Your Pretty Little Ghosts!

Oh my I was so excited to get all your pictures of your pretty ghosts. I had such a fun time doing this little project and I am so happy you folks liked it! I hope we can continue this! Anyways, now that I have professed my love for you all and your mad crafty skills, here are pictures of all of the pretty ghosts people made!

Meghan over at Twisted Tree made these pretty ones- I love the glasses: )

Lisa at Good Knits made this cutie. I love the fabric so much!

Barbara from Mephaela made these- check out that lace! And the monocle!

Kara from Sunshine Cupcakes made these ghosties with the help of some friends. I loooove their faces!

Stephanie of Craft Inspiration made these cute ones with her daughter. The made small ones, put them on the top of pencils and are giving them to her daughter's teachers- brilliant!

Jessica from Chloe the Doxie Love made these pretty girls. Look at their cute little mouths!



Be sure to check out these ladies' lovely blogs and say hello!

Thanks again to everyone. I love you all to pieces! Have a fabulous Monday : )

Virtual Craft Night Part 1

I'm so so excited that y'all were down to do a virtual craft night! With the help of the amazing Kara of Sunshine Cupcakes, virtual craft night is just about here.

So here's how it will work. On Friday I will post the DIY on how to make these precious little ghosties. That way you'll have plenty of time to gather up supplies and start working. Monday evening (still working on the time- I'm thinking around 5pm AZ time) we will have a live twitter chat (using the hashtag #merrymay). It is easiest, I've found, to have one tab open with your personal twitter home page and another open to the #merrymay search page (if you have any suggestions please share). During this live chat we can get to know each other, discuss and questions or issues we might have, and share ideas and inspiration! Then you will have a week to finish up your little ghost friend and send pictures to me. Monday October 25th I will post all of our creations here on my blog! Grab a badge ( <---) and tell your friends!

Check out this super cute video my sister and I created! I am so excited.

Needle Felting 101 and Giveaway Winner!

I know you probably just want me to announce who was randomly chosen to win my lil' owly scarf buuuut I thought I should tell you how I made it. My mom, who is working on a super special giveaway for my super special blog buddies (that's you!) that'll be coming soon, got me this fancy little wool scarf. At the time she owned a small shop in downtown Glendale, AZ. She had a studio in the back where she held different classes like rug hooking and needle felting. This was one of my first attempts at needle felting (which should tell you how incredibly fun and easy it is). In order to needle felt you simply need wool roving (basically combed and dyed wool that is also used for spinning yarn)



a felting needle (it's like a long needle with tiny prongs on it that catches and compacts the fibers)

and finally a base (in this case the wool scarf. However you can easily create 3d figures by omitting the base and free form shaping the object with your needle). Both photos are from Peace Fleece.

Easy right? You just put the roving where you want it to be and punch the needle in. To find out more check out this funny lady's video.

So without further adieu.... the winner is Kim from Yellow Songbird! She'll need it for those snowy Colorado winters! Send me your contact info to merrymayhandmade(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll send it right out!

Easy Peasy Fall Wreath DIY

I found this awesome DIY last year around this time. I liked it because its super easy and made with empty toilet paper rolls- I love making treasures out of trash!

The DIY is to make wall art but, as I was making mine, I thought it would be cute to make a leafy little wreath.

So here's what you need:
Empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls
Scissors
Glue
Paper clips, laundry pins, or bobby pins
(optional: paint, glitter, fake flowers, ribbons, or other decorative items)

Now all I did was squeeze the towel roll so it looked a little leafy and cut it into about one inch pieces. You can measure and mark where you want to cut if you want it to be precise but I cut mine all different widths to add dimension.

Then I randomly glued them all together piece by piece. I created the inner circle shape first, gluing each piece and holding them together with pins. Then I added additional pieces to  fill out my wreath and create an interesting shape (I swear, the hardest part was deciding which configuration I liked best!).

After the glue dries you get to decorate it! You can paint it, add glitter, maybe glue on some creepy Halloween bugs. I added some orange and yellow flowers and a big bow made from black rick rack, orange textured ribbon, and my favorite polka dot ribbon.

Quick and Easy Wardrobe Refresher

In honor of craft night tonight I thought I would post this fun how to I found on the Martha Stewart website. I am a sucker for the cheap canvas grandma sneakers. My sister and her friend dyed their canvas shoes and they turned out really great. You can often find canvas shoes at thrift stores for mere pennies. Super cute, super easy.

Tools and Materials
Large basin or bucket
Liquid fabric dye
Salt (if needed; check dye directions)
White canvas sneakers, laces removed

Dyed Sneakers How-To
1. Fill basin with hot water. Add dye, and salt if specified, to water, following manufacturer's instructions for sink or bucket dyeing.

2. Wet sneakers with hot water, and place in dye bath.

3. Stir for amount of time stated on dye bottle. Rinse as directed.

4. Air-dry shoes, or place in dryer.

5. Clean basin immediately to avoid staining.

P.S. I have this terrible love/hate relationship with Martha (Don't get me started! Lol). I normally am pretty opposed to promoting big corporations and the like; I would much rather promote the amazing DIY , indie community... Please forgive me!

Where you'll never have to worry about grown up things again...

I seriously am having a hard time grasping that stores are beginning to get Autumn merchandise. Maybe it's because I am no longer in school (read: no back to school shopping) or because I live in sunny Phoenix and the thought of the a day that fails to reach triple digits seems laughable. Anyways, I am dying for peter pan collars for the fall season!

Sources 1, 2, 3, 4

And check out this awesome peter pan collar tutorial!
Oh and P.S. Tomorrow I'll be posting a giveaway!! Yippee!