Didn’t get to be George Clooney’s plus one?  That’s too bad.  Guess you’ll have to watch the Academy Awards on TV like the rest of us.  Fortunately, you can impress everyone else at your Oscar party by bringing some sweet desserts taken straight from the Best Animated Feature category.  Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Coraline Button Cookies and the piece de resistance, UPcakes.

I found both of these awesome treats on the Bakerella blog and just in time — rumor has it I won’t be able to get into the party I’m going to tonight without something punny.

Coraline cookies with the poking straws in the middle

Bakerella explains in perfect detail how to make the Coraline cookies, but I’ll add my two cents here as well.  I didn’t dip mine in chocolate like she did and they turned out just fine.  I tried dipping a few and I thought that the plain ones were actually better (which means a lot coming from me because I am a huge chocoholic).  Also, I usually LOVE Paula Deen’s peanut butter cookie recipe because it’s so ridiculously simple.  You can’t go wrong with only three ingredients.  However, in this case, you might want to with the mix like Bakerella suggets.  Mine came out okay, but they were a little more crumbly than the ones she used, so my button edges weren’t perfect.

Whoops...mini jellybeans didn't quite work out.

For the UPcakes, I followed Bakerella’s instructions…mostly.  Seriously, click over and check these out.  Mine aren’t assembled yet and I don’t want to steal her picture, but it’s pretty cute.  I used this Martha Stewart recipe for coconut cupcakes, but added six drops of blue food coloring to make the batter sky colored.  I also topped the white frosting with coconut shreds to make it look even more cloud-like.  If you use the Martha Stewart recipe, don’t put the balloon toppers into the cupcakes until right before you plan to serve them because the noodles will warp from the moisture of the cake and the balloon toppers will fall over.  I discovered this last night when I came back from Point Break Live.  Fortunately, everything was salvageable and I’m going to leave the toppers and the cupcakes separate until this afternoon.  I guess you could also just use toothpicks if you need to make them in advance.  As for the sprinkles, you might have to do a bit of scavenging to find them.  I couldn’t find them at Vons or Albertsons (and instead attempted to use mini jellybeans…didn’t work).  I finally found them at Jon’s of all places, so try there if you can’t find them elsewhere.

Get baking.  The Oscars are only a few hours away!

There was a time in my life when I associated food from trucks with some very negative things: I only saw them at construction sites, they always looked dirty, and I was always assured eating from them would lead to some pretty nasty diseases.  Without fail, on the few occasions that I was offered to eat at a food truck during my youth, I politely declined. And this prejudice against vehicular nourishment went on for 18 years.

And then I moved to L.A.

Needless to say, my life began anew.  I won’t go on extolling the many virtues of mobile street food, as I believe that this website has already gotten that point across already.  However what I am here to tell deals with this matter very closely.

The Silver Lake Art*Craft and Vintage Market, which takes place every last weekend of the month, will this weekend feature a food truck block party.  Now in addition to great shopping within a Broken Social Scene-friendly atmosphere, you can enjoy some of the best food on four wheels that our fine city has to offer without the need to feverishly follow their migratory patterns via Twitter.  It’s just a bunch of food trucks, all in one place, ready to sell you food, right next to some awesome shopping.

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WHAT: Food Truck block party at Silver Lake Art*Craft and Vintage Market
WHEN:Saturday and Sunday, February 27-28, 10AM-4PM (Trucks open at 11)
WHERE: In Silver Lake, Off Sunset
$$$: Free (unless you buy something)

Okay, this one falls into the crafting for the craftily challenged category.  Seriously, it requires no specific craft knowledge and, minus shopping time, can be completed in less than five minutes.  How awesome is that?

The whole magnetic spice rack thing started when I moved into my current apartment.  The kitchen is kind of lacking counter space, so I didn’t want to use a spice rack, but it seemed silly to dedicate an entire drawer to storing spices (I cook a lot).  I figured that, if I could store them on the side of the fridge, they would be at hand when I was cooking and would be pretty much out of the way.

