HOW TO HALLOWEEN

Materials:

What you will need:

How to make it:

What you will need:

• Mini pumpkins
• A scoop
• Black pipe cleaners
• Tealight candles

How to make it:

1. Take the cleaned mini pumpkins & cut a circle (big enough to hold a tea light candle) in the top of each pumpkin.
2. Scoop out the insides of each one.
3. Using the pipe cleaners, push the end of each one through the skin of the pumpkin to form the "legs" of the spider.
4. Insert the tealights & enjoy!
5. (Please Note: Candles are to be kept away from children and pets & never leave a lit candle unsupervised!)

What you will need: 

• Photocopied old 19th century photos & portraits
• Black photo mats (cut to side of the photos)
• Inexpensive old frames or cheap dollar bin type frames that you can bring home & weather yourself with wood stain or spray paint & a good imagination. (Frames are optional, as shown in the photo.)

How to make it:

• Take the photos (these were photocopied from an old Civil War history book) and mount them into the frames, using the black matting as the frame or place both into an actual wood or metal frame. It's easy and the results are very ghostly!

YOU WILL NEED:

- a twig
- (silver spray paint)
- white paper
- black paper
- pencil
- scissors
- glow in the dark pen
- thread
- tape

DIRECTIONS:

- If you like you can spray a little silver paint on the twig first to make it look even more spooky.
- Sketch a ghost template on the white paper and use the template to trace more.
- Cut out the ghosts.
- Cut out the bat template on the black paper and use it to draw bats on the black paper.
- Cut out the bats.
- Make bat eyes with glow in the dark pen.
- Tape a thread to each bat and each ghost and hang them up around the twig.

You'll Need (for 1 spider):

• 1 8" to 9" round balloon
• Newspaper
• Mod Podge
• Shallow bowl or pie tin
• Drop cloth
• Black tempera paint
• Paint brush
• Hot-glue gun
• Thick, black pipe cleaners
• 1 pair of rhinestones
• Tuft of feathers
• Acrylic paint in red and orange
• Glitter paint

 Directions:

What you'll need:

Material:

Scrap boards
Black Paint
Wood Stake (An election sign post works great!)
Screws
Outdoor Varnish (optional)
 

How to:

These sign posts are very easy to make and can be used for all kinds of holidays. This one is for Halloween. Begin by painting the sayings onto your signs with black paint.

Suggested Halloween Sayings:

Material:

2 clay pots 8 inches
1 clay saucer 10 inches
1 clay pot 6 inches
1 clay saucer 6 inches
8 clay pots 2 inches
Hot glue and gun
E6000 or Household Goop Glue
4 chenille stems
8 buttons, larger than the holes in the 2 inch clay pot bottoms
Large buttons for the shirt and pants
Patio Paints, colours of choice
Yellow Raffia
Medium size straw hat
black and orange felt scraps
How to:

Paint the base color of your clay pots (referring to photos for colors). Allow the paint to dry completely.

Glue the pots together as shown in the photo. The only piece you can not see in the photo is the six inch saucer which is glued to the top of the six inch pot. It is glued with the bottom up and is used only to hold the hat securely in place. Allow this glue to dry for at least 2 days before disturbing.

Now you need to paint some patches, the outline for his pants (I've shown a front and back view, at right, to show how it is done) and add some little lines around each patch so that it appears each patch has been sewn onto his pants and shirt. I used a blue paint for the pants, an orange paint for the arms and shirt. I sponged on white paint over the shirt area to dull the orange a little.

Paint the face as shown in the photo and add little painted stitch marks (can't be seen in the photo) around the nose and across the mouth. Glue on a few shirt buttons and couple of buttons for the pant suspenders.

Glue felt pieces to your straw hat and on the inside rim of the hat glue tied together strands of raffia all around the perimeter of the hat rim. You can trim the excess raffia once the hat is placed on the figure.

To attach the arms, begin by threading a button through a chenille stem, going inside one button hole and through another. Twist the chenille stem together to secure the button to the stem. Feed the chenille stem through the hole in a 2 inch clay pot so that the button is on the inside of the pot and covering the hole at the bottom of the pot. On the same stem thread another button about 1 1/2 inches above your first clay pot going through one button hole and out the other and place a dab of glue on the button. Feed another pot onto the chenille stem with the second button covering the inside of the clay pot hole. The glue will help to hold this clay pot in place. Continue feeding pots in the same manner until you have four pots in total. This is one arm. Now repeat the same proceedure for the second arm.

Take two chenille stems and twist one end from each together very securely; these will support your arms in place. Now take one completely assembled arm and join the chenille stem from the arm to the two chenille stems you just joined together. Be sure to twist very securely. On the second arm, form a loop at the top of the arm with the chenille stem and secure the loop firmly. Feed this loop through the two chenille stems you joined together.

You should have a piece of chenille stem with the two arms attached to it. Take this stem and wrap it around the neck of the clay pot figure to be sure it fits and lining up the arms to the sides of the figure (do not attach it yet). You may need to add an additional chenille stem to fit all the way around the neck.

