Can 'O Bats

I know...I know...it's August and I'm talking about Halloween...a lot, but....it's all I have to look forward to with the beginning of school looming!  I recently went to a quilting retreat.  I generally take more projects that I can possibly finish.  By some miracle...I finished all my projects and all I had left was some stuffing and scraps....so I started making some Halloween 'stuff.'  I saw a can kind of like this once on eBay and decided to give it a go.  I cut out pieces of fabric to look like bats and a moon.  I sewed, stuffed, sewed again to shut them off.  I added them to bamboo skewers and then put some foam in the bottom of a coffee can I sprayed black.  I added some 'berries' I found at the dollar tree and Spanish Moss.  I found a cute little Halloween picture online and printed it out and glued it to the front of the can.  Very simple and affordable.  And....only one of about 5 things I used that stuffing for....so, more to come!

Bat Shirt

 I saw the idea for making bat shirts using simply a black shirt and some bleach via Chaosser and I had to try it out for some of the little ones in my life.
I cut some bat shapes out of freezer paper.  You can freehand it, or search for free bat shapes-there are about a million varieties.
Take the shiny side of the paper, face that down towards the shirt, and iron of it, somehow this makes the paper stick to fabric
I put a plastic bag between the top and bottom of the shirt so the bleach wouldn't bleed through.
I also placed a section of the newspaper I had cut a big oval out of over the bats so it was a moon shape (per the instructions).
I took a bottle of bleach and squirt it over the bats.  It turned orange almost instantly, so as soon as I was done, I took it inside and rinsed out the bleach in my sink.  So easy!

Witch's Brew and a Blinged Out Tutorial Too

 Last year as I was gathering ideas to do for my secret sister at work, I saw a picture where someone rewrapped soda bottles and renamed it witch's brew.  Here is the original link.  I used a free graphic from graphic fairy for the circled and typed up the brand and created my own label.  You can print that free from this link.  I used an ink pad to ink the edges.  I wanted a sparklie doodad, but I couldn't find any I liked.  I'm sure this has been done a million times, but I decided to create one using a black bat ring.  This is my easy steps.  You could leave it black, but I had silver paint, so I gave it a quick spray.

 Then I covered the top with modpodge...

 ...and I glittered it down with glitter.  If you want to prevent the glitter from flaking, when it dries, paint it again with another coat of mod podge and it will dry clear.

Bats: Bat Poop

 Pretty much....if you add the word 'poop' to any gift....it's going to be a hit with little guys from ages 5 to 105....so....enter Bat Poop....mini bags of chocolate covered nuts....or anything will do.  The little guys in my group of gift getters don't rally appreciation my icing skills these days, so....I'm going easy this year and passing out Bat Poop to the little...and maybe the big, guys in my life this year for Halloween. 

Bats: Bat Pops

My Mom shared this cute little favor she got at a Halloween party.  They glued a Hershey bar to a sucker stick and wrapped it up in a bat.  So cute.  I had to share.Here is the template for the bat cutout.  I traced the one around the pop, not sure on the original source, will post if I find out!

Bats: Bat Cards

 Last year I figured out, after paying 5 bucks for cards for all the kids in my life.....uhhh....it's actually a lot easier, affordable, and more personal to make them.  I stole the idea for the ribbon bat card from every other site I visited with little bat favor bags etc etc etc. 
Basically, I cut out a circle moon, stamped out a little Halloween saying, then punched two holes for each bat.....

 Thread it through with one side peeking out of each side....

 Wrap one end back across and through the other side....

 ...then pull it out of the original hole from the back for the second time. 

 Trim it up, and you have two little ribbon bats....also a great way to use some of those salvaged ribbon pieces.....

Bats and Boo Frosted Candles

 I discovered that one can of spray can create frosted 'anything' a few years back...I'm putting together some frosted fun for tomorrow's GMT segment, and here are a few Halloween candle holders I've been working on.  I've seen variations on this, but here is my 'how to.' 
First up, a bat shadow candle.  My pal Heather cleaned out her fridge and brought me all these pickle jars.  Free candle holder?  Yes, please.  I found these bat stickers at Michael's and I just slapped them around the cleaned jar. 

 I then took the glass frosting (I found this at Hobby Lobby and used a coupon, so it was about 4 bucks, but it goes a long way....assuming you don't lose it somewhere in your house which might or might not have happened to my first can).  They also sell paint, but I discovered it does leave some streaks etc, and the spray goes on so much smoother....
Spray.  Dry.  30 minutes later. 

 The stickers pealed right off. 
Next up, an olive jar.....

 You could use letter stickers, but I decided I wanted a different font/size from the stickers I had, so I used my Xerox sticker maker (I get nothing for saying that, but...I do like this little guy (also sold at any craft store).  I slid my letters down and through, and the back becomes a 'sticker.' 

 I stuck them to the jar. 

 Sprayed. 

 I removed these little guys, and ta da.  Practically free candle fun for Halloween.  These would also be cute if you cut out pumpkin faces and used the sticker maker (or you could use adhesive glue spray, also sold in a can to temporarily hold it down).
I've seen variations of these with snowflake stickers, I also found some little star stickers (a more festive way to burn those mosquito tea lights in July). 

Bat Taggie

 It would be fair to say it's a LITTLE early for Halloween 'stuff', but....there is no 'fair' on this blog, so....meet a fall craft I just completed.  I've been trying to fill my goddaughter's mailbox on a regular basis, and this summer I went through the holidays (more to come) and came up with some little crafts to send her way.  Pretty much everything I send becomes an edible treat for her teething ways, so....I decided to embrace her favorite hobby and make a taggie.  I've wanted to make one for awhile, and I've seen a ton of ideas, but I decided to find a holiday it might be fun.  This would have worked with any shape, but I realized I've never featured 'bats' as a Halloween craft, and it's time I start padding that file.  I googled plush bat designs and found one I tried to copy.  I'm attaching a link to the pattern I drew based on a few designs I fell in love with.  Googly eyes wins every time.
Here are all the pieces cut out.  I used felt because it cost 25 cents a sheet and some scrape sheets for the eyes, so this was made for WELL under a dollar.

 Here is the template I drew to cut out the pattern.
I doubled each wing and stitch them with white because I kind of like the look.  I decided I didn't want to turn this inside out since felt won't fray like usual fabric, so I just pinned little strips of scrap ribbon between the two bat patterns after I had sewed on the eyes and fangs.  I also pinned the wings inside the body.

 I sewed around and stuffed it with a little stuffing, then finished it off. 

 And now...a chew toy....I mean, a bat plushy for cute baby a few too many zip codes away from me. 

And now....I'm off to cut out and create turkey crafts....