Barbie Halloween Cemetery Angel Statue

     My favorite Halloween crafts involve sprucing up my Halloween cemetery.  I love searching for new details I can add to it.  I wanted to add a statue to it this year and this doll stone angel was seemed like an easy and relatively inexpensive option.

Materials:
*Barbie or similar doll (I used one of the $1.00 ones from Dollar Tree)
*Long, flowy doll dress (another Dollar Tree purchase)
*Hot glue
*Cereal box
*Felt
*Gray paint
*Paintbrush
*Granite spray paint

Directions:
*Gather your doll and her dress.

*Dress doll in the dress.  If her hair is in a ponytail, remove the elastic and smooth out.  If you're using one of these Dollar Tree dolls, you may be surprised to find that they have bald rings on their heads.  This actually won't end up mattering, as you'll see in a moment.

*Draw a line of hot glue from the doll's roots down to the ends of her hair.  Repeat this until you've covered her hair in hot glue.  This will give her hair a more statuesque look and will cover any bald patches.

*Draw and cut out angel wing shapes from your cereal box or similarly weighted cardboard.

*Cut feathers from felt and glue them to the cardboard, starting from the bottom of the wings and working your way up.

*Glue the wings to the doll.
*Paint the doll and wings using gray paint.  You don't have to cover up the colors completely, but the less colorful your doll is, the less spray paint you'll have to use.

*Spray paint your doll using granite spray paint.  You may need to use multiple coats to mask the colors.  Once you've done enough coatings for your liking and your doll is dry, it'll be ready to add to your Halloween cemetery.

Halloween Foam Tombstone with Plaque

     I got the idea for this stone from Dave Lowe's excellent blog post.  (If you love Halloween props and haven't seen his Halloween posts, you should definitely give them a look.)  Originally I was planning on doing something that more closely approximates his design, but halfway through I decided that I didn't like the way mine was coming out and switched things up.  Unfortunately, this means that I don't have photos for all steps of the process, but I've included pictures when possible.  For other Halloween tombstone ideas from yours truly, check out these posts.

Materials:
*Thin sheet of craft foam
*Pencil
*2' x 2' sheet of insulation foam
*Hand saw or similar implement (I used a bread knife)
*Sandpaper
*Protective goggles
*Ventilation mask
*X-acto knife
*Pen
*Gray paint
*Black paint
*Granite spray paint (optional)
*Bronze colored paint
*Wood glue
*Paintbrush
*Toothpick

Directions:
*Print out or sketch the design you would like your plaque to have.
*Place the design on top of the craft foam and trace to imprint your design onto the foam.  This step was actually trickier than I anticipated.  The craft foam is very soft, so I found that the pencil kept breaking through the paper.

*Trace over the imprint of the design in pencil.

*Carefully cut out your design using your X-acto knife.  As you're cutting, aim your X-acto knife at about a 45 degree angle toward the inside of the letter.  This will ideally make it so that when you cut the opposite side of the letter at a 45 degree angle, the two cuts will meet in a triangular shape and the excess foam will pop right out.  In practice, however, you may have to scrape at the foam a little to get it to come out completely.

*Carefully paint the insides of the lettering and designs black.  I used a toothpick for most of this to make sure I got the paint into the crevices of the foam.  Set aside to dry.
*Paint the raised portion of the plaque with bronze colored paint (I mixed gold, black, and brown paint to achieve the bronze color of my plaque).  Set aside to dry.  If you get some of the bronze colored paint inside the letters, then cover it up with some black once the bronze paint has finished drying.
*Using a pencil or pen, sketch out your desired tombstone shape onto the insulation foam, making sure that your stone design is wide enough to fit your plaque.
*Cut out your tombstone to size using a saw or a similar implement.  I found that a bread knife worked better than the hand saw I'd been planning on using.
*Sand down any rough edges of the stone.
*Paint the stone with gray paint.  Additionally, you can add some granite spray paint to give it a more stonelike appearance.  Set aside to dry.
*Once both the stone and the plaque are dry, glue the plaque to the stone.  I used wood glue for this because that was what I had on hand that would provide a strong bond, but I'm sure there are more appropriate glues out there you could use.  Do not use a glue with acetone in it, as the acetone will eat the foam.
*Once the glue has dried, your headstone is ready!

