Christmas Wreath Craft

On TLC's Craft Wars Christmas episode the challenge was to make a wreath with old sweaters and scarfs.  My daughter and I got crafty by buying a sweater and scarf at a thrift store.  I thought of this design a few months ago.  It didn't turn out exactly as I pictured in my head but nonetheless, I think it is pretty unique and cute for a Christmas wreath or winter wreath.  The hat and buttons I stuffed and made from pieces of the sweater.  We used fishing line to attach the face and buttons.

Our thrift store purchases

Halloween Costumes Crafting

I thought I would post some of my best dress up/Halloween creations for my kiddos. 

Luckily we got to use the fly costume twice.  

Halloween Redo: Part Three

The Craft Wars Halloween challenge involved using garden/yard supplies to make a Halloween yard display.   For this craft I used a plastic trash can lid and several black garbage sacks.  I also snagged my son's bicycle helmet to make the head of the spider.  For the legs I cut the sacks into long strips, folded them over and sewed one side shut.  Then I stuffed them with some leftover batting.  It was pretty easy and the kids liked it a lot. Happy Halloween!

The supplies

The ending result

Halloween Part Three??

My husband ran over the trash can lid I was going to use for part three of the Halloween display.  It might still be usable.

Halloween Part Two

My kids and I had a great time making this craft from plastic flower pots.  TLC's Craft Wars Halloween challenge was to make a yard display from garden items like flower pots, garbage cans, sprinklers, etc.  We raided our shed and picked out various flower pots that we weren't using anymore.  With some spray paint and acrylic paint now we have a great totem pole Halloween display and candy holder!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN display from flower pots

Yum!  Skittles and Starburst

BEFORE PHOTO

The Halloween Challenge with Black Garbage Cans Part One

Craft Wars had a Halloween Challenge to create an outdoor Halloween display using outdoor/gardening items like big black garbage cans, sprinklers, rakes, terra cotta pots, trash bags, etc.  I've come up with 3 nifty ideas.  This is the first easy craft for your yard!

BEFORE

Step one: Turn the garbage can upside down
Step two: Use a white crayon to draw a Halloween scene, just like you would on a pumpkin.  Okay, I am going to admit here that my drawing skills aren't totally awesome so I did cheat a bit.  We have one of those pumpkin carving kits that have lots of cool ideas.  I used one of the carving ideas to free hand draw on my black garbage can.
Step three: Use a small drill bit and make lots of little holes on the outline of the Halloween scene.
Step four: Paint your scene so it will look cool during the daytime, enough to stand out so people don't drive by your house and wonder why you have a big ole garbage can in the middle of your grass all the time.
Step five: If you want to make two of these, just cut the garbage can in half! I've already promised the other half to my son to make something great.

Ready to see the finished project????  I put mine near our porch in some bushes.  It looks a little crooked in those bushes, I'll have to fix that before Halloween night!

Daytime

At Night

Hedgehog and Squirrels from Toilet Bowl Brushes!

BEFORE

AFTER

On the Thanksgiving Craft episode of Craft Wars one of the supplies was toilet brushes.  Kind of gross but hey, I thought of something great to make with them, and Fall-ish!  I bought two different shaped toilet bowl brushes.  For the hedgehog I used my hacksaw to cut off the entire handle right up to the bristles.  I spray painted the brush with nutmeg brown spray paint.  When dry I used a sponge brush and dabbed the edges with beige acrylic paint.  The face and body and made from a little felt, some top-stitch thread, and some batting, and two wiggly eyes.  This is something that definitely can be done in one hour or less.


I used the white and green brush for the squirrel.  I was able to pull the brush out of the handle really easily.  I sprayed this nutmeg brown as well.  The squirrel body was a little more complicated as I wanted to make it more like a plush animal.  I cut my shape for the front out of a copper colored felt.  Then for the back piece I cut the same basic shape but with about 3/4 inch extra on the edges.  For the back piece I added darts to the head and body so it would be rounded and fit the smaller front piece. The squirrel probably took me 1 1/2 hours to complete

AFTER

My Mantle (notice my plunger acorn!): Owl from Pier 1, Basket and Mushrooms from Target