Think Crafts Blog - Craft Ideas and Projects - CreateForLess

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

Halloween is my thing. I can’t help it. My last name is Grimm. How could Halloween not be your holiday with a name like that? It’s the only time of year where my name sounds cool rather than a little dreary! So planning for Halloween has become a serious undertaking at our house over the past few years. The decorations, the food, the pumpkins, it all culminated at our annual pumpkin carving party. 

In the past I’ve gone the silly Halloween route. Goofy looking jack-o-lanterns, licorice spiders, foam pumpkin stickers. All very little kid friendly. And while my children aren’t quite old enough for me to really do up the scary look, this year I’ve opted for a slightly more elegant/spooky style. Think Miss Havisham, but without the moldy wedding cake. At the same time I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, and I wanted the projects to be pretty quick and painless, giving me more time to plot my party menu.

My first order of business was to halloweenify my candles. Although I’m not quite the candle nut I once was (that kid friendly thing again!) I still keep candles around the house all year long. And while I didn’t want to buy candles just for Halloween, I did want to weave them into the themed decor.

This was achieved cheaply and easily by applying vinyl stickers (found in the scrapbooking section) and strips of black ribbon to the pillar candles that already sit on the tables and ledges of my house. The beauty of these stickers is that they are easily removed so come November 1st, my house can go back to normal, at least until it’s time to break out the Christmas decorations.

Next I decided to add a little fun to the bookshelves in the living room. I hit the local thrift shop and grabbed a basket full of ugly little odds and ends from the dollar shelf. If you don’t want to go the Goodwill route, look around under your cupboards and at the backs of your shelves and see if you don’t have a few ugly duckling vases and statues that are never going to see the light of day again.  

Grab a can of black matte or satin spray paint and go to work. You’ll be surprised how elegant that weird little dog statue looks once it’s been coated in slick black paint. 

Finally, I decided to spook up our wine glasses. Puff paint onto plastic bags, page protectors or transparency plastic, they can be peeled off to make mini-window clings. (Which, of course, means that you can also make these in larger sizes for your windows.)  Once dried and peeled off, apply to the outside of wine or beverage glasses for an instant Halloween look that can be peeled off again once the party’s over and November has arrived. 

Add a few jars full of green apples and plastic spiders and some ghostly music, and the house hits just the spooky note I was looking for. Bring on the trick or treaters!

By Guest Blogger, Sparkle E. Glitter from the blog “Sparkle Studio”.

This swirly pumpkin looks great in the center of my table where a little bit of light from the window catches the glitter and makes it sparkle.  I think I will leave it there until after Thanksgiving.  It is made from paper, glue and glitter….very easy to make and inexpensive too. You can make it in any size. Mine is about 10 inches tall.

Here is what you need for a 10″ pumpkin:

• bristol board, 300# (I bought a large sheet with a 40% off coupon, so the price was right and I have enough to make at least three pumpkins)
• Glitter: orange, gold, green
• white craft glue
• #2 pencil
• small flat paintbrush
• scissors

Try this:

1. Draw a pumpkin pattern with swirls, or print out mine and use the copy machine to make it whatever size you want your pumpkin to be.

2. Transfer your pattern to the bristol board. An easy way to transfer is to draw over the pattern lines with a #2 pencil. Turn the pattern upside down on the bristol board. Hold in place and retrace all the lines on the back side of the pattern. Remember to add a stem to the top of your pumpkin. Trace and cut out two pumpkins. Trace the swirl lines on both sides of your cut out pumpkins.

3. Cut a slit at the center bottom of one pumpkin. Cut a slit at the center top of the other.

4. Using the flat paintbrush, brush glue on the swirls. Sprinkle gold glitter over wet glue. Shake off excess. Let dry before glittering swirls on the other side of the pumpkin. Glitter all four sides.

5.  Brush glue to cover the rest of the pumpkin.  Sprinkle orange glitter over wet glue.  Shake off excess.  Glitter all four sides.

6.  Glitter the stems green on both sides.

7.  Slide the slits together so the pumpkin will stand up.  Place it wherever the light will catch the glitter and make it shine.

After Thanksgiving, you can take the pieces apart and lay them flat in a drawer or box until next year.

Wouldn’t it be cute to make small glitter pumpkins and use as place card holders?

Glitter on!
Sparkle

By General Craft Contributor, Amy from the blog “Mod Podge Rocks!”

Nothing tickles my fancy more than Halloween.  It’s my absolute favorite holiday, and one of the reasons is the bright colors and bold statements.  What other time of year can you yell “BOO” at someone?  In celebration of this wondrous time of year, I bring to you this festive hanging plaque. 

To create this Boo! Plaque, you’ll first need to gather these supplies:

• Walnut Hollow Basswood Rectangle 9″ x 12″ Plaque
• Plaid Folk Art Extreme Glitter, Orange
• Acrylic paint, orange, 2 oz.
• Acrylic paint, black, 2oz. with tip attachment OR black paint pen (fine tip)
• Mod Podge Gloss, 8 oz.
• Halloween scrapbook paper - 1 sheet
• Wood Letters to spell “Boo!”
• Craft Knife and Mat
• Craft Glue
• Buttons - 4 coordinating
• Flat Paint Brush
• Offray Black Grosgrain Ribbon (7/8″) - 1 foot
• Pencil
• Ruler

I started by laying out the wood letters on the plaque to get an idea of how I wanted to space everything.  I know - at this point it is hard to visualize the cuteness.

