Halloween Witch Crafts

This week I knew I wanted to make a few more crafts with the Halloween items in my craft stash.    Well one craft lead to another craft, which lead to an idea for my entire porch for Halloween.  

I pulled out black cat, purple ribbon, a shiny purple witch broom (that really reflects sunlight!) and a wreath form. All of these items I had bought at the dollar store awhile back.  I knew they would make a good wreath for the front door, and since they were dollar store items, it would be okay to be out in the elements without worry they would get ruined.  I put the wreath together, and then hung it on the front door.  

I then pulled out a paper mache witch hat that I recently bought at the craft store and painted it black.  I used some of the leftover ribbon from my wreath and strips of tulle to decorate it.  

I thought the witch hat would be a fun way to decorate a pumpkin if we do not end up carving all of them.  

Then it hit me..  With the black cat wreath, and the witch pumpkin hat, I unintentionally had a theme going.  I have many other witch items in my boxes of  Halloween decor such as a large plastic cauldron, a few standing black cats, and a witch broom. I think even have some Wizard of Oz witch legs somewhere. I also have a 2-3 foot standing painted witch that painted many years ago in a tole painting class.  This year for Halloween, I am going to do my entire porch in the witch theme.  I don't like super scary, as I don't like to scare the little ones,so the witches won't be too wicked.  I am pretty excited now as my easy Halloween Witch Crafts have started something much bigger..  Stay tuned..  

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The Pumpkin Gang are Back

If you are a newer follower, you might not know about my pumpkin gang that I designed last year  using dollar store pumpkins.  Even though it is still August  and I am  NOT thinking about Halloween yet,  I am posting this because you need to start watching for the dollar store pumpkins NOW. The last time I was in the dollar store they were adding their fall line, and these pumpkins sell out fast.

I plan on adding to the pumpkin gang this year, and have a few ideas.  Here are the links to my old posts, so you can see how to make  last year's pumpkins.

I actually used a white pumpkin for the Vampire that I had bought on clearance from the craft store the year before. I wasn't sure what to do with it, until I saw a Vampire party in a magazine.   I really like Vampy, and I am partial to him.   You can see how to make him, HERE.

The next pumpkin I made was the Mummy.   His eyes, gauze and pipe cleaners are also from the dollar store.    You can see how to make Mr. Mummy HERE.

Frankenpumpkin was the next one to join the gang.  He was pretty simple to make with just paint and google eyes.  You can see how to make Frankenpumpkin HERE.

 Another one of our favorites was our black cat. There are a couple of ways you can make black depending on how you want him to looks.   With his big eyes and white whiskers, he is definitely on the cute side.

If you add black felt eyelids and black pipecleaner whiskers (which I did not have or they so would have been on his face), he has a different look.   You can see how I made the black cat HERE.

The last on to join the gang was Witchipoo.  Her hair is made from a boa that I also bought at the dollar store.  I used some scrap felt for her hat, and some painted clay for her nose. You can see how to make her HERE.

Stay tuned to see who joins the gang this year!

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Witch Pumpkin

I just finished my last themed pumpkin for this year.  I have a few more ideas, but I am saving them for next years line. =)    My witch pumpkin needed a few extras that the other pumpkins did not.  I already had clay on hand to make the nose.  I used a 1/4 of a Scultpy block, which is about $1.99 regular price at the craft store.  (I always buy mine on sale for about $1.)  I picked up the purple boa at the dollar store.  I used black felt to make the hat.   If you have black felt, a piece for about .29 should be just fine.

** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links

I started by painting the pumpkin a medium color green, and once dried glued on the dollar store google eyes. 

I formed the nose out of the Sculpty clay. I had a hard time finding a shape that I really like and changed my mine a few times.  You can bake the nose to set it, following the package directions, but I did not.  You can use glue or toothpicks to attach the nose to the pumpkin. If you are baking it though, you will not be able to add the toothpicks once it hardens.  I just formed mine to the pumpkin and it stuck.  I am not sure if it will stay that way. So far, so good though.   Once I was relatively happy with the nose, I painted it the same color green as the rest of the pumpkin. 

I used straight pins to hold the boa in place on the pumpkin.  I did not glue it on because glue and feathers make a huge mess.  I also was not sure if I wanted to make the hair permanent because I might change it later on.  

To make the hat, I cut two felt circles about 3 inches across. One will be used for the base, the other for the cone. 

To make the cone, I cut a slit in one of the circles from the edge to the center. 

I started folding over the circle. One fold was not enough though, it would make the cone too wide. 

I folded it over again and got the shape I wanted.  Using a needle and thread, I stitched up the folded edge.

I then stitched the cone to the base of the hat. 

To attach the hat to the witch,  I pushed toothpicks into the cone portion of the hat. 

I attached the hat, but pushing the toothpicks into the pumpkin.  I then painted on a half smile and tooth. 

Here is the entire gang!

Update: The Dollar Tree craft foam pumpkins are now available online at DollarTree.com.  They are available in orange and white and in smaller quantities. 

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