Pumpkins Galore
Pumpkins say it all for Halloween, and they don't cost a lot either. Carved or uncarved pumpkins will make a beautiful addition to any fall home, as well as fresh clean leaves from your own backyard for wreaths. If you have a tight budget for holidays, consider making a pumpkin patch in your backyard. This could be a great family activity. If you have a lot of space to grow; consider selling a whole bunch in the fall for extra cash into the halloween jar.
Interior Tips
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Hang black rubber bats from your chandelier, lampshade or ceiling fan. Also string them around your doorknobs and outdoor lights.
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Use a carved pumpkin as a planter to hold fall branches and leaves --- and don't forget those cobwebs.
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Set up a mad scientist lab with jars full of vampire teeth, green water (food colouring), rubber spiders, rats and bats.
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Keep pumpkins fresh by putting Vaseline on the cuts you make while carving.
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Set up your dinner table with an orange or black tablecloth, along with a scary centerpiece
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Hang orange and black streamers across every room.
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Fog up your basement and use a strobe light to luminate a dungeon effect.
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Create a halloween tree with mini skeletons, bats and spiders.
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Buy Halloween lights and hang them all across the room, since it will be dark.
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Get a washable marker and write on the mirrors, for example, "REDRUM", which spells "murder" from the film "The Shining".
Decorating Outside
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Fill your front yard with artificial tombstones, spiders, dummies, bats, pumpkins and even use a smoke machine if possible.
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Play a tape of a thunderstorm to create the perfect mood. Ravens and crows, definately help get that look, whether in a graveyard, on a fence, or on gateposts.
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Create creepy creatures lurking in your home in the form of silhouettes (drawn and cut from black plasticweed barrier) lighted by green lightbulbs in each room.
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Make cut outs of spiders, bats and cats with black construction paper.
Tip:
Watch out for street vandals and don't leave loose props and decorations outside. Tie them securely with wire or string. If you suspect trouble makers on the street, then set up elaborate displays the day of Halloween and keep a watchful eye.
Jack -O- Lantern Treat Bag
Supplies
- Felt: yellow, orange, light green, and black
- Light green embroidery floss
- Light green crinkle-texture yarn
- Needle
- Fabric glue
Instructions
- Enlarge the pattern pieces and trace them onto tracing paper; cut out. Use the pattern pieces to cut the felt shapes as follows.
- From yellow felt, cut a 17-x-14-inch rectangle for the bag front. Using pinking shears, cut out the orange pumpkin panel pieces. Stitch the light green pumpkin stem to the top center of the bag front. Using light green embroidery floss, add running-stitch details. Trim about 3/4 inch from top of bag so the stem extends beyond the edge. Cut a corresponding rectangle (no stem) for the bag back.
- Lay out the pumpkin panel pieces on the bag with one of the large panel pieces at the left, one at the right, and one in the center. Referring to the Assembly Diagram as a guide, overlap the panel pieces and add the pumpkin center panel piece to the middle, matching the tops of the felt.
- Remove the pumpkin center panel piece and the center large panel piece, and sew the left and right pumpkin panel pieces to the bag front, stitching just along the outside edges.
- Add the third large pumpkin panel piece to the center and sew to the bag along the left and right sides only. Add the small pumpkin center panel piece to the middle and stitch to attach.
- Glue on the eyes, nose, and mouth.
- Join the bag front and back as described in the Basic Bag instructions, clipping about 2 1/2 inches from the bottom corners.
- Glue light green yarn to the front handle in a coiled pattern.
- Sew the embellished handle to the right side of the bag front, so the yarn "vine" appears to be attached to the pumpkin. Stitch the other handle to the inside of the bag back.
Pumpkin Pillows
What You Need
- Tracing paper
- Marking pens: black permanent and water-erasable
- Felt: antique gold, harvest gold, antique white, black, cinnamon, straw gold, and walnut brown
- Masking tape
- Embroidery floss: black and brown
- Perle cotton
- Embroidery needles
- 7 buttons
- Polyester fiberfill
Download Long Pillow patterns
How to Make It
- Trace the jack-o'-lantern, pumpkin, bat, and lettering patterns from the pattern pack onto tracing paper; dashed lines indicate areas where the pieces overlap.
- Use the black marking pen to darken the lines. Trace separate pattern pieces for the bat, pumpkin, jack-o'-lanterns, and jack-o'-lantern face pieces onto tracing paper; cut out.
