The following are things I’ve felt have really enhanced my chosen role. Granted I am a bit of a type A, and doing many of these things could be deemed unnecessary , and doing all of them like I do is probably ridiculous. But pick one that really does cut a corner for you, and then maybe you’ll also think to try one that’ s new. I worry that some may be too obvious. I only know that no one told me, so there’s gotta be someone out there who doesn’t know. Of course there were no scientific trials, and I was only deciding their safety by my standards. Try at your own risk!
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October 11, 2009
Halloween: Scary HOLLYween Tree
It was crafty time at my house this past weekend. First we decorated the house for Halloween. As we were unpacking the bins, the boys started ridiculing some of the decorations as “For a baby!” Oops, they were growing up. They used to be mesmerized by the smiling pumpkin with the light inside. The constant sound of the ‘jiggle to the music marshmallow fluffy ghost’ jangled only my nerves. Nope, this year was “ONLY scary stuff!” We didn’t have that many decorations in that category, and that got me thinking. I love crafts. I’m not a professional crafty, nobody would pay me for my creations, but it’s fun. My boys love it too, but their abilities had stunted some of my bigger ideas. I learned that from previous disasters that included massive stains on drapery and floor buffing. Now we were gonna move up to a higher level of difficulty in the craft skills department. Cool. I went through my house, in my backyard, and to a nearby super discount store for the supplies. They invited a friend, and we got to work. My husband knew he’d have hours of uninterrupted football!
NEEDS:- Skinny branch with a few off-shoots and no leaves
- Plastic pot (preferably already black, or make it so)
- Newspaper: That grassy/raffia stuff they sell by the bag. The curly kind in a muted grey or brown works best. I bought a piece of the mossy looking stuff in the planting section too.
- Can of black spray paint. Glossy or Matte.
- Hole- punch or needle or anything to make a hole in paper
- Foam in a block or ball-it has to fit in your pot
- String or thread. I used black thread, and pre-cut a bunch to about 6” long.
- Few sheets of black, white, and silver/grey construction paper
- Glue- stick or little squeeze bottle
- Embellishments: this is whatever you want. I got stickers of only scary stuff: Bats, skulls, haunted houses, witches and ghosts. Then I got more ideas as I saw stuff: Stick -on googly eyes, stick-on tiny jewels, even those corners you put on pictures in a photo album. I found these little hanging charms that fit the theme in an aisle where they had supplies to make your own jewelry for fun: dark-colored jewels, fancy lock and keys, etc. You could really find all kinds of stuff.
GO-TO TOOLS:
Markers, crayons, scissors (I even had some of those scissors that cut different edges-they were great), chalk.SET UP:
First I ‘manicured’ my branches. I broke off what I didn’t like and the bottoms to make them the right size for my pots. Then I laid down some newspaper in my garage and spray painted them (get everywhere!). While they dried, I put out all my embellishments, each in their own little bowl, on the kitchen table. I cut some of the construction paper in squares, circles, ovals, and rectangles in various sizes and put them in one basket, glue, scissors and a hole-punch in another, and one more for my ‘dead’ grass. By then my branches were dry, and ready to be ‘planted’. I did this part for my boys and their friend. I even did it for his brother who was sick. It made a wonderful care –package for a get- well future activity. I sent it home with embellishments in little baggies and a big brother who was excited to show him how.Put something with weight in the bottom of your pot to prevent future tipping. Next your foam, then stuff around the edges with newspaper. Make sure it’s SUPERTIGHT, the foam can’t move at all. Stick your black ‘tree’ into the center of your foam. Ta da! Now you get to decorate it with your ornaments!
Each boy had a tree at his seat. I made some popcorn, and put that on the table. It was a party! When I called them in, they went bug-eyed. I gave them the speech about how politeness was a part of this ‘adult’ craft- they have to pass things around. If we thought about it we could make some great ornaments and hang them on our scary tree. We finally had to call it finished 5 hours later for dinner. It was unbelievable how we all got into it. If you didn’t have that much time- you could just make your ornaments in spurts over a week…..you don’t need that many, it looks great desolate.DECORATING:
After we covered up the foam and newspaper with our ‘dead grass’ around the base of our tree, we ready to make it even scarier. Some of the charms we hung by themselves. We stuck stickers on paper, punched a whole, and tied a string. We cut out coffins and ghosts and bats. Witches hats. Stickers got stuck right on the trunk. We drew a tiny scary ‘painting’,’ framed it’ with our photo corners, made signs with two stickers and a toothpick. We even drew on a rock to make a tombstone. Whatever you can think of that’s scary. Each of the boys was so proud of their tree. At the end we made a sign with their name and date, and hung that on the tree. Now we had a forest of scary decorations! I just have to figure out how on earth I store them for next year!Click here for more pictures.