I could get those fancy magnetic spice containers, but they’re like $2 each, so no.  And I tried gluing magnets directly to my spice bottles (as you can see in the picture) but the bottles didn’t stay and that sucks anyway because you have to glue a new magnet every time you get a new spice bottle.  Last week when I was shopping for supplies to organize my desk, I came upon the solution: a DIY magnetic spice rack.

What you need:

- Heavy duty round magnets (you can get them at the craft store or the hardware store)
-A hot glue gun and glue sticks…or maybe super glue would work
-Metal office supply holders that are deep enough for a spice bottle to fit.  Mine are 2″ deep and they fit perfectly.  That seems to be a pretty standard depth, but check the dimensions just in case.

Now put it together:

I’m sort of stating the obvious, but glue a few (4 is a good number if yours are as wide as mine are) heavy duty magnets to the back.  The more the better as far as sticking to the fridge goes.  Make sure they’re fastened securely.

Put your newly magnetized bins on the side of your fridge, insert spices, and you’re all set!

If you get mesh organizers like I did, you will be able to see the spice bottle labels, but you could also use pieces of tape or address labels to label the lids of the bottles so you can know what’s in each of them more easily.  Also, be sure that you arrange your magnetic spice rack so that the shelves on the bottom have enough clearance to get the bottles out.  Again, stating the obvious.  Sorry.

If you’re not a big cook, you could use these for pretty much anything that’ll fit.

So I have two New Year’s resolutions.  The first is to eat seasonally and locally, making at least 75% of my meals at home from scratch. So far so good on that one.  The other one is to finally tackle my storage and get organized.  Long story short, I’m halfway through which means that all of the time I

Disney made an old button down into this neat bolero.

would normally spend crafting has been spent sorting and cleaning for the past couple weeks.  I went through my closet and found a whole bag of shirts that I just didn’t wear much.  I was planning to give them to Goodwill, but then I realized that I could do a little crafting and make them way cuter.

I’ll admit that I haven’t actually done it yet, but once my sewing machine gets unearthed from the piles of crafting detritus I’m gonna get to work.  Here are some of the tutorials I plan to try out:

• Sachiko at Tea Rose Home shows how to turn two plain t-shirts in to one ruffley one.  Very Anthropologie!
• If you have any of those giant freebee tees laying around, CraftStylish has an easy way to turn them into a cute tunic.
• My Mama Made it turns an old long sleeved jersey t-shirt into a ruffled tank.  Simple, but sweet.
• Got an old button down?  Turn it into a bolero with Disney’s tutorial at Ruffles and Stuff.

Hope these inspire you.  I’ll let you know what happens when I revamp my tees.  And look forward to some major projects in the next couple months.

Happy crafting, kids!

If you celebrate Hannuakah, your holiday crafting had better be done.  But, if you celebrate Christmas, you’re in luck – you still have a little over a week to get all your presents ready.  In the spirit of procrastination, I will be featuring a few projects this week that have some things in common: they’re pretty inexpensive, they require very little crafty talent to complete, and they take an hour or less from start to finish.

Today, I’m featuring the glitter frames.  Not going to say who I made them for lest she read this, but there’s a certain person on my gift list who loves all things sparkly.  If you have someone who needs a little bling in his/her life, these are perfect.  I whipped up all four of these frames in less than a half an hour and they were super easy to make.

