Halloween Crafts

Looking for some great Halloween crafts for your Halloween party, haunted house, or just for trick-or-treaters?

A fun craft is something that can keep you occupied for hours on end especially if you enjoy it. Here are some ideas that will hopefully set you on your way in preparation for your next Halloween...

Halloween Crafts Part 1:

If you live in a house that has a wood-burning fireplace, then chances are that you have access to tree stumps or large blocks of wood. These are great for making stands for your Jack O'Lanterns. You could use a chisel to slightly hollow out the middle of the stump so that the lantern can sit stably or simply use some Blu-Tack or Velcro.

Get some small or mini pumpkins and hollow them out to use as candle holders. If open flames are out of the question, you can put glow sticks instead of candles for a different effect. You can carve, draw or paint faces on the pumpkins too. Instead of pumpkins, you could use apples as well. Ensure that you choose apples that sit well and flat or cut off the bottom to make a flat surface. Remove the stem and cut around it deep enough for the candle. It is best to use taper candles for a better fit.

Get a large pumpkin and hollow it out to use as a salad bowl or to serve fresh vegetables. Cut off the top, hollow and clean it out and let it dry in the sun. You could carve a jagged edge design on the top. Do the same with some smaller or mini pumpkins to use for dips or salad dressings.

Make a scarecrow in your front yard. You need two pieces of wood, one put into the ground and the other nailed across for the arms. Use old jeans and a shirt and stuff them with newspaper. Add some straw for effect. You can use a plastic pumpkin for the head and draw a face on it. This makes a great Halloween craft for the whole family.

Tie glow sticks to helium balloons and let them float around the house. Ensure that some string extends below so that people can easily reach them if they get stuck somewhere or simply to play with them.

Use publicly available Halloween fonts on your computer to make banners or invitations for your party. It's a fast, easy Halloween craft you can use instantly to enhance your party theme. Print them onto inkjet iron-on transfer paper and put them onto your favourite t-shirt or Halloween outfit.

Halloween Crafts Part 2. OK, Now We Are Getting Scary...

A visit to your local hardware store for some basic items and you could make your own tombstones transforming your garden into an instant graveyard. Paint them grey to resemble stone. Do not worry about the details as it will be dark, but do put on some exciting or scary wordings. By the way, your local hardware store is loaded with Halloween craft ideas.

Going trick or treating? Why not make a special jug to collect candies? Cut off the top two inches of a gallon milk jug. Soak to remove any labels. Paint orange. Once dry, paint or stick on eyes nose and mouth resembling a Jack O'Lantern. Use fluorescent paint for a nice effect. The jug can be kept for future reuse.

Using six pipe cleaners, you can make your own skeleton. Bend one pipe cleaner into two for the backbone. Twist another around the bottom of the backbone to make into the legs. Do the same for the arms. Join two pipe cleaners and twist them around the backbone leaving some space forming a ribcage. Twist the last pipe cleaner for a head and glue on some eyes. Hang with a rubber band for a bouncing effect. Your kids will love making halloween crafts with pipe cleaners. But be careful when cutting and keep them out of their mouth.

Using glue and food coloring, you can make a see through painting. Paint a Halloween image onto a piece of plastic wrap. Before the mixture dries, put another piece of plastic wrap on. Cut it out and hang it in front of a light source for a see through effect. You could also frame the plastic pictures using wood or cardboard if you want them to be longer lasting.

Halloween Crafts Part 3. The Real Scary Stuff...

Make some hand printed spiders. Apply black paint to your palm and 4 fingers leaving out the thumb. Place palm onto a piece of paper. Turn the paper 180 degrees and print again making sure the palm overlaps. Add some wiggly eyes using either paint or sticks. This is suitable for even 2 or 3 year olds.

Make your own blood. It is less expensive than buying ready made blood from the Halloween shops. It's not difficult; all you need is Karo syrup and food coloring. While you're at it, why not make some slime using glue, water and borax powder. This is an advanced Hallween craft, so take your time and be careful.

Using apples, you can make dried, shrunken heads. Peel the apples and coat with a mixture of lemon juice and salt to prevent browning. Carve out a face of eyes, nose and mouth. Do not worry about the finer details as they will probably be lost when the apple dries. You can use whole cloves for the eyes and rice grains for the teeth. Let the apples sit out in a warm place for about 2 weeks. If you don't have 2 weeks, you can speed up the drying by putting them into an oven on the lowest temperature for about 45 minutes and then to dry out naturally for the next 2 days or so. Once dried, they shrink and deform into weird and scary looking faces.

Says Angie Maroevich, "You don't have to spend a fortune on commercial Halloween supplies to have a great party. There are many inexpensive alternatives laying around the house or at your local store you can use to create a Halloween theme that will impress all your friends."

