1. NEW: Skeletoni

The Most Great Hallowen Decorations for Halloween Day 2011 Part 1

Encourage bare-bones craftiness at your ghoulish gathering by setting up a station for making skeletons out of pasta shapes.
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Materials

        * pasta shapes
        * black-eyed peas
        * sturdy paper
        * tacky glue

Instructions

       1. Display a finished skeleton, such as the one shown here, and provide bowls of pasta shapes, black-eyed peas (for eyes), sheets of sturdy paper, and tacky glue. Our skeletoni is made of rotelle, mini and standard elbow macaroni, ditalini, mini and small shells, narrow rigatoni, and orzo.

2. A Wreath for All Seasons

We all know that first impressions count, so why not help your front door put its best face forward? This decoration extends a warm welcome to guests and allows your family's personality to shine. Starting with a store-bought grapevine wreath, you can have the whole household get into the act of customizing the embroidery-hoop ornaments in endless ways (we suggest a few easy techniques here).

Go beyond the holidays by hanging ornaments that celebrate achievements, announce happy events like birthdays and graduations, or cheer on a team. Add or remove ornaments each season, and the fun — and that terrific first impression — can last all year long.

Materials

Embroidery hoops (see tip below)
Solid-color fabric or canvas
Paintbrush and paint, paint pens, or other decorating tools (see instructions for details)
Outdoor Mod Podge

Greenery, faux berries, or other seasonal extras
Grapevine wreath
Floral wire

Instructions

For each ornament, measure the hoop, then cut a fabric circle that's an inch larger in diameter. Sandwich the fabric between the rings of the hoop, then pull the fabric taut and tighten the screw. Trim any excess fabric.
Decorate the ornaments (see ideas below). Let them dry, as needed, then apply a coat of Outdoor Mod Podge for weatherproofing and let it dry. Attach the ornaments and greenery or other extras to the wreath with lengths of floral wire. For the greatest durability, hang the finished wreath in a protected spot.
Stamp simple shapes by applying acrylic paint to a halved apple or a leaf, then pressing it onto the fabric (practice on paper first). Add details with a paint pen.
For a 3-D effect, use strong glue, such as Crafter's Pick The Ultimate, to adhere collage materials like the fishing line shown here (made from a bit of cord) and metal charms.
Acrylic paint and a brush are great for creating bold images like our pie design, and for livening up the hoop frames (paint them before adding the fabric). For more detailed designs, such as our horse drawing, use fabric markers or paint pens.
Create ornaments from photos — like the dog portrait shown here — with inkjet-printable cotton sheets (we used Jacquard brand, available at craft stores). Follow the package instructions to transfer a digital shot or scanned drawing to the fabric, then use a paint pen for extra flourishes.

Tips:
The embroidery hoops used here are 3 to 5 inches wide and cost $1 to $2 each at craft or fabric stores.

3. Cagey Ghosts

The Most Great Hallowen Decorations for Halloween Day 2011 Part 1

Out-of-use tomato cages are a restless bunch. Come Halloween, they haunt front porches as glowing ghosts.

Materials

        * Tomato cage
        * Duct tape
        * String lights
        * Twist ties
        * Socks
        * Sticks
        * Marker or craft foam (for facial features)
        * White twin sheet

Instructions

Cagey Ghosts - Step 1 To make one, set up the cage as shown. To form the head, use duct tape to secure the rounded prongs of the cage. Thread the lights through the cage, and secure them with twist ties.
For each arm, ball up two socks and duct-tape them to a stick, placed in the ground.
Add marker or pinned-on craft foam facial features to a white twin sheet, then drape it over the structure.

4. Flowerpot Pumpkins

The Most Great Hallowen Decorations for Halloween Day 2011 Part 1

With this nonperishable alternative to your classic jack-o'-lantern, you can assemble a whole lineup of party pumpkins in short order, no carving knife required.

Materials

        * Terra-cotta pots
        * Yellow craft paper
        * Mod-Podge Outdoor
        * Short, fat sticks

Instructions

For each one, invert a terra-cotta pot. Cut eyes, a nose, and a toothy grin out of yellow craft paper. Brush Mod-Podge Outdoor on the surface of the pot where you want the features to go and press them in place.
To weatherproof your creation, apply a final coat to the entire pot. Finally, insert a short, fat stick into the hole for a stem.

5. Frank 'n' Friends

Dried citrus rinds give this seasonal squash -- and his companions -- their un-natural good looks.

Materials

Craft knife
Hole punch
Glue dots
Spaghetti squash
Two limes

Black craft foam
Duct tape
Toothpicks
Large bolts
Black permanent marker

Instructions

Use a craft knife to cut a circle of rind from the top and bottom of an orange or lime for the eyes (a parent's job). Cut a slit in the remaining peel and remove it intact to use for ears, teeth, and other features. If you're making the witch, reserve the larger pieces of orange peel for the hair.
Clean the fruit from the rinds, then use scissors to snip out your character's facial features, as shown. Cut them a little larger than you want; they will shrink as they dry. To dry the pieces, bake them on a foil-lined cookie sheet at 175 degrees for 20 minutes, then allow them to air dry for about 1K hours (or until glue dots will stick to them).
Use a hole punch to make a pair of pupils from the craft foam, then adhere them to the white side of the rind eyes with glue dots.
Attach all the pieces with glue dots, as pictured. To make the ears stick out (for Frank and the Count), tape a toothpick to the back, leaving about 1K inches of the toothpick exposed, then insert it in place.
Finishing touches for Frank: Cut the hair from craft foam following the diagram at right and attach it with glue dots. Bore a hole on each side of the squash with a pencil, then insert the bolts. Use a permanent marker to draw the teeth.
Finishing touches for Witch: Cut a small mouth from the craft foam. To make a hat, cut the shapes shown at right from a piece of black craft foam. Roll the half-circle into a cone with a base slightly larger than the center of the ring, and secure the edge with glue dots. Tuck the cone's base into the center of the ring. For the buckle, double-fold a sheet of foil to create a square shape. Snip out the center, then adhere it to the hat with glue dots.
Finishing touches for the Mummy: Wrap the pumpkin in gauze, using glue dots to attach the fabric as you go.
Finishing touches for the Count: Cut a collar and hair from the craft foam, following the diagram at right. Wrap each around the pumpkin and attach them with glue dots, as shown.

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Most Wanted Gadget

Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Most Great Hallowen Decorations for Halloween Day 2011 Part 1

2. A Wreath for All Seasons

5. Frank 'n' Friends

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