Halloween Costumes

Hi everyone!  If you are reading this, I appreciate you sticking around!  I haven't posted in quite some time because getting ready for and starting life with two kids in elementary school has actually been pretty hectic.  I took on the responsibility of being room mom for both of my children's classes, volunteered to be our school representative for the Trick or Treat for Unicef program, and signed up both kids for after school activities.  So, it's been a little busy trying to get used to our new schedule.

I just wanted to stop in today to share the Halloween costumes I made for my kids' this year.  I can't believe I got them done this early!  My son wanted to be a knight and my daughter wanted to be a pirate princess.

For the knight costume, I used McCalls pattern 5500 to create the "chainmail" shirt, tunic, helmet and shoulder armor.  I created the belt, sword sheath, and boot covers (not pictured) on my own.

For the pirate princess costume, I made the shirt using the peasant blouse tutorial HERE and made the bandana skirt using the tutorial HERE.  I made the striped bloomers and belt on my own, and purchased the head bandana.

The kids are very happy with their costumes and can't wait to go trick-or-treating!  What will your kids be this year?

Draw a Rhyme Story

I used to use draw-a-rhyme stories when I taught.  They help the kids to practice reading and rhyming, are interactive, and a lot of fun!

This draw-a-rhyme story is from the book, Phonemic Awareness by Creative Teaching Press.  And this story about a monster would be perfect to share for Halloween!

For this story, you draw a picture together by reading the story and filling in the missing rhyming words (those that are underlined).  The missing words will let you know what to draw next.


When you draw a monster, it is said,
you always begin with his head.

He'll be able to see when he flies,
if we draw two bright eyes.

To tell which way the cold wind blows,
our monster will need a great big nose.

Look to the north and look to the south,
now we can give our monster a mouth.

Some up above and some beneath,
our monster has a lot of teeth.

Now, under his chin, let's just check,
that's where we should put his neck.

So he won't be tipsy-toddy,
let's give him a polka-dot body.

If he really, really begs,
I guess we could give him legs.

To make our monster nice and neat,
we'll have to teach him to wipe his feet.

A notice sent by air mail!
We can't forget the monster's tail.

He isn't fierce, he isn't hairy,
but don't you think he's a little scary?

We did this tonight and these are my kids' monster creations:

Haunted House

I will admit that I am not the only creative and crafty one in our house.  My kids can be pretty creative and my husband comes up with some really crafty ideas too.  Most recently, he made this haunted house from scrap wood he had in his workshop.  He built it, painted it, added the details and the light.  It's about 2 feet tall and sits in our front window for all our trick-or-treaters to see.  I just wanted to share because he did such an awesome job!

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Chocolate covered pretzels are my go-to quick party snack to celebrate anything!  They are so easy to make but look so colorful and fun, and the kids LOVE them!

To make these, you need pretzel rods (short or long), chocolate chips (I like milk chocolate), vegetable oil, sprinkles and a wax paper lined cookie sheet.

I start by lining my cookie sheet with wax paper.  Then, I set up a double boiler to melt my chocolate chips.  I add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the melting chocolate to help it adhere to the pretzels better.

Once the chocolate is melted, I spoon it onto the pretzels, leaving a small amount of the pretzel uncovered for holding.

Then, I hold the pretzel over an empty bowl and shake some sprinkles on (the bowl will catch the extra sprinkles).  After the pretzel stick is covered well in sprinkles, I lay it on the wax covered cookie sheet. 

After all the pretzels are done, I put the cookie sheet in the refrigerator over night to set.  If you need these right away, you could probably let them set for an hour or two in the refrigerator. 

If serving at a class party, I will just lay them out on a plate.  If adding them to goody bags, I slip each pretzel into a pretzel bag for the long pretzel rods or smaller treats bags for the shorter pretzel rods.

Halloween Bracelets

I saw this really cute idea over at brown paper packages to make a halloween bracelet out of candy corn pumpkins (thanks for sharing your idea Kierste!).  They were so darn cute I just had to give it a try!  I used curling ribbon instead of regular ribbon but they turned out great.  My daughter loved it!

I knew my son would want something as well, and thought the pumpkin bracelets might be a little too girly for him, so I made some cool halloween cuffs for him.

