Halloween Crafts

Halloween is also my favorite time of the year for crafts! I know this first Halloween craft post is a little late in the season, but I hope it can be a good resource in the future.

For this particular piece, I want to focus on pumpkins.

PUMPKIN CARVING
Everyone carves pumpkins, right? Pumpkin Masters has a wonderful variety of patterns to carve and tools to use. You don't just have to make jack-o-lanterns any more! And some people are amazingly talented. I found some awesome patterns that use two or three pumpkins stacked on top of one another in a magazine.

And if you want to keep your work, use a fake pumpkin. You can get these at just about any craft store around Halloween time: Michael's, Hobby Lobby, JoAnn, etc.

HALLOWEEN SCENES:
Here is a different idea, especially for using fake pumpkins: Halloween scenes. My mom and I did a few of these a couple years ago and they were a lot of fun.

Pumpkin patch themed pumpkin scene.

At Hobby Lobby, you can find all sorts of miniature things (like for doll houses) to use. I found a wheelbarrow and a small "metal" tub and a picket fence here. The little pumpkins were found here, too. Or you can usually find little bags of them near the floral stuff in Michael's. I also found the mini hay bale at Hobby Lobby.

Michael's has all sorts of little Halloween town figures you can use. Like trees and lamp posts. We put a Halloween town hearse in my brother's and a black horse (with painted red eyes) in my sister's. You can buy mini lamp posts that light up, which is a cool idea.

We used fake moss on the ground of all of them. It gives a great effect. The "corn" in mine is made from pipe cleaners. And we recommend putting a fake candle in the back to light them up.

PAINTED PUMPKINS:
Another great way to present pumpkins. I bought five small fake pumpkins a couple years back. Following some basic ideas for pumpkins in magazines, I decided on a black and silver color scheme and went for it.

I painted two pumpkins silver and two black and left one orange. I like to use a lot of black and silver in my Halloween decor.

Silver painted pumpkins. The ribbons were cut different lengths and glued on and rhinestones added at intervals. The stems are painted black and have a silver-edged black ribbon tied around them. The lettering I did by hand in pencil before painting.

Two black pumpkins with silver stems and the original orange, also with a silver stem and a silver-edged black ribbon. I planned the lettering and free-handed the paint. I used smaller rhinestones to create random swirls on the black and the orange is done with silver paint (with little rhinestones at the end of the swirls).

Another great idea I saw was to cut fake pumpkins in half and paint them with different patterns and mount them on a door or wall.

And remember, there are a hundred ways to paint pumpkins. Some people even do tie-dye. Do whatever feels like you!

COVER YOUR PUMPKINS:
I found another great idea this year that I mean to try out: lace-covered pumpkins. There are expensive covers you can buy, but I would just use stockings. Especially around Halloween, there are stockings and tights with all sorts of fun, lacy designs. Just slip a pumpkin inside and tie it off! Voila! Here is a more specific how-to: Pass the Sushi: DIY Lace Pumpkins.

CLOTH PUMPKINS:
For those of you who end up with all sorts of extra fabric from costumes and projects, here is an idea: make little cloth pumpkins!

I have seen a few ways to do this from making them like a draw-string pouch to following more complex patterns. The draw-string way is easy: cut a large circle and draw it up and tie it off. You can fill them with other things as well, more fabric, cotton, even potpourri.

Here is one that is a little more involved and which I would love to try: Craft Buds: Fabric Pupkins Tutorial.

I have seen all kinds. Some are very detailed, some look like bags vaguely shaped as pumpkins. Be creative!

Please share other pumpkin crafts!

Halloween Stores: Where to Shop?

Halloween shopping! How exciting!

There are always the common stores that pop up around Halloween-time. Spirit and Halloween City for instance. If you are looking for gore and creepy, you have hit the jackpot.

Of course your local Target and Walmart will sell a variety of things. I have found good stuff at these places, especially Target. I have even found some great stuff at King Soopers. The stuff I usually go for is more in the way of decorations. Target usually has things like pillows and tableware that are all themed, which I like.

Had to share this Halloween-y picture of Romulus and Remus! And the pillow I got at Target and the blanket on the back of the couch was from Walmart. See? Good stuff.

Another good resource- Party City (or Party America, but I don't know if we have any of these nearby any more). They have a huge selection of costumes and accessories as well as anything you would need for a party. And if you live on my side of town, all costume-junkies (myself included) know about Disguises where you can rent or purchase costumes and accessories from a rather extensive selection. There is another place that I just learned about this year but have not visited (because I hate Cherry Creek...) called The Wizard's Chest. I have heard good things about it. Costume superstore and toy shop, I gather.

The beautiful mask I got at Disguises

For those of you who are crafty, JoAnn has things you can buy and supplies to make things on your own (plus SOOO much fabric and lots of patterns if you feel inclined to make your own costumes). My go-to for other crafty things (other than costumes, I mean) is Michaels. I LOVE this store and always spend waaay too much money here. I will be posting a bit about Halloween crafts and you will see that I have gotten almost everything I use at Michaels (thank heavens they started a reward program!). For those who don't like JoAnn as much (and there are some, that's OK), you can go to Hancock Fabrics.

While not always my favorite store, Hobby Lobby has some really cute decorations! For me, this is a goldmine! Most decorations you find at the popular shops, and even at Party City are rather gruesome. At Hobby Lobby they have some really adorable and fun decorations, perfect for people like me! And of course, they do have crafty stuff you can put together.

IF you can find them (and there aren't many these days), Hallmark stores are great for cute and fun decorations. However, I think the Gold Crown stores do not have the liberty to buy the same stuff, so their selection is much smaller. Hallmark. Since each Hallmark is different, however, the online selection is not very good, either. The best way is to actually go to a store and see what they have.

My mom love Annalee stuff, for Halloween and Christmas. We used to find it at Connie's Hallmark before it closed (38th and Wadsworth). Sometimes you can find them in little shops--I found some in a little shop on Washington Ave in downtown Golden, for instance. Here is the website for those who don't want to search: Annalee: Seasonal Decorations.

Thrift stores can be great places to find some decorations, tableware, and clothing/costumes for cheap. There are so many around, it is silly not to go look. And remember, if you are looking for costumes, you can often get pieces at thrift stores and do some alterations to them. I needed a Kagome costume from InuYasha shown here:

I happened to stumble upon a floor-length, pleated green skirt. So I cut it short and used the remaining fabric to make the cuffs of her shirt and her scarf thing. It turned out great.

If anyone else knows of some Halloween store gems, please share!