Leaf Skull Rubbing N Ghosts Wreath

Fun decoration for kid's to make for Halloween paper craft using leaves for texturing and handprints for ghost shapes. 

This was inspired by Crafty Lady Abby's Leaf Rubbing Tutorial http://craftyladyabby.blogspot.com/2010/09/skull-day-40-tutorial-18-leaf-rubbing.html.  The ghosts were inspired by Crafts by Amanda http://www.craftsbyamanda.com/2010/09/halloween-hand-print-ghoul-banner.html

Items used:

• Paper
• Printer
• Image to color (I used this one)
• Crayons
• Leaves
• Scissors
• Cardboard circle from a frozen pizza
• Glue or Gluestick
• Tape
• Pop Tab (optional)

Gather up a few leaves

Print off the image that you want to color. Put the leaves underneath and rub the crayon back and forth horizontally to pick up the veins in the leaves to give it a more spooky effect.

Place the cardboard circle on top of the picture, draw around the edges and cut off the excess.  Use glue of a gluestick to glue the picture to the cardboard.

Next would be to draw the hand print "ghosts" by drawing around the hand on white paper and cutting it out.

The hand print I used for this project was for template of my son's hand when he was a year old.   I used 3 sheets of white paper and got 8 "hand prints" on each page, but how many you need to go around the cardboard circle to make the wreath will vary depending on the size of hand used.

Make faces on the ghosts.  For these just two circles for the eyes and one for the mouth were colored with a black crayon.

Glue on the ghost; I started at the top and overlapped slightly and bent up a bit to give it more dimension. and so you could see the lettering.  On the sides I slid the ghost underneath slightly and and glued down.  On the bottom overlapped the ghosts similar to the top.

If you want to hang up on a nail, glue a pop can tab at the top edge in back so the larger hole peaks over teh top, then tape over the bottom part to secure it.

"Pop Art" Hand Wreath

Use recycled items to quench your thirst for crafting your own unique, trendy wreath.

This wreath is based on the Hand Wreath I made previously, except this is much fuller and hand outlines are drawn on cardboard from 3 cases (24 packs) of Diet Coke.

Items used for this project:

• Cardboard from soda pop cases  
• Cardboard circle from frozen pizza
• Hot Glue Gun 
• Silver Acrylic Paint
• Paintbrush
• Pop tab 
• Silver Bell Ornament made from top of plastic soda bottle
• Red and Gold Fabric Paint
• Ribbon
  

Click on the hyperlinks for tutorials.

Hand Wreath

This was inspired by an hand wreath my son made when he was in grade school, except I used fun foam sheets instead of construction paper to make it more durable as it is going to his Dad's house and will probably still be up come July.   Total cost was under $2.

Items used:

• Fun foam craft, construction paper, cardboard or paper
• Scissors
• Pen
  
• 9-12 inch cardboard circle (cardboard bottom of a frozen pizza)
• 1 yd. ribbon
• Decorative pick or picture
• Tab off the top of a pop can
  
• Craft glue and/or hot glue gun 
• Acrylic paint
• Paint brush
• Tape
  

Place hand flat on surface used and draw around it with a pen.  The hand used of this wreath is that of my 16 year old son whose hands at least a fingertip length longer than mine and we only needed to draw a few.  I used 1 large and 1 small sheet of craft foam.

If smaller hands are used, you may just want to draw one on cardboard and use the cardboard as a template to draw the rest of the hands.   Number of handprints needed depend on the size of the hand and how full you want the wreath to be. Cut around pen line with scissors.

After the hand prints have been cut out position them around the cardboard circle to ensure you have enough and get an idea of how you want them placed.  I wanted to see the handprints plainly, but for a fuller wreath, you can overlap the hand prints.

Paint the cardboard circle with acrylic paint (I chose gold) and allow to dry.

Put glue around the outer edges of the cardboard circle, then position the hands the way you want them on the cardboard.  If you choose to layer the hand prints, start at the top and glue each at the edge separately.

In the past have used a hand print in the center and fav picture in center of that handprint, which is cute for younger children.  On this wreath I used a decorative pick I got for .35 cents last year on clearance for a slightly more grown up look.   I stuck the bottom of the pick hear the edge of the bottom handprint and pushed in slightly, then taped in down in the back.

Tie the ribbon around the pick to make a bow.

 Add glue to the back of the pick.

Glue pop tab to top back edge of the cardboard so the wreath can be hung.  I also taped applied tape over the glue after it dried.

BUTTERFLY MOBILE

This project was for a Mother's Day gift for my son's step-Grandmother. It was originally intended that he do the project on his own, but it turned out to be more of a joint venture as it was tricker than I had estimated.

Nearly everything for this project was purchase from the Dollar Tree and spent $3, as I had scissors, thread and the ribbon on hand already.

The original project with a tutorial was found at

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/butterfly_mobile

Items used:

• Tissue paper (multi-colored)
• Wooden wreath (medium sized)
• Pipecleaners (multi-colored)
• Scissors
• Thread (could use fishing line also)
• 1/8th inch wide ribbon

The butterfly shapes are made by cutting approx. 9x6 inch pieces of tissue paper folded in half with as curve at the bottom and side (see below) but straight at the top. You then use 3 butterfly shapes for each butterfly. My son chose to use mostly one color for the top and bottom and a contrasting color in the center.

You then choose the color of pipecleaner you want to use with each butterfly.

To make the butterfly, center the pipecleaner then fold it over the lower edge, then scrunch the tissue paper to make the wings and then twist both sides of the pipecleaner together to make the butterfly.

Here is where it gets tricky; tie a piece of thread that is about 12-14 inches long through the pipecleaner at the bottom of the butterfly centering it then tie a knot. Then pull the threads up and tie a knot about an inch from the edge then tie a knot around the head of the butterfly, then trim the thread. It will look like this when you are done.

Cut 4 pieces of ribbon about 10-12 inches long, tie each piece to the corner of the wreath in a knot, then pull all four pieces of ribbon together and center them, then tie knot.

Cut varying lengths of thread, tie to the center of the thread on each butterfly, then tie the thread to the wreath. This is easier if you have one person hold up the wreath and the other one tie the threads. We did this with each of the butterflies except the center one, which we attached with a ribbon to the knot at the center of the ribbons.