We Interrupt Summer...

 We interrupt summer...to give you a glimpse of the future! You all know that summer is not my favorite season and I do tend to wish it away...but, I am not the only one! Almost every craft blog that I follow is already on to autumn and Halloween. They say that it is because, if you are going to be crafting to sell in shows, you need to get started now. I like that story...and I'm sticking with it! And so, I gave a pumpkin candle holder that I saw on "The Crafty Decorator" a try. He is supposed to be very primitive so I went with it but he could also be made with a brighter orange felt and more traditional face if wanted.

Here is what I came home with after a quick trip to HL for the supplies.

I totally broke my HL rules this trip. Normally, I don't buy anything if it is not on sale. Since they have done away with their coupon, shopping is even more difficult in there. Since this was my only idea of late, I paid full price for everything except the least expensive items-the felt. I probably could have tried some other places as well. but I wasn't in the mood. I'm OK with it until I probably see it all on sale next week! Lol

I followed the directions for this guy exactly yet I had to make some changes along the way. The first step is to cut a bit off of the styrofoam ball so it sits flat. I think this is where the differences were. I probably didn't cut off enough so the circumference of the ball was larger. But, I didn't want it any smaller than this so I found a way to make it work.

Next came cutting a circle the size of a quarter. The blogger used a large drill bit but I don't have the correct size bit and that seemed like a bit of over kill so I just used my apple corer and old time veggie peeler to scoop the hole out. Then I stuck in an old candle to make sure it was deep enough.

Next, I cut the felt square into 1 1/4" wide strips. It was supposed to take 7 strips and each one was supposed to go totally around the pumpkin stretching from the opening down across the bottom and back to the opening. This may be where the size discrepancy came in because my strips were way too short to do this. I just cut each one in half and stretched it a bit and then went from the opening to just around the bottom edge. I think this may have actually served me well as the blogger had to put a wood disc on the bottom of hers to get it to stand and mine is nice and sturdy as is!

I went ahead and cut a primitive jack-o-lantern face out of black felt and used Fabri-Tac to adhere the pieces and then I cut the shank off of small semi-circular black buttons and hot glued them on. I actually have enough supplies to make another and I might do that one with a more traditional face...we shall see. I ordered 4" black timer tapers but until they get here the wax candle will have to do.

It felt so good to finally get back to crafting. My problem these days seems to be finding things I want to do that I haven't already done...it's tough getting old. Lol

Since I really haven't been just out and about shopping a lot of late, I was excited to find a sunflower section at HL and broke my rule once again. These items are in their fall section...which is not on sale yet...but, since I didn't have either a sunflower mug or spoon holder, I gave myself permission to splurge...and, I'm glad I did!

I don't know why coffee tastes so much better in a mug that matches my decor but it always seems to. Stay safe and stay tuned.

P.S. I forgot to tell you that those cute little "mini cupcake stands" that I found as well are now being used as candle holders but I can see them as risers for all sorts of things over the next few months.