DIY Haunted House Hangers

Haunted House Hangers

This craft is a lot of fun and particularly spooky for the kids (of any ages) but I will warn that this takes some preparation time as well as drying time! The first part of this is for the grown ups! Let's start with the supplies! As pictured in previous blogs, I use a lot of the same supplies for our Halloween crafts.

Supplies:
Craft Sticks
Diagonal Cutters
Elmer's Glue
Paints
Brushes
String (optional)
Double Sided Sticky Foam (optional)
Stickers (optional)


Instructions:
First off, you want to line your craft sticks up to the width of your choosing for your house. You can follow mine or create your own! Then, line sticks horizontally on top for the top of your house and place two sticks on top for your roof. Carefully hold them in place while you mark there the roof is so you know where to cut your sticks.

Go ahead and cut up a few sticks to glue to the back of your house (it really helps concrete the sticks all together without using tons of glue). Again, I used Elmer's Glue All which still is my recommendation for the best glue to use with wooden craft sticks!

While the glue dries, start cutting the pieces for the top of your house. As I've said in previous blogs, the diagonal cutters really are the best for cutting craft sticks and please don't forget to hold each side of the stick as you cut so they don't go flying off in all different directions! (I swear, I have over ten pieces stuck behind my china cabinet from NOT holding it!)

See these extra pieces?? KEEP THEM! They come in handy for gluing everything together!

Make sure you use those small pieces to really make sure your house is going to stay together! There's nothing more heartbreaking that to watch your child work so hard to create something just to have it fall apart a few minutes later.

Once glued, LET IT DRY! I let mine dry over night but honestly this glue dries in about 2-3 hours tops.

When it's nice and solid, flip it over and attach the two sticks you kept for the roof. The next step is optional. If you wish, cut sticks to make a window and door (or you can draw one with a sharpie or even let the kids paint one!) Again, let everything dry COMPLETELY before painting!

Ah, the fun part! Painting! Make sure you let your kids pick out their colors (yes, even the toddler). Don't inhibit their creativity. They might just surprise you! Also make sure you have a cup or jar of water so they can wash their brushes and switch colors. I find paper plates work great as a pain palette! For ours, we used Crayola washable paints in neon colors (super fun for Halloween and WASHES OUT!)

Sit back and watch their imaginations come alive as they start painting! This is always my favorite part...just to watch them have fun!

My toddler chose a tie dyed type of design while the 7 year old went a more traditional looking haunted house.

When they are satisfied with their creations, let them DRY! I know, I know...boring! But this particular paint only takes about an hour!

Next, break out the decorations!

We used Halloween stickers for ours (only $1 at the Dollar Tree) but you can do anything you or your kids imagine!

For a final touch (if you wish to hang it) cut some string and use tape, sticky foam or glue to attach the string to the back of their houses. 

All done! Let them hang them with pride!

Now, pour yourself a glass of wine and relax, Mama. You did good! 

Happy Halloween!!

{Sarah B}

DIY Halloween Masks

Need a craft to fill ten minutes of boredom before dinner? This one is perfect! Easy, quick and mess free (unless your toddler colors on her face like mine did!)

I found these free printables at https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/free-printable-halloween-masks-1357668

We were planning a big "Breakfast for Dinner" meal but first, my husband was the sweetest and began to wash the dishes. Sunday's are always pretty hectic for us as the two older kids usually go to their dad's (or grandparents) for the weekend so the toddler is wide open when her older siblings come home! We find that some form of craft and "letting loose" period is the best way to get all of the kids back on track and ready for school the next morning. Last night, I knew I needed something to occupy the girls while Dad finished the dishes so I once again turned to my trust Halloween craft bag.

I had forgotten that I had printed these adorable masks about a week before and these were perfect!

Supplies:
Free Mask Printable (link above)
Markers/Crayons/etc
Scissors
Craft Sticks
Tape/Glue/Double Sided Sticky Patches

First, print out the free masks. Two masks come on each sheet. Then, let the kids pick which one they would like (and pick one for you to color too! Trust me, the kids have more fun when you join in).

Let their creativity fly! My youngest went full on crazy green/red scribbles but matches the Frankenstein mask that she picked. Once they are all done with coloring their masks, tape (or glue) the back to a piece of construction paper to give it a little extra strength. The next step gets boring for the kids to watch so I suggest printing a few coloring pages for them to have fun with while Mom (or Dad!) does the boring work.

Once you have the masks cut out (DON'T FORGET THE EYE HOLES!) then you can start putting on the stick to hold your fun masks up.

I left space (not taped) to adhere my stick. I used double sided sticky foam to attach the stick to the paper but you can use whatever you have on hand! Also, you can punch holes and tie string to make a wearable mask.

When you are all finished, hand them back out to the kids and get your camera ready for a fun photo op!

Happy Halloween & happy crafting!

{Sarah B}

Easy Spider Web Craft

Easy Spider Web Craft Instructions

Children tend to like simplified crafts and games and sadly I've seen a lot of craft ideas that are over complicated for the young ones. This is not one of those! I originally found this craft idea on Pinterest and I loved the idea of using string to make the spider webs but this proved a little too hard for my two year old so I fished through my Halloween craft bag and found that fun pipe cleaners were a much better fit for her and way more fun!

(Yes, I have a huge craft bag for Halloween! Don't ask how many bags/boxes/etc I have for crafts in total!)

