DIY Halloween Decor

A simple craft project is the perfect way to kick-off our "back-to-basics" year! My office is hosting a Halloween cubicle decorating contest, so I decided to DIY all of my décor (because I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, and also I’m hoping the "DIY" factor helps me beat the competition!). My mom helped me find a banner design to create on the Silhouette, and I raided her Halloween scrapbook paper stash.

While I’ve participated in Silhouette crafting before, it’s time I fully disclose the fact that my mom does ALL of the work with the computer and the machine. I just sit there and cheer her on. :) My mom used this banner project as an opportunity to teach me the ropes of this magic craft machine!

 

First, I chose the scrapbook paper patterns for my Halloween banner.

After synching the Silhouette to the laptop, my mom helped me design the shape for my banner flags. The Silhouette gives you some pre-set templates to choose from, which is helpful!

Once the design is set on the laptop, it's time to print. Using a special sticky board, you feed the scrapbook paper into the Silhouette. It works similar to a printer, but instead of printing ink, it uses a tiny blade to cut out the exact shape that was created on the computer program.

When the cutting is complete, the machine will spit the paper and board back out, and then I used a scraping tool to pop the paper banner flags out.

My mom added two tiny circles to the tops of the flags BEFORE printing. This was great because it meant I didn't need to hole punch a spot for my banner string. The Silhouette cut out the holes for us! I wasn't sure how many flags I would need, so I printed out 12 flags from seven different scrapbook paper prints just to be prepared.

The Silhouette is amazing because it only took about 30 minutes to print and cut all of the flags I needed. Could you imagine how long it would take if I cut them out and hole punched them by hand?! Not to mention the fact that there would be crooked cuts everywhere. So in about 45 minutes time, I was ready to string my banners together. 

The Girls Team LOVES bakers twine, so I dug into our collection for simple, spooky black and white. Then I strung it through the holes, behind the flag. After stringing all of my flags together, I had four separate banners. I measured my cubicle before working on this, but wasn't quite sure how much flare I'd really want at my desk. I brought all four banners to work, but ended up only needed three of them to give my cubicle the holiday spirit it needed. 

Using push pins, I strung the banners both inside and outside of my cubicle.

DIY Desk Décor!

A few Target dollar bin finds completed my festive decorating.

 

I love how my DIY Halloween banners turned out! Halloween is my favorite holiday, but considering what our apartment looks like post-wedding, I haven't even taken out any Halloween décor at home this year. I love that I can at least get my spooky spirit on at work, and the competitor in me hopes that when the votes are cast on Halloween, I will be the lucky winner!

 

 

And, although I'm not brave enough to use the Silhouette machine solo just yet, I'm glad my mom taught me how to use it for this basic crafting project. I'm sure with the holidays coming up, I'll get plenty more chances to become a Silhouette expert crafter like my Girls Team partner already is!

 

Wishing you a fun and frightening Halloween from MIHM! 

MIHM Turns FOUR!

In October of 2011, my mom and I were looking for a way to get more creative and add some excitement to, at the time, our dull work lives. So we started Make It Happen Mondays, a blog that challenged us to learn new recipes and crafting techniques, satisfied our creative minds, and served as an excuse to hang out every Monday night. We've come a long way since 2011 (check out our first post) and I don't think either one of us expected this little blog to be a years long adventure. We've cooked and crafted and constructed. We've gotten little more relaxed with our blog "rules" but a little more strict about our quality of projects (a.k.a. we've caught on to the Pinterest Fails projects and can now spot them from a mile away). And despite a few creative differences at times, we've had so much fun together.

This last year was unique as the blog was hijacked by a wedding. But we also were able to feature a few of our talented friends as guest bloggers, which we thought was pretty cool. And, whether they liked it or not, MIHM became a family affair as my brother started his garden with the help of my Girls Team partner, and my dad wasn't allowed out of the garage until construction based projects were complete. :)

As we start our FOURTH (!!!) year of MIHM, we want to take the blog back to the basics. This week we went to dinner to celebrate making it happen on Mondays for three whole years, and brainstormed enough ideas to fill this little notebook up with some great plans for the next year of MIHM. We plan to focus a bit more on cooking and baking, and revisit some old skills with new projects to freshen up our talents.

We don't do MIHM for anyone but ourselves, but always appreciate our readers, so we hope you'll stick around for the fourth year of Girls Team fun. :)

P. S. Join us next week for some crafty Halloween décor!