It gets out there but, its pushing the line on too late. Does anyone else do that? Look up ideas and how-to's weeks or months in advance and then put it all together at the last minute. I did three today. One of them was a Teal Pumpkin which signals that I have non-candy treats. Read more on that by clicking on this link.
Back to the "How to" ....
Like I've mentioned before I like fast, easy, cheap. That is just what these were! Of course more time and energy and they'd have been quite a bit fancier but, I'm happy with my finished result. The first one was something that went around on Facebook a few years ago (...yes...I kept forgetting until November 2nd but, this year I remembered!! woohoo!). The second was one I found on Instructables a week or so ago in their Halloween Contest.. I haven't got the link for either. (I'm new, I'm sorry! If I find a link for either I'll put them in, if you know it please let me know and I'll put it in here. <3 font="">
Anyhow, if it's Hallowe'en morning and you've found that you haven't done anything and want to make it look like you've made an effort with out it costing too much and being ready before the early birds get there then GET READY! This is also handy if Hallowe'en has snuck up on you! It'll do that....scary, frightening, it's what Hallowe'en is all about right?!?
Some of this you may have on hand already. The rest I got at the $$DOLLAR STORE$$:
* clear packing tape (how much depends on how big, the instructions I read said I'd need 3 rolls....I used just over half of one)
* teal paint (we also used "sprinkles" as the Little Dragon calls them, you may know them as sparkles)
* styrofoam pumpkin
* toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls (the cardboard inside) or construction paper
* small misc. toys, fancy pencils, note pads, stickers, non-gender friendly or whatever....
* cellophane bags to put a few things in, unless you just want to throw it all in a bowl and let the kids pick what they want.
* glow sticks, small ones, number depends on how much you'll be making
* paint brushes
* form for a body shape
* black marker or paint
* string (mine came in the package with the glow sticks. Bonus!)
* scissors / Xacto knife
* masking tape (optional, packing tape will work too)
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Anyhow, we painted the first coat of teal (actually we could only find Tropical Blue, but, it is pretty close) on the styrofoam pumpkin and got paint everywhere!! Hair, hands, arms, feet, trucks, bedroom walls, floor...good thing it was water based!!
***we used a styrofoam pumpkin. You can use whatever you like.
While the first layer of paint dried we moved on to the packing tape ghosts. I really wish I could find the post that gave me the idea. She was/is beautiful!! Mine are small and adorable, not nearly the same thing! She was beautiful and eerie. Quite a combination!
I used the snowball maker that we got last winter. It worked pretty good. What I did was do a layer of clear packing tape sticky side out then a layer of tape sticky side in. So, two layers with their sticky sides together. My ghosts are 8 & 12 inches (approximately). The one I got the idea from used 3 layers and is life-sized. Quite impressive and understandably used 3 rolls of tape. That one got lit from below by a flood light. I poked a hole in the top of mine and threaded a string through it that I've hung a glow stick from. The form for the lager one was a mannequin and the head was...I don't remember but, when they were done they cut up the middle of the back to get it off the form and taped it back together. In the picture I saw you couldn't tell that it had been cut. Mine wasn't that tight or form fitting so I just lifted it off. One other thing, I wanted a face on mine so I cut out black pieces and put them between the two layers.
Next I did the 2nd coat of blue on the pumpkin and while that dried I did the 2nd ghost.
Then we went for lunch and to see Safari Jeff at the mall. He's very interesting and his animals are pretty cool but, we sat there waiting for too long and it was well past time for some sleep and LD was gearing up for Super Cranky so we only ended up seeing about 10 minutes of the show. Anyhow.....back on track!
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| We're lucky enough to have a HUGE lilac hedge to put these in. |
The toilet paper eyes in the hedge. It is when I was finishing the first one of these that I realized that construction paper would have worked really well (I think) because it is longer. Paper towel tubes too because they're longer. The trouble is that the glow sticks glow out the eyes (and mouths because I wanted them) and the ENDS and when I folded both ends over the tube was too short for the glow sticks. So something a little longer would have been better. However, I made it work.
Now, when doing this, if you have something that will cut other than scissors you may be better off to use that. I kept wishing I had. ( I escaped with no injuries but, I had a close call. I also put my oldest on stand-by in case I needed a trip to Emergency for stitches. LoL. His answer was "so quit doing the foolish thing that might hurt you..." of course I listened....just as soon as I was done! Don't take my cue though, be safe people!)
Use your cutting tool to cut eyes in your tubes. Make them whatever you like, happy, sad, scary....whatever is easiest. I also added mouths.
What I ended up doing was putting masking tape over the ends. It doesn't completely block the light but, it dampens it and it still looks pretty neat.
So, there you go. All that's left is putting up the decorations and handing out treats!! I like seeing all the costumes. To me that's the best part of Hallowe'en and the more home made the better I like them. I also give out better "prizes" for the better costumes. LoL.
Please keep in mind "The Teal Pumpkin Project" this year. All kids deserve to not have to worry about getting sick. The best thing about no candy is that what we don't give away will probably go towards our Operation Shoe Box gift. Either that or it will keep until next year and we won't have the guilt of eating all that candy. Yay!! ...kinda. lol.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you again soon!
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