I painted up these tiny paper mache Jack O’Lanterns to make a spooky fall focus for our mantel! I finished these little cuties the other day and got them displayed this evening. Aren’t they adorable??

They sit just right on top of some battery-powered LED tealights (which you can find just about anywhere nowadays), giving them a flickering, realistic glow.

Ready for the how-to? Here we go!!

I finished a couple new craft projects over the holidays, thanks to my Silhouette Portrait!

First up were gifts for friends in our building — well, actually, gifts for Lola’s friends in our building. 😉 I made pop-up cards and gift boxes for each of them:

They turned out really great!

What was in the gift boxes, you ask? Homemade dog treats! I used this recipe, which went through a revision from one commenter, and I revised it further. (You can print a copy of it from the recipe details at the bottom of this post!) By all accounts, the treats were a resounding success…and Lola loved being my taste-tester. 🙂

I also painted a festive canvas to put on our fireplace mantel. I used my Silhouette to cut vinyl stencils, which I then applied to the canvas. I used pearlescent and glittery paint to fill in the blanks, and tada!

The glittery-ness didn’t show up quite as much as I’d hoped, especially not in the low light. Apparently I’ll have plenty of chances to get it right, since Peter has decreed I must now make a canvas we can display for each holiday throughout the year. 🙂

What did YOU craft over the holidays?