What you need:

-Glitter in whatever colors you want.
-Glue (Elmers works really well for this.)
-A paintbrush
-Picture frames (I used the black ones that come in 2 packs at Ikea)
-Lots of newspaper or junk mail to cover your work surface

Now put it together:
1) Remove the backing and glass from your picture frame.  Cover your work surface with newspaper.
2) Squirt a nice, thick line of glue along each edge of your picture frame. Use your paintbrush to spread it around so that there is a layer of glue completely covering the front and all of the side edges.
3) Liberally sprinkle your glitter all over the frame.  Don’t skimp – whatever isn’t needed will easily shake off once the glue is dry and can be returned to the jar.  Make sure that all the edges get well-covered.  If you don’t have enough coverage, try tapping the edges on your newspaper so that they pick up the extra glitter from pouring it onto your frame.
4) Let the glue dry – overnight is best- and then gently shake off your frames to remove the excess glitter.  Fold your newspaper in half to collect the glitter and dump it back into its container.  Replace the glass and backing on your picture frame and you’re all set.

That wasn’t too hard, was it?

We like to write up Bust Magazine’s annual holiday Craftacular, and this year is no exception. Taking place tomorrow at the Echoplex, the craftacular offers handmade gifts for sale from independent (most likely female) designers and crafters, as well as refreshments and music provided by Djs. Once again, we here at BoredLA encourage you to skip the Grove or the Promenade, and buy independent, and let’s face it, cooler gifts this season.

WHAT: BUST magazine Craftacular
WHEN: Saturday Dec. 12 10am-6pm
WHERE: Echoplex
$$$: 2 dollar entry/bring cash for gifts

Need a gift idea that works just as well for guys as it does for girls?  You’re in luck!  These felt laptop cases are a completely unisex option.  They’re also easy for even the most craft-challenged of us; if you can use an iron and scissors, you’re set.

What you need:

Photo from Design Sponge

-3/4 yard each of two different colors felt
-Steam-a-seam
-Scissors
-Iron & ironing board
-Velcro dots
-The dimensions of the laptop that you’re crafting for
-Optional: pinking shears, hole punch, X-acto knife

Now put it together:

-Find out the measurements of the laptop that you’re crafting for.  If you know what time of computer the recipient has, you can Google it and find out the dimensions.
-If you want your laptop case to have a little visual interest, there are a few things you can try:

• Use a hole punch to punch holes in the top layer of your felt so that the bottom layer will show through.  You can do this all over or just in selected areas.
• Use pinking shears to cut the top edge of your fabric so it will be zigzagged.  You probably only want to do this on the flap that will be on top when you fold everything up together.
• Use an X-acto knife to cut shapes out of your top layer.
• This one’s a little hard to explain, but for the flap that will be on top when you fold everything up together, make the bottom piece of felt about 1″ longer than the top piece of felt.  Then, when you put everything together, fold that extra 1″ over top to make a stripe.

-Take a look at the tutorial on DesignSponge and follow the instructions for cutting out the  felt.
-Design Sponge recommends that you use fusible interfacing to connect the two layers of felt.  That’s not a bad idea, but I had an easier time just using the Steam-a-seam strips along the edges.  Either way, make sure the edges are stuck together really well!
-Fold the case up and apply your velcro squares.

That’s it – you’re finished!  Once you get the process down pat, you can make one in under an hour.  I’ve made these for a bunch of people on my list and I’ll probably make a few more in the next couple of weeks.

Happy crafting, kids!

It’s only in it’s second year, but it’s the talk of the town: The Unique L.A. Independent Design and Gift Sale is happening again this weekend. It is THE place to buy holiday gifts for all of your friends and family. Not only will you find really great gifts, but you will also be supporting local and independent artists (over 300 to be exact!). Some people may be turned off by the raised entry fee, but it’s only $10 and it gets you unlimited access to both days of the event, a tote bag from Sheperd Fairey’s comany, a free drink ticket, and access to some really fun workshops through out the day. There will be a special “green room” featuring 50 eco-friendly designers, two cafes so you can spend your day with Unique L.A. (you won’t want to leave), and the workshops will be on book-binding, ornaments, and recycled products. And to top it off, a portion of the proceeds will go to LA’s coolest non-profit, 826LA.
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WHAT: Unique Los Angeles Gift Sale
WHEN: Saturday & Sunday, December 5th & 6th @ 11am-6pm
WHERE: California Market Center
$$$: $10

First off, sincere apologies for being a day late on this one.  I had to get a new camera cord, so now the posting can go on as usual.

