Frankenstein Treat Bags

Friday is finally here!! It has been one of those long weeks and I am really looking forward to the weekend and getting caught up on some sleep!  We are also hoping to get some family pictures done if the weather actually cooperates {last week's photo shoot time was drowned out!}  Anyone else up to anything exciting?

Now Halloween just wouldn't be Halloween without the candy. {I seriously think those little chocolate bars are shrinking every year!} I always love to come up with fun treat packaging for the kids to take to school for their friends.  This year I am making these little Frankensteins for Matthew's class.

MATERIALS

• green cardstock {1 12x12 sheet will make 3}
• black streamers
• double sided tape
• black baker's twine or embroidery thread
• black cardstock
• black glitter
• glue
• black ink
• candy bag {I used M&M's}
• stapler
• circle punch or cutter

TO DO

• cut cardstock into 4x12 inch strips
• score the cardstock at 1 1/2 inches, 6 1/4 inches, and 11 inches
• ink the edges of the cardstock with black ink for added dimension

• using the baker's twine {or embroidery thread} sew stitches into one of the corners

• Stick the double side tape along the 6 1/4 inch score line and cover with the streamer.  Trim the edges to fit and cut slits in the streamers for the hair.

• For the eyes, I cut circles that were approximately one inch in diameter {I used my Coluzzle but a circle punch would be even faster}.  I then drew a smaller black circle inside it with a black Sharpie, covered it with glue, and added black glitter.  Even Frankenstein needs a little twinkle in his eye!
• Using black cardstock, cut out the screws for his head and attach them with glue.
• Have fun creating different faces.  I drew the mouths on with a black pen or used some black cardstock.

• Staple the candy bag to the inside of your treat bag {on the back}

• Using double sided tape, stick the bottom folds of the treat bag together.  I found they stood up better if the shorter flap was over the longer flap but it works either way.

They were fun to do and I am happy to be getting them done well before Halloween!  Usually I am up way too late the night before they are to go to school!  

I will be back tomorrow for a Halloween edition of Scrapbook Saturday.  And there's still time to link up your Halloween creations at The Creative Spark {actually there's LOTS of time because I put the wrong end date and can't figure out how to change it!!!}.

Have a great weekend!

I linked up with The 36th Avenue, The Letter 4, The CSI Project, Eighteen25, Today's Creative Blog, CRAFT, The DIY Showoff, Young and Crafty, Tidy Mom, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Delightful Order, Midwestern Sewing Girl, Somewhat Simple, Blue Cricket Design, Centsational Girl, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Tip Junkie, Thrifty Decor Chick, Home Stories A to Z, Skip To My Lou, Craft-O-Maniac, The DIY Showoff, Come Together Kids, Paper Issues, Under the Table and Dreaming, I Heart Naptime, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello, Whipperberry, Just a Girl, Design Dazzle, Chic on a Shoestring, Thirty Handmade Days and The Crafty Nest.

Guest Post - Halloween Party Ideas

Hey guys!  Anyone thinking of hosting a Halloween party?  Heidi is here from The Craft Monkey to share her party ideas - from food, to decorations, to party bags!  This is one idea filled post - ENJOY!!

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Hey Y'all! I'm Heidi from The Craft Monkey! I'm a craft lovin, decor changin, recipe tryin mama! I LOVE all things paint, paper, mod podge and glitter. I'm always looking for new crafting inspiration and ways to keep my hands busy and my fingers covered in glue and paint! I've recently started using power tools and working on furniture make-overs! I hope you'll stop by and visit me on my creative journey! {And hopefully we won't lose any fingers along the way!}

I'm super excited to be here at Clean and Scentsible sharing our Halloween Party! This party is actually from last October, but I thought I'd share it again since it's time to start getting Spooky! Last year my son was only 2 and we hosted a fun Halloween themed play date in our backyard for him and his little friends.  Along with all the things you'll see here we also created some monster necklaces and put together some foam monsters.  It was perfect for 2 year olds and they really had fun, but I think these ideas would work well for any age group!

