November Line-Up

Just checking in to announce a new line-up.  I worked pretty hard to step it up through the month of October, and am going to try to keep it going with something new for November.  I hope you'll join me for:

Make it on Monday - a project tutorial

Tips on Tuesday - ideas for organization

What's Cookin' Wednesday - recipes

Thankful Thursday - working on gratitude

Friday Favorites - sharing favorite project inspirations

I've never done a theme day schedule like this, but am going to give it a whirl for one month and see what I think...and what you think, too - let me know!  As I head into year two, I'm curious what my readers would like to see more (or less) of.  I might set up a poll for the sidebar.

Don't forget to enter the One Year Blogaversary Giveaway!

One Year Blogaversary Giveaway!

Craft, Interrupted is one year old!  

*~*party horns and confetti*~*

That's right!  We're ending our October Celebration with a bang!  Thanks so much to all of you for joining me in this crafty blogging venture.  I was so giddy to see Craft, Interrupted reach (and pass!) 100 followers!  And it sincerely makes my day to see new comments : )  I have jumped head first into reconnecting with my creative self, and hope that I have inspired some of you to do so, too.  

To celebrate - I'm having a giveaway!

Winner's Choice Scribblet from Craft, Interrupted

One randomly selected winner will receive their choice Scribblet Take-Along Scribble Wallet.  Winner may choose from selection currently available at Craft, Interrupted on Etsy OR save as a coupon to redeem in the future.  New fabric combos are always around the corner!

Not familiar with Scribblets?  These fun art organizers are great for taking your creative kiddo on the go!  They hold 16 crayons, 2 pens or pencils, and have two larger pockets for drawing pads and mini coloring or activity books.  All this in a compact pocket wrap that folds up and fits right in your bag!

Scribblets were designed for easy take-along activity, whether it be in a waiting room, at a restaurant table, or on a plane - you'll be a Supermom for whipping out this cute little number that is packed with creative options ; )  Makes a wonderfully unique gift for birthday parties, too!

Enter to Win! 

FOUR chances to win - leave one comment for each option:

1)  Mandatory Entry: Visit Craft, Interrupted on Etsy 
- then come back and tell me your favorite item!

2)  Be a Follower of the Craft, Interrupted blog 
- if you already are, just let me know ; ) 

3) "Like" Craft, Interrupted on Facebook
 

4) Blog or Facebook about this giveaway, 
and share the link with me in your comment

Entries open till Sunday November 6th.
Winner announced Monday November 7th.
Good luck!

Bride of Frankenstein Costume

I don't have a tutorial for this, but I wanted to share pics because it was SO MUCH FUN to make this!  I used two long, flowy, silky-ish nightgowns from the thrift store, plus a long and straight short-sleeved t-shirt dress from the thrift store.  I bleached all of these, but there are still variances in white and off-white.  Overall they work together for this costume.  I bought a long-sleeved white t-shirt and a roll of tulle, then used some white and off-white tulle from my stash.

I took one of the nightgowns that had an elastic boat neckline, to make an underskirt that would reach the ground.  I'm very tall and the lengths were not long enough without adding another longer layer underneath.  I cut the sleeves off and sewed the sideseams up to the old neckline.  This elastic neckline became the new waist of my underskirt, and it reaches the floor.

For the dress, I layered the other nightgown on top of the short-sleeved t-shirt dress and sewed them together along the front of the neckline.  I cut off the short sleeves of the t-shirt dress and replaced them with the long sleeves of the new t-shirt.  These were later wrapped with gauze and leftover Mummy Costume strips, with some loose ends hanging down.

To cover up the embroidered rose neckline, I accented the front with trim that had been cut apart from the nightgown that became the underskirt, making a few rows of ruffles.

I cinched up the skirts of this double layer dress by stretching and sewing skinny elastic strips on the underside.  I did two long ones where the side seams were and then two shorter ones on both front and back.  I added a long strip of tulle to each of these cinches by folding the tulle in half, knotting it, and tacking it on with the sewing machine.

For the back of the dress, I stretched and sewed an inch-wide piece of elastic across where the back waist would be.  I cut off the back layer of nightgown above this and let it flip down over the elastic to create a bustled layer in back.  I trimmed the rest and resewed at the sideseams, then ruffle the back half of the flutter sleeve and sewed it at the shoulder.

I added a few layers of gathered tulle and gathered scallops from the sleeves of the other nightgown, to create a bustle-y back to the dress, then hot glued a few more pieces of lace trim that had been cut off of other areas.

This costume is so flowy and froofy and fun to wear!

For my hair, I rolled up a pair of black panty hose that had been stuffed with another pair, made it into a bun shape, and pulled my hair up over top of it into a ponytail.  I teased and sprayed and teased and sprayed, but it still didn't get as big as I was aiming for.  I just used a little of the white grease paint to make the white streaks in the sides...white face, smoky eye, scars with black eyeliner...what do you think??

