Chalkboard Tombstones

I wasn't really ready to blog these but I realized Halloween is in 2 weeks so I had better just blog the photos I have! I had seen these chalkboard tombstones on the Pottery Barn website and HAD to make them. HAD TO. And I knew just the person to help me. Hi Dad! I've been waiting years to come back to the states so my dad and I can work together in the garage making things. 

I made these about the same size as the Pottery barn ones and out of about 3/4" wood and googeled tombstones for the shapes. I made little patterns from pattern making paper to get the right shapes then made big ones (see 3rd photo down) for the actual patterns. We traced and cut and then painted with chalkboard paint. They have about two layers each. I prepped the surface with the regular chalk like suggested then used chalk pens to draw.

To get my letters on the tombstone I googeled  chalkboard lettering tutorial. Can't remember which one i used but it's the method of rubbing chalk on the back side then tracing over the letters on the front side. It will leave a faint outline of each letter. I didn't do this for the B.A. Frade because my friend Lisa did that one free-hand. We didn't have a printer handy when doing that one.

I made another Martha Stewart witch silhouette for my sister-in-law. I have it propped up at my parents and I just got a call saying this view right here scared the crap out of them (more than once). It scared me too actually. I rounded the corner and yelped! 

  Back in August I think, I was contacted by Heather D. to make her daughter an Astrid costume  like Ava's.  How cool is that? I LOVE this version way better than Ava's. The skulls were made by this etsy seller and they are perfect, They don't break or crumble and are uniform in size. I had a rough time aging them but other than that I love them and recommend this seller. The costume was made a while ago and already shipped. I hope to see a picture of her daughter in it!

Halloween Logs

My neighbor Becca (the one who modeled the apron) made these Halloween decorations for me for my birthday. She used logs found in the surrounding woods (are they big enough to be called  logs? or are they branches? or trunks of small trees? What constitutes a log?) anyway, I had wanted some of my own and she made them for me! The cape and hat are just poster board but I think foamies would be good if not cheapy looking but they'd hold up better in the weather. These would make fun kids projects too. 

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Ava has pinkeye. The day of her school pictures. What crap luck is that? But they were able to take her photo anyway and although she wouldn't really smile, I think they came out ok. I took these before we left to take the school photos. I'm in love with her outfit. The one in the forest is from earlier this morning at a little lake right down the road. There was a TON of mushrooms and I took pictures of her with them. The mushrooms were the red caps with white spots kind.