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Save those old paint cans, coffee cans or
other tin or aluminum cans to create Halloween luminaries. Just follow these
simple steps: First fill the cans with ice and water
and put them in the freezer until the water freezes into a solid block. While
the cans are in the freezer, either draw a design or find one in a craft book
to use as a template.
Place the frozen can on a towel to help
steady it, and use a small hammer and a nail-setter to make holes along the
outside of the design (figure C).
Create a centerpiece with an autumn
theme, using miniature gourds and pumpkins that can be found at a local
grocery store or farmer's market (figure E). Candy corn and small terra-cotta pots
combine to make festive Halloween candleholders (figure F).
Gourds too small to carve can also be
turned into candleholders. Remove the stem and carve out a hole large enough
to hold a tall candle or votive candle. Make several and arrange them as a
centerpiece or line them up on the porch. While transforming a pumpkin into a
horse-drawn coach might be too ambitious a project, it's easy to turn one into
a homemade vase. Here's how: Find the roundest pumpkin possible,
cut off the top and scoop out the insides. Using a plastic container that fits
easily inside the pumpkin, put a cube of floral foam inside the container,
and wet it with enough water to make a small pool at the bottom of the
container. Arrange flowers, dried leaves and
berries to create the desired look. These would be great centerpieces for a
table. Instead of cleaning up cobwebs, create
them for the holiday. A spider web--complete with a resident--is the perfect
decoration for a large picture window, doorway or wall. Take a roll of white yarn and begin by
making a cross, fastening the yarn to the perimeter of the area to be
covered. Attach the yarn in diagonals over the
cross. Tie the yarn in the middle of the cross, moving out and around in a
circle, securing with a knot each time the yarn passes over the cross or a
diagonal. Make a spider with pipe cleaners for
legs and a pine cone for the body. Spider eyes can be made with
mini-marshmallows that are painted yellow and inserted into the pine cone.
Even the best Halloween display can be
made better with sound effects. Buy a compact disc of spooky sound effects and
set the stereo for continuous repeat play, or record an effects tape at home
on cassette. Just yell, scream, and beat on a piano if one's available.
Connect a small, battery-powered tape player to a miniature speaker and put
both inside an artificial jack-o'-lantern along with a flashlight. |
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L. Sharp
Designed Website
2000 - 2008
All stories, information, pictures (so that means ALL content of this website)
can not be reproduced or borrowed without permission.
Partnered with:
When
the water melts, add some sand to the can to weight it down and put a candle
inside to create a scary glowing Halloween decoration (figure D).
Fill a glass vase with the tiny gourds, and arrange twigs, cattails and other
fall plants in the vase. Collect leaves, stems and other plant material from
the yard, or buy some from a florist. 
Decorate
the pots with markers and paints in Halloween hues. Place a tall candle in
each pot and pour in the candy corn to create a steady base. 
Get
the children involved in making fun, inexpensive Halloween streamers. Take
craft paper in various holiday colors and use scissors to cut one-inch strips
almost through the paper. Turn the paper around, and repeat the process only
this time cut through the center of the previously cut strips (figure G).
Hang them around the house and group different colors together for a festive
display (figure H) .
