HalloweenFeature – Dabbled

Halloween Feature – Wobbegong Shark Costume

Dot — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:33:00 +0000

Dabbler Jen Straw of Pittsburgh PA sent this in, and I love it! The Wobbegong shark was her son’s absolute favorite shark in the universe, so she designed and made this costume for him. Don’t know what a Wobbegong is? See the little pic of a real Wobbegong cruising the coral reefs of Australia. She explains how she did it below.

Jen Says: “I made it from some scrap fleece, and painted it with non-toxic tempera paints. Most of it was machine stitched, though the face part was hand stitched, and I included the plastic head frame from a child’s batting helmet for extra support (also stitched into place). I didn’t have a pattern (still don’t – I am sure that this will be a one-off costume!), so I worked from a drawing that my husband made for me.”

More Here..

Edit:
Jen won the Dabbled Halloween Contest with this one!

Fabulous Reverse Applique Eye T-shirts

Dot — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 01:08:00 +0000

Creative Kismet (who we featured earlier with her Monster Towel), has another fabulous design! She used a reverse applique technique to create these incredibly creative and fun “Eye” T-shirts. And they even have a requisite Eye on the back, too! She has full instructions on her blog, so check it out!

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Here’s lookin’ at you kid, originally uploaded by Creative Kismet.

PS: Another thing I’ve been meaning to link to – Samae at A Milf For All Seasons is one of the funniest mommy-blog true life writers I know… this one on basement renovation is particular fun!

All Halloween Here

More Halloween Features

Don’t forget…
a Dabbled Halloween Contest ends next Wednesday! Just a few more days…
All crafts, art, food Halloween related is eligible… And bloggers, if the winner finds us from your blog, you’ll win a prize too! Enter the contest or see the current entries HERE:

And Thanks to Tip Junkie for featuring some of my Halloween Food (Flayed Skin Cheeseball & Creepy Eyeball Apps and Desserts)

Interview: Dave Gugel, Halloween decorator extraordinaire!

Dot — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:18:00 +0000

I don’t normally do interviews of our Halloween Contest entries, but when I saw this entry, I just had to find out more! Talk about inspiration! Dave Gugel, of Davenport FL, has one of the most impressive Halloween decorated houses I’ve seen in a long time. Just check out the BEFORE/AFTER pic below. His website has pictures of the finished product for the past several years, and pictures of the construction process and the behind the scenes of how he puts it together. So I interviewed Dave to find out a little more about his house and his passion for Halloween Decor. Also, watch this space, because Dave is going to try to do a How To for Dabbled readers on one of his projects!

1. This is an incredible halloween display for a personal residence! How long have you been doing this every year? I’ve been decorating my house for about 7 years. It started with just the front yard the first 2 years, and then I moved into the living room. The inside was just setup for a personal Halloween party but so many trick-or-treaters asked if there was a haunted house inside that I thought it would be fun to allow the kids to tour the house. That was 3 years ago and I haven’t stopped yet. I had so many parents thank me for creating memories for their kids that I couldn’t let them down. Last year was the first year I added a Scare Zone for the older kids and the parents. They should be allowed to have some fun as well.

2. It looks huge– I see you have multiple areas both inside and out… Does it keep getting bigger?
It has grown over the years, but I think I have reached the size limit, I’ve ran out of yard and house. The entire front yard and facade of the house changes from a Florida home to an old abandoned Victorian-style house. The inside of the home gets a face lift as well. The living room becomes old and weathered, the breakfast nook has a creepy meal all prepared for the tasting, the kitchen becomes a witchs’ layer, and the dining room is set as a wake for a loved ones passing. This year’s addition to the side and back of the house has became the Scare Zone for the adults and older kids, complete with a corn field, butcher shop and many other frightening sites. So like I said I have reached my size limit, but my future goal is to reuse or enhance the decor I currently have. I want to always keep the kids surprised.

3. What’s your favorite part? (include pic links on flickr if you have them) My favorite part is what ever is in front of me at the time. When I start to think that something is my favorite, I enter a new area and get excited all over. I have so many very different and distinctive props that I could never say one thing is better than another. Take a look at photos of my props on Flickr! http://flickr.com/photos/gorenmore/sets/72157608125906375/show/

4. Do you have a professional background in building sets, or are you just creative and handy? Do you build it all yourself, or do you have friends/family helping out? I am mostly creative and handy. All the props you see I build myself, and only take on a little help from my family when the props are to big or heavy to put up by myself.

5. Settle a bet I have with my husband, what are the faux facades (like the tower) made out of? All the facades on the house are made of 2X4’s and plywood. I want to make sure that my props withstand the Florida weather conditions since they’re up & outside for the entire month of October.

6. So anyone can come by and check this out halloween night? The house is open to trick-or-treaters of all ages from 6 to 9 pm.

Anything else you want to say? I want to thank all the Halloween home haunters on-line. They provide many resources, tutorials and inspiration that help create my home haunt.

Thanks so much, Dave, for sharing your brilliant achievement in the field of Halloween Decorating! I wish I was in Florida so I could road trip over to see it all in person!

And readers, if you’re in Florida anywhere close to Davenport, you should definitely check it out!

