Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

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

Halloween is coming, and fairies, princesses, goblins, and super heroes will soon be knocking on our doors, hoping for Treats. Of course, the adults in the group are getting a treat, too—the pleasure of seeing all those happily costumed little folk. For me, an additional joy is helping with creating the costume, and I especially love embellishing those little fairy wings.

Here’s what you’ll need to do it yourself:

• Wings (I got mine at a dollar store)
• Silk flowers, two of one color, and one of a coordinating color, OR three all the same
• Floral wire, two pieces each about 24″ long
• Coordinating wire and tinsel garland
• Needle & thread, glue, pliers

Take each piece of the floral wire and use the pliers to make a small loop on each end. Bend the wires into a gentle curve. Take the garland and wind it around and around the wires, making several tight loops on each end to secure.

Now use the needle and thread to tack the wire in place, starting at the small length of material that joins the wings together, and working from the back. I tried a whip stitch on one side, but decided it showed up too much. Tacking in two or three places worked as well, and didn’t show on the front, especially when I maneuvered an element of the garland over the stitches.

The next step is to disassemble the flowers, removing them from their stems and taking out the plastic bits that hold them together.

You now have several layers of petals, each with a hole in the middle.  Poke the free end of the floral wire through the layers, and use the pliers to make another loop, large enough to keep the layers from falling off.

Finish up by gluing something decorative over the wire loop. I used a flower from the garland. Other things you might use: large spangles, flat jewels, pompoms, buttons, or stickers.

Now take your third flower and disassemble it. Cut another length of the wire garland and poke one end of it through the flower, and making a loop as you did with the other flowers. Secure this flower to the middle piece of the wings by winding the garland around and around it, tucking the end of the wire out of the way when you’re done.

That’s it! You have a very special set of wings for your little one.

Just one more note about embellishing wings. The things we used for this set are very lightweight, and the wires the flowers are on are relatively short. Using heavier items on the ends of the wires, or longer wires, may cause the wings to want to tilt backwards. If that happens, add a balancing length of wire to the bottom of the wings’ harness.  It doesn’t have to be heavy, or very long—just extending the width of the harness with a loop of wire that rests against your child’s back will keep the wings from overbalancing.

What’s your favorite handmade Halloween costume you’ve ever created?  From kids to adult costumes, funny to scary, we want to see your creativity!  Enter our Handmade Halloween Costume Contest for a chance to win one of these amazing prizes…

*1st Place: $150 CreateForLess Shopping Spree

*2nd Place: $100 CreateForLess Shopping Spree

*3rd Place: $50 CreateForLess Shopping Spree

Click to Enter!

Enjoy some of our favorite entries from last year’s Handmade Halloween Costume Contest.

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

Halloween, that great excuse for scaring ourselves silly, is almost here, and part of the fun is decorating for it. I love eerie lighting, including, of course, Jack o’ Lanterns, but they aren’t the only fright light in town.

Here’s how to make the creepy candle holder shown above:

Start with a glass jar; quart size is good. Take a length of window screen material that is three times as wide as your jar is tall, and long enough to go around the jar two or three times. Fold the material in half lengthwise, and then roll it around the jar, scrunching it up as you go. Don’t worry about getting the gathers even at this point. The next thing you’re going to do is tie a ribbon around the jar, to hold the window screening in place. I had some that was very loosely woven of fine straw, but satin or grosgrain would work as well, in any color you choose.

After you’ve tied the ribbon nice and tight you can mess with those gathers, and even them out. The screening should be even with the bottom of the jar, and extend at the top. Furl and arrange that top part.

Now take a large plastic spider, and tie it to the knot of your ribbon.

Drop a tea light, either a wax candle or one of the little electric ones, into the bottom of the jar. Light it, and place it where it will show up—in a dim corner, or lighting the way up your front walk or porch.

Enjoy the compliments and little screeches.

By Sewing Contributor Jessica, from the blog “Life Sew Good”.  