Halloween Plushie Garland

    Looking for an adorable addition to your Halloween decor?  Why not make a plushie banner?  What if you like one of the plushies, but don't want to make a banner?  No worries, this tutorial is arranged in multiple stages, with one section for each of the plushies and a final one for the garland.  Just skip to the plushie that you're interested in and work from there.

Happy Candy Corn Plushie

Materials:

*1 sheet white felt

*1 sheet yellow felt

*1 sheet orange felt

*Black felt

*Metallic marker or chalk

*Needle and thread

*All purpose adhesive

Directions:

*Print out a copy of the below template, sized to your desired size:

*Cut out the template pieces and trace onto the sheets of felt using a metallic marker or chalk.  Trace two copies of the candy corn shape onto white felt, the middle candy corn piece onto orange felt, and the top piece onto yellow felt.

*Cut out the various pieces, as shown:

*Glue or sew the yellow and orange bands onto one of the white candy corn shapes.

*Stitch together the two candy corn shapes, leaving an opening for stuffing.  I used a blanket stitch for this.

*Stuff and sew closed.

*Cut out a face from black felt and glue onto your candy corn plushie.

Black Cat Plushie

Materials:

*2 sheets black felt

*Yellow felt

*Metallic marker or chalk

*Needle and thread

*All purpose adhesive

Directions:

*Print out a copy of the template below, sized to your desired size:

*Cut out the template and trace onto the sheets of felt using a metallic marker or chalk.  Trace two copies of the template onto black felt.

*Cut out the two pieces, as shown:

*Sew the two halves together, adding stuffing as you go.  When I was working on the tail, since it's so thin I was pausing every few stitches to add more stuffing.  I used the end of a pen cap to squeeze it inside.

*Finish stuffing and sew shut.

*Cut out two eyes from the yellow felt and two pupils from the black felt.  Glue the pupils to the yellow felt to form eyes and then glue the eyes to the cat.

Jack O'Lantern Plushie

Materials:

*1 sheet orange felt

*Yellow felt

*Green felt

*Metallic marker or chalk

*Needle and thread

*All purpose adhesive

Directions:

*Print out a copy of the template below, sized to your desired size:

*Cut out the template pieces with your choice of eyes and mouth and trace onto the sheets of felt using a metallic marker or chalk.  Trace two copies of the pumpkin shape onto orange felt, a copy of the stem onto green felt, and two eyes and a mouth onto yellow felt.

*Cut out the pieces, as shown:

*Sew or glue the stem to one of the pumpkin shapes.

*Sew the two pumpkin shapes together, leaving an opening for stuffing.

*Stuff and sew closed.

*Glue on the jack o'lantern's face.

Bat Plushie

Materials:

*1 sheet black felt

*1 sheet purple felt

*White felt

*Crimson felt

*Lilac felt

*Metallic marker or chalk

*Needle and thread

*All purpose adhesive

Directions:

*Print out a few copies of the template below, sized to your desired size:

*Cut out the template and trace onto the sheets of felt using a metallic marker or chalk.  Trace two copies of the body onto black, two copies of the outer ear piece onto black, two pupils onto black, four copies of the wing onto purple, two copies of the inner ear on lilac, two eyes onto white, two fangs onto white, and a mouth onto crimson.

*Cut out, as shown below:

*Place two wings back to back and sew together.  I used a running stitch for this step.  Repeat with the other two wings.

*Sew together the two body pieces, sandwiching in the wings and ears as needed.  I used a combination of blanket stitch (when sewing just the two body pieces) and running stitch (when there was a wing or ear sandwiched between the body pieces).  Leave an opening for stuffing.

