Halloween Door Medallion

It's been a crazy, crafty week here as I get ready for the craft show at Sandi's place. Only one week left!

Here's something new I've been working on. It's a 6 inch wide door medallion (I don't know what else to call it!), or you could hang it on your wall, or door knob. I've strung it on a lengthy piece of black satin ribbon, so there's enough for however you choose to hang it. The little Halloween cat has been glittered with black glitter & the doily was misted with tea colored ink. I really had a hard time figuring out what to put behind the cat, because I felt like he needed some sort of charger (speaking table-setting talk here) or embellishment behind him. I'm still not entirely sure if the doily really works. I'm also working on two other versions, with a spooky Halloween tree and a witch. Both of them are glittered in black too.

Here are some other things I still need to complete for the craft show:
1. Make some black tissue poms
2. Complete a few more Halloween pinwheel garlands
3. Make more Halloween paper garlands - spiderweb kraft & Halloween paper
4. Other kraft garlands - pennants, scallops & flags
5. Make up some more DIY kraft garland kits
6. Punch & pack up gummed scallops & envelope seals
7. (maybe make) Halloween bat mobile

I hope lots of people show up to this thing! Would be great if it can be a monthly gig.

DIY Faux Capiz Shell Chandelier

I've always liked the look of capiz shell chandeliers. I wanted one for my office/craft room.

Isn't it lovely? Plus, when there's a breeze, it makes a wonderful little tinkling noise like a delicate wind chime.

Unfortunately, they're very, very expensive.

I wanted to see if I could re-create it with things I already had around my house. Apparently, other people have thought the same thing! I saw this fun DIY tutorial a few months ago and wanted to re-create it for my craft room. The only problem was that I don't own a sewing machine. Plus, this tutorial is for a standing lamp and I wanted it to hang from the ceiling.

To begin with, my ceiling sconce isn't much to look at. I thought I could cover it with a bunch of strands of faux capiz shells and also have some hanging from it somehow.




The tutorial mentions using an old lampshade to make the circles. I didn't have one, so I decided to use plastic cups! They were something I already had in the pantry and sort of had the same look as a capiz shell. I punched out what seemed like a billion circles (non-ribbed white plastic cups work best for punching out the most circles) Instead of sewing the circles together, (which I think would have torn them in half) I opted to using a needle and white thread and with one stitch on top and one on the bottom, I was able to string them together into strands. This part took forever! If I were to do it again, I would try to find out a quicker way. The only kind of tape for sticking them on to the sconce that worked was masking tape, since the heat from the bulbs made other tapes peel off. This isn't the prettiest tape, and it's clearly visible in some areas. I had more strands up previously, but they fell because of the heat from the bulbs.

Here's the end result! What do you think?