During the months leading up to the launch of The Daily Artisan as a business and a website, I planned a preliminary content calendar for the daily blog posts, and celebrating Halloween was included! However, when I expanded the scope of the website, the process took a bit longer, and with a mid-November launch, Halloween was no longer on the books.
I’m thinking, though, since Thanksgiving hasn’t arrived yet (four-day countdown at this point …), why not celebrate a belated Halloween with today’s post!
Witch’s Hat Cake
October 31 is the birthday of one of my friends, and I asked her if she wanted a birthday cake or a Halloween cake, and she quickly responded “Halloween!” Her cake was part of the 24 I’ve made for friends and family in recent months, as described in a recent post Fancy Cakes – Part 1. The Halloween cake and cupcakes may appear in an upcoming installment of the “Fancy Cake” series, but I wanted to start with it in our belated Halloween celebration today!
First, I made a chocolate espresso layer cake and cupcakes, and chocolate espresso frosting for them. Initially I had planned to decorate the entire top of the cake with Halloween-themed M&Ms but that morning I woke up thinking instead I should make a witch’s hat. It seemed like it would be more fun!
Using three primary colors of fondant (red, yellow and blue) and some food coloring, I mixed (… and mixed … and mixed) them until I got the shades of orange, green and black I wanted for the hat. (And, if you haven’t learned the way I did a long time ago – always wear disposable gloves to do this, or you are going to wear the colors for days!) Hand-shaping the witch’s hat was a little challenging, but I was pleased with how it finally came out. After I got the shape I wanted, the hat bands and buckle were next. Fortunately I have various sized and shaped tools for decorating cakes, and they really came in handy for this part! The witch’s hat turned out to be a little over 4″ tall.
Final decorations were made with the Halloween M&Ms I searched all over town to find, but when it’s Halloween, you’ve just got to have purple, orange, and lime green ones!
Cordelia and the Witch Decorum Council (WDC)
Being so busy creating The Daily Artisan, I didn’t have time this year to do any crafting for Halloween, so we’re taking a memory lane trip to see some items I’ve made in previous years. This project may come close to the Bird Words book I wouldn’t want to part with — it was a lot of fun!
Starting with a Halloween crafting, wood coffin, I knew I wanted to make something three-dimensional so I got out the sketch book. I’ve previously posted about how much I still appreciate paper dolls, and this is just another example. I thought it would be fun to turn the “coffin” into a closet with a girl and an extra outfit. Her name had to be “Cordelia” (don’t ask me where I got that name because I really don’t know), and then a storyline in my mind started to take shape. She would be young and wearing very short dresses, which would greatly concern the elders.
The elders make up the town’s Witch Decorum Council (or WDC, as I called it), and Cordelia’s short skirts were just too much!
It was fun to make Cordelia with articulating arms and legs, using tiny metal brads. Then, using fabrics, ribbon, and shiny little “gems,” I dressed her in a little (short!) outfit, and made a spare dress (also short!) for the coffin closet. She even has a round mirror inside so she can take a look at her outfits before going out in town. Clearly, it was not enough to escape the watchful eyes of the WDC!
Esmerelda The Hostess
This was a fun project to make as a light-weight, picture board held up by a 5″ metal hanger. Halloween gives you all kinds of things to work with as you imagine a storyline for projects! For this one, I decided the paper doll witch would be named Esmerelda, and she would be hosting a mysterious “tea party” at midnight on Halloween.
Esmerelda also has articulating arms and legs, this time secured with tiny purple brads. I used a Halloween-themed paper to make her a dress, and a hat with a black velvet bat. From my crafting trinkets and treasures, I found a tiny gold clock with the time just before midnight. Be sure to check out her special mace – a skeleton head with a purple satin ribbon. (And as with Cordelia, Esmerelda’s back is covered with tape and raised dots that are hidden from view as soon as the girls are affixed to the background.)
Would you want to attend Esmerelda’s midnight tea party on Halloween??
Seraphina and Minerva
Halloween cards with matching envelopes were fun to make, and again I thought of names for these ladies that would be in keeping with the holiday! Be sure to enlarge the photos to check out Seraphina’s blinged-out glasses from the glitter I placed on them. She has a black velvet hat I made with a net poof on the top; a jeweled earring; and around her neck … well, of course, a Ouija board necklace!
Minerva also has a black velvet hat, with a purple net veil I sewed on with the tiniest of stitches. My crafting trinkets and treasures once again were up to the challenge as I found a little, gold bingo charm that makes a statement piece on her witch’s hat. Distressing ink was used on a small bingo card and a B13 bingo chip that fit with her storyline. Minerva is fierce when it comes to her bingo!
Desdemona The Driver
For this project, I named our girl Desdemona, which couldn’t sound more Halloween-like! As with Esmerelda, she is a on a light-weight, wood picture board held by a 5″ metal hanger. I used sheet music with “The Witch Rides” to make her skirt and belt, with a black net trailing skirt. In these pictures, you can see Desdemona come to life with first one leg, then another, a head, and so on and on.
Desdemona is on the move as she flies aided by her broom and stylish orange boots. Be sure to check out her tiny, gold pocketbook! You can just tell she is up to no good on this Halloween night!
So, even though Halloween this year was a little different being so busy working on The Daily Artisan, I feel like with today’s post I had a belated celebration! What fun things did you do for Halloween this year? Please comment below!