*Stuff and sew closed.

*Glue the pupils onto the eyes and glue two little white fangs onto the mouth and then glue on the bat's face.

Making the Garland

Materials:

*Plushies

*Scrap felt

*Ribbon

Directions:

*Cut strips from scrap felt.

*Glue together the ends to form loops.

*Glue one loop to the back of each plushie and then set aside to dry.

*Once dry, string the plushies onto the ribbon, gluing into place if desired.

Jack O'Lantern Halloween Game

     Today Amber's Craft a Week Blog turns 5!  It's been difficult at times, churning out a craft (almost) every week as I finished my Bachelor's degree, my Master's, and started in on a PhD, but I'm glad I've kept going.  Thank you to all of you out there who have been a part of this journey, whether you're a constant reader or someone who checks in every now and again.  Here's to hoping for another five years!
     Today's craft is a game that is easy to make and fun for all ages.  I got the idea from this blog post, although I've structured my game differently to make it competitive.  As far as game play goes, each player starts off with a blank pumpkin template.  Players take turns rolling a die with sides labeled eye, mouth, nose, stem, add any, and remove.  If a player rolls eye, nose, mouth, or stem, the player adds that particular body part to their pumpkin shape.  Players need to roll "eye" twice, one for each eye.  If they already have the part that they roll, then they do nothing until their next turn.  "Add any" allows the player to choose which piece to add.  "Remove" requires that players choose a piece to take away.  The first person to complete their jack o'lantern wins.
     So that's how you play, but how do you make it?

Materials:
*Cardstock in orange, yellow, and green
*Pencil
*Scissors
*Wooden block
*Halloween/fall themed patterned paper
*Printer
*All purpose adhesive
*Optional: laminator

Directions:
*Resize the below template to the desired size and print.
*Cut out the template pieces.  I thought it would be fun to have a variety of jack o'lantern faces instead of just one, so I've included extra sets of eyes and mouths that you can mix and match as you please.
*Trace the pumpkin shape onto orange cardstock and cut out.  You'll want one pumpkin shape for each intended player.
*Trace a set of eyes, nose, and mouth onto yellow cardstock and cut out, one set for each jack o'lantern.
*Trace the stem onto green cardstock and cut out, one for each jack o'lantern.
*To make the game pieces more durable, you can laminate them if you'd like.
*To make the die, type out the words for the different faces in a word document, leaving a significant amount of space between each word.
*Print the words onto a Halloween or fall themed piece of patterned paper.  It works best if the paper uses one or only a few colors which are very different from your chosen text color.
*Place the wooden block over one of the words and trace around it.  Repeat with the other words.
*Cut out the resulting squares and glue them to the faces of the wooden block.  Let dry.
*Now you have your jack o'lantern game.  Enjoy!

Getting Started on a Pokemon GO Trainer Costume

     We interrupt your regularly scheduled Facebook browsing to bring you an important announcement: Halloween is coming!  If you have not set foot inside your local crafting store lately, you may be unaware of the influx of ghoulish goodies alerting you to the fact that October 31st only about 70 days away.  No but seriously, I welcome the onslaught of Halloween crafting items and decor.  Halloween is the most fun holiday when it comes to decorating, hands down.  Plus, there are no decoration intensive holidays between now and the end of October.  This isn't like the Christmas creep, which has absorbed Thanksgiving, is making inroads against Halloween, and, with all of the Christmas in July hullabaloo, will probably soon devour Independence Day.  Without Halloween items, you'd be stuck looking at aisles of end of summer clearance stuff, thinking about all the paradise beach vacations you didn't get to go on until mid-September, and who wants that?
     Anyway, today we're talking about Halloween costumes.  Summer clothes are at steeply discounted prices right now and will soon be vanishing from stores, so if your costume calls for shorts or other summery attire, now's the time to start looking.  This year I'm planning on dressing up as a Pokemon trainer, specifically my Pokemon GO character:

