Thread, Yarn and School Glue: the ties that bind.: October 2012

Halloween is coming. We are total Halloweiners in this house. Funny that we are actually, as growing up I didn't come from a house full of Halloween enthusiasts. Don't get me wrong, we got dressed up and went trick or treating, but it wasn't a big thing.

However, certainly one of my best memories with my dad as a kid had to do with the hours we'd spend in the basement (relegated there because pumpkin carving always seemed to coincide with my mum's turn to host her ladies group at our house, upstairs was off limits to men and anyone under 5 feet) carving pumpkins. Usually they were home grown. Sometimes he'd carve our initials on them when they were babies, and they'd scar over in the growing process. Once a family friend gave us a pumpkin that easily had to have weighed 50 lbs and was ENORMOUS. My dad was very creative and we'd use cookie cutters to make eyes and nose holes, then we'd nail the cut outs on to the side of the pumpkin as ears. One particular set of pumpkins we did, one for me one for my sister, stands out in my memory as one was fat the other, tall and skinny. I remember them coming out looking like Ernie and Bert.

As an adult, although I'm loathe to dress up myself, I love this time of year because my kids get SO excited. I've always made their costumes, and we've decorated the house. My hubby also loves Halloween, and unlike me he likes to dress up. We've had fun with it over the years. So Halloween crafts are a no brainer.

Again, as all crafts in this house, they have to be quick and cheap and easy. Here's what we've done so far.

Good ol' Pinterest... I found this brilliant idea:
http://littlewondersdays.blogspot.ca/2011/08/back-to-school-fall-friday-fun.html
Shaving cream and acrylic paint? And a squeegee?? What could be more fun. The kids were easy able to swirl the paint, help lay in the shapes, and help squeegee it off. All you do is spread shaving cream on a shallow pan (we used a cookie sheet), squirt paint on top, and give it a swirl. Lay your paper shapes down and let them sit a couple seconds. Pull them out straight up out of the paint, and let them sit a couple more minutes, squeegee them off and you're done!
We made leaves for thanksgiving and it was so fun, that we decided to Halloween it too:

Cool right? Tips: 1) We found we could only use one area of paint/cream for about 2 shapes before it was best to lay the shapes elsewhere on the pan. 2) Squeegeeing is best done in one swift motion- you get the cleanest marbling that way. 3) Also, use unscented shaving cream or your house (I speak from experience) will smell like old man cologne for days.

Today Elio, who entertained himself for a good 2 solid hours while I caught up with a dear friend, needed a project. We attempted knuckle painting, another idea from Pinterest. The link appears not to be working right now or I'd send you there. Basically you have the child make a fist, and paint the section of finger between the first and second knuckles orange. Stamp it down, and that becomes your pumpkin. Next you need a stem and leaves. For this I thought, awesome, pinky finger print stem, and index finger leaves. Easy right? Here's the problem... it never occurred to me that it would be difficult for a three year old to get the digits working independently enough to be able to print a pinky finger or index finger. The problem with opposable thumbs is that we don't figure them out for the first several years of our lives. When one finger is extended, they are all extended. He's not able to move fingers independently in a coordinated way. Knowing really nothing about the development of motor skills, I'm not sure when this will get easier. For now, it took us surprisingly long to get those silly prints done well. But it turned out cute. Elmer's glue and popsicle sticks made a fine gate, and we sang Raffi's 5 Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate while we worked. Fun stuff!

I've got one more idea for Halloween luminaries out of glass jars, but that will have to wait until after next week (darn those other commitments that interfere with crafting!).

For now I leave you with a look at Halloween at our house... happy haunted trails!

Matteo's 1st costume, and still, my favourite that I've made.

Yeehaw!

My dear sister insisted that if
Matteo was a cowboy, Elio ought to be a cow.
Luckily my mum had the patience for this one.
I couldn't bring myself to put the energy into
sewing a costume for a 4 month old baby.

Indiana Jones- he really didn't know who
he was, but knew he had a great hat!

Pumpkin- sewn suit, knitted hat. Easy peasy.

Srgt. Pepper. My mum, who incidentally hates Halloween, sewed this for Ethan. He grew the moustache all summer. By far, the coolest costume in the world.