Ideas for Halloween

Halloween is upon us and I get why it's a favorite time of the year for kids and adults. We get to decorate, we get to dress up, we get to party, and we have lots of candy at the end of the evening...TADA! 

Here are a few ideas to get into the Halloween spirit:

Do some Halloween crafting. This is a trick or treat pail made from an empty yogurt container, dressed up with paint and ribbon...TADA! You can try this version decorated with felt or this bag made from a tank top, too.

Walk around the neighborhood and admire the decorations. I love the effort everyone puts in transforming their houses from blah to TADA! But I do wonder where they store all these spooky creatures.

Join the trick or treating crowd...TADA! Meet your neighbors, compliment the cute (or frightening) costumes, and celebrate community. 

Appreciate the shops that prepare treats for their customers. These are chocolate and Gachapon capsule toys from a Japanese supermarket...TADA! 

I wish you all a Happy Halloween!

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Painted Paper Collage

As a creative practice, I like to freely paint on paper. Sometimes, I'll do it in my sketchbook when I have a vision in mind. 

 

Other times, I just take some scrap paper (brown paper bags, packaging paper, pages from an old book, etc.) and draw repeating patterns using a paintbrush and paint. Because the paper isn't precious, I'm out to play and make marks. No pressure, no perfection.

It's sometimes a surprise that the patterns that come out reflect my state of mind and turn out quite pretty. I always save these painted papers in a box, taken out when I need to make greeting cards or gift bags. 

Perhaps I can showcase them in my art journal. This is an old book that I bought at a thrift shop. I toned down the pages with a layer of gesso, just enough that the words are still visible, then I let the pages dry.

I trimmed my painted papers into two-inch by two-inch squares. 

I glued them on the pages of my art journal...TADA!

They look like a quilt.

Or a little art gallery just for me. The paintings are my humble masterpieces, after all! 

Painted papers in punchy patterns. That is how I turned some scrap paper and my art journal from blah to TADA!

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Perfectly Personal Pouches and Bags

Hey, hey! I love me a fabric pouch. They are very useful to keep make-up, stuff for travel, and crafting supplies.

This is a pouch given by a dear friend. Isn't the color combination super cheerful? And it's personalized with my name...in embroidery!

Because I had some tassels on hand...

I felt the need to embellish my pouch.

Now it's extra, extra cute.

I use it to organize my pen collection...TADA!

Another friend gave me this set -- a pouch and coin purse. I love the mandala-style design and of course, the personalization! It's pretty as is but don't blame me if I add a zipper pull, too.

Another gift I received from a friend is this reusable bag packed up neatly in a personalized pouch. I love that she picked it just for me and the floral-print is so lively! I'm not sure about the adjectives that describe my name: self assured and calm. I'm quite the opposite, struggling with imposter syndrome and bouts of anxiety. But it's a reminder that I have to power through my demons. 

Another dear friend made this for me using her Cricut machine. We both share the love of crafts and gift each other stuff that we've made...TADA!

Hooray for personalized gifts! 

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Three Things for October

October has arrived and these are the thoughts on my mind:

Cozy things like afternoon tea. It could be a date with the girls at a favorite tea shop. Or maybe assembling one at home with ideas from this cookbook using thrifted teacups and saucers. A little ritual like afternoon tea can turn the colder temperatures of October from blah to TADA!

 

Birthdays! A lot of people I love were born in October and I can't help but celebrate them through birthday cards (if they live far away) or eating birthday cake. A new year added to one's life is definitely TADA! If YOU are an October baby, I wish you lots of love and a very Happy Birthday! 

via Pottery Barn 

Halloween decorations using upcycled materials...TADA! I'm inspired by these ghosts that can be displayed on a window or the front porch. We can make them using a styrofoam ball for the head, wire hangers for the arms, an old bed sheet or ratty fabric shower curtain for the body, and the eyes and mouth can be drawn with a marker. I just love crafty and resourceful ways to decorate.

Have a spectacular October!

An Ode to Candle Snuffers

Hi there! Today, let me tell you about something that I absolutely love. 

It's a candle snuffer...TADA! 

It's an object used for extinguishing a candle's flame. No need to blow the candle out and there is less smoke in the air.

This is how I like to style my candle tray on a coffee table or console table. It includes a small tray acquired from thrifting, a sweet-smelling candle, a box of matches (a restaurant souvenir), and my candle snuffer...TADA! 

Honestly, it's unnecessary, a little frivolous, but it's so pretty with its graceful architectural details. 

Here are some beautiful ones that I've come across:

via Anthropologie

via Anthropologie

via Anthropologie

via Anthropologie

via Anthropologie

via Zara Home 

via Magnolia Hand and Hearth at Target

via Magnolia

via Magnolia

A candle snuffer (and thoughtful styling) turns the everyday from blah to TADA!

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Painted Paper Projects

I'm pretty excited with today's craft because anyone can do it. Let's begin!  

We will turn a brown paper bag from blah to...

...TADA! Our very own gift wrap!

Simply paint the brown paper bag in any color you want. I used acrylic paint (orange with streaks of yellow) and a big paint brush. Cover the entire sheet and let the paint dry. Then paint on a motif that you like: robots, hats, fruits, hearts, or rainbows. Of course I chose flowers!

I painted different kinds of flowers and used different colors for variety.

I also experimented with using just white paint. Once I filled the paper with my design, I left the paper to dry.  

Here are some of the things I made using my gift wrap:

I made an envelope...TADA! I used this template kit or you can make your own using this tutorial. 

Here's a closer look.

Here's the flip side. Cute, right?

I made a smaller envelope, still using one of the templates in the kit. 

Two envelopes I can use for my letters and birthday cards...TADA!

I'm saving this sheet to wrap a small gift. 

I can also trim the flowers to use as fodder to decorate my art journal, scrapbook, and gift boxes...TADA!

For the paper remnants, I won't waste them! Using a paper punch, I made these confetti hearts...TADA!

And for even the smaller paper scraps, I used a hole punch to make more confetti...TADA!

That is how I turned a brown paper bag from blah to TADA!

*****

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Rescued Paper Notebook

It's lovely to see you! 

Rescued Paper Notebook

I saw these Rescued Paper Notebooks at a museum shop and I just had to check them out. Inside are pages of discarded paper, each sheet is blank for writing on one side, and covered with printing on the other side, a peek-a-boo of its former life. I love the intentionality of it -- scrap paper bound together for jotting down ideas.

In the past, I've made something similar using packaging paper and paper collected from various notebooks that I bound together by hand. 

Let me show you a new one that I made:

I call it the Rescued Paper Collection inspired by the Rescued Paper Notebook. It's a book full of hand-painted pages. 

The pages all begin with this. Brown paper used to stuff boxes from online shopping. Time to turn it from blah to TADA!

After each page was painted, I bound them together with glue. I used binder clips to keep the spine in place as the glue dried.

Here is a flip through.

As you can see, the papers vary in size.

The colors and prints made from watercolor are pretty wild.

I also snuck in some printed tissue gift wrap and plain ones that I painted.

This can work as a scrapbook.

Or I can use the pages for my collage and scrapbooking needs (just cut the desired size of paper).

I also included an envelope filled with handmade fodder (fodder = anything you can use for collage).

Fodder samples include these hand-stamped quotes and hand-drawn flowers (use glue to attach them to a page).

Why buy when we can D.I.Y.?

And that is how I turned brown packaging paper from blah to TADA!

*****

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