Frank ‘n Friends Favor Boxes!

Howdy folks! I love this time of year! I have some gourds on display in my home and pretty soon I will be putting out the corn stalks and hay bales outside for decoration. We have pumpkins on the porch already that we are so excited to carve but we don’t want them to spoil! At least we can make up a bunch of these cute boxes to decorate with:

I really like this idea because I can enjoy these sweet Halloween boxes and then fill them with candy and give them away on Halloween night or drop them off on friends doorsteps for fun! That is called “booing” or “ghosting” and I live in a community with very sneaky peeps who deliver goodies all around each others houses in October. It is a lot of fun! Of course all of the parents know who the treats are from before we let out kids have them (but don’t tell the kids that!)These boxes are made from paper take out boxes from Papermart so you know they are just as affordable as they are cute. Watch the video to see how to make them:

Supplies:

• Small Kraft Take-Out Boxes 
• Chevron Paper Straws
• Acrylic Craft Paint
• Brushes (1″ foam and #6 round)
• Hot Glue Gun and Hot Glue

Directions:
1. Paint the box with the main color.
2. Paint the face details.
3. Cut two 1/2″ long pieces from a paper straw and hot glue to the side for bolts on Frankincense’s Monster.

TAKE THIS IDEA AND RUN WITH IT! Think of all of the fun things you can paint on these take out boxes for different holidays and events! Happy crafting!

Mummies and Scarecrows and Burlap, Oh My!

Hello folks, I hope you are enjoying a lovely long weekend (Columbus Day in the US)  and if you have a moment to craft today consider making these cute recycled jar decorations:

I used burlap ribbon from Papermart to wrap the jars in for a fun country, primitive look. I also used bakers twine, tags, buttons, googlie eyes, yarn and fabric scraps. I use a hot glue gun to put it all together but if you are working with children I suggest thick and tacky glue. Watch this video to see how it is done!

You can write and draw the details on the tag and lid or use stamps, mine are from Art Neko.

I hope I have inspired you to dig through the recycling bin and make some festive decorations this fall. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

A Menagerie of Monsters! {but they’re cute!}

Happy Sunday folks! Sunday is always “Family Craft Day” during football season. I love that everyone is home and cozy whether we are sitting upstairs by the fire and knitting while watching the Patriots play or hanging out in the studio making messy crafts. We had a day like that yesterday. After soccer in the morning we all came home and chilled out, listened to music and created, my husband was working on a workshop redo and the girls and I made monsters:

this craft is really easy and a great use for leftover yarn. You will need Styrofoam balls, pipe cleaners, felt scraps, gogglie eyes, pom-poms, golf tees (for legs), cardboard or any other leftovers you want to use up! You will need thick and tacky glue or low temp hot glue as well.

Here’s what you do:

1. Wrap a Styrofoam ball with yarn. I used hot glue to secure it but you can use thick and tacky glue if the kids want to do this step themselves.
2. Make a base for it to stand, you can cut feet out of cereal box or stick golf tees in for legs. Use hot glue to stick the ball to the base.
3. Decorate the monster with felt, pipe cleaners, sequins or whatever! Googlie eyes are a nice touch!

Variations!

I would love to find a substitute for the Styrofoam balls, they are expensive in price and cost to the environment. I think you could ball up newspaper and tape it for an alternative or make a big pompom (using one of the c shaped pompom makers or cardboard) and decorate that! OR just wind up a ball of yarn and decorate with felt pieces without gluing (they will stick with static) and you can use the yarn again! There are a lot of ways to make a monster! Hey don’t forget today is the last day to sign up on last Monday’s post to win a stamp from Art Neko/About Art Accents. I’ll pick a winner tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!