Photo Advent Calendar

Materials:
*Photo frame approximately 8" x 16"
*10" x 20" piece of fabric
*Ribbon in two different colors
*6 sheets of Christmas themed patterned paper
*Glitter glue in two colors
*24 mimi clothespins
*All purpose adhesive
*Mounting tape or mounting squares
*Printed numbers or number stickers
*Scissors
*Computer with printer/scanner
*Photo paper

Directions:
*Lay fabric face down on a flat surface and place the glass from the photo frame on top of the fabric(if you would prefer not to use the glass for the base of your calendar, you can use cardboard or foam board instead).
*Run all purpose adhesive along the edges of the backside of the glass and adhere the fabric to this.  Make sure to pull the fabric as tight as you can while gluing so that you won’t end up with bunches of fabric on the front side.  Let the adhesive dry.
*While the adhesive is drying, cut four 1.25" x 1.75" rectangles from each sheet of patterned paper.  You should end up with 24 rectangles in total.
*Affix numbers to the rectangles such that each rectangle has a unique number from 1 to 24.
*Find 24 old Christmas photos and, if not already digitized, scan them into the computer.  Crop the photos into squares, then shrink each square to 1.25" x 1.25". 
*Import the photos into a word processing program and arrange the photos such that there is half an inch of white space above each photo.  Print out the photos and cut out 1.25" x 1.75" rectangles consisting of the photo squares and the half inch of white space.
*Decorate the white space on the photo rectangles with glitter glue, then set aside to dry.
*Cut four lengths of ribbon about 9.5" in length.  Clasp 6 clothespins on each length of ribbon.  Place one ribbon on the fabric covered glass about 1" below the top.  Glue one end to the back of the glass, then pull the ribbon tightly across and glue the other end.
*Glue successive ribbons in the same fashion about 3.75" to 4" below the previous ribbon.  Set aside to dry.
*Once the adhesive on the ribbons has dried, place the fabric covered ribbon back inside the frame.
*Once the glitter glue has dried on the photo rectangles, adhere using mounting tape numbered pattern paper rectangles and photo rectangles together so that one side of the resulting rectangle depicts the patterned paper and the other side shows the photo.
*Attach rectangles to the ribbons using the mini clothespins with the number side facing out.  Turn each rectangle over to display the photo when the designated day in December arrives.

Duct Tape Wallet

If your old wallet wears out, or your wallet gets lost or stolen, instead of buying a new one try making one out of duct tape.  If you already have duct tape at your house it's a very cost effective solution.  Here's a link to the video tutorial I worked from when making my duct tape wallet.

Materials:
*Duct tape
*Scissors

Directions:
*Cut four strips of duct tape about 8.5" in length and overlap the pieces slightly, sticking them together with the sticky side facing up.
*Cut four more strips of duct tape about 8.5" in length and lay these strips over the four strips already stuck together, with sticky sides touching.  This will form the duct tape "fabric" of your wallet.
*Fold your "fabric" in half (the hot dog way) and trim off any uneven duct tape edges. 
*Take a strip of duct tape that is 9"-10" in length and cut it in half.  Use each of the pieces to cover the edges of the top part of the wallet.  Trim off any excess duct tape.
*For the pockets, cut off three 16" strips of duct tape. 
*Take two of the strips and stick them together to form the material for the pockets.
*Cut the third strip in half and use it to cover the edges of the pocket material.
*Cut the pocket material into four equal pieces and arrange the pieces on your wallet as you would like the pockets to be arranged.
*Tape the edges of the pockest down.  Make sure not to tape too far over or otherwise you won't be able to fit your ID's, etc. into the wallet.
*With the pockets facing outward, tape the sides together.
*Fold in half with the pockets facing in toward one another.  Now you have your duct tape wallet.
*If the wallet won't stay folded, set it under a heavy book for a little while.

Duct Tape Rose Ring

Materials:
*Duct tape in two colors (one color for the flower and one to wrap around the ring band)
*Cutting board
*X-acto knife
*Ring base
*Ruler

Directions:
*Center a 12" strip of duct tape on your cutting board so that it falls directly between the 4" and 6" marks.
*Using a ruler to keep your cut straight, cut the strip of duct tape in half lengthwise.
*Cut the duct tape strips widthwise at each 1" mark.  You should now have 24 duct tape squares that are approximately 1"x1".

*Wrap some duct tape of the color that you plan on wrapping around the ring band around the center of your ring base, then take a thin strip of duct tape at least the same width as the roll of duct tape and center it around the ring base, taping the ends together.  You will now have a duct tape protrusion on the ring that should look something like this:

*Wrap a couple of pieces of duct tape around the duct tape protrusion.