I’m really looking forward to seeing the entries for the Handmade Halloween Costume Contest!  I know that creativity is in the air (as evidenced by the long cutting lines at the fabric store), but I also know there are some of you who are on a budget—both money and time are running low.  So I thought I would give you a simple NO SEW project.  I mean, you could sew some of it to make it even more durable, but this works in a pinch.

Whether you’re making for an adult or a child, a fairy, ballerina, or butterfly costume can all have a very similar look.  All you need is a tutu and wings, although a wand wouldn’t hurt.  First, the Dollar Tree has wings for –uh, well, a dollar.  You can handle that right?  That leaves the tutu.

Here’s what you need:

2 rolls (2 differing colors is nice) of 6” tulle

¾” Non-rolling Elastic (approx. waist measurement minus 2″)

Sticky Back Velcro

Scissors or rotary cutter

Yard stick or measuring tape

Ribbon (optional)

Stick-on gems (optional)

 1. Cut 1 yard strips of the tulle, folding each strip in half as you go, so that the strips look like they are 18″ long.  Use the whole roll. 

2. Now fold tulle strips in half length-wise.  Cut diagonally from the bottom of the folded side up about 4″.  When you unfold them, the ends will look like a point—much like sword.  Refer to the pictures below.

3. Cut your elastic according the waist measurement minus 2″.  Use a small piece of adhesive Velcro on each end of the elastic.  Wrap the elastic around your leg and close the Velcro.  It’s time to start knotting your tulle!

4. Slip a piece of tulle under the elastic, the folded end at the top.   Spread the folded end (top) between your thumb and fore finger, fold it over the top of the elastic.  Slip the loose tulle through the hole and pull it through, creating a knot.  I think the pictures will be easier to understand than the words!!

The other side of your knot will look like this:

5. You will want to keep all your “knots” on the same side.  Continue knotting, alternating your colors. 

6. Optional:  Add in ribbon, knotting it just as you know your tulle or you can tie bows.  I also added on stick-on gems, both on the tulle and over the end of the elastic over where it closes. 

Now you have a great tutu that anyone will be happy to wear!

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!

Earlier this week I posted about dimensional paint and thought I’d show off some great Halloween projects I found at Duncan’s Website.  Dimensional paint can be used to outline, add depth, add sparkle, and even adhere!  It’s a product that you should spend a little time practicing with before you start using it on your crafting surfaces, but it’s time well spent.  Feel free to share you dimensional paint projects and your Halloween crafts!

You can find the instructions for all these fun projects at Duncan’s Website!

I love fall and best of all, Halloween.  There is nothing better in life than getting to dress up as you please and get candy at every door you knock on!  Come on, that’s just “sweet”!

As a child my whole family got involved to celebrate Halloween.  My older brothers dressed up as policemen, women, and werewolves!  They went to school parties for Halloween, but I got to go with my friends door to door collecting treats. We carved pumpkins, spun spiderwebs from polyfil, hung pillowcase ghosts on the front yard trees.

I remember my homemade costumes well.  My mom used to help me.  One year I wore lederhosen and pretended to be a German gnome.  That one was easy as my mother was German and even made me a felt mustache! Another year I went as a hobo with my treat bag attached to a long wood branch.  I also was a princess one year and the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. But the best was a fairy with a magical wand of dowl rod, construction paper star, and glitter.  I loved waving the wand as neighbors dropped a piece of candy or two in my fairy dust bag!

CreateForLess is having a Halloween Costume Contest! Here’s the scoop!

What’s your all-time favorite handmade Halloween costume you’ve ever created?  That one you’re most proud of because you made it by hand, instead of buying it at the costume shop?  From kids to adult costumes, funny to scary, we want to see your creativity.  Enter our Handmade Halloween Costume Contest for your chance to win one of these amazing prizes…

• 1st Place: $150 CreateForLess Shopping Spree 
• 2nd Place: $100 CreateForLess Shopping Spree 
• 3rd Place: $50 CreateForLess Shopping Spree

Click here for details on how to enter.  Contest deadline is Nov 2, 2008.  I’d love to see some handmade costumes posted here too!  Come on, share!