Popsicle Stick Frankenstein

 I was whining to B about her being all grown up and now I don't have anyone to make kid crafts for me - and she nicely whipped up this cutie Frankenstein :) Here's what she did in her words:

hey guys! so today i made this super cute Frankenstein for halloween out of popsicle sticks! first i took 7 popsicle sticks and colored them all green. then i flipped them all over and took another popsicle stick that i colored black and put it a little bit lower than half way and glued it on. then i let that dry and after i did that i glued 2 white sequins for the eyes and drew on the rest of his face with a sharpie!

Ghost Sucker Wreath

I've made ghost sucker wreaths for a long time but this time I switched it up a bit. The "classic" way is to wrap a kleenex around a sucker, knot it to a wire wreath and hang a small pair of kids safety scissors from the bottom so you can cut off one "ghost" at a time as needed (either to give a sucker to someone or if you need a sugar fix haha!). For this wreath I wrapped each sucker in a coffee filter which makes a pretty ruffly wreath that I think looks better than the kleenex version!

Instead of knotting them on I tied each one on with a bow so I don't need scissors to get the ghosts off the wreath. Because the coffee filters are thicker, it worked better to alternate the suckers with head facing into the center and head facing out - I was able to fill in the holes easier this way and make the wreath look nice and full.

After wrapping the coffee filter around the sucker just dot on eyes using a fat sharpie - I enjoy the little faces peeking out between the filter ruffles.

Black curly ribbon would have been better looking probably, but I didn't have any so just used white - still cute! I finished this one by adding a Dollar store bow (attach with a pipe cleaner and make a loop for hanging), but that's your call - it also looks good without one!

10.19.2017: bloody handprint decals
10.19.2016: graveyard dirt cake
10.19.2015: halloween gingerbread houses

Mini Pumpkin Diorama

Ok, here's the last craft using Dollar store mini carveable pumpkins. Customize it however you want, I went a little "spooky" (you know me tho, I'm not very spooky haha)  but this would be cute with flowers or succulents; you could have bugs, worms, or spiders spilling out; instead of the paper headstone you could do a creaky house or trees; endless options!

To make this diorama I cut an oval in the front of the pumpkin using a craft knife and painted the inside and cut edges with black craft paint (leftover and still on the paper plate from the painted pail and flamingo). Then I filled it with things I had in my stash - a square of Halloween decorative paper that has a big moon and tree silhouette on it for the background (Stampin' Up), line the bottom with moss, a little stick stands up to mimic a tree with a plastic bat glued to it. I made a small headstone out of black cardstock trimmed in silver pen and rested a skull up against it. Note the bat and skull are both plastic rings that I cut the ring part off).

Cute, inexpensive, and other than waiting for the paint to dry it's quick!

Three ideas for mini pumpkin decorating - a mummy, a sequined one,
and this diorama - all easy, quick and cute! 

10.17.2017: make a candy corn wreath

10.17.2017: paint a Halloween canvas

Halloween Flamingo

I'm seriously wishing I saved that flamingo that the lawnmower guy chopped up (I'm pretty sure he was mad at me and getting retaliation hahaha!) - it would have been perfect for a creepy halloween decoration. Oh well - at the time it didn't occur to me that a ruined flamingo could be turned into something cool! Fortunately (not sure others would call my plastic flamingo collection "fortunate") I have lots more so turned one of them into this fun porch decoration by just painting it black and gluing on some googly-eyes. My original plan was to make a scary flamingo but once you add googly eyes the scary factor disappears!

painting tip: if you're painting a project that needs a second coat or touching up
you don't have to wash the brush or put the paints away (I pour paint onto
a paper plate when I'm doing this kind of craft) - just pop the whole
 thing into a large ziplock bag - the brush and paint won't dry out!  

Sarge wanted to be part of the porch display..

this is the maimed flamingo that would have made a perfect Halloween decoration!

10.12.2017: paper covered owl
10.12.2016: Cassandra's no-bake cookies
10.12.2015: Halloween tree

Mummy Pumpkin

Well this mummy pumpkin is definitely not very scary - I think adding google eyes to anything sorta takes the scary away hahaha. Whatever, he's cute!

Just stick some big google eyes on a small Dollar store pumpkin, and wrap with strips of cheesecloth. I gave him a "mouth" by adding a small piece of black cardstock under the cheesecloth and then cut a small slit in the cheesecloth over the paper.