*Take a piece of duct tape in the color that you plan on using for petals and fold it over the protrusion.
*Peel one of your duct tape squares from the cutting board and fold it not quite in half diagonally so that it looks like the duct tape piece circled in red:

 

*Fold it again so that you end up with a triangle that looks like these:

*Attach the sticky part of the duct tape triangle to the duct tape protrusion on the ring base to form a petal.
*Continue folding duct tape triangles and attaching them to the protrusion until you have a flower large enough for your liking.
*Optional: wrap duct tape around the ring band.  If you do want to cover the ring band in duct tape, make sure to get ring bands that are at least a size too large for you because when you wrap the duct tape around the ring it will become a much tighter fit.

Duct Tape Covered Letters

Materials:
*Foam board
*Letter templates
*X-acto knife
*Pencil
*Duct tape in various colors/patterns (can use patterned paper in place of duct tape if you don't have duct tape in numerous colors/patterns)
*Scissors

Directions:
*Trace letter templates onto the foam board.
*Using your X-acto knife, cut out the letters.
*Cut out a strip of duct tape and place the duct tape strip over one of the letters.  Trim excess duct tape, leaving some to wrap around the edges, if desired.
*Repeat until the letters are covered in duct tape
*If you are using patterned paper in place of duct tape, trace letter templates onto the patterned paper, cut out the paper letters, and glue to the foam board.

Bonus: Duct Tape Decorated Box

Use your leftover duct tape scraps to decorate a box.  Cut the excess duct tape into small pieces and arrange on a jewelry box.



Candy Wrapper Decorated Journal

Instead of throwing away your candy wrappers from Halloween, use them in a craft.

Materials:
*Spiral bound notebook
*20 Tootsie Roll wrappers (or similar wrappers)
*White paint
*Paintbrush
*A brad
*Iron
*Glue
*Scissors

Directions:
*Iron candy wrappers on low heat (only if you are using waxy wrappers like Tootsie Roll wrappers) to flatten them out.
*Snip off the ends of the wrappers and set aside.
*If your wrappers are somewhat transparent and you have a dark colored notebook, paint the backs of the wrappers white so that the notebook cover won't show through the wrappers.  Set wrappers aside to dry.
*Arrange the wrappers on the cover of your notebook in a pattern you find pleasing, then glue the wrappers to the notebook cover.  Set aside to dry.
*If your notebook cover starts warping from the glue, set the notebook underneath a heavy book until it dries.
*While the notebook is drying, gather up 20 of the wrapper ends you set aside.  Using your scissors, round the edges on one end.
*Carefully poke holes in the square ends of the wrappers.  Arrange the wrappers in an appealing color pattern, then slide onto the brad.  Fan the wrappers out to form a flower shape, then fasten then ends of the brad closed.
*Glue the flower to the notebook cover.

Halloween Tree

The Tree:

Materials:
*Black wire
*Styrofoam base

Directions:
*Determine the height that you would like your Halloween tree to be.  Cut six lengths of wire about an inch longer than the desired height and twist the wire pieces together.  This will form the trunk of your tree. 
*Note: the trunk may seem rather narrow after the initial step and you can add more wires if you would like a thicker trunk, but once you start wrapping wire around for the branches your trunk will become wider anyway.
*Cut another length of wire about as long as the six lengths of wire you used to form the trunk. 
*Begin wrapping the wire around the trunk and continue wrapping until you reach the height at which you would like the highest up branch to be.  Bend the wire to form a branch.
*Take a second piece of wire and wrap it around the trunk until you reach the location of the branch, then twist the branch and the new piece of wire together.  If you would like the branch to fork, bend the ends away from each other before twisting and make sure not to twist them together.
*Depending on how thick you would like your branches to be, you may want to add a third, fourth, and maybe a fifth piece of wire to the branch.
*Continue creating branches in the manner in which you made the first branch.  As you go, the trunk will become thicker and you may find the need to cut your lengths of wire a bit longer to make branches of the desired length.
*Once you have constructed your tree, stick the end in a piece of styrofoam which will hold the tree up.

Decorating the base of the tree:

Materials:
*Foam
*Gray paint
*Glue
*Dried grass
*Small Philip's head screwdriver, butter knife, or some other implement that can be used for carving letters.

Directions:
*Glue dried grass all around the base of the tree.
*To make the gravestones, cut a thin piece of foam board into the shape of a tombstone.
*Use the Philip's head screwdriver to engrave the stone and add cracks and other marks to it.
*Paint the stone gray and let dry.   
*Once it has finished drying, glue it to the styrofoam base.