About The Author: Angie Maroevich is an arts and crafts enthusiast, business owner, and athlete. Her arts and crafts articles can be found at http://www.craft-ideas-guide.com. (C) 2004-2005 www.craft-ideas-guide.com. All rights reserved. [email protected]

Fall is just around the corner, and with the cooler weather comes more inside time for the little ones. Naturally, they’re going to need something fun and creative to keep them busy. Help your kids prepare for Halloween by constructing these adorable craft projects! They’re easy and fun to make and the kiddos will love displaying them for the holiday.

Egg Carton Spiders

What you will need:

Cardboard egg carton
Pipe cleaners
Poster paint
Elastic thread
Something to poke small holes

Instructions:

Cut the egg cups out of a cardboard egg carton. Cut pipe cleaners into 3 inch sections. To make each spider, poke four pipe cleaners through each cup sideways. Bend the ends to look like eight spider legs. Paint the spiders black or in any wildly creative way you want! After the paint has dried, attach a length of elastic thread to the middle of each spider. Have fun holding your thread and bouncing your scary spider up and down as you take it for a walk!

Plastic Bag Ghost

What you’ll need:

White plastic trash bags
Black marker
Balloons
Some string
Scissors
Masking tape

Instructions:

Blow up/inflate the balloons and cover each one with a trash bag. With the string, gather and tie each bag under the balloon to make a head. Using your markers, draw a spooky face on the trash bag. Be as creative as you can-make a scary face or a funny face. Whatever you want! Attach a piece of string to the top of your ghosts and display them all around your house and yard.

For more crafts and activities for your children, visit http://www.ShowKidsTheFun.com - And, don't miss Free Online Preschool Themes (link to http://www.showmomthemoney.com/homeschooling.asp ) for more fun ideas to spend time with your children.

By now, many of us have ideas decided upon for our Halloween decorations. Our yards and front doors, porches, decks, etc. are bearing the colors of the Season and are displaying pumpkins, apples, gourds, and other seasonal delights.

All pumpkins do not have to have a Jack-O-Lantern design to shine into the night and welcome little trick-or-treaters. Try carving star shapes, squiggles, circles, bats, cats, and witches.

Metal cookie cutters with Halloween designs work too. Just use a soft mallet to pound the cutter into the flesh of the pumpkin until you can easily remove it with the flesh intact in the cookie cutter.

You can bake these shapes in an oven (350) until tender with some cinnamon sugar or butter sprinkled over. You have a wonderful pumpking creation as well as Halloween "garnish" for mealtimes.

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Cutting out Halloween designs from black paper or cardboard painted black and put in windows will "light" up when we turn our inside lights on. These shadowy figures will be emblazoned in the windows - and your creativity did it.

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Decorate an "old" pail or bucket - hope you didn't throw it away just because there was a small "hole" in it and it couldn't hold water -
all kidding aside, paint your bucket brown or orange and contrast with a pumpkin design or other Holiday emblem. Stencils work great -
Fill with apples, gourds, baby pumpkins, fall flowers, and foliage, and tie raffia strands at either end.

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Stuffed animals can be included in our Holiday planning as well. A cat especially can be dressed in a pointed hat, and cape and a simple dowel stick with tied yarn in yellow or orange makes a great broom.

Felt can be cut into two triangles and glued or sewn together for a hat, with a band of orange material around the circle brim. A felt cut out of a bat or other accent can be attached to the hat.

Your friendly critter can hold a white felt ghost or a green toad. Trace a pattern on the felt and cut it out.

Change your "pal" with the seasons and yo have a great Holiday decorating item.

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Using your Halloween cookie cutters, cut out shapes of pumpkins, ghosts, etc. out of cardboard, attach to a yarn or ribbon garland and intertwine with acorns, cut-out stars and moon shapes or whatever your creativity directs you to and finish off with fabric bows. Great on a mantel or from a shelf.

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Aluminum pie tins can be spray-painted orange with black paint faces painted on. Eyes, noses, mouths with smiles, frowns, etc. whatever you choose. Hang several on a weather-resistant cord or rope and let the wind "rattle and roll" these tins.

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An old picket fence can be spray-painted orange or black and then appropriate faces pained on each slat. A green leaf or two can be added to the top (painted green-use stencils or free form or trace a leaf pattern and fill in with green paint). Use your Pumpkin Screen around your shrubs, trees, or just as a decorative touch in yard or garden.

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The weather, the Season, and the Holiday excitement - let them all bring your creativity to life and enjoy the experience. Patterns and store-bought items can give you additional ideas - but make your own.

Join in with children, friends, neighbors and have a "decorating" party. Everyone can think of things to create from cast-away items (such as old pails or pieces of fencing). Serve some mulled cider, apple juice, snack items - an instant get-together.
ENJOY!

About the Author: ©Arleen M. Kaptur 2002 October. Author of many books, cookbooks, articles, and Holiday newsletters: http://www.Arleens-RusticLiving.com, http://www.arleenssite.com, http://www.webspawner.com/users/rusticliving.