Black Flower Tote Bag

This tote bag is an existing bag decorated with black flowers made out of scraps and black glitter fabric paint for accents.

•  Tote bag
• Scissors
• Paper and Sharpie Pen
• Scraps of fabric for flowers
• Scraps of sturdier fabric for base
• Glue gun and hot glue
• Needle and thread (optional)
• Glittery Fabric Paint
• Acrylic Paint to match bag  
• Sponge paintbrush

I used all black scraps from t-shirts and other sewing projects (I used black, but any colors could be used) for the flowers and felt, denim and other sturdy fabrics for the base.

The flowers are the same concept as Twisted and Stoned Flowers except instead of stone in the center, you tie a few knots in the end of the fabric.

For the base, use a soda can or other circular object (I used a soda can and a lid of of a milk jug) to draw a circle on a piece or paper.  Cut out and use a template. Place circle on felt, denim or other sturdy fabric draw around it with a pen or Sharpie then cut out.














Cut fabric for flowers into strips that are approximately 1 inch wide.  Instead of using a stone for the center,  tie a few knots in the end of fabric for the center and the glue down

Use glue gun to glue down fabric and start twisting.  Dab a bit of glue on top of the fabric and glue down the stone.  Twists fabric, dab glue, push down and repeat all the was around the flower, twisting as you go until you reach the out edge.  Repeat until you have enough to cover the bag (I used around 50).

If you start with a plain bag, you can skip this step.

As there was writing on the bag, I used black acrylic paint and sponge paintbrush to cover the writing.  It took about 3 coats. 

Arrange the flowers on the bag, then glue down with the hot glue gun.  I also hand stitched around them to secure them to the bag, but that might not be necessary.

To accentuate the flowers (and cover up any hot glue splotches) with glitter fabric paint if desired.









Happy crafting!

MONSTER HIGH - CREATE-A-MONSTER DOLLS

Picture I took at my local Target on 4/30/12

Watch out Barbie, there is a new girl in town. 

Mattel started a line in 2010 of "Monster High" Fashion dolls, based on old horror movies and monsters. They are goth and glam with a lot of attitude.  I find them to be a refreshing alternative from blonde-haired, blue-eyed, big bosommed beach going Barbies that I grew up playing with.

I was excited to see they now also have a "Create-A-Monster", that come with parts so you can create your own doll and is for ages 6 and up.

The above kit, which Target was selling for $19.99, has one torso, but two sets of everything else: upper and lower arms, upper and lower legs, hands, heads, outfits.  You can create a Vampire or Sea Monster themed doll, or combine any way you want and call the creature whatever you would like.

The only downsides that I see are if you have children under 3 some of the smaller parts could be a choking hazard if not kept out of reach and I think they should also have torsos in the kit so you could create two dolls.

They also have these for sale at Amazon.com for around the same price, along with a Skeleton, Bee and 3-Eyed Girl accessory kits to create even more options for between $10-$10.96.


The above was Create-A-Monster was the only one available at my local store; however, when I looked online here they indicate that Werewolf/Dragon, Witch/Cat Girl and Gargoyle/Vampire should also be available in stores.  

What do you think of these dolls? 

Be sure to check out all of the other participants in the May Monster Madness.

Show your monster spirit

1.	Annie Walls	15.	Horror Author Vanessa Morgan	29.	blackdragon
2.	Little Gothic Horrors	16.	Cayce @ Fighting Dreamer	30.	Jurassic Goth
3.	Pensive Pumpkin	17.	It Came From The Man Cave	31.	Monsterfink's Midnight Monster Spookshow
4.	Queens of the Wild Frontier	18.	It's On Random	32.	Residentgamer
5.	Lady Bethezda	19.	Not This Time, Nayland Smith	33.	nitebyrd
6.	Le Professeur Gothique	20.	Artwork By Living Dead Girl Nicole	34.	Everything You Want
7.	wicKED	21.	Metamorphosis	35.	Kweeny Todd
8.	Shingle Creek Manor	22.	Crafts and Creations with KMOM14	36.	Ghost Stories and Haunted Places
9.	Daph's Dark Little Corner	23.	skarlett	37.	Jess @ Wickedly Bookish
10.	Jenny Krueger	24.	Dani Harper, Paranormal Author	38.	GingerRead
11.	Holly's Horrorland	25.	Manvshorror	39.	Lynoire
12.	blackwood	26.	Horror Shock Lolipop	40.	HorrorSmorgasbord
13.	Punk You	27.	Bob @ Beauty in Ruins	41.	The Purple Broom
14.	Kharisma Rhayne	28.	Precious Monsters

(Collection closed)

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HEART HEADBAND FOR VALENTINE'S DAY

TOTAL COST: Under 50cents TOTAL TIME: 15 MINS This in my first ever attempt at re-vamping a headband. I bought 1/8th of yard of the hearts fabric a week or so ago with this project in mind. The fabric was $2.44/yd. so with tax worked out to be about .35 cents and I still have enough left to make other small project like hair ribbons or scrunchies. I have found that people the cut fabric are very curious about what you are going to make when you request less than a yard of fabric. In this case I was glad I had an idea and ready answer because sometime the real reason is I like the fabric but I am on a tight budget and I will just have to figure out what I am going to use it for later. I chose this fabric as I wanted something for Valentine's Day, but also something that I could wear year round without looking it was just for Valentine's Day - this fabric was perfect as it has hearts but some of them are black, so it has a touch of goth. I had an old headband that was in good condition except the white was looking a little more like grey even after an attempt at washing it. I stripped of the black felt strip that was down the middle the underside of the headband then hot glue gunned the fabric to the headband then re-glued the felt strip. It turned out ok and I will wear it, but there are a few little puckers that no matter how much I pulled and glued and burned my fingers, it would just not go straight. When I try this project again, I will cut the fabric wider and cut little notches in it so it will go over the curves better.