More of a Dabbled Halloween
All of the Dabbled Interview Series

Monday Halloween-love

Dot — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:53:00 +0000

If you haven’t ever checked out One Pretty Thing, be sure to head over there. Rachel does a fabulous job of searching out great crafty items and tutorials, and presenting them in such a pretty way. The Daily DIY is a great compilation of coolness found on the web – an wonderful source of ideas and inspiration…
And what makes One Pretty Thing EXTRA special is that they have great Holiday roundups… The many Halloween roundups are here.

And she even features Dabbled in her latest halloween roundup!

More Halloween Goodness

Dot — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:20:00 +0000

Dabbled reader Robin sends us some clever ideas for making halloween t-shirts for your kids! She got the original idea from Family Fun, but expanded on it to come up with some original ones herself! Check it out.

Chica & Jo, one of the sponsors of the Dabbled Halloween Contest, have a clever idea around making eerie eyeball snacks using a paint pallet as a mold. (And they’ve also featured Dabbled’s Ele-purse as their friday feature today–thanks, guys!)

More great stuff from Resurrection Fern! A tutorial on making a cool lantern out of a rutabaga! I wouldn’t EAT one, so this would be a good thing to do with one…

Instructables is having a DIY Halloween contest. So, if you’re entering the Dabbled Halloween Contest, make your entry an Instructable and enter their contest too! Instructables is in general a great place for halloween inspirations, so check it out.

Tip Junkie has a nice roundup of various halloween tutorials & DIY ideas.

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Featured on the Dabbled Halloween Extravaganza? Show your pride with a nifty button! Just cut and paste the text below (you can also modify the link to go directly to where you were featured, if ya like):

Halloween – Even Creepier Cakes

Dot — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:35:00 +0000

The lovely ladies at They’re Coming to Get You, Barbara have some of the creepiest cakes ever. This Thorax Cavity Cake really ‘takes the cake’! The rib cage is white chocolate, and each of the organs is a goo filled yummy cake–all different gourmet flavors. Full instructions on how to make this ultimate in “gross your dinner guests out” halloween cakes can be found on their site. Also, even if you’re not into “gruesome” as a theme, their techniques can be used on various sorts of cakes. I found several useful tips.

I actually think i like it better without the blood:

Also, check out the Zombie Cake (the second page has some great white chocolate covered cherry eyeballs with instructions, on our previous eyeball theme); and for the less cooking inclined, check out some nice pumpkin carving ideas!

Thanks to:
Inspired by yesterday’s Eyeball Soup cake, Heather recommended a link to this site!

Get your halloween buttons here, including I WAS FEATURED if you’re featured as part of the halloween series.

Related: All Halloween Topics

Enter the Halloween Contest:

Bottlecap Pincushion – Eyeball!

Dot — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:40:00 +0000

Seen on Galline in Fuga:

Bottlecap Pincushions: Love these Eyeballs!

Flickr user verybigjen has some fabulous ones – all different kinds, but the eyeballs are a fave of mine, particularly for halloween!-, and a nifty photo tutorial to make them yourself – or you can buy them in her blog/store, which also has lots of neat stuff.

Get your halloween buttons here, including I WAS FEATURED if you’re featured as part of the halloween series.

Enter the Halloween Contest:

Halloween Feature – Halloweenie Beanie for a Premie

Dot — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:36:00 +0000

You Dabblers are just the nicest people! The talented and crafty Robyn of Craft & Found send us this lovely idea for a halloweenie beanie..

Says Robyn: “Wanting an adorable hat to donate to my local NICU ward, I came up with this most basic of patterns. Sized for preemies and babes, you can make it even smaller by using tinier needles. There’s no real gauge, because as the NICU nurses I love so dearly have said over and over, these gorgeous babes come in all sizes!” What a sweet idea for anytime of the year! Go knitters!

Head over to Craft & Found for a free pattern!

Thanks for sharing, Robyn! So sweet of you to make to give away, and to share with us! Don’t forget to pick up your I WAS FEATURED button!

The rest of you… Don’t forget:

…Spread the word, because if the winner found the contest via you/your blog, you’ll win a prize too! Get your Halloween button here!

Halloween Feature – Heather Sitarzewski

Dot — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:01:00 +0000

The first of our fabulous readers to be featured in the Halloween Extravaganza is the fabulously creative and halloween-loving Heather Sitarzewski. Not everyone will necessarily get their own post, but Heather has enough stuff to fill several, so she gets her very own– check it out!

First off… the Halloween Jack! Fabulous design and execution.. love him!

Next up, check this out! Now you know creating great art or craft out of recycled materials is one of my passions… This is a great example of that, created out of paper towel rolls. She’s got all the instructions on her post. Check out the full post for nifty luminaries and candy containers too!

Several of her other posts to check out for halloween inspiration ideas:
– Candy Bottles
– All kinds of containers, decorated with stamps. Love the votive idea :)

Finally… this was just too cute…
Inspired by the very talented Creative Kismet, a monster towel… perfect your little monster for halloween or all year long! This is Heather’s version:

And here is the original Rock Monster inspiration:

Thanks for sharing, Heather!! This is some great inspiring stuff…
and don’t forget to pick up your I WAS FEATURED button! Oh, and you too Creative Kismet!

The rest of you… Don’t forget: