Monday, September 26, 2011

~meet Zelda & Darnell~

Good morning bloggy friends!


Happy Monday
&
Hello rain!!!


it was soooo blustery here yesterday!
it's a good thing
the leaves haven't changed much yet because
the wind & rain definitely would have blown
them all off the trees!
I guess fall has officially arrived??

~*~

I'm so excited to introduce you to
Zelda!!

finally got her all finished
and just loving her!!



and her scary black cat
Darnell


I know I confessed to you all last week
approximately just how long
I've had this pattern.....sitting on a shelf....
in fact I think I thought about throwing it
away about a gazillion times.......


but this is proof that it pays {on a rare
occassion} to hang onto stuff 'til
"someday when I have time"  :) 


so you wanna see the process???
I've got lots of pictures so
hang tight!

is downloaded & printed
and comes with a little grid to put together



there's about a million pieces to print, so
make sure you've got plenty of ink you don't
mind using!

the graph is all labeled so you can see where to put
each piece A1, A2 etc....


I got smart after doing the big one &
got my kiddos involved!



they love helping me do this kind of stuff!
in fact after we were done, Kenzie (the one
in the floral top) said ....
"Momma, it's gonna look like a huge
halloween bomb went off by the time
we're done decorating....and I'm gonna help you!!"
{seriously, bestill my beating heart....music to my ears....what a sweetie!}


Once the pattern is all cut out,
the directions recommend using spray adhesive
to glue it to the plywood, but
I found outlining the pattern on the plywood
worked better than sawing
all around the edge of the paper.....
{the paper would get all bunched up under the saw
and it just made it annoying & difficult!}


use your trusty ol' jigsaw to cut her out
....you might need more
than one blade (I broke one in the process)



then once you get her all cut out


grab yourself a spare kiddo
and some black paint
and paint her up real quick!


I didn't even bother sanding at all
in fact, I just barely wiped off all the sawdust.....

easy peasy lemon squeezy!

ah, Mr. T & T was so darn sweet
on Saturday!!!
he did tons of gardening, cutting down,
yanking out & digging out all sorts
and manner of various overgrown
vegetation Mrs. T & T has had no time for....

and he still wanted to help me
with Zelda & Darnell!!


I was basically glee-ful!
completely thrilled at such generosity! ;)
.....no seriously, I was!!

can you tell he was soooooooo
excited to get his picture taken?

I mean who wouldn't after working in the
yard all day, all hot & sweaty
and feeling nasty........
right?? hee hee hee



so what do you think of her?
you like??

I do!  And you know what?
it wasn't really that hard at all!!
and the total cost of the project was
less than $20
$12 for 1/2 inch plywood from Home Depot
and $2.50 for the insulation pole to stick
her in the ground
and less than $3 for the insulation clamps
and I already had paint on hand!

for complete details & directions go
will give you the supply list, templates etc...
{but I wouldn't spend the extra on the 3/4 in
plywood....the 1/2 inch worked just fine!}





well girls, I'm off for my run....
*update*
30 minutes running.....no walking....
yep......crazy huh.......?
we'll see how it goes in the rain....
haven't done that yet....
sure it'll be awesome! ;)


have an awesome week!!


xoxo,


Shellagh

17 comments:

Unknown said...

So much fun!!!

Hugs
Charo

Anonymous said...

Zelda and Darnell are adorable and so is your family! Your girls must love these projects.

Ido said...

Love them you did a great job!!!!
XXX Ido

Michele @ {Primp} said...

love them! i've been wanting to make this witch for a while now--thanks for the inspiration--your encouragement just may have built up enough courage for me to go for it this year--thanks!

Samantha2818 said...

Hi Shellagh,

Love it. Ours is named Agatha although like you she is still in paper form in a blanket box under my son's X-box. Every year I promised the kids that we will make Agatha this year but I'm always put off by the cost - the plywood in the UK is £40 which is around $65. We also don't have enough dry days to cut this outside so I'd have to pay my timber merchant to do it so it's probably closer to $80.

Seeing yours makes me want to go for it. Maybe this year!!!

~Sam

Laurie said...

They look great, nice work! Love seeing your kids involved in the process :)

Faded Charm said...

Love how she turned out and your yard looks amazing! My girls love to help me out with this kind of stuff also:-)

Talk to you soon,

Kathleen

outjunking said...

I love them, especially in the black and white photos, so Alfred Hitchcock like.
Lisa

Urban Farmgirl said...

Fabulous! And I have to say, for $20 you can't beat it! We were looking at something similar in a catalog for a Halloween charity event we do, and they were $249. Talk about scary!! Lol!

You did a great job!

And while I am thinking of it...I have a special vintage laundry bag I might want sewn into a pillow...would you do such a thing? Sew something up custom with it if I mailed it to you?

Mary

Burlap Luxe said...

Love her Shellagh!
She and her cat will be spooky scary for all to see in your neighborhood!
You make this project easy fun!
xx
Dore

Linda said...

Greetings, Shellah!

This is my first visit and what fun I've had! Your project is so spectacularly spooky! I just loove it. I want to trick-or-treat at your door! Haha.

Best wishes,
Linda at Beautiful Ideas

Karen said...

Shellagh, you did a fabulous job! I LOVE Zelda and Darnell! They look so good. Your daughters are darling and tell your husband he's now an internet stud! :)
Thanks for sharing your great project with us. You should send your finished project to Martha!
xo~
Karen

Anonymous said...

Great job..I have wanted to make one of these for a couple of years now..I love it..
Janet

Fresh Vanilla For C said...

LOve her!!!!!!!

the cape on the corner said...

i love this. i absolutely love this, and it looks like the whole family enjoyed working on this!

Coley said...

They turned out SOO great! I wanted to do this so bad and my husband was not feeling like all that work (on top of the rest of the Hallloween decor I have him help with). Oh well, maybe next year!

Debbie-Dabble Blog and A Debbie-Dabble Christmas said...

Fantastic idea!!
Love it!!

Hugs,
Debbie

Blog Widget by LinkWithin