He looks really cute standing on a wood candlestick, but then I stacked him on this painted pail (click here for that post) and added a black bird on top - I couldn't decide if it was too much of a random stack of things so asked my sis, she likes it and says it's cool so I'm leaving it like this. Sometimes I look at something too long and can't tell if it's good!

Paint a Pumpkin Pail

A classic trick or treat pumpkin pail is cute enough on its own...but paint it black and silver and it's  now a cool kinda-spooky updated piece that could be a fun vase for flowers or a plant (I'm thinking a small mum would be perfect), a candy bowl on your desk or at home, or as a Halloween decoration around the house - just don't put it outside, the paint will wash right off!

How easy is that?!

Come back tomorrow and see how I stacked it with a mummy and a bird - super cute. 

10.9.2017: zombie brains cheese ball

10.9.2016: baked crab cakes

10.9.2015: spider soap

Paper Pumpkin

Sitting in my craft room literally waiting for paint to dry (spider earrings coming up soon!) and looking for a quickie project -  this pretty marbled paper from Stampin' Up reminds me of a squash so I whipped up a paper pumpkin that I'm going to put on my desk (and if I get out to Ronda's studio any time soon I'll make one to add to her seasonal display table!). This is a very easy, kid friendly, cute Halloween or fall decoration - cheap and quick too! That kinda makes for the perfect craft in my book.

Supplies:

•  decorative paper
• 2 brads
• small hole bunch
• scissors and ruler,  or cutting board
• 2 green pipe cleaners (chenille stems, whatever - I've always called them pipe cleaners!)
• pencil to curl the pipe cleaners
• twine
• cork
• round cardboard to give the bottom some stability

Cut 1 inch strips of paper (how long the strips are will determine the size of your finished pumpkin). My paper is 12" square and I cut 24 strips (2 pieces of paper) and that's as big a pumpkin as you're going to get with standard 12" square paper.

Hole punch both ends of each strip and thread all of one end onto a brad, then all of the other end onto a brad. Spread the strips apart evenly to form the pumpkin.

 Glue a piece of cardboard to the bottom to make it more stable and it'll help keep the strips in place.

Glue a wine cork to the top like a stem - you can paint it if you want but I wrapped twine around mine instead. I also found the cork sat better on top of the brad by carving out a little circle from the bottom of the cork - then fit the cork over the brad.

Curl both ends of the pipe cleaner around a pencil, then twist around the cork. Glue twine around the cork if you want - I like how it looks but painting the stem cork would also be cool - how about glitter paint?

10.5.17 make a mummy picture

10.5.16 m&m cookie bars
















10.5.15 squash ghosts

Baggie Wreath

Michelle, did you think I forgot this idea you gave me (along with the baggies)? Well I didn't - it just took me this long to finally make it!!! Thanks again, I love how it turned out. Initially I was going to make this for December/January - it's going to be so pretty with ornaments or snowflakes attached, but it's got a little "ghosty" feel to it and I think it's also great for Halloween. You'll definitely be seeing this a couple months from now changed up for winter!

This is a very easy project, and inexpensive - it's just 2 boxes of dollar store fold-over sandwich baggies and a wire coat hanger. No other supplies at all - not even scissors or glue. And as long as your littles can tie, this is a great kid craft too.

Bend a coat hanger into a circle, and bend the hook down a bit to form a loop for hanging. Then get to tying the baggies on...I started by folding the baggies into orderly little rectangles but realized it totally doesn't matter - just wrap a baggie around the wire and tie on. Keep going until you can't fit one more baggie and you're done. Decorate however you want - I did a Dollar Store bow and cutie spider.

a regular wire hanger made a 12" circle

don't know if it matters, but I alternated turning the bags
up and down when tying them on. 

Ronda was with us when Michelle was telling me how to make this, and she said "oh Jill is going to love this, she loves making crap out of random things" hahahahah. Yep, I do actually ;)

one year ago: Jen's caramel apple pudding shots
two years ago: vegetable soup
three years ago: how to make "bloody" candles

Peeking Pumpkin

opened my planner this morning to this - love it!!

This is just about the easiest Halloween decoration ever - and a fun little super cute surprise to anyone like Dave who doesn't notice it right away, and when he did just laughed and said "you probably gave him a name too, didn't you..." um, I'm going with "peeping tom" hahahah. Literally just stick some google eyes on a pumpkin (mine are tacks so I just pushed them into the pumpkin - you could glue on anything tho and it'll be cute! If I didn't have google eyes or didn't want to buy them I would substitute white and black paper circles), put the pumpkin in a pot with the lid cracked, and done. Took me longer to type it than make it!