tutorial Archives - Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo

Hedgehog Pumpkins – Pumpkin Decorating Ideas

September 1, 2016 by Ashley Hackshaw

Aren’t these hedgehog pumpkins cute?!

Michaels is overflowing with pumpkins right now! I love the craft pumpkins because you can use them year after year. There are orange pumpkins, chalkboard pumpkins, black pumpkins and cream pumpkins. They also have glow-in-the-dark pumpkins, concrete pumpkins and diorama pumpkins. This year I was staring at the blank pumpkins in the big display basket and I thought they looked a little like plump little hedgehogs…so that’s what I decided to make:

They were very easy to make. I started with the cream craft pumpkins:

And I bought a few bags of these decorative glass accents:

The quickest way to attach the glass pieces is with a hot glue gun. They will stay on just fine as long as you aren’t moving the pumpkins around frequently. If you plan to be a little more rough with them I’d suggest using an industrial glue like E-6000.

Just place the glass accents onto the hot glue and hold until the glue sets:

Cover the entire pumpkin except for a small circle where the face of the hedgehog will be:

I used small black pebbles for the eyes and mouth (also sold in bags in the floral section):

Like the owl pumpkins I made a few years ago I decided to make an entire family of hedgehogs:

Three different size pumpkins:

The gold glass accents look great with the cream background:

Who doesn’t love hedgehogs?

Especially baby hedgehogs!

They’d make a great addition to the porch or as table centerpieces:

To kick off fall in your own home, visit Michaels.com and check out the variety of craft pumpkins available – there is every color, shape and size you could ever want! There are tons of ways to DIY your own craft pumpkin for your home, a party or even as a gift.

Make sure to check out the pumpkins I’ve made in the past here:

Be sure to check out all of the other Michaels Makers pumpkin ideas on the Michaels blog!

An InLinkz Link-up

How to Make Stamped Solder Pendants

April 2, 2015 by Ashley Hackshaw

This was such a fun project. I made all of these cute little pendants using plain old plumbing solder! I think they resemble wax seals or old coins as stamped solder:

Basic List of Materials (a little goes a long way):

TS4000 Bernzomatic Trigger Start Torch
MAP Fuel Canister (yellow)
1 Roll of Sterling Plumbing Solder (lead free)
1 Roll of Copper Picture Wire (18 Gauge)
Non-Asbestos Soldering Block
Lead-free Water-Soluble Flux
Rubber Craft Stamps (Postmarks)

Optional but Recommended:
Parchment Paper
Bon Ami Powder

Each pendant only requires a tiny bit of solder and a few inches of copper wire making it a very inexpensive project:

Here’s my TS4000 Bernzomatic Torch. It ignites with just a push of the button so it’s not scary or hard to use. Once you start torching…it’s kind of hard to stop!

The pendants are primarily made up of metal from melting this sterling plumbing solder:

To created the base of the pendant I used 18 gauge copper wire. Using pliers I created this “8” shape:

I use a non-asbestos soldering block to fire against. It can withstand the heat:

Brush a little bit of flux onto the copper wire. This will help the solder adhere to the wire:

Using the torch, carefully heat the solder so that drops of solder begin to fall into and around the copper circle. It doesn’t have to be precise. Once there’s enough solder to fill the circle let the piece cool. I put parchment paper underneath because it will catch any extra beads of solder that can also be reheated to create pendants:

Use the torch to remelt the solder. If you burn heat in a circular pattern around the edges the solder will shift towards the center into a circular glob: