Spooky Cuties (wee ghostie brooches for under £5!)

Hello, ghoulies and girlies!

Halloween is coming and it's a perfect excuse to get crafting. Follow these simple ten steps to make yourself your own little ghostie to celebrate the turn of the season!

Let's get started!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• Ruler
• Lighter
• Scissors
• Glue
• White Grosgrain (16mm)
• Coloured Double Sided Satin (7mm)
• Googly eyes
• Glue-on Diamante
• Brooch pin

STEP 1.

• Snip your grosgrain into four pieces.
• I went for 6cm pieces, but it depends on how big/small you want your brooch!
• (don't worry about trailing ends, we'll get rid of them in a minute)

STEP 2.

• Cut a diagonal line across the bottom of your grosgrain, and seal ribbon with a lighter or other flame source.
• I used a lighter because I like the wavy line is can produce, adding to my ghostie's spooky effect!

STEP 3.

• Glue your pieces together, overlapping each ribbon just before halfway.
• You don't need lots of glue for this, just a little gem-tac does the trick.
• Wait for the glue to dry!

STEP 4.

• Once the glue in dry, curve the top of your ghostie with your scissors, and seal it again with your lighter or other flame source.

STEP 5.

• Add your eyes!
• I found this best to do over the joins, and then I added a tiny little bit of glue to the centre join about halfway down, just to keep it together.

STEP 6.

• Now for the little bow.
• Cut about 10cm of your coloured ribbon (I went for purple!) and seal the ends.
• The easiest way to do this bit is to cross the ribbon as shown above and glue together.
• Wait for glue to dry.

STEP 7.

• Flip your ribbon over and, pinching the middle, twist it over.
• Add a little glue over the back of your original join and stick it down.

STEP 8.

• Glue a diamanté of your choice to the centre of your bow.
• Or a button! Or any sort of decoration that you see fit.

STEP 9.

• Press the ribbon into the top left hand corner of your ghostie and wait for it to dry.

STEP 10.

• Finally, add your brooch pin to the back.
• I've glued mine, but it's also possible to sew it on if you feel that's appropriate.
• Alternatively, try hairbands or hairclips - the possibilities are endless!

TA-DA!

And there we have it!

A quick wee ghostie brooch to put you in the mood for some Halloween crafting.

Thanks for listening!

If you have any questions, ideas, or creations of your own - feel free to send them to us at tara@josyrose.com.

HAPPY CRAFTING

Five Christmas Craft Ideas For Your Home

Last month we blogged about our surprise that Christmas was fast approaching, and this month we can’t believe we’re even closer! Ignoring the fact that we still feel that it was only yesterday we were wearing shorts in the warm weather, we need to get our act together and think about Christmas.

With just over a month to go until the big day, we’ve started to crack on with our Christmas craft ideas. Now, at JosyRose we understand you guys have a lot on your plate so we thought we would share our five Christmas craft ideas which you can do to decorate your home.

1.    Make a Christmas tree

At first we understand this maybe an odd idea, but it’s not as crazy as you think! Create your own tree decorations or use leftover ones to create a pin-up Christmas tree on you wall. Ideal for people with little space or for bedrooms.

2.    Make your own tree decorations

Making your own Christmas tree decorations is simple, fun, and you can even get your kids involved! You can make your own Christmas decorations out of anything, we like using our festive motifs and our trimmings to make little decorations.

3.    Homemade Christmas crackers

Making your own Christmas crackers is ideal for avoiding those cringe worthy jokes. You will need wrapping paper, sturdy card or an empty loo roll, and some trimmings. You can fill your crackers with little tiny gifts which your friends and family can share.

4.    Make a homemade garland

Have some leftover tinsel which is screaming to be used? We have the solution, why not make a homemade garland? Simply make little Christmas themed shapes using felt, this will require you to cut out two identical shapes, stitch your two identical shapes together leaving a gap at the top, stuff your shape up with cotton wool and stitch up the gap. When your shape is complete you can attach it to your tinsel using some trimming.

5.    Pine cone place cards

Now we admit there is not much creativity involved in this craft idea, but we couldn’t resist sharing this cute little idea. Whilst on your winter walk pick up some pine cones which have already opened up, spray them lightly using a fake snow spray, when they’re dry you can use them as place cards by writing the name of your guests on cards and inserting the card into the top of the pine cone.

So, there you go, five Christmas craft ideas for your home. If you are looking for more inspiration or looking for craft supplies, we have a large collection of buttons, sequins, ribbons, trimmings in our haberdashery craft shop.