Eclectic Studio - Tammy Morrison-Koenig

You still have plenty of time to whip up these incredibly easy Halloween props for your outdoor display. I added 3 new gravestones to the yard this year. We are out in the country so decorating is mainly for us and any straggler that happens to come down our road while out for their Sunday drives, but it is my favorite time of year and I can't let that go to waste. It is also the first time in 3 years that we have even seen our Halloween stuff because it has been in storage so it is just like Christmas morning around here.  All of my grave markers are attached to 2*6 scraps to give them weight and stability. Super easy to put together using basic dollar store items (the plastic 1/2 skull, the plastic spider, and the face-changing pictures) a little paint and glue to bring it all together, and there you have some one-of-a-kind spooktacular props. www.eclecticstudio.ca

Happy New Year to you all.  Where does the time go? From Mid September to the first week of January it is non stop around here trying to fulfill orders, make gifts, bake, visit, concerts... you know the holiday routine. Ahhh Now all I want to do is just sit, have a cup of tea and of course think about my next project. Well ever since my baby girl got sick a few years ago with severe food allergies to casein (milk protein) and egg whites, it has flipped everything we knew about the world we lived in upside down. We are now required to read EVERY LABLE, whether it is a whole food or not, you would be scared to know just how lax the labeling requirements are for the food we consume. Vaccinations are touch and go and even the products we use on our body is extremely dangerous in most cases. So in order to face this challenge head on, we have taken control of what we put in our body by making 95% of the food we eat from scratch and grow it when ever possible. We have also learned ...

  I am so excited to have put together this Halloween Paper doll costume this year. It will be completed with anime doll makeup and a big red buffon wig.   This is an easy no-sew, last-minute easy Halloween costume idea.  Here is how mine came together. Supplies needed:  2 pieces of poster board. This color choice will all depend on your outfit. I chose white as I knew I would be painting it.                  pencil                   scissors                  a formfitting outfit you already own                  sharpie or another permanent marker           ...

Here is one of the techniques I use to attain the rotting flesh look on cheap plastic dollar store Halloween props.  Supplies you will need: plastic body parts or skeletons cheap plastic wrap - it doesn't matter what brand  heat gun or high-temperature hairdryer wood stain ( I used oak because that is what I had laying around) spray paint ( red and black) craft paint (red, black, dark brown, white, grey and green)   First, wrap your cheap skulls or bones in a few layers of plastic food wrap. It doesn't matter what brand. Then take your heat gun and melt areas away until you get your desired look. Some hairdryers may not be able to get hot enough to do this. Then take your wood stain and start adding a little colour.  Color choices are completely up to you but i used red, flesh, dark brown, black, white, grey. On the skull, I added some black spray paint in the hallows of the eyes to add a little more dimension.  Hope this in...

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends and family.   “For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, For love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Only 2 weeks left until Halloween so here are a few more last minute ideas you can use in your Halloween haunt. Build your own Coffin:  I built this one using a half sheet of rigid insulation. I didn't really have any measurements to work from. I just took a piece of paper, scaled it to the size of insulation that I had, drew out a quick plan and cut it out. I used duct tape to stick everything together. Step 2: I had some leftover red velour fabric from a Freddy Mercury costume from a couple years ago so I cut it to size and used some carpet tape to attach it to the coffin. Carpet tape is a very strong double sided tape that is weather resistant, permanent and won't melt the foam. Then I used a hot solder pen to mel...

After the holiday I have been lacking any type of motivation. It is like the longest turkey hangover...ever. LOl So to start the year off I decided to give my kitchen and bath a quick update with new towels. By taking a teatowel and a pattern I found here http://www.momtastic.com/diy/172615-diy-hanging-dishtowel   I came up with this cute little stove towel.  I did make a minor adjustment by adding a button hole instead of just the velcro closure - just testing to see which one will be added to my Christmas gift list for next year.. ;) Hope you enjoy. :)

One thing I really try and keep alive is the "Magic of Christmas". I want my kids to believe in Santa for as long as they can and now that they are in school it is going to get a little harder every year. So this year I made up these quick Special Delivery bags from the North Pole. I know they are not perfect but Santa's elves are really busy with the millions of bags they have to make every year. They came together so quick. I just worked up the image in my word processor printed it off on the burlap fabric, You can find a tutorial for printing on fabric here and then sewed it on to the pre-made Dollar store gift bag. These are going to be perfect for my little monsters. Hope you enjoy them too.

A quick project to dress up an empty wall. These are aprox. 15 inches each and were done with 2 different sizes of craft sticks, my handy glue gun and a little paint. Enjoy.

Halloween is my favorite time of year. We spend weeks getting our yard and home decorated all for the night when the little ghosts and goblins come out to play. ;) B started school this year and within her school, they don't do a Halloween per say, they have an orange and black day. So in order to kill 2 birds with one stone, we decided that she is going to be an orange crayon. So with an old t-shirt and a little black felt fabric, this is what I came up with. I think it turned out Awesome! And the best part is that it was a no-sew project. Supplies needed:  1 t-shirt in the size required. 1 box of orange fabric dye (because they didn't' have any orange t-shirts in her size) 1 wooden spoon 1 large container for dying remnant black fabric. I used black felt because that is what I had on hand. 1 pattern for the Crayola font - I used this one Crayola pattern  and made the size adjustments accordingly when I was printing it out. For the crayon label banding, I ...

My daughter needed a lunch bag for school and so I went shopping, but anything pretty was incredibly overpriced for what you get, and being in kindergarten I know we will be going through at least 3 during the year. So while I was at the dollar store I found this "blank canvas", grabbed my fabric markers and turned it into what looks like a designer bag. My girl is so happy, even though it's not pink. ;) Hope this inspires you to turn something boring into something beautiful.

This is probably the absolutely best outdoor project we have taken on. We have an enormous yard for being in the city and for years it has been neglected. The gardens have grown over and the perennials were being chocked out by the thistles. So last year we tackled the main veggie gardens and 1 small circular perennial bed to add some interest. All veggies are started from seed and all the perennials have been graciously donated from friends that have been dividing up what they have. This year I really wanted to add some extra seating and maybe some extra pretty things - because you can't have enough pretty flowers. So few weeks ago BHG sent out their weekly newsletter - a pergola special, and after explaining to my DH that the word pergola actually exists LOL we came up with some VERY rough sketches and I sent him to work. Hahaha K is really enjoying this woodworking thing and as long as he enjoys it I will keep coming up with projects. :D This year we also tackled the ...