Tutorials

Let's Make a Halloween Village! DIY Putz Houses

The flat-pack putz house kits are not just for Christmas! Today I am using them to craft a spooky gothic village.  If you missed the tutorial for assembling the DIY putz house kits, you can find i...

Making a Miniature Book Nook: Cozy Apothecary

As we enter cozy season, I've been very drawn to doing crafts in a small scale.  Today's project is not really a tutorial, but a creative exploration. I'm working on a tiny room box filled with mi...

How to Make a Foraged Witch Broom for Halloween

This is a super easy project, and nearly free!  Treat yourself to an autumnal nature walk, and bring along a bucket or a box and some snippers to collect some items.  The materials you collect wil...

Transforming Toys into Halloween Decorations

At Christmastime, I like to decorate with a lot of natural materials: glass, wood, metal, and things made of cardboard or paper.  But for Halloween, I aim to please my inner child. And what does s...

Miniature Dollhouse Candles made from String Lights and Straws

Sometimes when you can't find the exact thing you need, you just have to make it yourself! With spooky season approaching I've brought my Halloween dollhouse down from the attic, and I've been ou...

How to Preserve Fall Leaves with Glycerin

Through all my years of crafting, I'm surprised I never tried preserving fall leaves with glycerin before! So when the fall colors hit their peak here in the Pacific Northwest, I tried it out.  The...

Making a Halloween Doll with a Vintage Hanky!

In the last tutorial I shared how to make clay Kewpie doll faces from a vintage figurine.  You can find that project here. Today, I'm using the face to make a little 1920s ghost doll for Halloween!...

Making Clay Doll Faces from a Vintage Figurine

I recently found a really cute figurine, kind of Kewpie style, and I wanted to use the face for making some Halloween dolls!  I share this technique for making craft faces in my book Spun Cotton Cr...

Fall Pumpkin Crafts: Turn a Pumpkin into an Autumn Fairy!

In the spring I made crepe paper flower fairies to welcome the season, and so with fall approaching I thought I would do a variation using pumpkins!  I think they would make such a darling centerp...

How to Make a Sugared Orange Spun Cotton Ornament

  In this tutorial, I am sharing my process for turning a plain spun cotton ball into a beautiful orange ornament.  Spun cotton ornaments of this type were popular in the 1920s and 30s, and fruit t...

DIY Celestial Lighted Witch Hat Headband

This is a variation on the Easy Witch Hat Headband I did a couple years ago.  It's my go-to for a simple Halloween party costume.  This year, I decided to add some lights, and make it sparkle like ...

Make a Halloween Fairy Pumpkin!

  I have been making Halloween fairy gardens for a few years now.  It's incredibly satisfying to watch the neighborhood kids ooh and ahh over the little village of pumpkin houses and miniature deta...

How to Make Sisal Bottle Brush Trees - From Scratch! DIY Craft Tutorial

Published July 14, 2017 Here's a fun craft project for Christmas: How to make sisal bottle brush trees - from scratch!  In this tutorial I'm using green sisal fiber, some floral wire, and a couple...

Macrame Plant Hanger - Craft Tutorial with Easy Macrame Knots

  This macrame plant hanger uses simple knots to create, and makes a great statement piece! The finished plant hanger is just under 5 feet long. It has some cool chunky wooden macrame beads, and a...

Basic Macrame Knots: Simple Square Knot Tutorial + Adding Beads

 If you lived through the 1970s, you might remember this!  One of the most basic macrame knots is the square knot, and it's actually very versatile.  This tutorial shows how to tie square knot in ...

How to Make Spun Cotton Pumpkins! DIY Fall Craft Tutorial

This is such a fun fall craft project!  In this tutorial I'm using 45mm spun cotton balls to make adorable little pumpkins.  It's quite simple, and they are so pretty.  I think they would make lov...

Mossy Fairy House DIY Tutorial

This is a darling cottage-style mossy fairy house.  It's simple to make using a paper mache house as a base.  After wrapping it in sheet moss, I'm putting on a rustic roof made out of corrugated c...

Assembling a Wax Flower Hair Comb Tutorial

  In this tutorial I'm assembling a wax flower hair comb with the pretty picks I made in the last tutorial. This romantic hair comb would make a beautiful bridal hairpiece. Instructions for making...

Making a Wax Flower Pick DIY Tutorial

In this tutorial I'm taking the wax flowers and buds I made in the last tutorial, and wrapping them together to make a pick for a hair comb.  You can use embroidery floss or wire to do this bindin...

Wax Flowers DIY Tutorial

In this tutorial I'm making DIY wax flowers with a romantic Victorian look to them.  The buds are made of spun cotton, and the wax-dipped flowers are crepe paper.  You need to make the paper flowe...

Simple Paper Flowers DIY Tutorial

These simple paper flowers are made out of one-size petals applied to spun cotton eggs.  They look like little wild roses or spring blossoms.  These are the type of blossoms that I use to make my ...

Tutorial: Fairy Pumpkin Village

Tutorial: Easy Witch Hat Headband

  Here's an easy witch hat headband that you can make in a jiffy just before a Halloween party.  It's super cute, too! I was invited to a festive fall Witches' Tea Party this weekend, and needed t...

Tutorial: DIY Concrete Flowers

  This tutorial is from a few years ago, but it's a goodie!  These concrete flowers are inexpensive to make, and look stunning when they're done.  They look like carved stone, and are really elega...

1920s Style Paper Mache Halloween Pumpkins

  I love the old paper mache Halloween pumpkins that were made in Germany back in the 1920s and 30s.  They were made of pressed paper pulp that was put into molds, dried, and then painted in vivid...

Painted Paper Mache Halloween Cat

  Make a painted paper mache Halloween cat to guard your candy stash!  This 1920s style kitty has a folky face, and a charming ruffle of crepe paper around his neck in classic orange and black.  I...

Tutorial: Halloween Candy Corn Trees

These Halloween candy corn trees are so simple to make, and look so *sweet* on a windowsill or mantel.  This is a really easy Halloween craft, and would be a great rainy day activity for kids.  A...

Tutorial: Spun Cotton Quail Eggs

I love the look of quail eggs, and I love all things made of spun cotton, so here I'm combining the two! These spun cotton quail eggs would make the most wonderful spring decorations. They would b...

How to Make Spun Cotton Mushrooms

Here's a great way of making whimsical antique-style spun cotton mushrooms with loops for hanging up as ornaments. These would look adorable on a woodland Christmas tree, and make super unique gif...

Paper Oak Leaves and Acorns Tutorial

For this year's fall decorations I wanted to expand on the style of my Paper Bag Pumpkins with their muted colors and rustic, crinkly texture.  I'm really on a Kraft paper kick right now.  I love ...

Tutorial: Paper Pumpkin Luminary Halloween Decorations

During the daytime, these paper bag pumpkin luminaries make great halloween decorations with their neutral colors and rustic textures.  At night though, they take on a whole different look, flicke...

Tutorial: Plaster Fairy Mushroom Picks

It seems that so many amazing crafts originated in Germany.  These plaster fairy mushroom picks were inspired by some vintage German-made ones, and would make great embellishments for lots of proj...

Paper Flower Tutorial: Storybook Paper Roses

I originally did this tutorial for 100LayerCake.com, and it remains one of my favorite projects.  Here I'll share the original post, plus some extra photos and details about how I make paper roses...