How to make beanbags, Halloween style!

Bean Bag Toss Game
Hopefully my "lingo" won't be too confusing!
-First I made a set of 4 bean bags, nothing fancy, just got some black broadcloth and folded in half cut 4 squarish-rectangles(make sense?) :). I didn't measure, just kinda of eyeballed it. This made 1 front and 1 back (8 total) pieces.

I kept the 2 pieces together that were cut together, 1 for front, 1 for back. I sewed 3 sides of those pieces together, and part of the 4th side making sure to leave an opening for beans. I went over the stitch again just to reinforce the durability of the beanbag. Do this will all 4 beanbags.

I then pulled them inside right(hiding my seams inside)

I then added the beans to about 3/4 full.

Then I just got a needle and thread, and tied a knot at one end and started sewing up my seam. Not sure if you can tell but I folded down the opening so when it was sewed shut the the edge would be inside leaving a cleaner line.

All sewed up and ready to play (don't mind the lint from my carpet...I was too lazy to do this at a table!

After I made the bean bags, I went and got my orange felt. I just bought this off the roll at Hobby Lobby. I got a sharpie and marked it all up. 

 I then cut out the pumpkin shape, eyes, and mouth. This is large enough so the mouth spot and eyes can easily fit a bean bag tossed through.

 The only thing I didn't take a picture of was the rope I used because I had to go buy it after I made it. I just sewed it on the top 'left' and 'right' and bottom 'left' and 'right' of the round pumpkin so I could tie it up for the bean bag toss game in our basement. Super easy, quite cheap, and a heck of a lot of fun! Tomorrow morning I will fill some cute little plastic pumpkins with candy corns and hide them for the pumpkin hunt, and I took some orange poster board and cut out a big pumpkin, and some black eyes, nose, and mouth for pin the face on the pumpkin. Just a few fun games that little children love.

Halloween Party Centerpiece

I have been so busy this week with finishing up some Halloween projects, needless to say this month flew by! Anyways, I made a halloween bean bag toss game(I'll post it soon), I also am making a posterboard pumpkin without a mouth for us to play "pin the mouth" on the pumpkin. We are also having a candy corn pumpkin hunt (found some cute little pumpkins at the dollar store to do this with last year). I made the centerpiece for my tablescape, I made my menu, I think now I just need to execute! Anyways, here is what I decided to do for my centerpiece of our spooky food table. My GOAL was to use stuff I had. So I went through my house and was looking for things I could use. I planned on just using a cool jar/vase, but size wise needed something larger so I found an old brown glass vase and this black candle holder and went with it. I really wished I had some purple ribbon to tie on, but I am out so I used what I had. Just imagine this with my banner I made, tissue balls hanging above, and the cupcake toppers and labels I made. Its gonna be so fun! Plus, I have tons of fun decor for our basement where we play our games and make it spooky!

My supplies, (minus the twigs), I had to cover the brown vase, but since I didn't want to paint it just for this I decided to cover with paper. Just taped it around and tucked it in the vase.

Then I set it inside my candle holder and weaved ribbon in and out of the twiggy things sticking up. Tied it with a bow all pretty.

Then I went in the backyard, and thanks to storm this week I had my pick of the twigs and branches all broken off in the backyard. I picked some up and took out my trusty painting area (cardboard) :), and sprayed them flat black. It took a few rotations to get them covered.
Then I stuck them in the vase and was good to go! I think it will look cool with all my other things I am adding!

Up Next: I am going to show some of my party games for kids I made. Hopefully by tomorrow, but since I am making these mummy cookies for a trunk or treat tonight who knows!

I'm thankful for...

So I know I am jumping the gun, since I still have some Halloween projects going on, but this is something I wanted to have ready for monday, Nov 1st. I made a thankful tree, each day at dinnertime we will take a leaf and write a blessing we are thankful for in our lives. I really want to recognize as a family all we have to be grateful for and there's no better time! At first this was just going to be a random thing on our fridge, but I decided that unless it was "cutes-ied"yes I make up words up, it would bother me so I went to work making it a little cuter. This was super easy though and I am happy with how it turned out.

First I took some craft foam I already had, most people would probably use paper since we will probably throw away the leaves and start anew next year anyways, but I had the foam and decided to go with it.

 First I took brown and cut my tree and branches.

Then I cut out various colors and shapes of leaves. I am sure most people with a cool cricut or silhouette (I'm saving for one!), can cut these quick, but since I don't have one and the only leaf punch I have is small...I did it by hand. Didn't take too long. I even went out into the yard to find my "stencil".

I cut out yellow, orange, and red leaves. (don't judge...I am horrible and cutting recognizable shapes!) Then I went and found an empty frame I had laying around that would fit my tree. I found this 10x20 frame I have been meaning to use and hadn't and thought it would be perfect! 

Next I just printed a little tag to adhere to the tree base. I burnt the edges since I didn't want to dig out my ink I know so lazy!. Then I punched a little hole and tied the tag around the tree base with raffia. I then taped the tree onto the scrapbook paper in the frame. It hung out the frame...which is kind of how I wanted it so I chose not to trim it. I just thought it looked cool like that especially when we add the leaves to it.

Now my "thankful" tree is all ready to go for Monday!

linked to
House of Hepworths
Somewhat Simple
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Pony Tails & Fish Scales
The Shabby Nest
Fun to Craft
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
TatorTots & Jello 

Thanksgiving Subway Art Printables

 (More Subway Art Options Below!)