Some people are making really awesome costumes that match their trainer down to the last detail.  I, however, do not have that level of ambition (nor the sewing skills), so I'm trying to approximate mine as best as I can with more common items.  Here's what I've found so far:

     As you can see, it's not a perfect match, but I think these pieces are a decent approximation of some elements of the costume.  (I'm still looking for something to use for the jacket.  I imagine that's going to be the most challenging piece to come up with.)  For me, the ideal Halloween costume is one primarily constructed from clothing items that I can wear for other occasions.  Instead of going with a romper, which is what it looks like my character is wearing, I've opted for shorts and a camisole.  The cami is one of several that I already own. The shorts came from the Macy's clearance rack and cost about $13 and the leggings also came from Macy's clearance and cost about $10.  The hat I picked up at Joann and, with a coupon, it cost about $2.50.  I intend to embellish it further and will let you know how that goes.
     So that's what I'm starting with.  Hopefully it gives you some ideas for your own costume.  Expect more to come as I continue to piece mine together.

"Magic" Wand

     Need a wand for a Halloween costume or cosplay prop?  Here's an easy and inexpensive technique.

Materials:
*Wooden chopstick or dowel
*Sandpaper (optional)
*Hot glue gun
*Hot glue sticks
*Paint
*Beads, marbles, or other embellishments.

Directions:
*If desired, sand down the end of your chopstick or dowel to give it a pointed appearance.  This is a purely aesthetic choice and if you're happy with a wider end, feel free to skip this step.

*Glue a bead or marble to the flat end of your wand.
*Layer on the hot glue to create a handle with your wand.  I went did this by creating a ring of hot glue around the end, letting it drip for a moment, and then starting another ring of glue below it, repeating the process until the handle was long enough for my liking.

*Once the glue is cool and solid, add paint.  For the black wand, I painted the handle gold and then brushed black over it.  For the purple wand, I painted the handle silver and then brushed purple over it.  I didn't like the way that looked, so I mixed in some black to get that darker silver color.

How to Design Your Own Pokemon Plushie Template

My Meowth plushie template.  For instructions on how to make a Meowth plushie, see this post.

Materials:
*Image of desired Pokemon
*Painter's tape
*White copy paper
*Pencil

Directions:
*Choose an image of the Pokemon you'd like to make a plushie of in the desired pose.  I chose one of my AR photos of Meowth and cropped it.

*Resize the photo to be approximately the size that you'd like your plushie to be and print.  It's okay if it looks a bit pixelated as long as you can distinguish the outline and the various features of your Pokemon.
*Decide what features you'd like to include in your plushie.  If your monster is rather complicated, you may want to pick specific features to concentrate on while ignoring others.  Think about whether you'd like to include the limbs (assuming it has limbs) as part of the body or separately.  If you'd like to stuff them, it's probably easier to do them separately, but otherwise you could do them together.  What facial features and markings will you use?  Are there ears?  You'll probably want to do those separately from the body.
*Tape the photo to a sunny window (the sunnier out it is, the easier it will be to see the details of your monster) using painter's tape.

*Tape a sheet of white copy paper over your picture, again using painter's tape.

*Trace the "body" piece, which should include the head and torso, plus limbs if you choose to keep them connected.  Trace the facial features you'll be using as well.  (I had to darken the photo a lot to make the pencil lines visible.)

*Move the paper and trace each of the remaining body parts separate from the body.  (You could trace it all as one piece, with e.g. the ears extending partway into the head, but that necessitates printing an extra copy or so of the template when you're done.)

*Now your template is done.  See my previous Pokemon plushie tutorials to get an idea of what supplies you'll need for your plushie (felt, stuffing, needle and thread, etc.) and how to construct it.  Also, feel free to contact me (in the comments below or at hathaway.amber@gmail,com) if you have further questions.