Jar Monsters

Every month a good friend Mare Nielson hosts a craft night for the ladies in our ward. I love being able to get together with these ladies and laugh as we share our creative abilities. We always have a ball and this months craft night was no exception.

Fall is slowly creeping it's way into Vegas and let's just say I am thrilled!! Don't get me wrong I love the heat and sunshine; I'm just excited for Mom Tobler's chicken noodle soup, fall colours (in the mountains of course because nothing changes in Vegas), and Halloween decorations. I took a stroll through the Halloween section at Michael's and I couldn't stop smiling. In light of the up and coming fall season Mare determined that we should make some sort of Halloween decoration. We all know how I adore Halloween! The original link came from Crazy Domestic. L-O-V-E it!

Mare was kind enough to pick up some jars for me and I raided my cupboards for left over mason jars. Different sizes and shapes totally makes the difference with this project! Add some tissue paper and a whole lot of modge podge and your on your way!

This is Abby, who claims to have zero artistic abilities. I did make her paint her own faces on her jars and I think they turned out rather cute, even if they do have baby teeth. :) I was laughing so hard as she painted I cried.

Did I mention that Mare can bake and her husband Tyler is a culinary art student? AKA there are always delicious gourmet goodies at their home. These cupcakes were super yummy. I loved the frosting!!! Plus, did you notice the different colored batter? So cute!

Voila, my final product! Well almost... since we are moving I didn't add the bolts to Mr. Franks head for fear they'd get knocked off in the move. I'm also going o add some green raffia to the top of my pumpkin. I am very pleased with the result and even more pleased to have finally created something! My hands feel so idle and crocheting baby hats simply doesn't fill that creative void. I am so thankful for fabulous friends who host evenings such as these and the memories we create in the process.

Stuffed Pumpkins

Alright here we go. These pumpkins are SUPER easy (and yes Janet 2 year old proof)! If you can sew a straight line.... you can make these. All of my measurements are subject to change. Play around with different widths and sizes. From my experience the cutest ones are the super fat and short ones or the thin and tall ones, however make them according to how you'd like. I picked out my fabric in warm fall colors from the clearance pile at Wal-Mart. I got about 1/3 of a yard of each and I had PLENTY left over. I chose 5 different colors and one stem color, however you can mix and match if you'd like... let your imagination have fun! For visibility I used black thread on white fabric. It doesn't make a difference but you can match your thread if you'd like.

1. Place your STEM fabric RIGHT sides together and cut a size you'd like your stem to be. I made mine 5 x 3 which was much too tall! In the end I chopped them down 3". I found them cuter and they didn't fall over once sewn in. Cut 6 (or however many pumpkins you plan to make)

2. Sew around the edge. Seam allowance is irrelevant. The closer to the edge the better so you won't have to trim it down later. LEAVE THE BOTTOM OPEN. You'll be stuffing it soon!

3. Clip the corners. This makes the corners crisper on the other side. DO NOT TRIM THE STITCHING! If your seam allowance is to wide... Trim it down as well.

4. Stuff and set aside leaving bottoms open.

5. Like I said before, make your pumpkins whatever size and width you'd like. I went with 12 x10 for my largest one. Cut out 6 pumpkins. Separate the 2 layers and fold them in half right sides together.

6. You are now going to mark a swoop on both pieces along the folded edge. This will give shape to the pumpkin. I marked mine 2" in and 4" down. Obviously this is subject to change based on height and width of pumpkin.


7. Go to your machine and sew a curve in between the two points & trim. DO NOT MAKE YOUR CURVE AS DRAMATIC AS MINE! Mine is bad. It made an ugly point when I flipped it right side out & I had to hand stitch it later. Try to make the bottom point BLEND. Does that make sense?

8. Open fabric and set down on the table RIGHT side UP. Place the stem in the middle Open end to the TOP. Then Place side 2 of fabric RIGHT side DOWN.

The stem should be sandwiched in between and the fabric should be RIGHT sides TOGETHER. 9. Sew around the edge and leave an opening at the bottom.

10. Trim the edges and flip right side out. Stuff. Before you hand sew the bottom you can add a little weight so it will sit nicely.

11. Ta-Da! See EASY! I think I need to make one more super fat one to complete the set. To finish them off I added some ribbon. This also helped make my stems not look so long. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment and I will try to explain it further. Happy Fall!!