Pumpkin and Bat Gourds

Pumpkin and Bat Gourds

Something fun to do with the kids around here for halloween is to paint the gourds and make fun stuff with them. I'm not big into carving pumpkins and this is a great alternative.

Here are two examples of some fun things to make.

The Bat: The Bat is made of a little pumpkin. Painted black except for the eyes (Now we did have to help the eyes out a bit because Brother Baer was painting and he is 6. So we used a marker to straighten them up a bit for him.) Once the bat is dried black take 2 pieces of black felt and cut the ears out. Attach the felt ears to toothpicks and insert. Do the same with the Bat wings. Use a skewer to attach the back of the wings to keep them straight. I used black electrical tape to tape the toothpicks and skewers on the felt. And then stick them into the pumpkin. Super Easy and Super fun for kids!

The Ghost Gourd is made from a Birdhouse Gourd grown in my moms garden. She made this with Brother Baer while I was in the hospital recovering. It's so adorable!!!

She mixed orange and white paint to create this light orange color and then had Brother Baer paint it. She then allowed it to dry and helped Brother Baer paint the eyes on. Then just tied a ribbon around his neck to finish him off!

You could paint these completely white and have real ghosts too.

Halloween Sneak Peek

Halloween is fast approaching and making 3 handmade costumes is a challenge since time is limited. So, I decided today to start working on them and try to knock it out early so there is no last minute freaking out on my part. (Which always happens) I figured I would have enough time to mess up a few times and still not be limited or freaking out on Halloween morning. LOL

So.... a Knight, a Dragon, and a Princess

I bought everything for all the costumes yesterday for less then $30.00!!! Now I do need to go back today and pick up a few more things. But for sure it's going to be a much cheaper way to go then buying a $30.00 costume for each.

The Knight tunic is a red tee shirt ($2.47 in craft section) Foam board, felt and glitter glue. and a few left over gems from the Princess hat and the Crests are ready for everything!

Sword and shield are cut from foam board and spray painted silver. Then the crests will be placed on them too!

Cloak is started too! Everything is drying

The boys even helped get into the action!

Brother Baer was loving getting into making the stuff and even decided on how many toes and claws a dragon should have.

Little Baer wasn't quite as helpful. Although he sure was having fun!

Still need to build Armor and let everything dry. But the Kinght is getting done!

Dragon costume is underway as well! Wings, spikes, feet and claws are underway.

Still need lots of work but everything is coming along great.

And of course the Princess is going to be cute as a button. Her costume is started with a Tutu....someone has given me for her. And a hat I made along with her wand. Still working on her top part of her dress and jewels. But I have time. :)

Had a little help from my friends with the spikes. I'm going to glue them together and use spray adhesive to stiffen them to stand. And then line the sides of the bottom with scales. Still need to build a tail. And some other things....It's a work in progress....lots of time. Right?

Princess Hat is made from scrapbook glitter paper, tulle, and foam stickers and jewels picked up from the clearance section of walmart.

Tutu was handmade just not by me. :) It was a gift passed down to Baby Baer.

Wand is a foam wand from dollar store with jewels and stickers added.

So, all in all an awesome way to spend the day!!

Baby Baer modeling her Princess hat!