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Craftykins // Pumpkin Jack-o-lantern Surprise Ball DIY

Halloween is all about about tricks and treats, and this pumpkin surprise ball is definitely a trick-or-treat. Make one for a gift — or make a bunch for a Halloween party. Put in some creepy trinkets, as well as some sweet treats, and children will love unrolling it to uncover what’s hidden inside.

Pumpkin Jack-o-lantern Surprise Ball DIY

Total time: 30 minutes

Supplies:
10 trinkets
Crepe paper streamers, orange and brown
Black construction paper
Craft glue
Scissors

Directions:
1. Start with something ball shaped in the center ,and wrap with crepe paper until completely covered. Wrap the item completely before moving onto the next object.

2. Continue to wrap the remaining trinkets, with largest items getting wrapped first, and leaving smaller items to be wrapped last. As you wrap each item, shift the angle of the streamer, so that you overlap each layer little by little. Continue to wrap each one, pulling tightly (but gently) at the streamer, so that it is is taut and smooth, and the trinket stays in place. You’ll want a pumpkin shape, so be mindful of how your ball is being shaped as you wrap.

3. Once you wrapped your last object, cut the streamer and glue in place.

4. Cut out a tiny jack-o-lantern face from your black construction paper and glue onto the front of the pumpkin.

5. Cut out a small piece of brown crepe streamer and roll to create the stem. Glue on top of the pumpkin.

Have fun creating with your little babiekins!

Craftykins // Homemade Grapefruit + Mint Soap

By Cheryl Sorce, Former Contributor Leave a Comment

Soap making always seemed like a big and scary craft, until I actually tried it. It’s really not that hard! If you’re like me and still need a few Mother’s Day or teacher appreciation gifts, you can whip up several bars in just a few hours! You’ll need: Goat’s milk soap base {found online or in most craft stores} Grapefruit and mint essential oils {or whatever oils/combinations you’d like} Silicone molds {also available online or in most craft stores} Microwave or stove with double boiler Start by cutting your soap base into cubes. Melt 10 ounces {approximately 10 cubes}, either in a glass vessel in the microwave or on the stovetop with a double boiler. I used the microwave method, and it took a little over a minute. Add oils to melted soap base. I used about 15 grapefruit and 5 mint. Mix thoroughly. Pour into silicone mold. Wait for soap to harden, approximately 3 hours or so {or put in the refrigerator to speed things up}, and then pop bars out of the mold. Wrap each bar in pretty paper and adornments and tie with twine, if desired. For 2″ x 3″ bars, I used waxed paper cut to 4.5″ x 5.5″ and then tied each with twine and a circle of patterned paper. Gift your pretty soaps to friends and family! No one has to know just how simple making them was!

Valentine’s Day Heart Decorations

By Leslie Schor, Senior Fashion Editor Leave a Comment

Guest post by writer and stylist, Natalie Walton of The Indigo Crew. You may also find Natalie on Instagram.

Whenever we do a craft project at home, I always try to find a good balance between something that everyone can participate in, and a result that we will be happy to display or gift. Of course, sometimes it’s just fun to make a bit of mess but this time around I wanted to create something that the children could give to friends or teachers on Valentine’s Day. All three children (ages 6, 3 and 18 months) got involved in this one.

Materials//
Air drying clay
Cookie cutters in heart shapes
Rolling pin
Skewer
Glitter
Paint
Paint Brush
Baker’s twine
Scissors

Instructions//
1. After a recent visit to a chef supply store we found a selection of heart shaped cookie cutters and a letter set. This gave us the idea on what to do for our Valentine’s Day project this year.

2. We rolled out the air drying clay on baking paper (for easy clean-up afterwards) and used our cookie cutters to create various heart shapes. Some of them we decorated with stamps and created words using the end of a skewer.

3. For some of the hearts we applied glitter with a brush. Here we used a smaller shaped heart as a stencil. While we didn’t use glue to apply the glitter onto his particular heart, we did with another “spotty” version.

4. We used the flat end of a skewer to create indented dots and then filled these with black paint using the pointy end of the stick. For most of the hearts we used a skewer to create a hole so we were able to thread baker’s twine at the end of the project so the hearts can be hung.

5. The hearts were left to dry overnight on a baking rack. (2 pic options)

6. Using large rose petals as a tray is a nice way to gift the tags to friends and family.

7. Decorative fun. We plan to use the petals to make a kid-friendly rose perfume.