DIY calaca for Dia de los Muertos!

Here's a nifty way to double up on festive October fun by repurposing your Halloween skelly into a calaca for Di a de los Muertos!

Materials:
*paper jointed skeleton
*white paint
*puff paint and/or glitter paint
*salt (optional)
*markers, including a black permanent marker
*paintbrushes
*container of water
*paper towels, rags or newspaper

scrumdilly do it!
Set out your paper skelly on a tabletop that has been prepped for paint and fun. If you wish to double the use of your skelly, flip it over so that the back side points and and the printed side is facedown. If your skelly is jointed, arrange it into a happy dance party position. Once you paint it, the paint will seal in the joints so your skeleton will be "frozen" "in whichever position s/he was when you started.Hand your child a paintbrush and have them paint the whole shebang with white paint. Set aside to dry and give it another coat if you can still see the original print through the paint. You may wish to leave a little shadow of the print to help you line up eye holes and such but it isn't necessary. If you paint the back of the skeleton it's all up to you so have fun!Once dry, use a black marker to outline some general shapes to the skeleton. Ink in the eyes and define the arms, legs and ribcage. Here are some pics of Day of the Dead skeletons to use as inspiration. After you have filled in the black, break out the puff paint and markers and art your skelly up!If your puff paint is too watery, sprinkle your paint blobs with salt. The salt will hold the paint in place and add a spiffy texture to the overall look. You can of course, get all fancy and use glitter and glue or glitter paints.Set aside to dry and hang in a happy place when ready. Take care after the holidays to pack it up so you can use it again and again!

Happy Holidays!

Handmade "puff" paint

This is a nifty way to make paint with texture using good things from your own kitchen. If you or your child have problems with gluten, try using a different flour. I haven't tried it yet but I think it would work.
Materials:
*flour
*water
*salt
*food color
*squeeze bottles

scrumdilly-do it!
Mix equal parts flour, salt & water into a small squeeze bottle. You can repurpose old paint, mustard or shampoo bottles. I used tiny travel bottles from the craft store, these work best for small detail projects like the Day of the Dead skeleton project I have coming for you tomorrow. It's the fine point applicator that makes it extra nifty. If the bottle opening is too small, use a funnel or a piece of paper rolled into a funnel shape to help fit the mixture in.After adding your basic paint to your squeeze bottle, add a few drops of food color to tint.Place the lid back on and shake it up to mix. For the tiny bottles, I added one tablespoon each of the flour, salt and water. If the mixture feels too lumpy, add more water, too watery, add more salt and/or flour.This paint keeps best when stored in the refrigerator. Should stay fresh for about two weeks. Have fun!

*When done, bottles can be rinsed out in the sink with warm to hot water. Don't throw bottles away, keep them for another nifty project!

Halloween Fun with Grow Capsules

aka another day, another garland...I can't help it. I'm a little dotty for garlands and these are really easy to make. Plus they're inexspensive and would be the perfect size to hang up on your wee one's headboard.

Materials:

*one pack grow capsules
*needle & thread
*container of warm water
*splash friendly work area
*buttons and/or beads optional
*paper punches or halloween stickers
*scrapbook letters, also optional
*glue stick

scrumdilly-do it:Set out bowl of warm water and have your wee ones drop their capsules in the water. Lately I have been seeing these little grow capsules EVERYWHERE. I see them at birthday parties, craft stores, the dollar bin at Target, and even Urban Outfitters. These may be an American thing, I don't know but what they are are small foam shapes stuffed inside a gelatin capsule that dissolves in water leaving you with a happy foam shaped bear, ghost or whatnot.The hotter the water, the quicker the gelatin capsules open but don't make the water too hot so your wee one can poke a finger or two in the mix and swirl them up a bit. Play a guessing game as to what shape they think each color is going to be. To hurry things along, they can even rub their fingers back and forth over the capsule. When sponge shape is free from capsule, remove from bowl making sure to squeezey, squeeze, squeeze out excess water. Set aside until the rest are done.

If you choose not to make a garland, these small shapes make excellent sorting and counting manipulatives. The more the merrier, have a special place to place all your foam shapes and start up a collection. Or, whip out that needle and thread and begin stringing.