Honestly, I had a little TOO much fun preparing for the party.  I found WAY too many ideas and inspiration and tried my best to use them ALL! {Luckily this was before Pinterest, can you imagine all the projects I'd have this year!!} I thought everything came together spookingly well, and the kids had a BLAST! So I'd call this play date a success!  So, here's a little party breakdown for ya!

Welcome to Our Spooktacular Halloween Play Date!

The party was in our backyard, so I decided to use our shed as sort of a "haunted house" inspired back drop.

Decor:

Banners! If you've ever visited my blog before, then you probably know I have a love for banners! They are so easy, have high impact and can be made for ANY decoration!

 

I got this awesome printable bunting banner from Blue Cricket Design. I just printed two copies, cut them out and taped them back to back with a string of beads & piece of thick jute twine in between to use for hanging.  Since the banners are brown toned, with the pearls and twine it had a real cute Victorian feel to the banner.

I paid 2 bucks for this "Happy Halloween" one from Target - ya know, even though I think I can make everything myself, sometimes you just have to suck it up and pay the 2 bucks! :)

Those are Martha Stewart Bats and Spiders you see hanging around.  I didn't get a good shot of them, I ran out of time and kiddies started showing up!

Food:

Had this been a grown up party, I would have used real linens, but since it was for sticky toddlers, I bought fun printed and plain black vinyl table cloths.  The black worked perfectly for the snack buffet because I used lots of colored/pattern serving trays for the party. 

I printed the "Eat, Drink and Be Scary" sign from Craftily Ever After.

I found stretchy mice at target and cut slits in their backs and used them as creepy tag holders! This was so fun, the kids all thought the mice were super cool!

We served Hot Dogs with all the "fixins"

I spooked up the condiments by finding poison templates, Vampire Blood, Poison and Ethylene, printing them on mailing labels and sticking them on the ketchup, mayo and mustard. 

Pig Tails

curly cheese puffs

Witch Hats
{served on a painted, mod podged tray}

tortilla chips with spray cheese & a bugle

Mice Brains

deviled eggs


Cupcakes

{on a homemade cake stand, made by moi}

I purchased the cupcakes and added cupcake toppers

Baby Fingers and Frog Eyes with Monster Snot

carrots, cucumbers and ranch with green food coloring


Spiders on a Log

celery with peanut butter and raisins


And, my favorite

Underpants FULL of a Variety of Poo 
{cat, bunny, mice, etc.}

You should know my family thought this was too weird, but I happen to think it's HYSTERICAL! And you know, if you changed the theme of the undies you could have Undies full of Poo for any type of party theme! bahahahaha!

Thanks to Centsational Girl for designing and sharing these fun printables! 

I added printable labels to all the drinks so that everyday juice boxes and water became perfect Halloween potions!

Kids:

We asked the kids to wear their costumes to the party.  Ya know, you put a lot of money and effort into those darn costumes and they only get to wear it once {of if you are my kid you wear it all day everyday from the day we buy it until Halloween!}So I thought this play date would be a fun way to get an extra wear out of those costumes! We ended up with a pumpkin, a ballerina, a zoo keeper, a lady bug, a care bear, a fairy and batman.

{Uh, yea, I know that TECHNICALLY Batman ISN'T in that picture, but the whole "costume" thing was hindering his climbing abilities and he asked to take his costume off about 10 minutes in to the party.  But here's proof that he WAS there!

The kids each got a little goody bag as they left the party.  The goody bags were fairly simple, they contained some tattoos, spider rings, stickers, vampire teeth, ring pops, a set of peanut butter cup eyes and mini hershey bars covered in cute little wrappers.  The wrapper printables were shared by the sweet gals at How Does She?

And yea, my FAVORITE part of the goody bags, they were each tied off with a hand painted bread tag monster! 

Yep, a teeny tiny monster detail, that the kids will never notice, but made me SOOO happy! Thank you to Crafts by Amanda for the awesome inspiration! The minute I saw her bread tag monsters may have been the moment I decided to throw this costume play date JUST so that I could make and use these...is that weird? Cause it's true.

Well thanks again for letting me come and play and share my Halloween Play Date! I hope you'll stop by The Craft Monkey for a visit!