Time to add some color!  I poured out some orange acrylic paint and began with the plaque. I painted around the four edges and the back.  You don’t need to paint the entire front because you are going to put the paper down and cover it up.  I painted just two coats for good coverage.

You’ll need to paint the letters too.  Give the letters two coats of paint as well - don’t forget to paint the sides!  Allow the plaque and the letters to dry.

Grab your Extreme Glitter and paint your plaque and letters.  Anywhere that you painted with orange acrylic paint will need a coat of Extreme Glitter.  Notice that it goes on milky but dries clear.  Paint one coat and then wait 15 - 20 minutes to dry.  Apply another coat.  I actually did three coats total and set my plaque and letters aside to dry.

While everything was drying, I cut my paper.  My paper sheet was 12″ x 12″, and so I used my ruler and craft knife to trim the paper down to fit the plaque.  It’s relatively easy - just be careful with the knife!

When the Extreme Glitter is dry (about 20 minutes), you can Mod Podge the paper to the plaque.  Begin by applying a medium layer of Mod Podge to the plaque.  I usually start on one side (in this case the right) and lay my Mod Podge down with the brush.  Make sure to get the corners well!  I coat the plaque with a strip of Mod Podge and begin laying the paper down - adding more Mod Podge and smoothing as I go.  It’s hard to paint such a large area with Mod Podge at one time because it begins to dry quickly - so try my technique.  It works!

When the paper is completely adhered to the plaque, either smooth with your fingers or roll with a brayer (like I did above).  You want to work back and forth around on the paper, smoothing thoroughly.  You can’t smooth too much!  If Mod Podge comes out the sides, its okay - wipe it away with your brush.  Let this dry for 15 - 20 minutes.

Seal the paper by Mod Podging over the top.  Apply a medium coat just as you did previously.  Allow to dry for a few minutes and then apply another coat.  Don’t worry if some gets onto the Extreme Glitter edge.  Just wipe that away with a brush.  Allow your plaque to dry for 15 - 20 minutes.

You’re in the home stretch!  Glue the letters down to the plaque with craft glue.  I put the letters at funky angles to add interest to the project.

Here’s where you can have some fun embellishing!  Feel free to get creative.  I added about a foot of ribbon at the top to hang.   I also decided the letters needed a little something, so I grabbed my trusty black paint with a tip pen.  For those of you who don’t know what this is, it’s an attachment that goes at the end of a 2 oz. paint bottle to give it a writer tip.  Don’t have one?  NEVER FEAR!  You can use a paint pen to get the same effect.  Just make sure it’s a fine tip.  Outline the letters with lines and dots.  Don’t worry if your lines aren’t perfect - neither were mine - it just adds to the spooky effect!

I finished my plaque with four buttons in the corners for a little added “flair.”  Feel free to embellish with whatever you have in your stash that you think works.  Don’t be afraid to get creative.  Remember to allow your project to dry for 24 hours before hanging.  Happy Halloween!

Kid’s and General Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

Every year, as we get ready to host our annual pumpkin carving party, I promise myself that I am going to carve or decorate some really cool pumpkins to have on display before the party. But between menu planning, crafts-for-the-kids planning and all the inevitable last minute details that come when you have your entire neighborhood over for an afternoon, the pumpkins get pushed to the bottom of the list. 

Generally I look around after the party and realize that every family on the block has a newly carved pumpkin except ours. Next year! I tell myself!

Well, next year has come.

I’m making an early start with the pumpkins by venturing into the realms of fake gourds. I’ve seen them for years, heard the craft pundits rave about their versatility, but somehow have never broken down and bought one. But when I got the idea for this pumpkin I decided that the time had come. I was not going to spend all that time decorating a pumpkin that would rot away in a few weeks time.

The inspiration for this came from a magazine I flipped though while in line at the grocery store one day. The pumpkin on the glossy pages was covered in tiny rhinestones which looked great but probably cost more than I was willing to spend. Instead I opted for glossy black puff paint and a few rhinestones accents.

After sketching out the swirls and loops with a pencil, I went to work with the paint, dotting carefully along the lines. It was often easier to start at the end of the swirl and work backwards toward the stem and I did stop at the halfway point to allow the paint to dry before proceeding with the rest. And although the project was definitely time consuming, it was also fairly easy once I got into the dot dot dot rhythm.

Once the entire pumpkin was covered I went back and glued a handful of rhinestone in strategic places. Such as the spot where my son decided to “see if the paint was dry”. The finished project looks elegant and spooky at the same time. The perfect combination for this year’s not so kid like but not scary either decor. In fact, I might just have to make another with that white pumpkin I bought the other day. Because you can never have too many cool looking pumpkins in October!