giveaway prizes! There are some really fun gifts for you!
Lorna McMahon, of Sew Fresh Quilts, has provided a gift of $15.00 to her shop. If, by some very small chance, you aren’t familiar with Lorna’s patterns, click here and take a look. Lorna has some of the cutest quilt patterns, many of which feature little critters- raccoons, farm animals, fish, chickens, and squirrels for example. Lorna has so many fun and creative ideas.
Craftsy has donated five free classes! You know how I feel about the classes over at Craftsy. There are so many to choose from!
C&T Publishing has donated five $20.00 gift certificates. C&T publish many of the amazing craft, sewing, knitting and quilting books that are widely sold in bookstores and online.
Finally, I made two Halloween buntings to give as prizes. They are similar to the one pictured above.
Each post you link up counts as one entry into the giveaway.
You are welcome to link up from your Instagram or Flickr accounts if you aren’t a blogger or prefer that media.
Please take a moment and enjoy some of the other link ups. Leave a little comment love as you go.
Have fun and thanks for coming to the party!! Link ups will remain open through Saturday night so if you haven’t finished your post, you can still link up over the next couple of days. Drawings for prizes will happen Saturday evening and winners will be posted first thing Sunday morning. (I will also email the winners.)
Thanks for organizing the linkup, Bernie! Your daughter’s costumes are adorable, the ladybug is cute as can be, and I particularly love the jelly-fish.
I don’t have any Halloweenie anythings to post about to link up! What great prizes! You did good! I just did a post about free spirits. Your daughter certainly qualifies! And you win the prize for being such a good enabler! Enjoy your day! XO
Thank you for hosting such a fun idea! Your costumes are wonderfully creative!
Bernie thank you for hosting this fantastic linky! I am so impressed. 🙂
Reading about Julia’s costume choices over the years just reinforces my belief that girl is going places. She is original, beautiful, and smart!
Linda, she is certainly her own person, isn’t she? Now if she would just settle on an idea for this year. They have a Halloween dance at her high school so I know she will want to dress up. We’ll see what she comes up with!
I’ve looked forward to this party! I’ve made so many things for Halloween…it’s such a fun holiday to sew and craft! Love that ladybug costume and the jellyfish is very creative! It’s always neat to have a unique costume and get everyone talking! Thanks for the fun! I’m off to do some visitin’! Hugs, Diane
I just bust out laughing at the PENCIL!! 🙂 Too funny, but you made it happen anyway. I enjoyed the walk down memory lane! 🙂
What creative ideas for Halloween costumes! Those are amazing. I hope you share with us what she decides to be this year. 🙂
I have been looking forward to this link party since you announced it, and I will be checking back to see what everyone links up.
Thanks Yvonne! I asked her the other day if she had any ideas and she didn’t. The dance is on the 28th and I am hoping she doesn’t come to me on the 27th needing to start a costume. 😉
Oh how I love looking thru your old photos and seeing the fun costumes. I used to love making them for us all as the boys grew up. This is the time of the year when I miss them being little. Thanks for a fun linky hop!
What fun – I’m sure I’ll meet new friends here too. Miss Julia certainly is a free spirit and seems to have inherited much of your creative side. My costume favorite has to be the pencil – clever girl – and clever you for creating it.
I laugh when I think of the pencil. I don’t know what triggered her to want that particular costume but it was so funny!
Thanks so much for hosting this linky party! I enjoyed reading about all of your daughter’s costumes. The Halloween bunting is really cute. I’m off to visit the other blogs that linked up.
Thanks Stephanie! It is my pleasure.
Everyone is so creative including your Halloween costumes! The jellyfish is my favorite.
Thanks Paige. The jellyfish was very sweet. I actually saw another version where the child held a clear umbrella that was adorned with all of the long ribbons and rick rack and that worked great.
What fun Bernie! I loved seeing the costumes your daughter had through the years. The tire track idea was perfect!
Thanks Jinger. We had a lot of fun making that one – It worked out well, especially considering how fast we did it!
Hi Bernie. Loved all Julia’s costumes through the years. Thanks for sharing. I also love Crafty.com but for scrapbooking and card making. Have six class that I have begun with them.
Susan, they have so many classes as well as lots of free tutorials and ideas. It is a wonderful site.