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Okay, is that a fabulous party or what???  SO many fun ideas!  Even if you are not having a big party, you could always use some of the ideas to create a special lunch or dinner for your own little ghosts.  Thanks for all the inspiration Heidi!

The Creative Spark {No. 10}

Hey guys! I hope you have been enjoying the start of my Ghostly Gathering - still lots of ideas and projects to come! Now it is your turn to share some of your fall and Halloween inspiration. Link up as many posts as you would like and feel free to show us some of your work from last year if you haven't gotten on board the Halloween band wagon yet this year.  Last week was the biggest link up yet so I am hoping we can keep this party growing!




Want to link up?

• Link directly to your specific post {not the homepage}.
• Please add The Creative Spark button to your post or blog {the code is in my sidebar}or place a text link at the end of your post. I would love for you to help me spread the word!
• Check out some of the other fabulous links. A few nice comments always inspires us to create more!
• Follow along with facebook to see if you have been featured throughout the week. I will also be posting My Sunday Sparks every week to showcase your work so don't forget to check back!

So let's get to the party!

Mummy Halloween Countdown

Hello all!  I hope your week is going well.  The weather has turned cool and rainy here.  It is definitely feeling like fall!  October will soon be upon us so let the Halloween countdown begin!

I always love holiday countdowns - they just seem to increase the excitement! {plus I don't have to listen to my kids asking "How much longer?" every day}  While waiting in the grocery store line up, the kids spotted a Mummy countdown in one of the magazines {sorry I can't remember which one} and our Mummy countdown was born!

The mummy in the magazine was flat but I wanted ours to be able to sit up.  He is much happier when he can sit up and look around.  He also has a posable head and arms. And since we didn't want him to be lonely, we created a little "Mummy Sidekick" to hold a treat for the kids each day.

MATERIALS

• approximately 1 yard of Muslin 
• brown ink
• wooden 5x7 picture frame and chalkboard spray paint {I purchased mine at the dollar store}
• wire and wire cutters
• stuffing
• cardboard {the thicker the better}
• styrofoam ball {mine was probably a 4-5 inch diameter ball}
• glue gun
• tin or jar for the Mummy Sidekick
• black and white paper for eyes
• glitter for eyes {optional}

TO DO

• Spray paint the wood insert on your picture frame with chalkboard spray paint.  I did 3 coats on mine.  Follow the instructions on the can for dry time and chalk board prepping.  
• Cut out cardboard shapes for the arms and legs.  You want to have approximately 3 inches of cardboard extra at the end of the arms and legs to fold over and attach to the picture frame.  I folded the cardboard straight across for the legs.  For the arms, I folded the cardboard at roughly a 45 degrees angle so the arms would slightly angle downwards rather than stick straight out.

• Rip your muslin into strips 2-3 inches wide.  Just tie the strips together if you need longer pieces.  
• I started with my legs when assembling the pieces.  Starting at the foot, begin wrapping the Muslin around your cardboard shape.  Fill with stuffing as you go.  Continue all the way up the leg until you reach the folded part.

• For the arms, cut some wire approximately 4 inches longer than the cardboard arm.  Begin wrapping the arm with the muslin as you did with the legs.  Once you have it started a bit, insert the wire in so the arms will be posable and hold their shape better.

• Insert a wire into the bottom of the Styrofoam ball so that you will be able to attach it to the frame {I left about 5-6 inches of wire sticking out of the bottom}. Wrap your Styrofoam ball with the muslin for the head.  If some of the muslin is sticking up a bit, just fold it over and add a little hot glue to hold it.
• With the insert of the frame removed, wrap the Muslin around the picture frame.  Make sure that you just have a thin layer on the inside of the frame so the insert will still fit back in.  Put the chalk insert back into the frame once you are done and secure.  Mine was a really tight fit so I did not need to worry about gluing or using the little tabs to secure it.
• Now assemble your extremities using hot glue to secure the arms and legs.  I then wired the arms together and wired the head on.  

• Not that you really see much from the back, but I did cut a piece of Muslin to fit over his back to tidy up the wires and cardboard pieces.

