DIY: Book Page Pumpkin Tutorial

Halloween is just around the corner, and this tutorial can be made in just a short time, so it's perfect for last minute decorating!  We love this idea which is from Creations by Kara's blog - so check her out!

Book Page Pumpkin Tutorial

1- Make a pumpkin shape out of a piece of paper. I roughly drew one, then folded the paper in half and cut it so it would be symmetrical.  

2-Take the cover off of your book and place the pumpkin pattern with the fold on the binding edge. If it doesn't fit, trim it a little.  

3-Trace around the pattern with a pencil.

  

4-Now it's time to cut out your pumpkin. You can use an exacto knife, but I found that it was easier just to use scissors. I could cut through 5-6 pages at a time pretty easily. If you don't have fine tipped scissors to cut all the way to the edge of the binding, you can use an exacto knife there.  

5-After you cut all the way around, pull the excess pages over to the binding and they should tear right off.

  

6-Now trace around the pumpkin shape and cut through a few more pages. Tip: cut slightly inside the pencil mark, or your pumpkin will keep getting bigger. Yep, I learned that the hard way.   

7-Keep tracing and cutting until you have all the pages done.  

8-Now put a thin strip of glue on the very edge. I'm the impatient type, so I used hot glue.

  

9-Now bring that back page around and attach it to the hot glue, keeping the outside edges as even as possible. Then add a stip of hot glue to that page, and glue the next page to it, just on the inside edges. I sure hope that makes sense.  

10-When you stand your pumpkin up, it will probably look something like this:  

11-Don't panic! It just needs to be "fluffed". Just go around pulling the pages apart and arranging them how you want them. If I had a space where the pages just refused to come together, I added a little hot glue right at the inside seam. When you are done, it should look more like this. It's OK that there are some spaces. We'll fix them later.  

12- At this point I decided my pumpkin needed a little color. I could have inked all the edges with my orange ink pad. But I knew that would take awhile. So I turned to my best friend Krylon. Spray paint that is. Yep, you can totally spray paint book pages. Just use a very light touch, you don't want it drenched or anything. One light spritz is all you need.  

13-Now it's time to add the stem. I just used a stick from my yard. If you have any stubborn pages, now you can bend them to your will. Bwaahaha! I used a bunch of hot glue, then forced the pages where I wanted them and held the stem in place till the glue dried. Voila!  

14-Next I tied a ribbon around the stem. Not only does it look cute and add some color, but it hides all the gobs of hot glue. Yay!  

And just because I love it so, here is another shot of it sitting on my entry table.

 

DIY: Ghost Decoration

Everyday is a Crafting Day's (we couldn't agree more) blog has a wonderful ghost DIY decoration tutorial.  How fun is this thing??

Here's what you need...

1 Liter Pop Bottle,

Starch,

Cheese Cloth,

Old Towel,

Scrap piece of felt,

Styrofoam ball (the white kind works better.)

Scissor,

Hair dyer (optional)

Wire (not pictured)

 First thing you are going to do is cover your working area with your towel. The starch is easily washed out of a towel but it gets messy if you don't cover up your area.

Then make you ghost form. I just shove the styrofoam ball on top of the bottle. (if you are using a green floral ball cover it with plastic wrap or something so you don't get green fuzzies on your cheese cloth.)

I also use some wire to make arms...

Next, lay the cheese cloth over your ghost form. Spray it down with starch. I like to use a spray bottle so I can control how my starch I use. The more starch the stiffer your ghost. 

Next you can use a hair dryer to help make the drying time faster. Since I live in AZ I just use the sun. :)  

Once it is completely dry, pull it off of your form and glue on some felt eyes.  

DIY: Paper Pumpkin Ornaments

Hostess with the Mostess has given us an excellent excuse to go back to the Dollar Tree to grab up some construction paper!!  Not that we needed an excuse...

What do you think, aren't the cute??

***

PAPER PUMPKIN ORNAMENTS

Materials:
• 1-2 pieces of orange construction paper
• 1 piece of green construction paper
• 1 piece of brown construction paper
• scissors
• paper cutter (optional)
• paper clips and/or stapler
• string

Directions:
Cut the orange pieces of construction paper into 1″ wide strips (each strip will be 1″ x 11″). Then, shorten some of the strips so that you have (1) 6″, (2) 7″, (2) 9″, and (2) 11″ long pieces.

Gather the strips of paper together (with the ends flush) and place the smallest one in the middle. Order them by size so that the largest strip is on the outside. Secure with a paper clip or staple (I prefer the paper clip so that I can keep adding more elements). Line up the opposite ends so that they are together like the top.

Cut a brown strip of paper 1/4″ by 3″ long for the stem. To make it curl, wrap the paper around a pencil and hold it in place while you count to 20 (or sing the ABC song).
Cut out two leaf shapes from the green paper (ours were sort of like pairs of bunny ears).

Add the stem, leaves, and a piece of string to the paper clip at the top.

Hang up and enjoy!

DIY: Halloween Party Favor Bag from Coffee Filters

Savvy n Sassy has a great upcycle tutorial for coffee filters.  These Halloween bags are just adorable, and are definitely party worthy ideas!

You will need: a coffee filter, some Halloween stamps, ink, ribbon and some sweet treats!

First step, stamp one side of your coffee filter.

Then, flip it over (wrong side up), and add in your sweet treats.  I chose to wrap my treats in some Halloween paper, but that’s up to you!

Wrap up your treats, and tie with some ribbon.  All done!! 

DIY: Easy Halloween Ornaments

Shelterpop was featured on AOL with some very, very cute Halloween ornaments.  These look easy enough to make, so get to it!  We have almost everything we need to make these just hanging out around the house...

