Watch out for snakes!

Happy Halloween!  If you get inspired by this post and want to recreate this project you better hurry because Halloween is only four days away!  I say this as someone who just barely finished this project in time for its intended holiday.  It is going to look pretty awesome for these next few days though.

Pretty sure this was originally a Martha Stewart idea but then again, what isn't now a days.  Martha, you wily dame.  This Halloween wreath only requires two things, a plain stick wreath and snakes of various sizes.  If either the wreath or snakes are not black, fix this with matte black spray paint.      

This snake close up is for my friend/nemesis Ed who hates snakes.  Though I don't think he even reads this blog.  Which makes it a lot funnier to me.  These pictures are just out in the world now, waiting to be discovered.

Hi, friend!

Pictured below is the now black wreath along with a package of already black tiny snakes that was also picked up from Dollar tree.  The large snakes are drying in the garage during this picture.

Again, this one's for you Ed.

Let's be BFFs!

Here the large snakes make their grand reappearance sans white stripes.  However, only two survived the spray painting process.  I have no idea why, since the snakes were spray painted at the same time in the exact same manner, but the paint on the third snake would not dry.  It just stayed tacky and gross.  Maybe primer would have helped.  So try that if you try this.

To add the snakes to the wreath, I wove them through the sticks that made up the wreath.  No glue required.

In this picture, you can see how the snakes are woven through the branches of the wreath to hold them in place.

AH!  Spooky snake wreath!  Taken at night to help add to the spookiness.  Or because that's when I took the picture and didn't want to wait till tomorrow since Halloween is already so close.

Close up shot of the wreath.  To hang the wreath, I used a clear 3M hook.  I was skeptical on these hooks only because the last time I used them to hang my belts up in the closet all my belts fell down.  Could be because I never waited the required hour before hanging something on them.  Directions, it turns out, are sometimes there for a reason.

Another closer up.  I hate you Ed.

So this turned out pretty cool, right?  I like the monochromatic look.  From far away, it looks like a regular black wreath.  Unassuming.  Unthreatening.  Then BAM!  Snakes all up in that door decoration.

Watch out for snakes.  

Christmas Time Progress Goes Boink

This holiday season, I found myself in need of more ornaments for our tree and so decided to whip up some some classic salt dough decorations.  Aside from being super easy to do, the real inspiration for this project came from my parents.  When they were first married, my mom made a bunch of salt dough ornaments to decorate their tree with most of which she still has and continues to use.  It's a nice thought that years from now, BJ and I can decorate our tree with ornaments we've had since our first year of marriage. 

Anyways, salt dough is a simple, cheap recipe and easy for anyone to do.  Lots of people probably made it as kids for some school project.  For this batch of ornaments, I decided to make possibly the coolest thing I've ever made.  At least the top five.  I give you....Calvin & Hobbes Snowmen Ornaments. 

After making the salt dough and rolling it out, I found three random kitchen objects that I could use to create the snowmen.  I ended up using a cake decorating tip, some blue plastic thing that came with my cake decorating kit, and the metal tin thing that votive candles come in.  I am super fancy.  Once I had the snowmen shape pressed into the dough I mostly carefully used a knife to cut everything out.

 

Be sure to poke holes in the tops of the ornaments so they can be strung later for hanging.  Since I planned on adding tiny stick arms after they were painted, I also added holes to the side of the snowmen.  To smooth out the edges or any lines made from drawing these shapes out, use a finger and water to gently even everything out.  Now, whether you chose to use your own finger or one that you have laying around is up to you.

 

I baked my salt dough ornaments at 250 degrees for two hours.  They weren't quite dry at this point so after the two hours was up I turned off the oven and left them in overnight.  Okay, so I actually left them in the oven for a couple of days but I can't be expected to remember everything that I'm doing.

 

Once everything was dry, I painted the ornaments using acrylic paint.  Also, notice anything missing between the picture above and the one below?  Yea, somewhere along the way my two headed snowman disappeared. The most embarrassing part of this is that I didn't even notice one had gone missing until I was editing the pictures for this post.  I have to assume that one of the cats, dirty little thieves that they are, snagged it when I wasn't looking.  It's pretty impressive that it didn't break when it hit the ground too.  Of course, it seems odd that there is no sign of it so there's also a very good chance the two headed snowman is lost somewhere in my craft room.  I keep trying to clean the place but it just won't take.

 

 

After I painted the faces on, I also sprayed these with several layers of a clear sealant with a flat finish.  This was a tip from my mom whose salt dough ornaments look like they were painted yesterday so I definitely recommend taking this extra step.  Once the sealant dried and the fumes cleared, I used E-6000 craft glue and some salvaged stick clipping I took from this decorative thing we have in our hallway.  Just one of those standard sticks & stones in a giant vase ornamental thing that everyone eventually has a version of in their homes.

 

I think the headless snowman may be my favorite.  He just looks so surprised that he's holding his own head.  The hanging snowmen is the runner up though since I got to learn how to make a tiny noose.  I love learning new things.

 

Salt Dough Recipe

2 Cups flour

1 Cup table salt

1 Cup water

Mix flour and salt together in a bowl.  Slowly mix in water kneading together with hands.  Knead mixture together until a solid dough forms.  Roll dough out onto counter to a thickness of 1/4 and inch or smaller.  Use cookie cutters, knives, and other various objects to create fun shapes.  Bake in oven at 250 degrees for several hours.  Also helps to forget about ornaments (after the oven had been shut off) for several days to allow further drying.  Helps to dust counters, rolling pins, hands, cookie cutters or anything else that may touch the dough with flour.  That shit is sticky.