Supplies:
Craft Sticks
Elmer's Glue
Pipe Cleaners
Spider Rings

Short list right?! You can of course add anything extra you would like or use string to make them look differently. Just an example of some of the most commonly used supplies in my blogs is below (Cat not included!)

For this craft, you want to start with three craft sticks and glue them in a star shape. LET DRY FOR AT LEAST THREE HOURS! You want these to be secure before you let the little ones start pulling and tugging on them!

After the glue is set, let the kiddos pick out their fun colors of pipe cleaners. I used one pipe cleaner for the middle of the our webs and two for the outside. You can stick to one color or go crazy with three, 100% up to you and the kids! 

(This one done by my 7 year old)

There is no set way to twist these on. Just twist until secure! After your web is finished, twist a fourth pipe cleaner to the back of the ends to your outer web to hang! For a final touch, take one of those left over spider rings (like in my previous blog) and simply put around one of the sticks!

And done! Cute spider web crafts that the kids love!

The crazier, messier, all over the place the better!

(Below: my 2 year olds web)

Let them go to town and don't stick to any rules! 

Enjoy your bonding time and a mess free craft!

Happy Haunting!

{Sarah B}

Spookify Your Home

It's no surprise that I love Holiday's and love to decorate for them even more. Halloween as a kid was a magical time were we could truly believe we could be anybody/anything we wanted, enjoy ringing in the fall season, having fun with harmless spooky family decorations/movies and the best of all...Candy!!!

The time old argument is whether Halloween is an evil holiday has become so hum-drum to me that I ignore it nowadays. Instead, I embrace what I know and that my ancestors were one of the first to celebrate this now beloved holiday. A few years ago, I celebrated by teaching my children some of the old Scottish traditions surrounding the holiday and the fall season but this year, I'm keeping it Americana. It's important to me to not only celebrate where you distant ancestors came from but also your closer families traditions. One of the biggest parts of Halloween tradition to me is to of course, decorate!

I would say the scarier the better, but being a mom of a toddler and two older kids that are a little on the sensitive side (or at least were in the past), I don't believe that's the best of ideas right now but, trust me when they all get older...our house will be awesome! For now, we still have our scary/spooky aspects but the most important part is to let the kids partake in the raising of the decor and to spookify our home! I have to say, my husband is such a good sport! I'm not sure whether he actually enjoys the decorations as much as I do or if he just enjoys the stops, stares, ooh's and ah's from the neighbors but, he really helps out a lot! As a matter of fact, when he's not here I find the kids and I just do bare minimum and leave it at that!

The hard truth is, no matter what we are going through, where we are living or how much/little we have we will always find a way to make any holiday happy and celebrate that we are here for another year! So, below are a few tips to help spookify your home this haunted holiday season!

There's my silly oldest and youngest posing the night they created the "haunted graveyard" in the front yard. They were both so excited and great sports to partake in putting all of the decorations up for the SECOND TIME! The double hurricanes hitting our state made it difficult and we were very late in the game putting up all of the outdoor decorations.


FOR INDOORS:

Try to keep it moderately simple. Outdoors is for the "crazy all over the place" decor. Inside should be kept minimal but still reflect your personality and likes! For instance, this year we acquired my grandmother's piano (that she had been asking me to take for over ten years). We also found out that this beauty is over 120 years old! So what better way to show off its new home than to make it a "haunted piano"...figuratively speaking of course. Let's hope it's not really haunted!

It's kind of a scramble of objects this year because we just adopted two kittens and the LAST thing I wanted was their tiny claws on the piano so the very top shelf is adorned with beloved items and my viola to deter them from climbing up there!

But, the second shelf took on a whole new life when I decided to make that our "haunted piano" focus! I started with placing decorations that I absolutely did not want the toddler to get a hold of! Next, I arranged and rearranged all of the decor several times. Try to place the taller objects on either end and the middle to give focal points. Then place smaller objects next to/in between. Finish off with the tiniest of decor in the front. Lastly, have some fun with those cheap spider webs from the Dollar Tree! Stretch, stretch, stretch those pesky webs until see-through! The stringier the better!

Now for the fireplace (if you have one). If you don't...who cares?! Pick your main focal point for your living room/any room and start there! For ours, I kept it simple. I placed a few candles on top of the fireplace mantle, strung cute ghost/pumpkin lights from the bottom with Halloween garland, hung witch signs/caged skeleton on either side and finished it up with purple string lights which I ran from under the fireplace through the other lights. We also have a bookshelf to the left of the fireplace so why not add more to connect to the same power strip?! A glowing pumpkin on the wall + a string of skeleton lights sums it all up. It's such a beautiful sight when all of the lights are off at night!

After you finish your main points in your room, add a few extras to other parts! For our home, I added a battery operated mummy light string to the entrance of the dining room. So cute and super fun!

I then added a few small bits of Halloween decor and a witchy night puzzle that I had glued a few years ago to the back wall (aka my big cat wall)!

Also notice on either side of the piano I added spooky black netting to my lamps. A much loved extra!

Main room done! For extra fun, add other decorations throughout your home! I added a fun lantern handing from our dining room chandelier, window clings to the back door plus many other small fun items through the rest of the house!

Bottom line, have fun! Don't over do it indoors. Save that for outside! Make it look like Halloween threw up in your yard! Just kidding! Don't do that! Instead, go based on your landscape! Every year we do something different with ours and we add new stuff constantly! It keeps it exciting not only for us but also for our neighbors/friends!

Happy decorating!!

{Sarah B}