Ornament ideas
Bat:
Materials:
*Black pom pom
*Black felt
*Googly eyes
*Chalk
*Scissors
*Thread
*All purpose adhesive

Directions:
*Find a template for bat wings such as this one and resize the wings so that they are about 1 1/2" wide.
*Trace the wing pattern onto a piece of black felt and cut out the wings.
*Glue a pom pom to the center of the wings to make the bat's body.
*Glue two googly eyes to the pom pom to make the bat's eyes.
*Attach a piece of string to the bat so that you can hang it from your tree.

Ball ornament:
Materials:
*Round bead of your choice
*Head pin
*Thin wire
*Pliers
*Wire cutters

Directions:
*Loop a piece of wire and slide it onto the head pin.
*Slide the round bead onto the head pin.
*Wrap the piece of wire around the round bead.  When you reach the top of the bead, wrap the wire around the head pin just above the top of the bead a few times, then trim off any excess wire.
*Use pliers to bend the head pin into an angular shape.

Cat:
Materials:
*Black clay
*Gold glitter glue
*Glue
*Thread

Directions:
*Mold clay into the shape of a cat, then bake in the oven according to the directions on the clay package.  Remove the finished clay from the oven and let cool.
*Once the clay has cooled, give the cat glittery eyes using gold glitter glue.
*Attach a piece of string to the cat so that you can hang it from your tree.

Candy ornament:
Materials:
*Aluminum foil
*Permanent marker in a Halloween color
*Small round bead
*Scissors
*Glue
*Thread

Directions:
*Color a rectangle of aluminum foil using your permanent marker.
*Glue your round bead into the center of the aluminum foil rectangle on the uncolored side.
*Take two opposite sides of the aluminum foil and slide one piece over the other, closing the bead inside.
*Twist the ends of the aluminum foil.
*Attach a piece of thread to the candy so you can hang it from your tree.

*Looking for some more cool Halloween decorating ideas?  Check out my creepy doll Halloween decoration, fuse bead Halloween magnets, and Halloween curtain blog posts from last year. 

*Also, here's a cute printable Halloween door hanger that I hang up on my front door every Halloween.  To make it more durable than the standard printable craft, cut out a piece of a cardboard cereal box to insert between the two sides of the hanger and adhere in place using double sided tape.  Then laminate either using a laminating machine or by covering the hanger in packing tape.

Three Cheap and Easy Halloween Costume Ideas

     Halloween is rapidly approaching.  If you are looking for a Halloween costume for yourself or for your children but don't have a lot of money to spare, here are a few costume ideas that are inexpensive and require little time to construct.

 

Zombie

 

Materials:
*Light colored shirt
*Scissors
*Red food coloring or red marker
*Leaves
*All purpose ashesive
*Red undershirt (optional)

Directions:
*Take your light colored shirt and cut holes in it to make it look ragged and torn.
*Take the shirt outside and rub in the dirt or grass to make the shirt look dirty.
*Using red food coloring or a red marker, color around the holes to make it look like you have been bleeding.  Add some splotches of food coloring or marker to other places on the shirt as well.
*Glue on some leaves.

 

The Paper Bag Princess

 

If you have never heard of the Paper Bag Princess before, she is a character from a children's book by Robert Munsch.  For more information about the book, see Amazon or the book's Wikipedia page.

Materials:

*2 paper bags
*Cardboard cereal box
*Gold permanent marker or paint
*Scissors
*Tape

Directions:
*Take one of the bags and cut along the side seams, then cut out the bottom of the bag.  Discard the bottom of the bag.  Your paper bag should now be in two pieces.
*Take the second paper bag and cut about halfway up the side seams, starting from the opening of the bag.
*Slide the two halves of the first paper bag into the second paper bag and adjust until the two bags are the appropriate length to fit the intended recipient of the costume.  Tape the bags together.
*Cut out arm holes.  If the slits along the side seams of the bag do not reach the arm holes, cut the slit up to the arm holes.
*Cut out a neck hole.  Add slits going diagonally from neck hole to the corners of the bag so that the costume will slide over the head of the costume wearer.
*Once the costume recipient is wearing the costume, she or he may find it helpful to tape the sides of the costume together.
*To make the crown, take a cardboard cereal box and cut out the front side.  Only the front piece is needed for this project.
*Flip the piece over so that the side with the pictures faces the table.
*Draw a rectangle as long as the cereal box is tall and add triangles or other shapes resembling the spikes of a crown to it.
*Color the crown shape gold using a permanent marker or paint.
*Cut out the crown and tape the ends together.

 

Decade costumes

 

(Photo taken by Rachel Hirsch)

     This one isn't really a craft, but it is a great idea for an inexpensive costume.  Start by searching your own closet.  Do you have any wardrobe pieces that resemble clothing from a decade or so ago?  It turned out that I had 70's attire right in my closet.  If you can't find anything that works or don't have anything that you want to wear for a decade costume, check out your local thrift shops.  You can usually find tons of great clothing items from previous decades there.