Make: Mini Vintage Postcard Magnets

Another tutorial re-boot from www.myhalloweenlinks.com.

Use reduced versions of postcards from the Golden Age of Halloween to make magnets for yourself or to share with friends. These magnets would make great party favors and they're a snap to make!

Materials

• Color prints of vintage Halloween postcards. Either select a variety or one great image. Depending on the magnet style you go with, the images (or magnets) may have to be cropped to fit.
• Sources - find online (highest resolution possible), right-click and save to your hard-drive (e.g. Antique Halloween e-Cards). You can also buy books of reproduction postcards (e.g. Old-Fashioned Halloween Cards: 24 Cards) -- since this is for personal use, you should be able to copy a couple and reduce the image size.
• Resize in whatever way works best for you, depending on which magnet style you decide to go with. If you don't have access to any photo-editing software, I can recommend www.picnick.com. It's free and you don't even have to register. (I did register for the most basic access and have never received any spam.)
• Magnets
• Business-card-sized magnets are, to the best of my knowledge, the thickest and would actually hold a piece of paper on your fridge. Buy a package at the office supply store or collect actual business magnets and cover up image w/ your own! If you go this route, the existing vintage images will have to be trimmed a bit because the proportion is slightly off (or you could trim a bit off the magnet to keep the image as-is).
• Skip the glue and buy printable sheets of perforated cards (Avery Ink Jet Magnetic Business Cards) or magnet sheets (Avery® Magnet Sheets). If you go with the full-size magnetic sheets, you can keep the cards' original proportions; however, they are very thin and would only serve as a decoration. (I haven't used the perforated magnetic cards so I don't know how thick they are.)
• Glue stick or rubber cement
• Scissors or Paper cutter

Make

1. Cut out images
2. Glue to magnets
3. Package (think cellophane sucker wrappers from the cake decorating section)
4. Give (make sure you keep one for yourself!)

Make: Bubble Favors

Another tutorial re-boot from www.myhalloweenlinks.com.

I used these (with different labels) for prizes when I led training classes at the corporate level. I called them "stress bubbles," but you can call them whatever you want. You can give them to trick-or-treaters, or use them as party favors - alone or in a bag of goodies.

Gather Materials

• "Wedding Favor" bubbles. Avoid the fancy packaged ones at craft stores and look for packs at $1 stores or big box stores (I just bought a 9-pack for $1). You shouldn't have to pay more than 25¢ each.
• Tape. Try to match the height of the label, plus a little bit if possible (alternately, make the label a little shorter than the tape). If you use a laser printer, the width of the tape isn't as crucial, but if you use an inkjet printer, you'll want to cover all of the print; otherwise, the ink will run when the bubble liquid spills (inevitable). If you can get 1" wide clear tape, this is perfect. In a pinch, you can layer regular transparent tape, but you may need to trim a bit.
• Labels. Print several images on plain paper and cut out. You can download mine (click image below to open PDF) or make them yourself. You can fit several onto 1 sheet. The labels should be just under 1" high and about 3.5" long. You can do black text & graphics on colored paper, or full color graphics on white paper, etc. Other ideas: Put each persons' name on a bottle. Use a plain mailing label, and handwrite the message or add a sticker scene.
• Stickers &/or ribbon. If desired.

Assemble

1. Design your labels, following the specifications above & print onto plain paper. Print & cut out. Add stickers, if desired.
2. Wrap the labels around the center of the bottle and tape or glue in place. If it's possible that the ink will run, apply tape across the whole label.
3. Add ribbon around the neck, if desired.
4. Share!

Label sample (not to scale) - Click to open PDF (right-click to save to your computer):

Note: I made this so long ago, I have no idea what my sources are. Sorry!

Favors: Music Mix part 1

I'm currently working on three, count 'em, three Halloween music mix CDs this year. Why three? Well, I've been collecting Halloween music for years, planning on putting together a fun mix to share with friends. Years come and go, but I still haven't made that mix. Well, this year, I'm doing it. For real.

The problem,  if you can call it that, is that I have 50+ Halloween albums (not counting spoken-word collections), with several hundred songs to choose from (several albums are collections with duplicates) plus a ton of older singles, the oldest of which was recorded in 1912 (spooky-themed, not necessarily Halloween-specific). I need to pick 13-15 songs for the main mix (the second mix is a surprise so I can't talk about it yet). It's not necessarily an embarrassment of riches, because some of the music is really bad. But there are some really great pieces that are calling to be included and I'm having a hard time narrowing it down. Plus there is the concern that there is better music out there that I've missed. Some day soon, I'm going to force myself to just stop and make the thing; there's always next year!

In the works:

• Actual party mix (to play at the party) - easiest, because there is no limit on the number. I can just pick the songs that I like and that I think are appropriate and have the playlist ready to go on my MP3 player.
• Friends' mix (to give to guests and other friends) - less easy, as already discussed. (The package and playlist will be in part 2, which I'll post sometime in August after the party.)
• Surprise CD
• Kids' CD (right) - a mini disk of "traditional" Halloween tunes that are kid-friendly that won't necessarily be on the friends' mix (e.g. Monster Mash).

The labels for the kids' mix may not work. I used full-sheet ink-jet sticker labels; they're pretty porous and will show fingerprints too well. I may try to laminate using packing tape... was SO hoping to avoid cutting out those circles by hand! (I used a 2½" circle punch for the outer circle and a 1" punch for the inner circle.)

If I hit ten followers in the sidebar by the time the mixes are finished, I'll put up at least one of the mixes as a prize for a commenter. I'll announce that with the "reveal" post.

Skeleton clip art source • Font