Oct 14, 2022 | DIY Crafts, DIY Holiday Crafts, Halloween
Halloween is almost here! If you’re looking for easy and unique no-carve pumpkin ideas, you might be inspired by our no-carve natural pumpkins. My kids love looking for leaves, pine cones, acorns, maple seeds, branches and Ohio buckeyes in their local parks! Natural pumpkins are easy to assemble and look lovely in fall.
Making a no-carve nature pumpkin is easy and fun! To make nature pumpkins, you will need a hot glue gun, a pie pumpkin, and natural materials from the ground.
To Make This Craft You Will Need
- small pumpkins
- acorns
- buckeye nuts
- twigs
- leaves
- maple seeds
- pine cones
- leaves
- hot glue gun
- paper punches (optional)
Directions
Secure all of the natural items to the pumpkin with hot glue. We used buckeye nuts for our pumpkin’s eyes, acorns for our pumpkin’s nose and ears, maple seeds for eyebrows, and a curved twig for the mouth.
My son used a paper punch to cut circles from brown oak leaves for our pumpkin’s “rosy” cheeks. Our maple trees haven’t changed color yet, so we couldn’t find any red leaves to use.
Oct 13, 2022 | Beverages, Halloween, Recipes
Pumpkin pie spice and apple cider lend autumnal flavor to this Halloween take on classic sangria. Serve in a hollowed-out pumpkin for a dramatic presentation.
Thinly slice apples, pears and oranges lengthwise, then place in a large bowl. Coat with lemon juice to prevent browning. Add honey, brown sugar, bourbon, apple cider and pumpkin pie spice, stirring gently to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 2-4 hours, or overnight. Top with chilled pinot grigio and serve.
Serve in a pitcher or punch bowl, or give the punch extra Halloween flavor by serving inside a Jack O’ Lantern. Cut a circle in the top of a large pumpkin, then completely remove seeds and pulp. Fill with fruit and punch, then enjoy!
Tip: Decorate the exterior of pumpkin using a silver paint marker. Here, the cocktail name lets guests know what’s inside.
Oct 12, 2022 | DIY Crafts, DIY Holiday Crafts, DIY Projects, Halloween
Black felt, pine cones, and squishy eyes are all a small group of creepy and cute pine cone bats that kids need to get started! Kids of all ages will love these easy and natural crafts that are perfect for fall.
Aside from penguins, bats are my kids’ favorite animal. Last summer he was so excited to see them “free in the wild” (sometimes he said it as if he was Clutter’s third brother) foraging in the fields at dusk. This craft inspired him!
To make this craft you will need:
- Pinecones
- Stiffened black felt
- Scissors
- Googly eyes
- Hot glue and hot glue gun
Directions:
- Cut a set of bat wings from the stiffened black felt.
- Slide the wings into the pinecone, then secure with hot glue.
- Snip a couple of bat ears out of the felt scraps. Slide them into the pinecone, then secure with hot glue.
- Attach the googly eyes to the pinecone with a dab of hot glue.
- If desired, snip two little fangs out of white card stock (I just used junk mail!) and attach them with a tiny dot of hot glue.
Wouldn’t it be fun to experiment with using twine or fishing line to hang the bats from windows, wreaths, or trees?
Oct 11, 2022 | Beverages, Halloween, Recipes
Mix together cranberry juice and black vodka to create a venomous Halloween shot.
1 1/2 ounces black vodka, chilled
1/2 ounces cranberry juice, chilled
1 cherry, for garnish
red sugar crystals, for rim
1. Fill a small cocktail glass with ice.
2. Rim glass with red sugar crystals.
3. Pour cranberry juice over ice, and gently layer black vodka over juice.
4. Garnish with a cherry.
Oct 10, 2022 | DIY Crafts, DIY Holiday Crafts, DIY Projects, Halloween
This is a totally improvised Halloween craft. I put duct tape on the table and my daughter rummaged through the art closet for inspiration while she played. I turned around and asked her not to waste it, inspiration came! We can make a tape mummy. We make a lot of Halloween crafts for kids, but this is our first mummy craft. You can also make ninjas using light-colored paper and dark-colored tape.
Gather your materials. You will need some black paper, masking tape, a white crayon, scissors, glue, and googly eyes.
Start by drawing the outline of a body.
Cut or rip strips of tape off the roll and stick to the edge of the table. I didn’t get a good picture of this set up because my daughter was a speed demon with putting the tape on. Older kids should be encouraged to cut their own tape.
Add the tape to the outline. If your child takes more than the 12 seconds my daughter did with this step you can talk about the different lengths of tape or dive into what mummies really are. I didn’t get into that with my 3 year old but if she was a little older I think it would have fascinated her.
When they are sure that they have added all the tape they want to add cut it out.
Grab the glue and add some eyes!
Let dry.
Oct 7, 2022 | DIY Crafts, DIY Holiday Crafts, DIY Projects, Halloween
In the spirit of Halloween my daughter and I spent the other afternoon making a few art projects to add to our art display and today I am sharing the projects with you.
My favorite are these adorable Ghost feet
It was very simple, just paint their feet white and add the black accents with either a pen or a paint brush.
This adorable little Frankenstein was easy and done by painting the palm of the hand green and the four fingers black then adding the facial accents once dried.
Here is a candy corn foot print that we did as well which was easily done by painting the three colors on the foot.
And lastly by my daughters request she wanted to make pink and purple witches with her feet!
Check out our art project from last Halloween as well.
