Every Pirate needs hair beads and beard beads. Well most female pirates don’t need beard beads.
As you know the daughter is getting married and having a pirate themed wedding. I made hair and beard beads for the whole wedding party. It was a fun and easy project.

For this project you will need: a variety of beads, some small charms, tiny hair rubber bands, wig clips and heavy duty thread. Cross stitch thread works well also.

I use the wig clips because they stay in the hair better than regular hair clips. The beads can get heavy and regular hair clips tend to slide down the hair. The teeth on the wig clips can get a good bite on your hair and not slide out.

The tiny rubber bands are perfect for the beard beads. I got the rubber bands at the dollar store and the wig clips at a beauty supply store. Since I craft A LOT. I have all kinds of beads and charms. I did have to buy a few beads since I tried to match the beads to the bride and groom outfits. I had over a year to make these so I waited until the beads I needed were 50% off at Hobby Lobby or I had a 50% off coupon for Michael’s.

For the beard beads you just take a long piece of the heavy thread, tie to the rubber band and knot it a few times. Add your beads. The length depends of the beard length of the pirate. I use a small charm for the end piece for decoration and to have something to knot the thread to. The whole process takes maybe two minutes. It’s an easy and Pinteresting project.

The hair beads take a little more time to make but are just as easy. Tie the thread off to the wig clip then add your beads. Finish off with a charm at the end. You can make these as simple and as elaborate as you want.

Bone Wind Chimes

I made two sets of bone wind chimes for last year’s Halloween. I know I took pictures of the entire process but I can’t seem to find but the beginning photo and the last. UGH! I do have a short video of them blowing in the wind.

Bone Wind chimes are easy. You just need a bag of bones and some twine. If you use fake bones or the real deal it’s entirely up to you. Hey, I don’t know your life…

The top/base of the wind chimes is going to be the two femur (leg) bones. Cross them over one another. Take a good size piece of twine and tie them in the middle. You should end up with a bone cross. Now take the roll of twine, don’t cut
yet. Take the twine and keep wrapping the bones until you have the femurs sturdy. Crisscross, over under, tie every which way. Now you can cut the twine from the roll.

 For the middle part of the chime, which will hang longer than the other pieces you can use
the skull or back bone. Tie it to hang from the middle of your bone cross. If you use the skull you may need to drill holes at top then bottom of skull. Now choose your four pieces. Try to match. If you use the hand on one side try to use the other hand opposite side of bone. That way the weight is somewhat distributed evenly.  Once
you have everything tied on its time to make a way to hang the chime. I took four long pieces of twine tied two across the middle then tied the other two in the middle opposite. Gather all your piece and tie together in a knot at the top part of bone. I over
knot. It’s just the way I am. So, keep tying knots until you feel the pieces is sturdy. So know you have 4 pieces of long string to go outside and tie the chime from a tree limb. I really wish I could find the pictures of the whole process.

Good luck. Leave questions in the comment section and I will try to reply quickly.

Pirate Chest 2
It’s been a busy year. Planning a wedding and dealing with family crisis. Blogging had to go on the back burner but the pinteresting life of Gotha Stewart continued on.
Here is treasure chest number 2 I made a few months ago. Basically made same as the first chest, just the look and design are different.

The chest is from Michael’s, brown paint and spray clear coat are also. I used a 50% off coupon for chest. Octopus from Hobby Lobby. Embellishments and hardware from Amazon and/or Wish.
I used a sponge brush to paint a small area then took a towel and rubbed down the area. I wanted the the brown color to vary lighter in some areas darker in others. Once the chest was painted and dried I sprayed on a few layers of clear coat.
Next I used craft glue to apply the skulls and other charms. Then the corner pieces, handles and octopus were put on with screws or nails. Whichever the directions for each piece called for.
Lastly one last coat of clear coat.

Buying treasure for a pirate wedding can get expensive. One way to cut some of the cost is GOLD NUGGETS.

Fake gold nuggets that is. Using gold spray paint and rocks from my flower beds and driveway I made a ton of gold nuggets. 

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Gather the rocks. Wash and let dry. I used a box to put rocks in and spray. Less messy. Spray. Let dry. Shake box so rocks roll to unpainted side. Spray and dry again. I finished up with a quick spray of clear coat. 

Dreams or nightmares do come true. Finally I was able to get a skull baking pan. This one has six good size skulls, it’s a great quality. I got it on Amazon from Nordic Ware. Wilton has a pan that makes three skulls with skull backs to make a full head. I don’t have that pan so I can’t speak on its quality.

So far I have made corn skull bread, banana nut skulls, and skulls in a blanket.

Skulls in a blanket is a simple recipe I made the day my pan arrived. 

Skulls in a Blanket 

6 hotdogs

2 cans of crescent rolls

Shredded cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the pan with cooking spray. I use a coconut oil cooking spray. 

Cut up the hotdogs into bite size pieces. Each skull will need 2 of the crescent triangles. Pinch them together along seam. Lay over empty skull, don’t worry pushing it down into pan. The weight from hot dog pieces and cheese will do that for you. Add hotdog pieces and cheese. Fill that skull up. Fold over the dough sealing up the filling. 

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes. Take out of oven, let sit a few minutes then flip out onto a plate. Enjoy.

The banana nut skulls just use your favorite banana bread recipe. I divided the all the batter between all six. Bake the amount of time you bake muffins, most recipes call for 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Cornbread bakes up the same.

I have not baked any cupcakes in the pan yet so I’m not sure how full to fill them so they don’t overflow. 

Tonight I making pizza skulls which is made like the skulls in a blanket but using pizza ingredients.

I am looking forward to using this pan for all my holiday baking. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Oh yes my baking has just gotten pretty Pinteresting.