Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog Coffee Pot People.

Ready for ghoulish fun? I got the above altered jar in the mail the other day, and just could not resist sharing it. I’ll grant it might not be everybody’s cup or tea (or any other fluid, for that matter), but it completely busted me up, and that was before I opened the jar!

Don’t bother asking how my friend got all that in there. I can’t get it all back in. It was so much fun to go through all that bounty, and think about the ways I could use it. (I think I’ll put those skeletal hands in my hair, like barrettes….)

So just a few clues about what my friend did: I’m pretty sure the blood is red dimensional paint. She drizzled that over the plastic fingers, which are glued to a “nest” of black fun fur, and then to the lid of the jar. The jar itself is partially wrapped with Halloweenish paper, with stick on letters spelling “Bad Blood”.

Now, I know you won’t have time to mail one before Halloween, but can you picture the surprise, (and I hope delight!) of the friend whose porch you leave it on? I’m thinking a teenager, myself, especially one of the ones who have gotten into the whole vampire bit. Oh, yessssssss.

By Guest Bloggers Melissa + Kellie, from the blog Icing Designs.

We thought we would share a few more Halloween inspired DIY project with you. These little ghosts will add a “spooky” touch to your cupcakes! Your little ones will love them and best of all…they are so easy to make its “scary”!

Materials:

• small Styrofoam balls
• lollipop sticks
• 4″ square of tulle
• 4″ square of lace
• thin black ribbon
• gems for eyes and mouth
• glue gun and scissors

Just take your little Styrofoam ball and stick one of your lollipop sticks in it. If you need to add a little dab of glue to secure it you can.

Place your lace square over your tulle square and lay it over top of the Styrofoam ball, tie with your black ribbon. Then you can trim around the lace and tulle to get it to the length desired.

Next just hot glue two small gems for eyes and a larger one for a mouth and your little ghost is complete! How easy is that!?!

By Guest Bloggers Melissa + Kellie, from the blog Icing Designs.

So with Halloween being Monday…we thought we would share one more fun and festive DIY project with you! Buntings are so popular and so darn cute!! This bunting is so easy to create, no gluing, no sewing…what else could you ask for!?!

Materials:

• Decorative holiday paper
• Glitter Paper
• Ribbon
• Brads
• Triangle template (create your own size)

We created the triangle template on the computer and decided we wanted the size to be 3½ x 4½”. (You can use whatever size you want) Using the template cut out the triangles on the decorative paper. Once you have the desired amount of triangles cut out attached them to your ribbon using the brads. They are sharp enough that they will pierce the paper and ribbon, so there is no need to punch or cut a hole!

Voila….you have a festive fall bunting without gluing or sewing!!

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog Coffee Pot People.

This is the time of year for costumes, which is good for me. I never did outgrow loving to play dress-up, and I just love creating costumes. But what do you do when you need a costume in a hurry?

The costume at the top is one solution, and got a lot of laughs at our recent Cousins’ Night Out. We were supposed to dress in “French costumes”. Have you figured Mama and me out yet?

We’re French Fries, complete with the fry baskets!

If you want to go as an order of fries, or let one of the kids do it, these are the “ingredients”:

• A red hat and scarf for “catsup”
• Tan pants and turtleneck for the “fry” part
• A plastic basket from the dollar store, with the bottom cut out. (You’ll be surprised how small a basket “fits”, I bet!) To put it on, just step in and squiggle it up until it hits a comfortable “staying” spot.
• Last step, for extra fun: Get two catsup packets from your local fast food joint, poke holes in the flat edge at the top center of each one, and hang them from earring wires.

This was a fun costume to put together and wear, and we even took first prize–for sheer creativity!

Want a couple more quickie costume ideas?

This one came to me just today, as I was cutting and rolling sheets of bubble wrap to take to a local non-profit: Wear white pants and tee, wrap yourself from head to toe in big-bubble bubble wrap, and go as a bubble bath! Make a cap of the stuff, and “accessorize” with a washcloth or back brush. Just be careful if you sit down, lol!

Another one, a little more time-consuming, but fun, is to go as a Rubik’s cube. I did this for one of my girls when she was about eight. First, get a cardboard box big enough to go from the neck to the top of the thighs. If it’s more or less a cube, that’s great, but it doesn’t have to be. Cut construction paper into rectangles or squares the right size to make three rows of three squares across, in six different colors, then glue them randomly on the sides and top of the box. (Yes, it’s an unsolved cube. Never could put those things back right, myself.) Cover with clear self-stick vinyl (such as Contac paper) to make them shiny. Cut holes for the head and arms.

