I'm always looking for easy projects that the kiddos can help out with, that won't take a lot of time or crafty skills.... sometimes it can be tough for mummys and daddys to have projects that aren't too difficult for everyone in the family!
Well all you need to try these cute lighted pumpkin faces... is a few glass bottles and jars, an old plastic dishpan or tub,a few strings of twinkle lights (plain white or colors) green and black acrylic paints, orange or white tissue paper, black construction paper, scissors, and some good old white school glue.
Be sure all the bottles and jars have been washed and dried. Put about half a bottle of white glue in an old plastic dishpan fill half way with water. Mix well.
Take a single sheet of orange
(if you're making a pumpkin face....use white if you want to make a ghost) tissue paper, open it, and lay in glue/water mixture. Swish around to coat with glue (don't fold it or rumple it too much, it'll be too difficult to spread out over the glass) then tear or cut off in smaller sections, and
lay inside the jar or bottle. Repeat this step until the glass is completely covered. Let dry. Move on to next jar or bottle.
Once you've completed all the faces that you want, take black construction paper and glue on eyes, nose, mouth, etc. on the front of the glass. (Or you can paint with black acrylic paints, whichever look you like better)
If you're making ghosts, that's the final step.
To complete the pumpkin faces: once all the faces are on all of the jars and bottles, take some green acrylic paint and go over the rim with a paint brush. Let dry.
Then set in a line (this looks great on a window sill or along a walkway or porch) and put some of the lights in each jar or bottle, and move down to the next one, until you come to the end of the string. Plug in and watch all the faces light up!
You know, when you have Halloween on the brain as much as I do, you can't help but find everyday things that reflect your love of all things spooky.... anytime of the year!
You know Halloween is right around the corner, so if you think you're just gonna whip-up a fabulous costume for the kiddos overnight....guess again!
With only 72 days until the Spookiest Day of the Year, I loooooooove seeing all the magazines in the racks that are filled with ideas for projects and recipes for Halloween!
You know, when it comes to decorating for Halloween, you don't have to decorate every nook and cranny, like I do at the Manor. Sometimes just a few well placed and festive pillows add to the holiday spirit!
Just get some fabric paint and scrap material and go to town! I think you'll be amazed at what you can do. A few spooky bats, pumpkins and maybe a witch with a pointy hat aren't really too difficult to create.
I give you Brownie Monster Treats! Because decorating these treats can be time consuming, I chose to use a boxed brownie mix. You can certainly use your favorite recipe or do the same. I used three cereals: Trix, Cheerios and Cocoa Puffs. To make things easier on myself and to make this kid friendly, I also used Betty Crocker decorating cookie icing. Pretty cool stuff, Royal Icing in a bag! They sell all the colors I needed, but my rinky dink grocery store only had red, green and white, so I used some gel food coloring to get what I wanted. The icing from the bag dried much smoother, so I would definitely recommend buying the colors you want over mixing it yourself.
If you have to mix, like I did, you might find the easiest way to apply the mixed icing is with a new paintbrush.
