DIY Hand Blown Glass Pumpkins

As a kid, my family and I always watched glass blowing demos at living history museums, Cedar Point, etc. when they crossed our path. I always wanted to learn how to blow glass and put it on my Bucket List but the thing is I’m not sure what I’d do with the thing after I made it. (I am including some affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

I appreciate glass artistry and would dearly love to buy, use, or display hand blown glass creations but condo living isn’t the most spacious when it comes to displaying doo dads (all of our art collection hangs on walls.)  Not to mention, I’m not a fussy doo dad displaying kind of girl except in September when my pumpkin decorations dot the house inside and out.

I like to decorate with pumpkins because you can start displaying them in September for fall harvest, to Halloween and right on through to Thanksgiving at the end of November.  So it makes sense that I am obsessed with browsing handcrafted glass pumpkins at glass blowing shops. That’s when it hit me.

Blow a glass pumpkin and display it for Thanksgiving? That I can do.

I  decided that Today is SOMEDAY and I’m going to learn how to blow glass!

 Keep reading to learn about the process and to see what I made!

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Elizabethan Noble Woman Costume Part 4 – Makeover Reveal

Last year I made an Elizabethan noble dress to wear while performing at renaissance festivals that was an utter train wreck. It was my first machine embroidery project, the fit of the bodice was off, and in an attempt to glam it up  I think my dress looks more like a costume than my goal of period clothing.

No one said anything to me one way or the other about the issues I have with this dress.  I would never, ever point out any of these issues on a patron or fellow performer’s clothing  Many of these things bug me and me alone and I admit I’m shallow enough to let it affect my performance.

Extreme Renaissance Festival Costume Makeover

You could say the Tudors are the originals when it comes to clothing capsule collections because most of their clothing either tied or pinned together so they could mix and match sleeves, foreparts, bodices, stomachers etc.

My costuming focus this summer was making my husband a new embroidered Tudor doublet, breeches, and hat. In the interest of time, I remade and made over the items that didn’t work and kept or tweaked the pieces that do.

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Let's get this party started! I can't wait to see your DIY, craft, and decorating projects and recipes that make me drool with antici......................................................................................................................

--pation !

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Hello October! Have you started decorating for Halloween yet? Any costume ideas?

Seriously, I'm asking. I did a costume consult for a friend and realized I'm tapped out of Halloween costume ideas. Help a sister out and give me a suggestion in the comments below.




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How to Make Awesome DIY Halloween Outdoor Projector Decorations!

Over the years my husband and I have developed a good reputation for displaying awesome outdoor Halloween decorations.

Our favorite Halloween decorations are the kind that move. Unfortunately condo living means we don’t have the storage space for moving inflatables or the life size animatronic ghosts we see when we idea shop at the Halloween store. Bummer, I know.

We generally keep things fresh by mixing and matching the decorations we already have sprinkled and I add a healthy dollop of DIY props if we want to decorate with a new outdoor Halloween theme.

This year my husband and I are going BIG with our DIY Halloween decorations and haunting  the windows of our house with animated ghosts - just like the kind you see in a haunted house or on the dance floor of The Haunted Mason! (my favorite part of the ride, by the way) using  AtmosFX Digital Decorations who provided samples for this tutorial. That’s right, friends we are using projection Halloween decorations this year and they look so. freaking. cool!

Pin this easy Halloween decorating idea to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!

How to Project Animated Halloween Ghost Decorations

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I had a pretty bad day that ended in inspiring a very good thing. The day started forcing my sleepy self (and trusty travel coffee mug) to get up and out of the house for a cart trip. Even though I've driving the route a million times I missed an early exit. I didn't think much of it because of the familiar landmarks along the way.

An hour into my drive I realize those roadside landmarks were for driving to my in laws house and NOT the place I needed to go. I get there 40 minutes late. I hate being late. As I'm fussing with something in my car trunk, I hear light ker-clutch. 

Elizabethan Doublet Costume Reveal!

My husband needed a new Elizabethan nobleman costume when he performs at renaissance festivals. It is a tricky business because the history geek in me wants to be as historically accurate as possible.