Now take pieces of raffia and tie them around the chenille stem with knots. Go all the way along the stem, attaching pieces of raffia until you have the desired fullness. Just wrap the raffia filled stem around the neck and pull the stem taut, while twisting the two ends of the chenille stems to secure in place around the neck.

Take a long piece of raffia (several strands) and tie around the base of figure as shown in photo.  Tie a bow with raffia and secure with glue to the bottom clay pot saucer.

Tie little bunches of raffia together and add a dab of hot glue to the tied area. Push it into the little pots (arms) leaving a little raffia extending over the edges of the small pots. For hands, bunch enough raffia to almost fill the pot and leaving two or three strands, each about five inches long, tie together and glue on the inside of the pot. Be sure this bunch is secure as it will be used to tie the arm to the hat.

Glue your hat to the head of the figure and allow to dry completely.

Take the long strands of raffia from the hand area and feed them through the weave about 1 inch in from the brim of the hat. Feet the raffia back through another weave so the raffia is once again under the brim of the hat. Knot the raffia strands together to hold the arm upright. I added a faux crow to the hat, although this was just after I took the picture (it looks really cute). Finally, stand back take a look and give the little guy a haircut. Trim away raffia from the hair and arms and neck area until your happy and that's it, all done!

• You will need:
  
  empty aluminum can
  1 sheet green felt
  1/2 sheet black felt
  scraps of white and light green felt
  1 black skinny chenille stem
  white craft glue
  2 small black pom poms
  scissors
  
  4 round magnets
  

What you do:

Make sure can does not have any sharp edges around the opening. If it does, use a piece of sandpaper to sand them down.

Lay green felt on work surface. Lay the can down on to the felt. Roll the can up in the felt to see exactly how much you will need to go all the way around the can. Trim, leaving about 1/2" overlap. Leave about 1" overlap that will fold over the bottom of the can as well as a 1" overlap for the top (mouth) of the can. Glue the green felt around the can, glue the excess overlap to the bottom and inside the mouth of the can.

To create the hair, lay the black felt on the work surface and place the can on top like you did for the green. Roll can up in the black felt and measure about 2" down from the top of the can. Trim excess. Before attaching black felt, cut one side in a grass-like scissor cut for the hair.

Glue the hair in place, lining up the straight edge with the top of the can.

Cut out the patterns for the eyebrows from black felt and the eyes from white felt. Glue in place (see pattern on the right).

Cut out the pattern for the nose from the light green felt and glue in place.

Cut chenille stem into a 4" long piece. Bend into a squiggly mouth as shown in the photo. Glue in place.

Glue the black pom poms to the centers of the white eyes.

Place 2 round magnets on each side of the head for the bolts, no glue required! The magnets should stick through the felt directly to the can. You can glue them in place if you prefer.

Let him dry before filling with candy or pencils.

What you'll need:

How to make it:

1. Paint the outside of the lunch bag with orange paint.
2. Paint the inside, top portion of the bag with leaf green paint. (See photo.)
3. Paint a second coat of orange paint on the bag, only this time, paint the top outside portion with the leaf green-colored paint.
4. When paint is completely dry, fringe the green section of the bag with your scissors, strips should be approximately ½” – 1” wide.
5. Fill bag with crumpled newspaper (if using as a decoration) or candy and treats.
6. Gather top of bag with your hand and tie a piece of raffia around it, just below the green section.
7. Continue tying pieces of green raffia around the neck of the bag until all of it has been used.
8. Cut a 1.5” wide strip of brown construction paper and roll up into a tube. Insert the tube of paper into the center of the green portion of the bag as the stem. If these bags are used as decoration, you can glue the stem in place.
   

Tips:

• To reuse these decorations at Halloween, add faces as jack-o'-lanterns by gluing on yellow construction paper facial features.
• If using these as party bags, you may want to grab all raffia pieces together and tie them into one knot to make them easier to remove rather than ripping the bag open.
• To give the bags some weight, especially if they will be displayed outside, add a cup of sand or clean cat litter to the bottom of the bag before adding the crumpled newspaper.

What you'll need:

How to make it:

1. Begin by washing the jars and removing labels, if any. Dry completely.
2. Cut or rip orange fabric into strips approximately 3” long and 1” wide. They don’t have to be perfect.
3. From the yellow fabric, cut out eyes, noses, and mouths to put on your pumpkin faces.
4. Make a decoupage mixture by putting equal amounts of water and white craft glue into a bowl and mixing together.
5. Using your old paintbrush, apply some decoupage mixture to a small section of the jar.
6. Place the orange fabric on top of the glue, then apply a small amount of glue mixture on top of the fabric, securing it to the jar.
7. Continue with this process until the jar is completely covered in orange fabric. Overlap pieces as you go so that there are no open gaps.
8. Apply yellow facial features to your pumpkins with this same method and allow to dry completely (overnight is best).
9. When jars are dry and can be handled without damaging your work, measure out a piece of black felt to fit around the mouth of the jar.
10. Cut out the piece of felt and glue around the outside of the rim.
11. Place a miniature flashlight or a tea light candle inside each jar. (Make sure an adult lights the candle, and display it in a safe place.)

