Featuring colorist Ronda Francis
Ooooo!! It's almost October, that spooky time of year. Trick or treating and Jack o'lanterns abound.
Kids love this chilling time of year so every weekend of October we will post a creepy craft for kids.
This weeks craft is Adorable Apparitions. What you will need for this cute craft is:
Mod Podge fabric stiffener (Buy here)
Cheese cloth
A bowl
Balloons
Wine glasses or other cups or containers to hold the balloons
Scissors
A small amount of black felt or a black marker or Sharpie
First blow up as many balloons as you will make into ghosts
Insert them into the glasses so they are about halfway in, and popping out of the top. You will be resting the damp cheese cloth on these balloons so make sure they are blown up enough that they will not sink into the glasses. Tuck the knot into the side so you don't get a bulgy ghost.
Cut the cheese cloth into thick strips, about 3 or 4 inches wide. Make the bottoms of the strips uneven. This makes for a spookier ghost. If you are going for cuter use more of a square shape rounded off at the bottom.
Pour some Mod Podge fabric stiffener into a small bowl, and dilute a bit with water. Now dip the strips of cheese cloth into the Modge Podge, and wring until slightly damp.
Place one strip over the top of a balloon with the ends hanging spookily down, then place another strip criss-cross over the top, the ends hanging down also. Set aside to dry.
Repeat on the other balloons.
When they are dry to the touch, you can glue some little black pieces of felt for eyes, or use black markers or googly eyes from the craft store.
Now take a pin and pop the balloons, and remove them carefully from the bottom. Thread a bit of fishing wire or floss through the tops of their heads and Voila! You have a happy little family of spooky ghosts.
You can hang them anywhere, but I will be painting a branch black and adding them as the season goes on to make a Haunted Halloween tree. (I'll show you next weekend.)
Show me your ghosts! I'd love to post them.
Happy Haunting!
The craft next Friday will be Pet Ghosts--see you then for more spooky fun.
xo
A wise person once told me just do it, you never know what will come of it.
I heard those words as a young person, and they stuck.
Yes, we should make the most out of every situation and try and look to the bright side, but I'm talking about looking at more than just one side of the thing you are doing.
For instance, yesterday I went to a conference/meeting of illustrators in Pennsylvania. Needless to say, I did not want to go. I was tired, a bit under the weather, behind in every chore, and just a little crabby. But I paid for it, and I went.
The conference was actually great, but there was another side to it that was also great.
The event was located in the middle of a farm that was surrounded by cornfields. Reminded me a bit of New Hampshire. It was overcast, and a storm was brewing in the distance. Some of the dilapidated buildings on the premises looked ominous. It was the perfect setting for a horror story, and the perfect setting for taking pictures.
Although bucolic and lovely in spots, the other areas could have been straight out of Night of the Living Dead, so I snapped away.
I did not have a camera, so I used my iPhone.
Look for the funny within the serious, the hidden within the obvious, the emotional withing the stoic, or the love within the hate.
To me there are many sides to every moment.
Look for them--they are many times better than the obvious.
xo