Have your wee ones arrange shapes in the order they want them to appear on their garland. This is a great opportunity for pattern and seriation, don't rush them. Once they are ready, thread needle with a length of thread about six to eight feet long, don;t worry, you are going to pull that needle to the middle of the thread so that your two ends will be knotted and your thread will be doubled. Take a button or bead and knot at one end about six inches from the end. This will be the anchor so the foam shapes don't slip off. all of my beads and buttons are in storage so I made do with a simple, lonely knot. You could do that too if you wish then your knot and my knot could be penpals.Pick up first foam shape and pokey, poke, poke with the needle as if you were slicing in half and carefully go through the whole shebang. Your child CAN do this most definitely as long as they rock their fine motor skills. Needles are sharp and they may poke themselves so if you feel anxious about this, try a plastic needle or do the poking part yourself.Continue until all shapes are on the thread. Have your child arrange the spacing between the shapes so that they are not all jumbled at one end.Add finishing touches such as googly eye circles, Halloween stickers or other scrap happy doodads. I added B O O using chipboard letters from the craft store glued onto some paper circles I had leftover from the cupcake toppers and googly garland projects.Tape up to your wee one's headboard, the front door or over the mantel, pull out a Halloween book or two and enjoy!

fun with googly eyes part three: halloween garland

See? One pack of googly eyes makes for a whole lot of fun. Here, I have used the googly eyed circles from thursday's project and added them to a garland made from fabric scraps for some happy Halloween decor.

Materials:
*10 or more googly-eyed circles
*16 or more lengths of fabric 6-10" long by 2=4" wide
*yarn, about 6-8' long
*sewing machine (preferred but not necessary**)
*glue stick or glue

If you haven't made your circles, go set your kidlets up with the supplies and have them go to Halloween town. My garlands used half googly eyed circles and half without (I ran out of googly eyes).

Cut or rip your fabric pieces into various lengths and sizes within the measurements above. You can make them larger or smaller, these were just the sizes that I used. They do not have to be perfect, in fact, rippety, frayed edges adds more spook-a-bility to the whole thing. If you choose to attempt this sans sewing machine, make your scraps 12-15" long as they will need to be knotted to the yarn.

Set up your sewing machine and stack your fabric scraps in the order you wish them to appear on the garland. Pull out tail end of yarn from ball and fold over end about 4" to create a loop shape. I like to work from the ball of yarn so that I can space my fabric pieces as whimsically as I feel without worrying about running out of yarn. You can of course cut your length of yarn first, just keep an eye out for spacing and then the end. which will need a loop as well.Place under sewing machine foot with a length of fabric folded over the yarn, catching the end of the loop within its fold. Use a long zig-zag and do a couple of back stitches once your needle hits the fabric and continue on, making sure to catch yarn in between the fold.Continue stitching past fabric and along yarn. The zig-zag of the stitching will embrace your yarn as you move along. Stitch between 6 & 8" before gently sliding in the next folded fabric scrap. I found that stitching for another four seconds worked nicely and kept all my spaces fairly even. This may seem kinda trying but after your fourth or fifth foray into adding the fabric, you'll set up a momentum that makes the stitching go by lickety split!
Continue stitching your fabric scraps onto the yarn. Stacking them ahead of time will help make the assembly line move quicker. Cutting/tearing your scraps into a variety of lengths adds to the overall look of the garland.

When you are about eight inches from the other end (or at your last piece of fabric), make sure to loop that end and catch it under the fabric fold so that you have two loops at either end of your garland. This will make it much easier to hang but you can always leave a long length of loose yarn to tie to whatever it is you are going to hang your garland from. Don't forget to back stitch on that last piece, otherwise all your work may unravel and that would hardly be fun.Next up, have your wee one select two of their arted up googly-eyed circles. Add a smidge of glue to the backside of one circle and get ready to place it on the stitched-up garland. To do so, have your tot hold the glued up circle to a length of yarn in between fabric scraps, glue-side facing yarn and then an ungluey circle (googly eye facing out) on the other side so that you make a sort of yarn sandwich. I left the first two yarn spaces at each end circle-free so that they wouldn;t get hidden once you hang your garland up. Plus, this means you don;t have to make as many circles.
Continue until all the spaces between the fabric scraps are filled, one circle sandwich between. My garland alternates with a googly eyed circle and then one that has a green circle. Making your circles two sided allows for pretty visibility when hanging as garlands are wont to twist and turn a little. Work flat and allow glue to dry thoroughly before hanging. Ta-da!**To do this sans sewing machine, cut your lengths of fabric much longer and knot them to the yarn with 6-8" of yarn in between. Glue googly-eyed circles on just like above, allow to dry and you're done! Happy haunting!

