Happy Halloween

Halloween Etchings

When I was growing up my favorite classes for sure were my art classes.  And I think this craft idea came from one of the projects we did when I was in about the third grade.  Ever since then I’ve wanted to do it again.  No kidding.  Life gets so busy that we have to really make the time to do the little things we want to do.  Here’s a perfect example of that kind of thing.

Cut poster board it up into the sizes you want to use for your project. 

Use crayons to color the entire piece of each piece of poster board.  I like putting different colors in patches.  But it’s up to you.  You could use one color crayon if you like to cover the piece.  The important thing is to press down really hard when you are using the crayon so your waxy colored coverage is thick.

Once they are covered with crayon wax spray each piece with black flat spray paint. 

Take a tool that has a fairly sharp point.  Something even like a pencil or knitting needle could work.  But don’t use something so sharp that it will cut the paper.  I used a tool called a burnisher.  Jewelers typically use these to shine up metal jewelry.  With the tool draw the drawing you want to draw by carving out the black paint. 

Ta-Da.

Now, what can you do with your finished pieces?  You could either use them to make greeting cards or maybe place cards for a monster bash type of dinner party.  You could also use it for wall art.

Happy Crafting.

Marcia

Food For Thought:

Halloween Wreath Tutorial

If you like doing Halloween crafts I’ve got a really good one for you.  I’ve decided it’s one of the coolest crafts I’ve ever found on-line.  Well “hello”.  That’s because this lady burns paper to get the overall affect.  She’s totally speaking my language with that part right there.   We all know I have a total fascination with burning things with my torch to see the affect.  I love the randomness of burned edges on paper.

Wreath Tutorial

I did this craft with two friends and we had such a good time.

Here’s a few tips for you to keep in mind if you do decide to undertake making these paper flowers for something like a Halloween wreath.

• This craft takes a LONG time.  I can’t imagine how many days it took this lady to create the wreath with all those flowers shown on her blog.  My friends and I each created about 10 flowers in one day.

• Be sure to crinkle the plates before you soak them in the coffee bath.  I didn’t catch that part of the instructions and my paper plates were not nearly as cool as my “extreme-direction-following” friend’s plates were.  The crinkle makes all the difference in the world of the coolness of the flower once it’s all said and done.

• Also, we used seed beads instead of cookie sprinkles.  Because frankly, if I’m going to take this long to create a cool craft I want it to be something that can survive over the course of more than one spooky season. 

And last but not least, if you attempt this craft do be warned.  It is a very messy process once you start burning the paper.  Be sure to put something like a big sheet on the floor below yourself and the flames to catch the burned remnants that fall to the ground as the paper burns. Oh yeah, and…..if the burned paper lands on carpet, getting the ashes  up without further smearing black into your beloved flooring is quite hard to do.

Happy Crafting,
Marcia