Cardboard Tube Monsters...

My husband always cringes when I decide to start saving toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls.  And I can't say as though I blame him.  When I do, one corner of our office looks like an episode of hoarders.  And now I'm hoarding them even more because one brand of TP has gone tube-less and I've heard rumors that others are going to follow in their footsteps.  I don't blame them.  It is better for the environment, but where will crafters like me get their tube fix??;)

The girls and I made these the other day (Yes, I joined in the fun also) and they turned out super cute!  I showed the girls a picture of what we were making and let their imaginations take charge!

All you need are TP rolls...or paper towel rolls, cut in half..or you could leave them full size if you want a giant monster and any and all craft supplies you want to add to your monster.  As you can see in the pic below, I just pulled a bunch of stuff out of the craft closet and the girls went to town!!

Mel and B decided to wrap theirs in felt wrap that already had adhesive on the back.

 I used construction paper for mine, so I had to break out the hot glue gun.  Torture I know...I love my glue gun;).

Here is my creation.  I also used hot glue for the pipe cleaners because I couldn't get them to stay in place with regular glue.  As always, use caution when using a hot glue gun!

 B's...

 Mel's...

 (Jo didn't get to participate in this craft because I thought it was a little too advanced for her)

Spooky cuteness!

Ghoul Pretzels...

Last week was Fall Break for us.  We had a whole week with nothing planned!  More on that later in another post...hopefully!  We managed to create several crafts and one of the things we made were these adorable ghoul pretzels from Family Fun magazine...

All you need are yogurt pretzels, candy melts in the color(s) of your choice and various sprinkles.

Begin by laying the pretzels on waxed paper...

 Melt the candy melts according to package directions.

 Once the melts are melted;)...spoon into a plastic bag.  Allow it to cool for a minute or two...or five.  Caution: It's pretty warm!  Cut a tiny slit in one corner of the plastic bag and add the melt to the top two holes of the pretzels, then add sprinkles.

 So easy and fun!

 How cute are these?  On some, the girls decided that they just wanted to add one eye;)

Ghoul Yogurt Pretzels...

Ingredients

• Yogurt Pretzels
• candy melts, various colors
• sprinkles

Cooking Directions

1. Arrange the yogurt pretzels on waxed paper.
2. Melt candy melts according to package directions.
3. Spoon candy in plastic bag and allow to cool for a few minutes. Cut a tiny slit in one corner of the bag.
4. Add melt to the top two holes of the pretzels and add sprinkles. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

Halloween Craft Time: Paper Plate Pumpkins...

 Jo is finally to the age where she can sometimes participate in Craft Time, but now it starts to get tricky.  You see, when I find a craft that Jo is able to do, which usually involves something to enhance her hand eye coordination, it's usually not in B's age group.  B hasn't said anything, because she's too sweet, thank goodness, but I can tell she gets a little bored with some of the crafts.  We still do some "big people" crafts while Jo is napping so that helps!

This was a Jo craft, but the girls used their imagination to create their pumpkin faces which helped.

First they painted small paper plates orange.  Can you tell we go through a lot of orange paint this time of year?

 Once the paint was dry, they painted their faces however they wanted.

 Just look at how happy Jo is to finally be making crafts with her big sisters!

 I pre-cut Jo's face out of black construction paper so all she had to do was place the cut outs on top of the dot of glue.  The older girls painted their faces.  Once the paint was dry, we added a stem out of glue construction paper and glued it to the back.

Mel made a tiger..

You can see we have quite the array of faces on our pumpkins.  Can you tell which one is Jo's?

Craft Time...Pumpkin Shovel...

 First, a little reminder: If you haven't entered my Gooseberry Patch Cookbook giveaway, you still have a little bit of time to enter!  Giveaway ends on Friday.  Click the link above to enter.  Go ahead...I'll wait!



On my list of fall crafts to complete, I have several crafts that aren't kid's crafts.  I've decided that I want to start making some crafts to enjoy myself.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching my girls be creative and decorating with their creations brightens our home, but sometimes it's nice to do something for myself...besides shopping.:)

I was at a store last year and saw a shovel with a pumpkin face torched in it.  My first thought was, "Oh!  I want that!"  But then, after I looked at the price, I thought, "Brad could make that!"  So I took a picture and texted it to him (isn't modern technology great...sometimes) and asked if he could make it for me.  He said yes as if I had any doubt that he could;)

My MIL even had a shovel lying around that she was willing to give me and it was painted black.  The shovels at the store were rusty, which was fine, but I thought I would like the look of it painted black.

Now, I will tell you, you have to use a torch to cut through the metal of the shovel.  If you don't have one, find a friend that does!

The first thing I did was draw the face on the shovel with a piece of welding chalk.  I'm sure regular chalk would work just as well,but my husband handed me the welding chalk and I didn't ask any questions because he knows more about metal than I do:)

 Then Brad went to work cutting with the torch.  I thought this step looked pretty easy and that I probably could have handled it, but then I remembered I'm pretty accident prone and I probably would have just set myself on fire!

Next, he sanded it down because the torch makes some rough edges...

 Then I spray painted the shovel black to cover up where the torch had burnt the paint...

After the paint dried, I added a canvas bow and set it outside for display...