Another costume I created for one of my girls when she was maybe six was a caterpillar. I took a velour turtleneck she already had and lengthened it with wide bands of velour until it was an ankle-length tube. Then I went to the thrift store and bought six or seven pairs of the teensiest baby shoes (fabric type) that I could find, and safety pinned them in a double row down the front of the tube to be her caterpillar feet. We topped her off with an antennae head-band, and painted her face one of the colors of her costume, with bright lips, and a big polka dot on each cheek.

By DCWV Diary

My favorite time of year, by FAR! Fall…Football…Friends & Fam. The best! I have to celebrate today by posting a little Halloween fun…How cute are these!!

Fake pumpkins wrapped in paper strips from Halloween Paper. Tie ribbon & tulle around the stems. Fill a bowl on your table and that’s it!

What a great way to use those Halloween scraps!

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

Have you decorated your pumpkins yet? I love using pumpkins for my fall and Halloween decorations. This year I wanted my pumpkins to sparkle, really sparkle. So what did I use? Glitter!

This project is as easy, as it is sparkly. I used a foam brush to generously coat one section of my pumpkin in Mod Podge. Then I sprinkled glitter over the Mod Podge. (I strongly recommend covering your work space before using the glitter). Once the glue seemed dried, I did the next section and so on, until the pumpkin is completely covered in glitter. Once it was dry, fill in any bare stops.

Lastly I sprayed the pumpkin with a clear coat sealer to prevent the glitter from flaking off. Place on your table, door step or porch for a fun, Halloween sparkle!

By Paper Crafts Contributor, Lauren Romano.

There’s something wonderful about getting a present in a beautifully packaged bag or box. When you make your own packaging and personalize it to the recipient, it can make the gift even more special. Chances are you have empty food boxes lying around, so rather than throw them out, make glittery Halloween gift bags from them. The sturdiness of the box makes it an especially excellent option for semi-fragile gifts.

What you’ll need:

• Empty food box
• Hole punch
• Green ribbon
• Brown ribbon
• Fabri-tac
• Scissors
• Orange cardstock
• 3 types of scrapbook paper
• Pencil
• Orange, black and green glitter
• Q-tip
• Mod Podge
• Spray adhesive (optional)

Step 1. Find an empty food box that your gift can fit in, then cut the tabs off the top of the box.

Step 2. Choose three colored scrapbook papers. I chose a dark brown patterned paper for the front and back, orange for the sides and orange and beige striped patterned paper to layer onto the front.

Step 3. Put a thin layer of Mod Podge onto the front, back, and sides of the box, place one type of scrapbook paper on the front and back and another on the sides, then smooth out all the air bubbles. When it dries, cut of the excess paper.

Step 4. Cut the third piece of scrapbook paper, which is going to layer onto the front of the box, into whatever size you’d like. Adhere it using the Mod Podge, then trim the excess.

Step 5. Put a thin layer of Fabri-tac on the edges of the front of the box, then attach strips of brown ribbon.

Step 6. Draw a pumpkin onto the orange cardstock, then use a Q-tip to put Mod Podge only on the pumpkin and not on the stem or face. Sprinkle on the orange glitter, knock off the excess, then fill in any bare spots.

Step 7. Use a Q-tip to apply Mod Podge to the eyes and mouth of the pumpkin, sprinkle on the black glitter, knock off the excess, then make any adjustments to even out the lines of the shapes.

Step 8. Use another Q-tip to apply Mod Podge to the stem of the pumpkin, sprinkle on the green glitter, then knock off the excess.

Optional step: If you’re worried about the glitter falling off the finished project, spray the pumpkin with spray adhesive before you attach it to the front.

Step 9. Put Mod Podge on the back of the pumpkin, then carefully press it down onto the front of the box.

Step 10. Punch a hole in each side of the box about an inch down from the top. To make sure it’s even, punch one hole, then put a pencil through, then punch a hole where the pencil meets on the other side.

Step 11. Cut three long pieces of green ribbon that are even in size. Holding the three pieces, tie them together by making one large knot at the end. The knot should be big enough that it cannot fit through the hole punched in the side of the box. Starting from the inside of the box, put the ribbons through one hole, then up and around through the outside of the opposite hole so the ends of the ribbon are back inside the back. Tie a thick knot on the end so you create a three-ribbon handle. To test that the knots won’t pop out through the holes, lift the bag up by the handle and shake it a bit.