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

Thanksgiving Table with Plumbing and Bath Items

This Thanksgiving Craft Wars was really a great challenge.  I have to admit I was totally stumped with the wine rack challenge.  I couldn't think of anything for that, but I have tons of ideas for the master craft. I really liked a lot of the ideas the 2 finalists had.  The trees made of plumbing supplies were really cool although no one really would cut huge holes in their table!  I know the judges liked the toilet brush flowers but I could not get past that they were toilet brushes on your table- GROSS!  They needed to be disguised some more.

My Ideas
As soon as I saw the plungers I thought of pumpkins and the caps on acorns.  So I bought a plunger for $2.95.  Everything else I had at home.  I used pinking shears to cut out some dark brown and tan felt and other fabric scraps to form the acorn cap.  The stem is covered with some dark brown ribbon. For the base I found an old mini Oreo To-Go container (RECYCLE!) which I covered with some batting and tan fabric (I wish I had more dark brown, but that was the best I had at home).  Then I wrapped the entire base in dark brown yarn.  Other ideas for the base would be dark brown burlap or other fabric.  I also like the idea of twine or that thin twiggy stuff and possibly even Spanish moss would be cool.  The yarn took awhile to wrap but in a perfect Michael's Craft closet I would have found something cute fabric to use.  They also had a brown shower curtain in this challenge that would have worked.  You could make the pumpkin easily as well.  The top half would be the plunger, the bottom could be half of a Styrofoam ball or fabric and batting.  Just some orange and green paint would be needed. Easy peasy!

If I was making this entire table display I think I would go with a woodland theme.  Acorns, pumpkins, gourds, little forest creatures like owls, squirrels, etc. on the mantle.  The toilet brushes would make really cute hedgehogs!  Were there any bath loofas available? Those would also work for making some cute animals.


Other ideas include napkin rings made out of the pvc pipes- duh, I thought that was an obvious one but I didn't see it in that challenge.  What about using the rubber gloves to make some turkeys?  The winner made some classic hand turkey drawings, but you could take that one step further and stuff the rubber glove with batting, make the thumb the turkey face and paint the other fingers like turkey feathers.

Craft Wars Redo

I love the new show Craft Wars on TLC!  It gets all my brain juices flowing with great crafting ideas.  I think going on that show would be sooooooooo much fun.  I love little challenges for creativity and innovation, plus the $10000 prize wouldn't be too shabby.

During the first show I started thinking of ideas of what I would craft given the chance.  I started writing down some of my ideas and thought, hey, maybe I should make some crafts out of the challenge materials and post them on a blog.  

I have set a few criteria for myself and my own little world of craft wars.

1. I have to think of an idea within 5-10 minutes of seeing the challenge on TV.
2. I am going to try to think of something totally unique from what the contestants make.
3. I am going to be on the thrifty side since I don't have access to the incredible Michael's Craft closet.
4. I will try to make a craft within 1 hour time limit (give or take).

So, here goes....