Back to the cake stand.

This is seriously one of the easiest things you could make as a holiday gift this season…and it looks way more expensive than it actually is.  There is a day or two of hands off drying time, so you have to plan a little in advance, but the actual crafting time is minimal and even those of you who aren’t craftily inclined can easily pull this off.

Another tip: make more than one and stack them and then put different cupcakes on each level.

What you need:

-A candlestick…the wider the top the better.  (The one I used had a flat base with a spike to stick into a pillar candle instead of a taper holder…hard to explain but that kind works best…maybe look at the picture if you don’t quite get what I’m talking about).
-A plate of your choice.  One that is completely smooth without any dips or ridges will work well for a cake.  If you’re going to put cupcakes or anything else that’s small-ish, any type of plate will work.
-A screwdriver or scissors to pry off the spike if you’re using one of the candlesticks with the spike.
-Gorilla Glue
-A heavy book to use in lieu of a clamp.

This is what happens with just a little glue, so don't overdo it.

Now put it together:

1) Head to the thrift store and look for your candlestick and plate.  Any candlestick will work, but, like I said earlier, the wider the top of the candlestick, the more durable your cake stand will be.
2)  Thoroughly wash your plate and candlestick.  Buff your candlestick or polish it if it’s tarnished (or don’t, if you like the shabby chic look).
3) Carefully cover the top of your candlestick with a thin layer of Gorilla Glue.  Don’t use too much because it expands as it dries, so the underside of the plate will get super messy if you use a lot of glue.
4) Place the candlestick on the bottom of the plate.  Make sure it’s well-centered and even, then put a heavy book on top of the stack you just  made to weigh the candlestick down and act as a clamp.  The order should be plate on top of your table, candlestick on top of the plate, book on top of the candlestick (i.e. the whole shebang should be upside down and weighted with the book).
5) Let the glue dry for a day or two.  It should be done in a day, but leaving it there for two can’t hurt anything.

That’s it!  Minus shopping and drying time, the whole project should take you less than 15 minutes and people seriously won’t believe you made it yourself.

Happy crafting, kids!

There are so many things wrong with the title, that it’s gotta be a joke, right? Ironic maybe? Anyway, this Saturday, Elaine Layabout is hosting the Hella Hipster Hoedown at the Urban Craft Center out in Santa Monica. There will be live music from Old Californio, Freaky Mountain, Justin Gordon, and Foot Foot. Bring in t-shirts to screen print, learn how to knit, & “wet your whistles” with free drinks. The biggest draw to this event? Free cornbread. P.S., the venue is ridiculously cute, another big draw. Located on Main St., The Urban Craft Center is a cute little studio that offers a bunch of crafty classes for the hip and non-hip alike! Don’t be turned off by the title of the event, it’s funny! Right?
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WHAT: Hella Hipster Hoedown
WHEN: Sunday, November 22nd @ 3pm-8pm
WHERE: The Urban Craft Center
$$$: $5

Soap in a sweater: it’s the bathtime accessory you never knew you needed until you had it.  Okay, so maybe felted soap won’t change your life, but it’s really cool and super easy.  (FYI: I’ll be featuring a crafty gift idea every week from now til the holidays are over.)  You will need to buy roving, but you can get enough of it to make 8 or 10 of these bars for less than $15, so you can make lots of these for very little money.  Wrap a few of ‘em up nicely together and voila, insta-gift.

Water does all the magic here .  If you’ve ever accidentally washed and dried a wool sweater, you’re already familiar with the phenomenon, but basically, you wrap the soap in wool and get the wool to shrink down to the size of the bar using hot water.  As the bar gets used up, the wool will shrink with it.

This is what roving looks like before you felt it.