However unlike a living history museum, what we do is historical entertainment. Being outdoors in all temperatures and weather conditions means there are some liberties I have to take in the clothing design,  construction, and preferences of the guy wearing it. In other words, please don’t yell at me historical clothing purists. I know where I did not follow Elizabethan Sumptuary Laws (dress code.) Thank you.

I gave you a costume project sneak peak in Elizabethan Doublet Costume Work in Progress.  I cut the velvet front of the doublet trim larger than my pattern so I could hoop it and spent a 12 hour day doing nothing but embroidering the border design over and over holding my breath every time hoping everything will line up when I finished. Thank goodness it did!

Gold metallic thread would make the embroidery really sing. After a few frustrating test pieces I learned there is a finesse to machine embroidering with metallic thread that I do not have yet. That is a skill to learn for another day.

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How to Repair a Dishwasher that Won’t Drain

 My dishwasher did not drain after washing a load of dishes. I like my dishwasher and it is barely four years old.  I really hoped I could fix my broken dishwasher because I do NOT want to go through The Great Dishwasher Research Hunt again.

Basically there are a series of filters and pumps in a dishwasher that can become clogged through normal use, not rinsing dishes, or in my case my bad habit of not removing paper labels from jars before I stick them in the dishwasher clogged the drain pipe. This little exercise cured me of that habit.

Unclogging a dishwasher drain pipe is much easier than the dozens of YouTube videos I consulted make it out to be. The most difficult part of the process is dealing with the vile stench of the clog because I’m a baby about bad smells. 

How to Unclog a Dishwasher

Pin this tutorial for reference later!

Friday Favorites Linky Party 389

Wow what a crazy couple of weeks its been. How are you Hurricane Harvey and Irma folks doing? 

I know Texans are tough and Floridians totally have hurricane prep and recovery DOWN but that hasn't stopped me from worrying about family and friends in both states (everyone is OK whew) and all of you in the Condo Blues community (if you have the power to read this post.) Some of you are dealing some stuff that is totally out of your control that just flat out sucks.

Which in all honesty, makes me think that writing about all of the Halloween costume and decoration posts on my blog calendar seem trivial, silly, and stupid. Then again maybe you might need that as a brain break to better deal with endless cleanup and the kids not going back to school because they are still being used as storm shelters. I dont' know. What do you folks need? Tell us in the comments below. 

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20 New Ways to Use and Repurpose Old Towels

I swear the amount of towels in my linen closet magically doubles or triples on its own. I bet it is some relic from a science fiction universe (or that I live in a small house with a small linen closet but I’m still blaming aliens because it is more fun.)

If I don’t clean it out my linen regularly the towel population grows to the point it is so large I can’t close the closet door. Which given the size of the linen closet, it doesn’t take a huge towel population to achieve this.

But it also means that I regularly have old towels with a worn spot or edge but overall fairly usable and as such, something I don’t want to send to landfill hell if I can get another reuse out of it.

Luckily, old and worn towels are one of the easiest things to reuse and upcycle to save a little money, the environment, or better yet – time.

Pin these creative reuse ideas for later!

20 Genius Ideas to Reuse Old Towels You Have to Try!

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Elizabethan Doublet Costume Work in Progress

This time of year most folks are looking forward to their favorite fall holidays and pumpkin spice everything.

As much as I hate to see summer slowly transition into fall, it signals one of my favorite times of the year:

Costume Season!

I gave a tiny sneak peak of my latest costuming project on Instagram (follow me @condoblues on Instagram pretty please?) an Elizabethan doublet, breeches, and hat for my husband.  I'm machine embroidering all of the velvet trim like a crazy person.

Not bad for a beginner! #sewing #embroidery #embroideryart #heraldry #costume #crafts

A post shared by Lisa (@condoblues) on Aug 23, 2017 at 7:33am PDT

This eagle will appear on the back of the jacket, flanked by two embroidered flourishes. I bought the killer machine embroidery files from Urban Threads.

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