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Popsicle Stick Tombstones and Cemetery

September 23, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

These popsicle stick tombstones and cemetery are part of a larger Halloween project I’m working on. (I shared the miniature pumpkins yesterday, also part of the same project.)

$How to M\make these miniature popsicle stick tombstones and cemetery for a fun Halloween tablescape or fairy village addition$

These were really fun to make and Boo got a big kick out of the funny sayings on them. It’s the perfect way to add a spooky element to a fairy village!

I love any project that can just be made from popsicle sticks because you can purchase them in large bundles and pretty much have an endless supply. The little wood picket fence I got from Michaels too:

I used wire cutters to cut the popsicle sticks into different lengths. For each tombstone you’ll need two pieces: a base and vertical monument piece. I used the curve of the popsicle sticks for an instant classic tombstone shape and cut the corners off of some of the rectangular pieces for another shape:

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How to Make Miniature Pumpkins

September 21, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

I just made these tiny miniature pumpkins as part of a larger project to be revealed in October. I love tiny and miniature things…they remind me of the Minecraft pumpkins only without the scary faces:

Each pumpkin was made with one of these little wood craft blocks measuring less than an inch tall. They can be bought in little packs at Michaels:

First I drilled holes in the top of each block wide enough to fit a bamboo skewer or small wood rod:

I spray painted them orange:

Then I used black craft paint and a tiny paint brush to paint jack-o-lantern faces on a few of them:

I used wire cutters to cut a bamboo skewer (the kind you make shish-ka-bobs with) into 1/2″ pieces for the pumpkin stems:

I poked each small stem into an old egg carton to keep them upright for spray painting. Just one coat of dark green spray paint was all that was needed:

When the stems were dry I dropped a dab of glue into the hole on the top of each pumpkin and pushed the stem into place:

So easy to make a bunch of these at once. You could use these for dollhouse pumpkins, centerpiece decor, and non-candy Halloween treats:

I’ll have a few other projects leading up to the same big project over the next week so stay tuned!

Recent Found Objects

September 20, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

Found objects. I’m always collecting, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to stuff my pockets with items people have left behind. I try to go through what I’ve found and arrange the items at least once a month. Here’s what I found in September:

Here’s what I found in August:

One day in August I found all of these feathers. It felt like I’d won the lottery when I found the blue one:

People always ask what I do with all of this stuff. I have a big treasure box that put it all in after I’ve taken a photo. I was looking through the box today…its become quite a collection of odds and ends. McGyver would appreciate the utility of it all. Scout and Jem too. I’ll find a better way to display all my junk one day, maybe a large curiosity cabinet.

Here’s what I’ve found and written about in the past.