Loved seeing you last week. 🙂
What a fun link up! It’s fun to see all the Halloween ideas, projects and creativity! I love seeing the years of costumes…to creative and adorable!
Thanks Jayne. It was really fun to go through the photos and select costumes for this post. Also having fun looking at costumes that others are linking up. 🙂
First of all, thanks for organizing this linky party. What fun! 🙂
I love that your daughter comes up with her own ideas. I think the pencil costume is adorable and would have loved to see the eraser on top. The jelly fish idea is so darn creative, as is the pedestrian idea. Wow! I have no doubt that your daughter will be a creative force with whom to be reckoned for many years.
Julia has a very artistic nature. She draws and paints. I tried to teach her to sew and she took a few sewing classes but doesn’t have any interest. Maybe someday…. Thanks for coming by Joanne!!
I don’t have anything to linkup, but I will certainly enjoy looking at everyone else’s posts! What great costumes! My mom and grandma made mine when I was young and I fondly look back on the creative scrambling. 🙂
Thanks for coming by Jen. I am having a great time reading about everyone’s creations. I’m glad it sparked some nostalgia for you.
Love her Wednesday costume! 🙂
Thanks Jeni, that was actually one of my favorite costumes. She pulled it off well. Plus we got it at the thrift store which is a win. (I am somewhat of a thrift store junkie.) 🙂 Thank you for linking up at Handmade Halloween!!
BTW – when I first started really getting involved with online quilters I won a giveaway of Color Me Retro and loved it. That was my first win. Just thought it would be fun to let you know.
Hi Bernie,
I have never made anything Halloweeny so don’t have anything to show; HOWEVER, I do have 5 FQ’s of Halloween fabric that was sent to me a long time ago that I’ve never used. Would it be ok if I post a Halloween giveaway on your linky party?
I think that is fine Janice. If you aren’t going to use it, I am willing to bet there are quilters that would love to win it. Thank you for asking. Go for it!
I love reading about all the costumes! I agree totally about Wednesday’s braids. And the tire painting is brilliant! Thanks for hosting the linkup! I linked up two of my old Halloween posts. It’s exciting to see the great variety of posts linked up so far!
Thank you Sarah. I have had a lot of fun with this all week. I appreciate your help when I was getting this going too. ?
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So creative with the costumes!! The tire painting is really quite brilliant. Thank you so much for hosting this linky party. Great idea!
Skidding in to the finish line, but I made it:)
Thanks for the linkup, such a great idea and your post is so sweet. My favorite costume is the one you made in the driveway. Well, maybe not the favorite, but it sure made me laugh! It reminds me of a joke I used to tell as a kid.
Unfortunately it requires some non-verbal, but hopefully you will get the gist:
A man in a quiet neighborhood was feeling devastated when he hit a cat that was crossing the road. The driver knocked on the nearest home and explained he had hit a cat, felt terribly, and wondered if it might be theirs. The woman replied, “well, i dunno, what did it look like?” This is when the joke-teller gets to hang his head to the side and let that that tongue hang.
Sorry I missed the linky, this year my daughter wants to be a scary ghost for Hallowe’en and since I already have a white sheet, the materials will be free!
I have always loved a traditional ghost- easy costume and so cute. It kind of reminds me of the Charlie Brown Halloween episode where he cuts too many holes in his sheet. I am certain you won’t have the same difficulty! Have fun!
What a fabulous collection of crafty Halloween ideas! This link up was a great success! And thanks so much for sharing all of your granddaughter’s super cute costumes over the years – it’s great to see Julia her growing up! What a clever girl to come up with so many interesting costumes. I love the pencil!!!
I love all of your daughter’s creative costumes. I was soooo looking forward to participating in this hop, but Hurricane Matthew had different plans for me so I completely missed it. It looks like people really enjoyed it and that it was a great success.
Darn those hurricanes for messing with your plans. I hope everything is ok and settling down for you Diana.
These are great! I love the Jellyfish. Wednesday Addams is super fun too. They are all great!
Thank you! We enjoy making these costumes together, now that my daughter is older. Halloween is a fun holiday for sure!
What a great post!!! So fun to see her transform from a ladybug to a “pedestrian” LOL!!
fantastic issues altogether, you just received a new reader.
What would you recommend in regards to your post that you
just made a few days ago? Any sure?
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