Magnetic Roll-A-Jack O'Lantern Game

I saw this project at Oopsey Daisy and knew it was a must-do!  Make sure you check out Alison's.  She made it with a stove burner cover!  Her tutorial also includes printables for both the word dice and the number dice version.

I made mine with just the word dice, and used a round pizza pan from the Dollar Tree.  I added a second part with a large rectangular cookie sheet to hold all the magnetic pieces.

The pizza pan from Dollar Tree is the perfect size for covering with a 12x12 piece of patterned scrapbook paper.  First I tried to lay the pan on top and trace around underneath the rim, but couldn't really see what I was doing and the circle came out lopsided with a few flat edges.  I fixed this fail by turning the pan over on the table, laying the sheet of paper centered on top and gently running my fingers around the curve of the pan to leave a crease mark on the paper.  Perfectly-sized circle to cut out!  You can see in this pic the circle that I traced and cut (fail) and then the creased re-do that fit right to the edges.  I trimmed off the excess and was good to go!

I used mod podge to adhere this to the front side of the pan, and added two crescent shapes of a coordinating patterned paper for some visual interest.  Then I hot glued black seam tape around the rim of the pan, and added a rolled-up piece of green felt for the stem.  Some crinkly green gift bag filler was a great addition for pumpkin-y vines.  I hot glued the felt stem on top of the vines and then added a knot of green polka-dot ribbon.  The pizza pan pumpkin rests on a little photo frame easel (also from Dollar Tree).

Here are the faces I came up with...I cut the shapes out of cardstock and laminated them.

I don't have printables to offer you (haven't figured out how to do that yet), but here are the shapes that I made... four different face combos of black pieces, then teeth the same paper as the background of the pumpkin pan.

All of these have magnets on the back.  I will say though, I had purchased a set of little round magnets that have the adhesive backing.  When those ran out, I attempted to get through the rest by trimming squares off a roll of magnet strip and sticking them on with hot glue.  However, hot glue does not cooperate well with laminated stuff.  They kept peeling right off as we used the game!  I had to go buy more little magnets with the adhesive already on them.  THOSE work really well.  They really stay put.  I know this, because I had to later peel them off all the teeth and they were hard to get off!

As for that, I thought this was going really great until my little man tested the game for me and the teeth would not stay put on top of the mouth pieces.  They flip off and stick the pan next to the mouth instead.  It was driving me nuts.  So I peeled all the magnets off the teeth and replaced them with dabs of sticky tac stuff, you know that stuff you put posters up in your dorm room with?  You can move the teeth all over, yet they stay put on the face.  We'll see how this holds up for a whole Trunk or Treat event, but it's what I ended up doing to solve the flippy teeth on the chin problem ; )

I covered an old cookie sheet with sections of scrapbook paper and mod podge, with labels for pumpkin face pieces...and I found that mod podge-ing larger pieces is tricky, because of air bubbles under the paper.  I tried to smush them out, but the end result is wrinkly.  I guess I have some mod podge skills to learn.

I also had a little laminated sign for the game and stuck that on the parts pan with extra magnets.  I hot glued some ribbon down the sides of the pan.

And the die I made the same as Alison, painting a wood cube block and mod podge-ing the words on.  Then to play the game, you roll the die and pick a face part to put on the pumpkin.  My little man gets the biggest kick out of this game!  He wants to play it over and over, and really loves when there are two noses or three eyes.  So silly : )

My trunk at Trunk or Treat this year is going to be set up much like the festival booth I did for our preschool not long ago.  I'll hand out school brochures and promote our awesome little school in the hopes of encouraging new students to join us.  This magnetic Roll-a-Jack O'Lantern Game will be set up and played at my decorated trunk.  I think it will be a hit!

Halloween Party Games

Hopefully by now I've given you enough Halloween goodness through Craft, Interrupted's October Celebration, to get you set with costumes, decor (in and out), and fun treats. Are you having a party?  You might enjoy some of these kid-friendly Halloween games!

I've been a big part of our church's Trunk or Treat event the past few years.  Actually, last year, I did so many projects for Trunk or Treat, it inspired the start-up of this blog!  And this week I've been busy getting ready for my third round of Trunk or Treat.  I didn't know what this was till a few years ago - people park their cars in the lot and leave the trunks open in the back, decorated to the gills.  They dress up and stand by their Trunk to hand out Treats to all the kiddos who come in their costumes.  It's so fun!  We decided to also include a bunch of festival-type games for the kids to play.

Here are some past games hand made by yours truly, and among the very first blog posts on Craft, Interrupted.

Skeleton Puzzle Race Game

In this game, you assemble bones onto a board that has a skeleton silhouette painted on it.  The bone pieces are laminated cardstock, with velcro dots on the backs, and they match up to the shape of the skeleton on the board.  A single player can try to beat a sand timer, or two players can race against each other to see who makes their skeleton first.  Click the pics or the link above to see the full tutorial.