What you need:
-Roving in as many different colors as you want.  If you’re feeling adventurous, get this.  Unless you’re serious about doing this, buy it by the ounce, not the pound.
-Bars of soap (I tried a bunch of different kinds and ones with rounded edges work best.  Trader Joes sells some good, reasonably priced bars.)
-Large bowl of water as hot as you can stand to keep your hands in.
-Towel

Now put it together:
1) Wrap your bar in thin layers of roving in a pattern that you like.  If you’ve never tried felting before, you might want to try your first bar with just one color so you can get the hang of it.  Make sure the bar is completely covered, but don’t overdo it…if your roving is too thick, you’ll have a really hard time getting it to felt down to the size you need.

This is what your wool should look like once the felting is finished.

2) Once you’ve got it wrapped the way you like, hold your bar in one hand.  Use your other hand to gently dribble water over the bar until it is completely wet.  Don’t pour the water too hard or you’ll dislodge your wool.
3) Once it’s completely wet, squish the bar between your hands, still being careful not to dislodge the wool.
4) Repeat the wetting and squishing until you feel the wool begin to get tight around the bar of soap.  Once it feels a little felted, you can dunk it all the way into the water.  Again, just keep working the wool in your hands.
5) Keep this up until the wool is completely felted.  It will feel very tight around the bar of soap…you’ll know it’s not going anywhere.
6) Once the wool is done being felted, run it under cold water to complete the process.  Then roll it up in the towel to get the excess water out and let the bar dry.

Enjoy your fun soap and happy crafting, kids.

Santa Ana is a trek, but if you’re a fan of indie design and supporting local artists, it might be a trip worth making this Sunday.  From 11-5, the owners of the awesome vintage store, The Road Less Traveled, are hosting a craft fair featuring the work of lots of local artisans — all with an eco-friendly twist.  If the photos from past events are any indication, the selection looks amazing and there will also be yummy food and fun music.  This would be a great opportunity to get started with your holiday shopping, so get some cash from the ATM and drive down south.

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WHAT: Patchwork Indie Arts and Crafts Festival
WHEN: Sunday, November 15 from 11-5
WHERE: 2202 North Main Street
$$$: Looks are free

Got any books left over from the book sale in Atwater?  Some may say there’s never an excuse to rip up a book, but for something as pretty as this I beg to differ.  Living with Lindsay has a great tutorial for book page wreaths and they look like something you’d find at Anthropologie for 239 million dollars.  Fortunately, you can make it for under five bucks if you head to the dollar store.  Lindsay got lucky and found exactly what she needed at Dollar Tree, but I don’t think we have those around here.  Fortunately, if you aren’t averse to destroying tacky Christmas decorations, you can get what you need at 99 Cents Only.

What you need:

My haul from the dollar store.

-A 10″ foam wreath base (aka tacky snowman wreath)
-1 or 2 paperback books (one of these took me all of Pirates of the Caribbean and part of the dictionary…I guess you can’t be picky when it’s 99 cents)
-Brown or grey paint
-Paper towel
-Ribbon piece
-Hot glue gun and LOTS of glue sticks (I went through almost an entire small bag to make one wreath)
-Something to use to press the pages onto the wreath so you don’t burn your fingers
-2 straight pins (optional)

Now put it together:

If you follow the instructions on Living with Lindsay, you’ll be golden.  However, if you buy the 99 Cents Only snowman wreath, there are a couple steps to do before you begin.

1) Rip the snowman off of the wreath.  It’s attached with a stick, so it requires a little finesse to get it off without ruining the wreath.
2) Pull off as much of the fake snow as you possibly can.  You won’t ever see the wreath base, so the looks don’t matter too much, but if you leave the fake snow on, the pages will have a hard time sticking.  Once the snow is gone, get started folding and gluing pages.

Once your wreath is done, you can of course hang it on the wall.  I also placed a simple vase of succulents in the middle and used it as a centerpiece at the dinner table.  Pretty cute.

