Wood Halloween Silhouetes

*directions and template from Marthastewart.com*

My two friends and I borrowed a jigsaw from self-help and made some Halloween decorations! I have had this project saved for a couple of years now with the files already downloaded on my computer, just waiting for me to do it. The problem was...I had never used a jigsaw and didn't own one. My neighbor Yesenia suggested we borrow one from self-help (I love the military) uh, genius! We bought wood and paint at the local hardware store and got to it! It was really really easy. What I mean is, I watched Yesenia do half the witch and then I took over. It was much easier than I thought it would be. The hardest part is the tight curves and as you can see from the close up of the witch, it's a bit jaggedy. 

This project cost me: 

21 euro for wood

11.99 euro for paint.

So about 45 USD. 

(it will be more if you add supports or other stuff on the back. I didn't because this is our last Halloween in this house and I didn't want to commit the witch to only being able to pose her one way) 

The directions call for an 8x4 feet piece of wood for the witch and 4x4 feet for 3 cats. Do not buy two pieces! The 8x4 piece is big enough to do the witch and the three cats if you cut just right.

Cat #1 (he is slightly different than the one below)

Cat #2

And cat #3

Close up of the witch. I'm not sure what the wood is that we bought. It was perfect for this though. It was not solid wood and sort of frayed like torn cardboard on some of the edges. The directions call for 3/4" wood but this is about 1/4" thick. We used outdoor deck paint.

She is supposed to have hooks on the back of her hands to hold the broom and lantern but again I didn't want to commit her to only been one way. I might need to turn her the other way at the next house!

And here is Yesenia! She's posing for me. Yesenia is one of the coolest people I know. She is from New York and just moved here about 4 months ago. 

I only took these two pictures while they were being built. 

Next post will be the paper monsters and zombie hands silhouettes we made!!

This and that

Hanging door stopper from Martha Stewart. I looked and looked but couldn't find the original pattern online and since my stuff is all packed up I couldn't scan in the one I printed out. I made this years ago so Emily wouldn't smash her fingers in the door. I used cotton velvet and organza ribbon. Next time I would use something else for the ribbon since this is so thin it makes a good tight not if you're not careful!

I took these photos as the movers were packing our stuff so they are a little blurry and not so pretty but you can get the idea of what it is.

Below is some of the fabric I got at Joann's while on vacation.
Below is Swiss dot (joann's calls it a flocked dot) in yellow, blue and pink dots. I love this stuff! I wanted to get all the blue they had to make curtains for the girls room but at the time I had no idea what kind of windows we'd have in or new place or if the blue dots even match the baby blue velvet curtains they already have.

Below is a woven plaid.

Below is a rayon I think. It's like a chiffon or Georgette. Thin and flowey and beautiful! I saw it at one Joann's but didn't buy and then couldn't stop thinking about it so I had to go back and get it!

Two more plaids below but these have stretch and are solely to make pj shorts for myself.

Some pom pom trim in two yummy colors.

So we are moved into our new place and just received government furniture today in the old place right after this picture was taken.

Old place above,
New place below.

I am so in love with the new place. We live behind one of the bases so I could walk to it if I wanted. I changed the rooms I had designated for the sewing room and master bedroom. I started thinking about our master bedroom window having parking spaces below it and people scraping ice or snow or shutting doors in the morning and I'm such a light sleeper. So I switched and I'm so glad I did.

Either we have a lot of kitchen stuff or the storage space in the new place is small becasue I filled all the cabinets and we haven't even brought over the food yet! I'll have to get another shelf to house the cans and boxes of foods.

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Below is Emily & Emilee exchanging photo albums they made for each other. Emilee and her family also moved at the same time we did but they went back to the states. We will miss them something awful!

They are really cute and both girls did a really good job!

I'm itching to get our new place situated but we still have stuff to do in our old place. Jon is steam cleaning the carpets as I write this. Ava has been sick through this whole move and now I have a cold.