Photo: Gina Provenzano

Still stumped by which Halloween decorations to use for your upcoming party? How's this for a Halloween craft? Try these easy-to-make folded paper ornaments. They'll add some spark to the corner of a room, over a party table or on a covered porch. They're so simple to do, just think back to your kindergarten days and get folding.

What you'll need:
Crepe or Tissue Paper
Paper Glue
Scissors
Ruler Pencil
Holepunch
String
Stapler

How to do it:

1. Measure, mark and cut two equally-sized rectangles from paper. Accordian fold each like a fan, trying to keep each fold the same width. Trim excess at end.

2. Fold pleated paper fan in half. Staple at the center point of each fan.

3. Glue folds of fan together where they meet in the center. Then, glue the first fan to the second fan along each edge.

4. Punch a hole in one pleat along outside edge and tie a long string to hang ornament. If desired hot glue a colored button at the center.

5. Vary the sizes and colors of each rectangle to create a mixed grouping. Think about using patterned paper (lightweight works best) as well as making a scalloped-edge, by trimming the square ends into a rounded shape.

DIY: Witch's Broom Favors

Here is a Martha Stewart craft that we think it pretty simple and cheap!  Now to go out and buy brown lunch bags!!

Give witches-for-a-night a proper send-off with broomstick favors. You need two lunch-size paper bags for each broomstick. Unfold one bag, and push out its base while folding in the left and right sides. Using scissors, cut the bag into thin strips, stopping short of the base. Cut thin strips into the top inch of the second bag. Open both bags, and place the second bag inside the shredded one; fill with candy. Insert a small branch 1 inch into the bag; cinch the tops of both bags, and secure with black twine.

DIY: Halloween Tin Can Luminaries

Jolly Mom's blog has a very easy to follow DIY that features tin can luminaries.  There is still plenty of time to whip up these guys to line your steps or driveway.  Ideal for a party!

Head on over to her blog for even more DIY!

What You'll Need:

* Sharpie or marker in the same color as your paint
* Clean empty tin cans {I like to use the big coffee cans, any size will work}
* Hammer and large nail or awl
* Paint
* Paint brush
* Candles


Instructions

Fill the tin can with water and place it in the freezer. When the water in the can is frozen, remove the can from the freezer.

Using the marker, draw whatever image or word onto the tin can. You can freehand or print a design from the internet and then trace it onto the tin can. Keep the design simple though. Design Ideas: outline of a cat, a bat, a witch's hat, words like Boo or Happy Halloween.

Place the tin can on a folded towel. This will help brace the tin can and reduce the impact of punching the holes with the hammer.

Then, use the hammer and awl {or nail} nail to puncture the design in the can.

When you're done punching the holes, place the can under hot, running water to melt the ice.

Also, since water expands as it freezes, the bottom of your can will probably not be level. If not, then turn the can over, cover with a towel, and hammer down the edges until the bottom of the can is level.

Paint the tin can using either spray paint or acrylic paint. Once the the paint is dry, you'll probably have to go back with a toothpick and poke some of the holes through on the can since the paint can clog them up.

Place a candle inside the can and enjoy!

NOTE: You can also puncture one hole on either side of the tin can, attach a piece of wire, and then hang the luminaries as well!

DIY: Edible Sugar Skulls

Let's kick off the beginning October with a great DIY for Edible Sugar Skulls from Dollar Store Crafts.  We are hoping that we can find this ice cube skull tray at the Dollar Tree or perhaps, Target!  Head to Dollar Store Craft's blog for a video tutorial on this one as well!

 Making edible skulls is cheap, and so easy even a preschooler can do it. I made a batch of them, and after I was done, my 4 year-old used leftover sugar mixture to make a skull all by himself with no help from me. 

This project works with any mold, so think beyond the skulls!

Project Materials:

• 1 cup granulated white sugar, on hand
• 2 teaspoons water, on hand
• Silicone ice cube mold (skull shaped), $1
• Piece of cardboard or cookie sheet, on hand

Total: $1

Put 1 cup of granulated white sugar in a mixing bowl. Make an indentation in the middle of the sugar and add 2 teaspoons (yes, the itty bitty ones!) of water to it. Squish the mixture with your fingers for about one minute until completely incorporated. Make sure there are no lumps of dry sugar. When it's mixed, it should feel like wet sand.

Fill the molds with sugar and pack tightly. Level top off with a flat spatula or scraper.

Put a cookie sheet or piece of cardboard on top of the mold, then turn over and unmold the skulls immediately.

Let the skulls dry 5 hours or overnight, or put them in a 200° F oven for 5-10 minutes to help them dry more quickly. When they're dry, you can decorate them.

DIY: Autumn Garland

Dollar Store Mom continues our trend of finding wonderful DIYs that are all about dollar store re-purposing! We love when we can go to the dollar store and keep things cheap, but cute and fun.

Be sure to check out her blog for even more fun DIY!

 

This Autumn Garland cost less than $0.50 in supplies!

Though I actually spent $5 for the supplies used in this project, I used less than 1/5 of them, leaving me with more than enough for quite a few more projects from these same ingredients.

• Paper doilies in various colors/shapes- $1 per pack of 32
• Bag of cranberry-like “container filler”- $1 (this project used less than 1/8 of the bag)
• glue- on hand
• twine or string- on hand

 I wrote each letter on the doilies using glue, then had my daughter add the tiny cranberries. Let this dry for a few hours. If you’d like to just make this yourself, or if you’ve got older kids, hot glue is a better option.

 

I strung each doily on to some basic twine that I had on hand, and hung my garland across my piano. Tomorrow you’ll see what else I created from my dollar store finds to add to this cute display!