- Cut the felt pieces. From antique gold, cut two 9-x-10-inch rectangles for the pillow front and back. From antique white, cut one 4-1/2-x-5-1/2-inch rectangle for the foundation.
- From harvest gold, cut one top jack-o'-lantern. From cinnamon, cut one left jack-o'-lantern. From straw gold, cut one right jack-o'-lantern. From walnut brown, cut one bat and jack-o'-lantern face pieces. Tape the antique white foundation over the pattern on a window. Trace the lettering with the water-erasable marking pen.
- Straight-stitch the lettering onto the foundation using one strand of black perle cotton. To make a straight stitch, right pull your needle up at A, then insert it into the fabric at B to form a line of the letter you want. Pull your needle up at C; continue in same manner.
- Couch letter curves with perle cotton, referring to the diagram. To position the pieces, refer to the photograph and pattern. Blanket-stitch the face pieces on the jack-o'-lanterns using one strand of brown perle cotton and making stitches 1/16 inch long and 3/16 inch apart.
- To blanket-stitch, right, pull your needle up at A, form a reverse L shape with the thread, and hold the angle of the L shape in place with your thumb.
- Push the needle down at B and come up at C to secure the stitch. Continue in same manner. Pin the bat, pumpkin, and jack-o'-lanterns on the antique white foundation, overlapping shapes as shown by the dashed pattern lines.
- Blanket-stitch shapes to the foundation with two strands of black floss, making stitches 1/8 inch long and 1/8 inch apart.
- Center the foundation on one of the antique gold rectangles.
- Use two strands of black perle cotton to blanket-stitch the foundation to the rectangle. Make stitches 1/4 inch long and 1/2 inch apart.
- Use black perle cotton to sew buttons to the pillow front. Pin the pillow front to the back with wrong sides together and edges aligned.
- Use two strands of perle cotton to make running stitches 1 inch from the outer edges that are 3/8 inch long and 1/8 inch apart, leaving a 3-inch opening on one side.
- To make a running stitch, right, pull your needle up at A, insert back into the fabric at B about 1/8 inch away, then pull the needle up at C, about 1/8 inch from B; continue in same manner.
Spooky Eye Wreath
What You Need:
- Sculpey modeling clay (yellow, orange, and black)
- Unpainted tin banner sign (purchased at a crafts store)
- Pencil
- Acrylic paint (purple)
- Paintbrush
- Acrylic dimensional paint (orange)
- Hot-glue gun and hotmelt adhesive
- 10 black plastic spiders
- Twig wreath
- Halloween "spider webbing"
Instructions:
1. Download the free pattern for this project (Downloading requires Adobe Acrobat software).
2. Pull off small amounts of orange, yellow, and black modeling clay.
3. Roll and flatten the orange and yellow clay into ovals ranging in size from 3/4 inch to 1-3/4 inch high. Roll and flatten black clay into small circles.
4. Attach the black clay pieces to the yellow and orange clay pieces; then attach the eyes in pairs. Follow the clay manufacturer's instructions to bake the eye shapes.
5. Base-coat the tin sign with purple acrylic paint and let the paint dry. Write "Dare To Enter!" on the sign with a pencil. Use dimensional paint to apply squiggly lines on the lettering.
6. Hot-glue the sign, eyes, and spiders to the wreath. Separate the webbing and drape it on the twigs of the wreath.
Pumpkin Wreath
Supplies
- Twig wreath form
- Mini pumpkins to cover the form
- Hot-glue gun
- Floral Wire
- Black Pipe Cleaner
- Black ribbon (grosgrain, satin, or raffia)
- Plastic Spiders
Instructions
- Start with an 18-inch twig wreath. This size wreath took 13 pumpkins.
- Start gluing each pumpkin in place and let it dry.
- Little plastic spiders are a fun addition.
- Find wired ribbon in a 2 or 3 inch width. The wire helps you arrange the bow and the streamers.
- Lay a 24" strip of ribbon down on the table. Now, take about a 36" piece and leave a 15 inch streamer. Begin to loop the ribbon from side to side, beginning with smaller loops, gradually making the loops wider. End up with another 15 inch streamer. Lay down a black pipe cleaner or a 12" length of floral wire. Now you can pick up the ends of the 24" strip and knot it securely around all of the loops and the wire.