***or, if you don't feel up to making your own, you can pick one up in my shop! hint hint nudge nudge wink wink.

fun with googly eyes: part two

If happiness came in a bag (and it wasn't chocolate) I do think it may be googly eyes. There is just so much one can do with these little guys. It being fall and all and almost Halloween I think a little extra googly eye fun is in order. Yesterday's post is a perfect example of how easy it is to play with these kooky things. Today, I want to show you how delightful a pack of eyes, a few toothpics, glue and paper punches or scissors can be. Viola...googly cupcake toppers! So, what are ya waiting for? Whip up a batch of pumpkin cupcakes or gingerbread muffins and while they are baking, let your kidlets loose to make all sorts of spooky-fun toppers. It's an impromptu party! Yay for Halloween!

Materials
*toothpicks
*scrap paper, printed paper, newspaper
*paint of your choice
*paint brushes
*cup o water
*glue and/or glue stick
*various paper punches or scissors
*googly eyes
*markers (optional)
To make the same style of toppers I made here, set out newspaper or phone book pages and watercolors or other paint and have your wee ones paint away. Set aside to dry and let them give a stir or two to whatever cupcake or muffin you are baking. I made gingerbread cupcakes from this recipe. Make sure to work in an area that is happy for spills and mess, use a splat mat or wax paper to protect your table top if you need to.Once dry, use a large scallop punch to punch out newspaper shapes, set aside. You can let your kidlets go to town here or you can give your paper a couple of folds and punch out multiples at a time. Use a smaller circular punch to cut out shapes from your printed or scrap paper. A solid page would be better for this but you can use whichever you want. Colored paper would be nice, and/or cardstock. I used an old library brochure.Use the gluestick on the back of the scalloped circles and sandwich a toothpick between two of the. I found it easier to use a large gluestick and to put the circle on the gluestick rather than glob the gluestick all over the back of the circle. If your tots are going to use the gluestick like a pen, use a sheet of wax paper underneath to prevent extra sticking. Next up, repeat the gluestick process with the smaller circles, one circle per topper. You can do both sides but you don't need to.Finally, use a small dab of glue to anchor a googly eye or two to the center of each paper circles combo (try saying that three times fast). Lay flat to dry.When cupcakes are cool and yer ready to serve, plop a google-eyed topper into each cake and admire. Yay for impromptu party fun!

fun with googly eyes part one: paint swatch puppets

I absolutely LOVE these paint swatch puppets found on Hollis Queen's flickr stream. These would make perfect monstery puppets for Halloween, don't ya think? I have a bag of googley eyes sitting here for two projects and if I had some wee ones of my own, I think we would be making these up right now! Thank you for letting me share this project!

candy corn marshmallow treats

These just may be too much for even the sweetest of you sweet-toothers. Since chowing down on the mixing spoon, I haven't been able to touch another one. Oh the sugar rush! but if you like candy corn, these will totally make your day!
Materials:
*six cups rice cereal
*10oz marshmallows
*1 stick of butter sliced (1/2 cup)
*1/2 cup chopped candy corn plus a handful of whole pieces to garnish
*1/2 teaspoon of sea or kosher salt (optional)
*large baking dish
*large pot
*wooden spoon

First off, chop your butter up for easier melting. Your kidlet can do this with a blunt or plastic knife. Add to your big pan on low heat and stir, stir, stir away. You will want the butter to froth up and then brown a bit for an extra kick of flavor. When it browns, toss in a small bit of sea or kosher salt. while the butter is melting, pass off the wax butter wrapper (or small square of wax paper) to your tot and have them coat the inside of the baking dish.Once the butter is all melted, add your marshmallows and stir away. Mini marshmallows melt faster but large mallows look happier. You decide. I also have to be honest and tell you I added about 13oz of marshmallows as I like my treats on the gooey side. Stir until all your lumps are out or if you are impatient like me, allow for a few lumps.Pour cereal into melty marshmallow mix and give a stir. Before your cereal can soak up all the gooey goodness, make sure to plop your chopped candy corn into the fray. Chopping the candy corn allows for more biteability plus it melts a little so that the flavor can be detected throughout your final squares.

Scoop mixture out into buttered dish and push down with the spoon. If your mixture is too gooey you can use wax paper to flatten it down though I find that if it is too gooey for he hands it will prolly stick to the paper as well (unless of course, there is a non-sticky side, which there probably is but I just can't seem to figure it out).Press a few whole pieces of candy corn to the top for garnish and fun. Allow to set for a moment or too and then slice it all up and serve. You may want to serve it up with a cold glass of your preferred milk beverage. These squares are sweeter than sweet. A little goes a long way so you may wish to cut itty bitty squares.

pumpkin carving with kids

check it out over at craftzine!