Happy crafting, kids!

Plenty of stores are getting into the Halloween spirit and not just by putting lame decorations in their windows.  Some stores are actually offering some sweet freebies, and not just the candy kind.  All you have to do is show up at the right time or do something silly at the behest of your frozen yogurt overlords.

The folks at dealnews.com put together a comprehensive list of places to go with activities and rewards for both adults and kids.  You stand to receive anything from sandwiches to free bowling to toys and more.  I have a bunch of brown butcher paper left over from my Halloween decorations at work, so maybe I’ll swing by Chipotle and show them what an angry burrito looks like.

Click here for the list and check back for it to be updated.

So it’s been a while since the cell phone was invented.  Also, there have been a few upgrades since that 386 with a 40mb hard drive.  So maybe you have some old tech lying around.  Old tech that you’re thinking you kept for the sake of nostalgia.  Or perhaps one day you wanted to show your kids what a video game system was like when you still had to use your hands.  In any case, the lovely gurus at Engadget put together an extremely comprehensive list of where to recycle just about any tech you’ve got.

Check it out here.

And let us know if it actually works!

Ever pawed through the art in the back of Goodwill?  There are definitely some gems there and one of them could be your Halloween costume if you have an Xacto knife.

Thanks to the wonders of Photoshop, this is what I would look like if I cut a hole in the official portrait of Governor Jesse Ventura and wore it to my graduation.

What you need:

- A tacky vintage painting.  Old portraits are good…or paintings of pets.  Basically, anything with a head
-Pencil
-Sharp Xact0 knife
-Tape measure
-Clear nail polish

What to do:

1) Buy your painting.  Make sure that you can cut out a piece the size of your head and still leave it somewhat intact.
2)  Measure the circumference of your head so you’ll know how large to cut your hole.
3) Trace an oval the approximate shape of your head onto the front of the painting.
4) Cut according to the lines you’ve made.
5)  Use your clear nail polish to seal the edges of the oval you’ve just cut so that it doesn’t fray.
6) Stick your head in and walk around.

Super easy, super kitschy.  Happy crafting, folks!

Saturday, the friendly people who like to bring you things Burning Man related in Los Angeles are graciously throwing a free clothing swap!

Trade in all those leftover and unwanted remnants of fabric you have laying around, meet some cool strangers, then leave with oodles of new (to you) odds and ends! Craft supplies are also welcome. This is quite possibly the perfect timing to have a anything to do with clothing or creativity with the little holiday of Halloween peeking around the corner. Just enough time to put the last minute touches on and late enough to know what you’re doing. Hooray!

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What: Stuff With A Past Clothing And Supplies Swap
When: Saturday, October 17th, 1 – 4 pm
Where: Smashlabs @ 1714 Albion St., Los Angeles
$$$: FREE!!!

What child doesn’t dream of being Max and playing with the Wild Things?  Next weekend I’m hosting a Halloween party for the kids I teach and so I had to come up with a costume that wasn’t scary and might be someone they’d recognize.  Thanks for the inspiration, Spike Jonze!  I searched online for adult footie pajamas (I figured they’d be the key to a successful costume) but they’re all so freaking expensive.  Then I went to Home Depot earlier this week and it came to me: a hazmat suit!  You, too, can make your own Max costume for less than 20 bucks.

if Max had myspace...take 1

What you need:

-A white, hooded jumpsuit (in the painting section at a home improvement store)
-Stapler and plenty of staples
-White cloth 2″ medical tape (like what you use to tape gauze)
-Yellow poster board
-4 black pipe cleaners
-1 pair white gloves
-White craft foam sheets
-1 pair white socks or sneakers

Now put it together:

1) Try on your hazmat suit.  If you got it at Home Depot, the only size they have is XL, so it’s probably going to be huge on you.  Fortunately, there should be a seam down the middle of the back.  You can make the suit fit more snugly simply by stapling the inside of the back just like you would take in a seam on a regular garment.   Put in a few staples, then try it on and make sure it fits you well before putting in lots.  Once you’ve got the right size, staple close together all the way down the seam.
2)  The hood of your jumpsuit will be edged with elastic because it’s designed to keep particles out.  That’s no good for being a Wild Thing, so cut along the edge of the elastic and get it all off.  Don’t worry about making your edge neat just yet.  Once you’ve got the elastic off, cut along the edge again to make it neat.

