Happy Halloween

From our house to yours..... Happy Halloween!

~ The Cowgirls

Gilded Pumpkins

So it's our last day of Halloween crafting here at Cowgirls and Cupcakes and I wanted to send you off with a bang. Yes, it's gilded pumpkins! I opened up my Country Living magazine a month back and was in awe when I saw these. I almost hurdled the couch to run down to Michaels and buy some gold leaf. Their is a technique to this, and unfortunately, I can't say that I have tried it yet, but plan too very soon. Look at how beautiful these pumpkins came out. The article featured Carol Kemery who is a decorative painter and developed this fantastic kit along with Country Living, to make these beautiful gilded pieces. So this is not really a tutorial by me today, but I thought that if you saw these that the kit might be worth a look see.

Here is her tutorial: Gilding Pumpkins

Here is the link to her website with the kit: Beautiful Gilded Pumpkins

Here is the wonderful article about guilding in Country Living: Fall Guilding

It has been fun crafting with you this week! Let's do it again soon. Our buddy Kim will be returning from LA on Sunday and I can't wait to hear about Disneyland's decor for the Halloween season. Our recipes will be returning next week as well. Be sure to get your comment or email in to join our giveaway. The giveaway winner will be chosen on October 27th at midnight, so get those entries in.

Stamped Halloween Cards

And the crafting just keeps rolling on here at Cowgirls and Cupcakes. Today I made a few Halloween cards. I love giving these out to my friends and family. These also make great little teacher gifts. I saw cards very similar to these in a store that cost $15.00. That is insane! You can make these at home for little to nothing. I bet a lot of you crafters out there already have a few items already on hand.

Here is what you need:

Black and white card stock with envelopes - I buy the pre-cut cards and envelopes in a large pack at Michaels. They have both black and white.

Any of your spooky Halloween stamps. For these I used the new clear stamps. I found them in a store for .99 cents and thought they were so cute and very vintagy looking. If you use the clear stamps like I did, you will also need an acrylic block. They sell these at any craft store. I actually picked mine up at my local Wal-Mart.

Black stamp pad and white stamp pad - Again, found mine at Michaels.

Here is what I did:

Just line up your stamps on your acrylic block and ink them up. I found that the clear stamps don't use as much ink as the rubber stamps do. Use it sparingly and do a few test runs first.

Finally, you just stamp away.

I always like to keep it simple and I think that these are sooooo easy for anyone to do. I will wrap these in a cute Halloween ribbon and add these to the giveaway stash.

Just a reminder, our Cowgirls and Cupcakes Halloween Giveaway has already started. If you would like to be entered into the giveaway, please send us a comment or an email or a great recipe and you will be entered. The giveaway winner will be chosen on October 27th at midnight.

Little Pumpkin Head

Hey guys, it's me again. We just received our first two entries into the giveaway. Remember the giveaway ends on October 27th at midnight so get your comment or email to us to get you qualified.

So it's on to our second day of craftiness here at Cowgirls and Cupcakes. The next project was inspired by a wonderful crafty gal named Missy Balance who is founder of Mohair Circus and Glitter and Grunge. She posted her little spool dolls on her blog and etsy shop and I was intrigued. They were so cute I had to buy a little cell phone charm spool doll. It makes for an awesome conversation piece. I knew that I wanted to make some of these little dolls for the holidays to give to my family as gifts. I had this idea to make one into a pumpkin for my Mom who's birthday is at the beginning of October. I always try to get her something related to Halloween and I thought that this would be the ticket.

These little spool dolls are easy to make and the possibilities are endless. Here is how I made my little pumpkin head.

Supplies:

Vintage wooden spool or new wooden spool from the craft store. I like the small squatty ones.

Round wooden knobs that are flat on one end. I don't know the official name of these guys, but you can find them in the wood aisle at your local craft store.

Acrylic paint - orange - like a pumpkin

Sharpie marker - black

Round, small green bead for the stem

Clear matte or gloss varnish

Glue gun

About 12 inches of coordinating ribbon of your liking

A cute pin of your choice

So here is what I did:

First paint the round knob in pumpkin orange and let dry thoroughly - I think I did about two coats on this piece.

Next you are going to draw your face on the pumpkin head with a Sharpie marker. You can use pencil first if you are unsure of your art skills and need a little practice.

Next apply one coat of the varnish and let it dry thoroughly.

Then you are going to heat up that old glue gun and get ready to glue the knob onto the spool.

Then glue the little bead on top of the pumpkin head for his stem

You are almost done....

Finally, you are going to wrap your super coordinated ribbon around your spool a few times and secure with your pin.

Super cute and a great little gift for Halloween. Let me know how yours turn out!

Black Apple Dolls

Here it is, our first ever crafty project at Cowgirls and Cupcakes. This calls for an applause......

A couple of weekends ago my littlest of mites was at home sick with a bad cold and my oldest was with my husband at our family cabin in Lassen. There wasn't much for the two of us to do at home except sit in front of the T.V. and hang out, so the Scout and I got my sewing machine out and some Halloween fabric scraps that I had laying around and whipped up a couple of these darling dolls from one of my favorite crafty girls, Emily Martin of The Black Apple. I had watched Martha Stewart one afternoon when they had on a tutorial with Emily and her dolls. I ran, not walked, back to my computer and promptly hit the print button to get the free download.

These dolls came out so cute and are really pretty easy to put together. I did have one "ooops moment" while I was cutting out the pattern and realized that you had to cut the legs and arms as a front and a back otherwise they won't line up when you try to face them. (A typical Deb moment as I started cutting before I started thinking.) I did fudge a bit on their faces as I didn't have any canvas available, but I did have some old muslin curtains of my mom's that worked nicely. I used a Sharpee marker for the faces which I would not recommend. They bleed into the fabric too much. Be smart and get a fabric pen. They both came out really cute (as you can see from the pic above) and the Scout had a great time helping me pick out the buttons and which color scarves they were going to wear.

So here is the link to the tutorial on Martha's wonderful website: Black Apple Doll Tutorial

You might want to check out Emily's fantastic etsy shop. I love all of her whimsical prints and paper goods that she sells. Not to mention that she is the number one seller on etsy. You go girl!

Hope you guys enjoy the pattern and send us a pic of your finished dolls so we can post them on the blog and a flickr group. And don't forget to leave us a comment or an email to be entered into our Cowgirls and Cupcakes 2nd Giveaway!!!! There might be one of these cute dollies stuck in the package for your Halloween enjoyment!