• Using some brown ink, mess up your Mummy a bit.
• Cut out two black circles, and four slightly smaller white circles for the eyes.  {You will need two sets of eyes.  For the Mummy Sidekick, I did not have the larger black circles}.  Using a sharpie, I drew a smaller black circle in the white circle.  I then added some glue where I drew the black circle and added glitter.  It's kind of hard to see in the picture but it just adds some sparkle to his eyes!

• For the Mummy Sidekick, take a jar or tin and wrap it with the left over Muslin.  Stick in the eyes, pick some candy and you are done!

I have one candy for each day.  Hopefully the added candy will help the kids to remember to change the countdown each day!

The tutorial seems a little long but it actually goes together fairly quickly.  Now I just need to find a spot for him!

Don't forget to pop back this evening to link up your ideas to the fall/Halloween edition of The Creative Spark.  I'll be doing lots of extra features on my facebook page over the next two weeks of my Ghostly Gathering.  The Stella and Dot jewelry giveaway is also still going on.  Entries are low so you have a great chance at winning $40 to spend on anything you would like!  And lastly, if you enjoy this blog and have a chance, I would love it if you could vote for me over at The Circle of Mom's Top 25 Home Management Blogs.  I really do appreciate all of your support!!!

See you tonight!

I linked up with Itsy Bitsy Paper, The Letter 4, The CSI Project, Eighteen25, Young and Crafty, Freckled Laundry, Midwestern Sewing Girl, Centsational Girl, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Tip Junkie, Thrifty Decor Chick, Home Stories A to Z, Skip To My Lou, Craft-O-Maniac, The DIY Showoff, Come Together Kids, Under the Table and Dreaming, I Heart Naptime, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello, Whipperberry, Just a Girl, Design Dazzle, Chic on a Shoestring, Thirty Handmade Days, The Crafty Nest, Sun Scholars, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Tidy Mom, The CSI Project, Delightful Order, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Somewhat Simple, Lil Luna, Night Owl Crafting, Blue Cricket Design and Today's Creative Blog.

The Ghostly Gathering Kick-Off - Halloween Labels

Okay, it is time for the Ghostly Gathering to begin!  Two weeks of Halloween inspiration from some fabulous guest bloggers and, of course, a few projects of my own!  So come on in and join the party.  Feel free to grab a party button from the sidebar if you would like to spread the word.   And, I would love for you all to share your ideas Tuesday night at The Creative Spark.  I'll be doing some extra features of your Halloween goodies on my facebook page during the week.  Now get ready for some spooktacular fun!

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Hey there lovely ladies and gents of Clean and Scentsible! I’m thrilled to be kicking off this Ghostly Gathering with Jenn! When I saw Jenn’s call for guest posters I was quick to volunteer.

By the way - I’m Kelsey from the blogs Poofy Cheeks Boutique and Everyday is a Celebration. I’ll be sharing Halloween crafts, recipes, parties, and printables on both of my blogs all through the month of October so don’t forget to stop by!

Today I made some printable Halloween labels to share with you, and a tutorial on how you can use them!



Here is what you need-

• Cardstock (color of your choice)
  
• Printable PDF
  
• Wine bottles
  
• Mod Podge
  
• Paintbrush
  
• Rubberband

I printed mine onto white cardstock and onto Kraft paper. For this tutorial I am using the Kraft paper label. Either way these labels are awesome – if I do say so myself!
You can get Kraft paper at Michael’s.



I printed my labels and cut them out.





Then I used a paint brush to put some mod podge onto the back of a label. While holding the bottle and label with one hand, I used the other hand to slip a rubber band over the bottle in order to hold the label where I wanted it until it dried.



The end result is stunning – I love the look of the Kraft paper against the green bottle.



Get the printable file HERE!
Enjoy,

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Thanks so much Kelsey!! What a fun {and easy!} project idea.  Try them on other jars or bottles as well.  I also think it would look great with a candlestick stuck on the top of the bottle.  We used to do this in University all the time and they look pretty cool with the wax dripping down {a red candle would be perfect for Halloween!} 

See you tomorrow!!