I am so lame-things are crazy right now getting ready for Halloween! Plus, I have some fun Thanksgiving crafts and ideas to post but I am too lazy to upload the pics. Maybe tomorrow while my ds is at preschool and I have so time for myself. However, I just decided to make some Thanksgiving Subway Art Printables. I had a Halloween one that I made for a friend and so I printed one for me to frame as well. I figured I would make one to switch it out for Thanksgiving and then another for Christmas (coming soon). For me this was cheap, easy, and practical. I usually get vinyl from my awesome sis-in-law but I figured this was the way to go for this. I knew I wouldn't want to store different plaques for all the holidays (nor did I want to spend the money) so this was a good alternative for me. Plus, I am not sure if the trend of subway art is one I will continue each year(I know, I know shame on me). These are all the same words/fonts, but changed colors. Free printables if you like. (download pdf links below samples.)

1-go here
2-go here
3-go here
4-go here
5-go here
6-go here
7-go here
8-go here

Halloween Cupcake Toppers & Labels

I made these cupcake toppers for our little Halloween party. I think they turned out pretty cute. I also made some bigger labels to labels other items on our food table. For these cupcake toppers I used my 2" scallop punch. I wanted the colors to coordinate with my Halloween Banner. I just stuck them in an old box to snap a quick pic of them since I won't be using them on real cupcakes until next Sunday! So forgive the awkward posing by my cupcake toppers. :)

If you want to download a pdf of these cupcake topper labels pictured above go here

I made these bigger labels to tape to the front of food display items, but I think I may go back in and make them into tent cards as well so they can just be on their own. If/When I do that, I will come back and post a link to download that one too. Otherwise you can just use them like this and the backside will just be upside down.
If you want to download these bigger labels click here



Also just a shout out to deviant art, I got these halloween brushes from there a while ago and I can't find them to credit the artist now, but I wanted to credit the work because they did a great job on these cute photoshop brushes.

Spider Web Cookies

The other night we decided to make some spider web cookies. They are kind of fun.

Here is the recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
1 egg
1 tsp lemon zest
1 bag of chocolate chips (I only used like 1 1/2c. or so)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a few baking sheets with foil. Beat butter and confectioners’ sugar on medium speed until creamy, for about 2 minutes. Beat in flour, egg and lemon zest until a dough forms. (I think I should have added a little more flour because my web didn't hold its shape quite as well)

 

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large round writing tip with the dough. Spoon the dough inside the cuff. Twist and start to squeeze down. (I did not have the right size tip, so after I attempted to use a smaller tip with this thick dough stupid idea I took off the tip, sorry no pic of this part, and just pushed it through the coupler itself since that is all I had. This made our spiderweb cookies a little too large. I will be for sure buying a large round tip next time I go to the store.)

Squeeze a + sign about four inches long and wide onto the baking sheet. On top of that + sign, pipe an x starting from the center. Now you have something that looks like a star. Now connect the lines that you piped with web circles to create a web. Add another web part to connect the insides. Put 4 on each tray. My son had fun making his blob"web".

Bake cookies until set but not yet browned, about 8 minutes until lightly golden. Microwave chocolate chips into glass bowl at 50 percent for 30 seconds at a time. Fill a small Ziploc plastic bag with chocolate chips and seal it up. Squeeze as much as you can into one corner.

 

Take cookies out when ready. Let cookies cool 5-6 mintues before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. They are very fragile, so be careful transferring them! Snip off one corner of the bag with scissors. (Be sure to just cut the tiniest bit of plastic at the corner, the melted chocolate comes out fast and it can be difficult to make the legs if you have it coming out to fast and too much. You can always cut more, but you can't go back and add more plastic!)Use the melted chocolate as the “glue” that will help you attach a chocolate chip on top of web.

Use the melted chocolate to pipe on 8 little spider legs on either side of the body.

 Enjoy!!

Linked to  A few of my favorite things,  The Shabby Nest, , and Tatortots & Jello

Halloween Subway Art Printables

Subway art is all the rage. A friend asked me to make a Halloween one for her to print and frame, so I did a couple samples and thought I would share them here free if anyone wants them. They will print on 8.5 x 11 paper, but are sized so you can cut out just the 8x10 part for easy framing.

 go here

 go here

go here

Kids Craft-Cheesecloth Ghosts

Here is a fun craft for kids. My 4 year old did this entire project almost by himself. Just a little help here and there and directions along the way! Spookify your home with this fun craft!

These cheesecloth ghosts are so fun for kids to make. Such an easy halloween kids craft that they will be sure to love. Here are your supplies needed: cheesecloth, glue, water, 2 bowls, 1 balloon, googly eyes,stir stick.

First off, depending on the size of ghost you want to make. You cut out 2 pieces of cheesecloth. I cut out 2 and I liked having the ghost very see-through. I blew up the balloon before hand so I could guesstimate a little easier the length of cheesecloth to cut. I wanted to make sure I had plenty to hang at the bottom and make the ghost appear more "floating".

Dump a bunch of glue into a bowl.

Add equal parts water and stir.

Dip cheesecloth into glue to soak up the glue mixture. It soaks it up pretty fast.

Blow up a balloon and tie it. (I did this beforehand) Put balloon into your bowl.

Drape 2 pieces of cheesecloth over the balloon. The children might need help with this part. Its takes a little bit of stretching to untangle the cheesecloth. Fix the bottom how you would like it laying and flowing for floating effect. Leave him to dry for about 2 hours or so. In my more humid part of the world it took like 7 hours to dry. :)

We actually switched the balloon the other way so he wouldn't have this pointy head. :) I didn't take a picture of that though.

6.Lift up your ghost and wiggle the balloon out or pop it if necessary, then glue on googly eyes.

Here is our finished product. Kind of hard to see, but that's the point!  A spooky ghost that your kids will love. Mine son is having fun actually playing with his ghosty!

Linked to Blue Cricket Design, we are that family, free pretty things, & house of hepworths