Good enough to eat?

There has been one Halloween craft I wanted to be sure and make during this season. It was a craft I'd seen a few photos of online: a donut pumpkin!

Some of you might know that I've been looking all season for the perfect, donut-shaped pumpkin so I could make this creation. This is easier said than done. There are a lot of different pumpkin shapes out there, and for the most part those shapes are not like that of a donut.

After much searching, I was very lucky to find a little pumpkin at Dollar Tree! I was extra lucky because I think it was accidentally packed in with a shipment of totally different pumpkins. I peeked into an unpacked cardboard box that the Dollar Tree employees hadn't gotten to yet. Inside were plenty of yellow and orange pumpkins with flowers coming out of the top. Floating around with all of them was this little guy:

Looking at the image on the side of the cardboard box, I could see that no green pumpkins were included in this shipment. And I never saw another one through the entire store! So, lucky me!

My first step was to spray paint the pumpkin white. It looked almost like stone or ceramic at that point.

Next, I painted more or less the top half of the pumpkin pink.

Then I coated the pink part with this clear, glittery paint called "Disco Crystal". I thought it gave the pink "frosting" a subtle, glazed look. You can see what the paint looks like here: FolkArt Disco Crystal You can get it cheaper than this with a Michaels coupon, etc. I've used this paint on so many projects! It's great for sticking loose glitter on crafts too.

Which is just what I did! Now things were starting to look yummy.

But I wasn't done yet! Time for sprinkles! The "sprinkles" are actually little lines of puffy paint. Yes, I still have puffy paint like you'd use on clothing back in the day. It stayed good since the early 90s!

Mmm... I know better than anyone that this is plastic, paint, and glitter, but I'm still wanting to eat this donut! Never mind that it also has a stem.

With any luck, I'll find some more donut-shaped pumpkins so I can make a few more of these. I'll have an eye out for more during my After Halloween Hauling!

My Mini Coffin Jewelry Box

I've been looking forward to sharing this project! I painted this little coffin in November but I was too much in the Christmas spirit during December to blog about it. Now that we're in January, I'm ready to leap back into the Halloween topics!

You might remember this mini coffin from my After Halloween Target Haul in 2013.

If you're lucky, you can find these little wooden coffin boxes at craft stores around Halloween. It took me a while to decide what to do with this one. Then, while organizing some jewelry, it occurred to me that it would be nice to have a separate box for some of my smaller Halloween jewelry. Then I remembered the coffin box!

I started by painting the coffin in a metallic purple. This was the same paint I used on some of the little skeletons for our last Witch Party.

I painted a little night scene on the coffin lid with some silver paint.

About this time, it occurred to me that if I painted the inside edges of the coffin doors, they'd probably stick when closed. That, and the bottom of the coffin could stick to the surface under it. Especially on those humid days, painted wood stuff sticks to whatever it's next to.

So after a little searching online, I found out that a polyurethane vanish can seal off painted wood and prevent it from sticking. I was happy to find this polyurethane varnish at a local craft store. I think with a coupon the varnish ended up costing under a dollar. I love this product! It doesn't smell like much of anything. You'd have to try smelling it to notice an odor. It dries clearly and quickly. And it does the job! My little coffin now has a smooth finish and is in no danger of sticking to anything. So I recommend this product to all of you crafters! Americana DuraClear Matte Varnish:

After finding that awesome sealer, I moved on to painting the coffin interior. I decided to go with one of those plush, silky coffin interiors. Perfect for a little vampire. :) I painted that button-tufted look on the inside and sealed it off.

Then my little coffin was ready for some jewelry.

I closed the jewelry box and sat it on a shelf with my Draculaura doll and her little vampire bat.

What better place to set my new coffin box than with a little vampire?