I opened the bag before I took the picture, but this is what you're looking for.

3) Once you’re done cutting, the hood will probably not quite cover your head.  Enter the cloth medical tape!  Cut a length of medical tape that is the same length as the edge of your hood.  Place it on the edge of the hood and fold it over to the underside of the hood.  The medical tape will act like bias tape and both extend your hood while stopping the edge from fraying.
4) Take your pipe cleaners and fold them in half.  Try on your suit to see where the whiskers would logically go on the side of the hood.  Punch the tip of your pipe cleaner through the edge of the jumpsuit and twist the two halves together so that one pipe cleaner forms two whiskers.  Use a staple to secure.  Do this again for the other three pipe cleaners (two on one side, two on the other).
5) Now make your horns.  Cut horn shapes out of foam and carefully staple them to the top of the hood.  Then use your medical tape to edge both sides of the bottom of the horns (tape them to the hood) so they stand up straight.

Max on myspace...take 2

6) No Max costume would be complete without a gold crown.  Cut a 6″ wide strip out of the poster board.  Make sure it’s at least as long as the circumference of your head.  Then cut triangles out of it to make the points on the crown.  Staple it so that it is the right size for your head while you’re wearing the jumpsuit and horns (don’t do it on your bare head or it won’t fit later!).
7)  In the book Max wears mittens, but I’ll need to use my hands while I’m wearing the costume, so instead, I bought a pair of cheap, white stretchy gloves and cut off the fingertips.  It’s the best of both worlds: my hands are white, but I can still use my fingers.
8) Last but not least: monster feet. Cut feet shapes out of the white foam and staple them to the ankles of the pants.  Then wear either white socks or tennis shoes underneath depending on whether you’ll be indoors or out.

Happy crafting, kids!

Search zombie silhouettes on Google images and you'll find tons of inspiration, like these cool cutouts.

Halloween is 27 days away!  That means for the next few weeks, I’m going to bring you lots of tips and tricks to make your house as spooky as can be.  Arguably, there are a few things spookier than zombies (Ghosts, perhaps?  Or witches…).  But nevertheless, zombies are pretty Halloween-y.  So, pop in a copy of 28 Days Later or Shaun of the Dead and start cutting up some cardboard boxes.  In no time flat, you’ll have zombies of your own.

I was inspired by bumblev at tried&true, who came up with a great way to make zombies for your windows.  Basically, cut out a zombie shape from a window-sized piece of cardboard, spray paint it black, and then prop it up in your window.  Voila, instant zombie invasion!

Happy crafting, kids…and keep your fingers crossed that your new zombie friends don’t try to eat your braaaaaaain.

The Santa Ana winds are coming this week, but you can bet once those are over it’s gonna start to get chilly.  There’s not much that’s worse than waking up in the morning, getting out of bed, and having to walk across a freezing cold floor when you’re half-awake.  What’s a crafty guy or gal to do?  Make your own rug!  Problem solved.

ReadyMade magazine has a really easy tutorial for making your own chevron pattern rug out of a rug pad and felt.  But, here’s the thing: you could take this tutorial and make any pattern you want.  Straight lines will be easier to sew than curved ones, but you’re really only limited by the colors of felt you can find, your sewing skills, and your creativity.

Oh, and another hint.  You don’t even have to sew.  It will last longer if you do, but if you want something a little bit more decorative, you can use the same Steam a Seam that I used to make the no-sew sink skirt.

Happy crafting, kids!