It's BOO Time

It is October, Crafty Friends, and the start of holidays galore!
First up we have Halloween, followed by a late Thanksgiving, and then Christmas will be here before you know it! But let's not get ahead of ourselves - let's start with Halloween!
I use to HATE Halloween as a kid - I haven't enjoyed trick-or-treating since I was five and I was sweating my butt off running around the neighborhood as Strawberry Shortcake. But now that I have kids, I'm trying to EMBRACE the Halloween spirit (although the cashier in my cafeteria has told me multiple times that my kids should sit Halloween out because it's the holiday del diablo!).

Maybe I don't EMBRACE Halloween but I really enjoy all the food and activities that surround it - CRAFT FAIRS (!!!), changing leaves, Oktoberfest, apple picking, mulled cider, baked goods, pumpkins, candy and costumes!  Tell me one thing in that list that doesn't put a smile on your face and I'll call you a Liar!

Disco Ghost #1

I decorate the house (not as much as I do for Christmas because Christmas is my jam!) - I take more pride in my outdoor decorating now that I have my 'disco ghosts,' as Matty likes to call them. This was a find at HomeGoods a couple of years ago.  I purchased a whole family and I ALWAYS look forward to putting them out for the Fall!












This year, I wanted to make a door hanging for my front door - another Crafty Momma pinned this wooden 'BOO' sign using a burlap bow to hang it..  I had been meaning to try something with burlap and thought this would be perfect. And it was VERY easy.

That's all you need!

Here are the materials you'll need:

• The letters: B, O and O
• Raffia - found in the floral section
• Burlap ribbon - try to use a wider one for a wider bow
• Paint (optional) and paint blotter

I didn't just want plain, black letters.  Originally I was thinking of painting the letters in chevron but as you can see, the letters are slightly 'cursive' or fancy - they are not straight edges so I thought chevron would be difficult.  So I just went with polka dots. I happen to have a lot of paint blotters and little paints left over from the boys' birthday party - so I just pulled all the orange and blotted in the polka dots.

When the paint was done drying, I just connected the letters with the raffia, as shown in the picture.  I had never worked with raffia before and I wasn't expecting it to be a big, long, unending spool of straw!
But I just treated it like ribbon - took a few strands, cut lengthy pieces and tied the letters together like I was tying shoelaces.


After the letters were all attached, I tied some strands on top of the 'B' from which the burlap ribbon would hang from.  And here is where my challenge set in - how to make a NICE burlap ribbon like the one in the inspiration photo. I actually went to search 'how to tie burlap ribbons' and found a general tutorial on how to just tie ribbons (when you're not wrapping a gift...otherwise, I know how to tie a ribbon) here. I also noticed,while tying this ribbon, that my ribbon's width wasn't large enough to make a 'fat bow.'  So I settled for a neat bow. This was my finished product:

I think it turned out well and I can't even tell you how EASY this craft project was.  Aside from waiting for the paint to dry and figuring out how to tie a nice bow, it probably took 30 minutes, at most. This is a fun, quick, craft that will last a lifetime!