I used an old pair of halloween pajamas and cut the cuffs off.

I cut some Halloween shapes out of felt and hot glued them to the cuff.  For this one, I cut out a skeleton head and 2 bones.  He thought they were pretty cool!

Halloween Pillowcase Dress

I made this pillowcase dress for my daughter for Halloween. I saw this Hello Kitty fabric at my local Joann's and knew I had to make something super cute out of it for her. I added some cute detail, like the purple ribbon ties at the top and the pom pom trim along the bottom. I used some of the leftover pom pom trim to add to the bottom of a pair of black leggings. And used some leftover fabric and ribbon scraps to make the headband.

She has gotten lots of compliments, but best of all - she loves it!

Sharing this cute craft:

Making the World Cuter    

The Girl Creative

Skip to My Lou

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Sew Can Do

Baby Making Machine

Keeping it Simple

C.R.A.F.T.

Tools are for Women Too

Support Blog for Moms of Boys

Craft-O-Maniac

Santa's Gift Shoppe & Ideas

Halloween Goody Tubes

I've been making these Halloween goody holders for my son's class for the past few years and they are always a big hit.  I love that we can use items we already have around the house and that they are pretty easy to put together.  Even the kids could help make these!  To make these cute goody tubes you need toilet paper or paper towel rolls, party streamers, and a glue gun.  You can use googly eyes and colored paper or craft foam to add the details.

I start by adding the goodies to the tube.

Then, I put a small strip of hot glue on the tube to keep the streamer in place and wrap it around from end to end twice.

Next, I hold the streamer in place and start wrapping it around the rest of the tube until it is covered.  I add one more strip of hot glue to hold the other end of the streamer in place.  Then, using googly eyes, colored paper and craft foam I add on the details.

You can make a bat...

a spider...

a mummy...

or even a witch!

Happy Halloween!

Sharing this craft at the following blogs:

Somewhat Simple     Fingerprints on the Fridge     Lit and Laundry

House of Hepworths     Kojo Designs     It's a Blog Party

It's Sew Stinkin Cute     Chic on a Shoestring     Home Sweet Farm

Fireflies and Jellybeans     Fun to Craft     Crystal's Craft Spot

Paisley Passions     It's a Hodgepodge Life

Life as Lori     Tidy Mom     Punkin Seed Productions

PonyTails and FishScales     Simply Designing

Not So Crafty     A Few of My Favorite Things

Beyond the Picket Fence     Home is Where My Story Begins

Countdown to Candy

I saw this adorable countdown calendar over at How Does She and knew I would have to give this a try!  We have advent and countdown type calendars at Christmastime, but I just never thought to do something for Halloween.  I knew the kids would love it!

So, with my hubby's help (and awesome woodworking skills) I had him cut me a base and two cubes from some of his scrap wood.

Next, I used acrylic paint to paint the wood.  I chose purple for the cubes and orange for the base.

Next, I used some scrap Halloween paper to cut the squares that would cover the cubes.

Then, I put a layer of Mod Podge on the cubes and arranged the paper squares.

I added adhesive vinyl numbers to each cube to do the counting-down.

I also decided to cover the base with some Halloween scrapbooking paper as well, and added vinyl letters to spell "Countdown to Candy."

I sat this on a shelf in our living room with a cute little spider we got from Hallmark.

A big thank you to How Does She for sharing such a fabulous idea!  My kids love it so much I'm sure they'll be fighting over whose turn it is to change the numbers (they were fighting over who would do it today)!  Only 29 more days!

Bottle Ghosts

I saw this idea on another blog, but can't remember where (thank you so much for sharing your idea though).  I thought it was a really cute way to recycle something and make it into something useful.  And you can never have enough cute Halloween decorations!

I started off with some clean, white plastic bottles.  Most of these are milk jugs from McDonalds, and the others are from orange juice, shampoo and drink mix.

I used a marker to sketch a face, then used acrylic paint to fill it in.  I tied some ribbon in Halloween colors to the top of each bottle for a finishing touch.

They even look cute with a battery operated light inside...

These were super easy to make and cost very little.  I love when such simple decorations turn out so cute!