Soap with Spiders

                                                                                                                   

My niece and I made spider soap yesterday (she won't let me make soap with pieces of barbies in it anymore...fun sucker...but floating spiders are ok). We LOVE to make soap and it's an excellent way to spend lots of time together with fairly easy clean up (it's soap - easy clean up hahaha...anyway...). I buy blocks of soap from the craft store and melt it in the microwave according to directions; add scent, colors, and any items you want to float in the soap; then pour into molds. (note: I've been in charge of the microwaving and until recently the pouring into molds but I have her stir in the scent and colors - she's getting old enough now though that she can pour, I just have a bowl of ice water handy in case she gets any hot soap on her fingers!) We put them in the freezer to speed up the hardening process, especially if you are making layers of different colors. Pop them out of molds when done and put them next to a sink where you'll get the most shock value :)

this is two layers of clear soap, the bottom is colored
orange and the top we left clear

we made this just using clear glycerin soap

Mossy Halloween Wreath

I made 2 of these wreaths a while ago - even though it isn't a new project for me to show you I still think they are cute and worth sharing. They have held up really well, I occasionally have to hot glue a spider or bat back on but overall they are doing great.

I started with straw wreaths and wrapped a chenille stem around to hang them from (you could tie a long ribbon around the finished wreath instead if you want to see the hanger), then hot glued preserved reindeer moss (I found it at Hobby Lobby) all over completely covering the straw on the front and sides (any part that won't be hidden against the door). I got some rubber and plastic spiders, scorpions, and bats at the craft and/or dollar store, put some glitter glue on them so they are sparkly ;) and hot glued them randomly on top of the moss. I put a large straight pin thru the heavier pieces (large tarantula and bat) to help anchor them into the wreath. That's it! Definitely one of the easiest wreaths I've made.

 You could easily change this up and add whatever Halloween items you would like - check out the different small things at the craft store like pumpkin picks, feathers, witch hat and brooms, etc. I can also see this at Christmas with ornaments, pine cones, snowflakes, etc. instead of the bugs!