Tips:

• Flashlights are safer than candles, so if possible use this alternative. Miniature flashlight will fit nicely into a jar and, provided the batteries are fresh, will burn all night long.
• This can be a rather long project. It’s perfect for a rainy day when kids can’t play outside. You may want to cut the fabric scraps for them ahead of time and have them invite friends over to do the project with them.
• Only small amounts of yellow fabric are needed and aren’t even completely necessary. You may also use black felt for the facial features as the yellow is only visible during the day and not at night while the pumpkins are illuminated. If you use yellow, don’t purchase anything larger than ¼ yard, unless you plan to use it for another project. Look for remnants on sale at the fabric store or ask a friend if she has any lying around you can have. Yellow felt is also an inexpensive alternative.
• These jars can also double as fun holders for wrapped candy during the daytime hours.

What you'll need:

How to make it:

1. For Pumpkin: Cut out a pumpkin shape from the orange corrugated plastic. Make sure you cut it so that the lines in the plastic are vertical.
2. Cut out a stem from the green corrugated plastic and attach to the pumpkin with the mounting tape.
3. For Ghost: Cut out the ghost shape from the white corrugated plastic. Make sure you cut it so that the lines in the plastic are vertical.
4. Draw the faces onto the pumpkin and ghost with the paint markers. Use yellow and black for the pumpkin, use only black for the ghost.
5. Cut the hooks off all four hangers with the wire cutters.
6. Unfold and straighten the hangers.
7. Using the pliers, fold down the top two inches of each straight wire to form a hook.
8. Push two hangers down through each plastic decoration so they come out of the bottom and can be stuck into the ground.
9. Secure the hangers on the back side with the electrical tape.

Materials:

What you'll need:

How to make it:

1. Lay out a piece of waxed paper to protect your work surface.
2. Cover the entire pot with a base coat of white paint. Let dry.
3. Painting one color at a time, paint on the yellow, orange and white stripes so it looks like a candy corn.
4. After the paint is dry, use the white paint marker to paint a face on the front of your votive cup.
5. Put a candle in the bottom of the pot and enjoy!

Materials:
	2 dowels, each 24 inches long and 1 inch in diameter (or use pieces of an old broom handle--just be sure it's not your best flying broom!)
	1 pair of old children's sneakers (size 12 or larger)
	Electric drill and drill bit
	Two 3/4-inch screws
	1 pair of tube socks
	Sand
	Duct tape
	1 pair of child's pants (size 4 or larger)
	1 shoe box
	Ribbon (optional)
	Stapler
	7-inch lightweight ball
	Circle of white material, about 40 inches in diameter. Buy fabric or recycle an old sheet, tablecloth, or ghost. Use a double layer if fabric is see-through.
	Black permanent marker
	Paper bag with handle (for goody bag)
	Binder clip (optional)
Time needed: About 2 to 3 Hours

Directions: 

1. Fit a dowel inside and up against the center back of one sneaker. Drill through the back of the sneaker into the dowel to make a screw hole. Screw the sneaker and the dowel together. Repeat to make the other leg.

2. Fill each tube sock with enough sand to fill the shoe and knot the top. Stuff the sand-filled socks deep into the shoes and tie the shoes tightly. Duct-tape the tops of the socks to the dowel legs.
3. Fit the pants over the tops of the dowel legs and let them rest at the ankles.

4. Tape a shoe box between the dowel legs so that the tops of the legs are about halfway up the sides of the box. Pull up the pants and secure them with staples, tape, or a ribbon strung through the belt loops and knotted.

5. Tape the ball to the top of the shoe box as shown. Drape the circle of white material over the ball and secure it by stapling the cloth to the pants in back.

6. Use the marker to draw black eyes and a mouth on the fabric. Decorate the goody bag if you like, then staple the material around the handle or fasten it with a binder clip so it looks as though the Little Trick-or-Treater is holding the bag.

You will need:

Paper ball (from your craft shop)
Green marker pen
Black marker pen
Red glitter glue
Thread / wool and sticky tape to hang

Instructions:

Use the green and black pens to draw a pupil and iris on the ball. Use the red glitter glue to draw lines over the rest of the ball to be veins. Attach the thread to the eye with sticky tape and hang.

Variations:

Make a collection of spooky eyes in different colors and use to decorate your Halloween party table or perhaps you could string them in your entrance-way to give trick or treaters a real scare!

What you'll need:

How to make it:

1. Lay the sheet out flat over some old newspapers.
2. Paint the face of the ghost on the lower half of the sheet. Let dry.
3. Lay the sheet over the bush and use clothes pins to gather the sheet behind the bush and hold it on.