Knock the Cans

I made this set of Halloween cans with empty peanut butter jars and patterned scrapbook paper.  Stack them in a pyramid, and use a ball or bean bag to knock them down.  Click the pic or the link above to see the full tutorial.

I've also seen this game used with a pyramid of toilet paper rolls that have ghost faces on them.  What a cute idea!  You could also save up some large tin cans and spray paint them - white ghosts, orange pumpkins, striped like candy corns, etc.

Monster Bowling

For this game, I saved up empty creamer bottles and turned them into little monster bowling pins with felt, pom-poms, chenille stems, and paint.  We used small pie pumpkins as the bowling ball.  This game was such a hit!  For our Trunk or Treat event, we cut an empty fridge box in half, covered the outside with black plastic tablecloths, and used it as a bowling lane right in the parking lot.  It worked great!  Click the pics or the link above to see the original post.

 I had to do some maintenance work on these Monster bowling pins this year, because the paint on the inside had come off in spots over the course of being in storage since last year.  Also, partly because I had put a handful of uncooked rice in the bottom of each pin to keep them from flying around too easily, and I think the rice was rubbing the paint off as well.  You can see in this pic what I mean...

What I did to make these critters ready for another Trunk or Treat was to stuff the insides of the bottles to match the color of the paint as well as I could.  I used tissue paper in some...

 ...and plastic Easter grass or crinkly paper basket filler in the others.  I kind of wish I had done them this way from the start.  Easier!  And the textures show through as funky monster fur.  

I think they're ready for another round!

I have seen other Halloween Bowling sets with these creamer bottles painted white with ghost faces, or 2-liter bottles, or what I was going to use this year if I couldn't spruce up the monsters was rolls of paper towels with ghost faces.  The most fun part is using an actual pumpkin to bowl them over!

Witch Hat Ring Toss

I stuffed a witch hat with a styrofoam cone and some quilt batting, and then secured it on top of a pumpkin.  The kids use glow necklaces to ring the hat with.  The first year we did this, it was set up in a darkened hallway and the kids had a great time with it!  Now we do it outside, but I still use the glow necklaces as the rings, because they are cheap and a great size.

Pumpkin Squirt Out

We borrow someone's clay jack o'lanterns for this one, but you could use regular pumpkins, too.  We set the pumpkins up along a hay bale or low table, then mark a line about four feet back.  The kids stand behind the line and use squirt guns to try to put out the candle inside the jack o'lantern.  You need extra candles on hand for this game, because after awhile they are too damp to relight.  A flame lighter makes things go quicker, too.  We also switched last year from squirt guns to spray bottles filled with water and put on the jet stream setting.  Worked just as well and saved a lot of time refilling!  The kids L-O-V-E this game!  

Eyeball Bounce

My hubby helped me make this one.  We took two big squares of plywood, spray painted black, and stacked them to be thicker (so screws would go through without poking out the backside).  Then we arranged plastic Halloween cups in a grid on top and screwed them into the wood with metal washers to stabilize.  The game is played by standing four or so feet back and tossing/bouncing ping pong eyeballs into the cups.  We might replace the plastic cups with painted tin cans next year, but they held up enough to use again this time around. 

Beanbag Toss

Chicken Babies' Hungry Monster People Toss.  SO cute and funny!! I love it!  I haven't made this one yet, but I'll come back and post a pic of it when it's done : )

Other Game Ideas...

Halloween Cupcake Walk - walk around a circle to eerie music and when it stops, whoever is on the winner spot gets a festive cupcake treat.

Guess How Many Candy Corn in the Jar - closest wins a prize

Sweep the Pumpkin Race - our preschoolers do this one, sweep a little pumpkin or gourd across the room with a broom and then trade off to the next in line.  First team to sweep the pumpkin back and forth for all players wins.

 Pin the Nose on the Jack o'Lantern / Pin the Eye on the Monster / Pin the Wart on the Witch - blindfold and spin the player, then let them try to get the nose/eye in the right spot without looking.  Closest wins a prize!

 Black Cat Treasure Hunt sounds so fun!  Use black paper cat shapes to write clues on, or little stuffed black cats that they have to find.  They follow the clues to a big surprise of treats at the end.

A Gift From Mummy sounds fun, too!  You wrap and tape little prizes into a roll of toilet paper.  Then to play the game, the kids sit in a circle and the first person starts wrapping toilet paper around their arm/leg/tummy/whatever, until they reach the first prize.  They keep the prize, tear off the toilet paper where it was and pass the roll to the next player.  Keep going round the circle till all the prizes have been uncovered, and the kids are wrapped as mummies by the end.

Monster Freeze Dance - turn up the Monster Mash for some fun dancing, and have everyone freeze their pose when the music pauses.

Candy Corn Dash - team members use a spoon to transfer candy corn from one bowl to another, without spilling!

 Walk the Swamp - kids balance walk a 2x4 to cross a creepy swamp of webs, giant spiders, or spooky critters.  I really think I need to do this one for next year's Trunk or Treat!

Do you have a fun Halloween game idea??  Please share!