First Ever Blog Carnival

Welcome to the October 15, 2009 edition of budget crafting.

Diane Laine presents Top 10 Most Followed Celebrity Pregnancies of All Time posted at Online Ultrasound School.

Wise_Bread presents Cheap and Easy Halloween Costumes for Kids posted at Wisebread.

John Eggie presents Personalized Kids Books posted at Christmas Children's Books.

Craft

Rachel Miller presents DIY Flower Hair Clips posted at quirkymomma.com, saying, "Great gift for girls!"

mom & dad presents Kids’ Halloween Costume Ideas posted at raising4boys.com, saying, "Tons of Halloween costume ideas (all of which have been worn by our kids). Most of these can be done as a do-it-yourself project."

Stacie Young presents 100 Excellent Twitter Feeds for Art Scholars posted at Online Courses.org.

Stacie Young presents 100 Best Blogs for Your Liberal Arts Education posted at Online Schools.

Thursday Bram presents Four Free Horror Fonts posted at Desktop Publishing, saying, "These free fonts can add a touch of Halloween to any project."

Scott Mills presents Build Your Own Easel posted at Wisdom Lion, saying, "If you like crafting and like painting, you may want an easel. Here is how to build one that is easy and cheap. Plus, in my opinion, it looks pretty awesome."

decoration

Case Ernsting presents From Coffee Tables to Coffee Tins : A Brief History of Collecting Coffee Memorabilia posted at Home and Decor, saying, "This post takes a quick look at the timeless hobby of collecting coffee memorabilia. Coffee has been a cheap staple of our day to day lives throughout the centuries and it has evolved in its presentation and availability. You can learn much from the history of coffee memorabilia so take a look and let us know your thoughts."

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Stocking Spider Egg Sack Decoration

1817413028_1f8cc85f3c_b
Originally uploaded by choppercabra666

If you have some left over white stockings, batting, and plastic spiders, you can make these. They look so gross, but they are so cute. How easy is that and most moms have these spiders all over the house because our kids bring them home from every party this time of year. This is definitely an original craft.

Witch Parking Sign

Witch Parking
Originally uploaded by Starry_Delight

I love this. I think I am going to make one for my house. Maybe put it on my garage door, or on my house.

Halloween Cookie Variety

Halloween Cookie Variety
Originally uploaded by gensler97

I have always had a hard time buying cookies. My Grandmother and Mother were great bakers, so there was little reason to buy it when you could make it yourself. When I was a little girl once in a while my mom would buy me and my brother these smiley face cookies at the local bakery in our mall. They were so delicious. I have always wanted to make good sugar cookies, but did not know how to.

After getting this great recipe for sugar cookies I started to make them, but did not know how to decorate them. For years I made them and they were o.k., but they were not stackable at all. After research I learned to decorate these kinds of cookies. I am not a great artist, but they are definitely neat. I have discovered the layered cookies that look 3-D, and have the most fun with them now.

It is just a hobby, but I sell a few hundred every year at Christmas time. I make a few Cookie Bouquets for gifts or to sell. It's a lot of fun to make these for teachers and friends. My family no longer loves to eat them, but they love to give them to others. I hope some day they will learn to make them and pass them on to their kids.

Pumpkin Carving

I love taking my kids to a harvest their own pumpkin during the fall at a farm. My favorites have orchards and bakeries. I love apple cider donuts. At the end of a friendly visit to most Pumpkin Patches you can spend $50 and come away with 5 pumpkins and a few guords. There has to be an easier way to do this and a cheaper way.

Today while I was at the local grocery store I was reading their prices for pumpkins. The sizes are what I would buy at the farms, yet the prices are so much less. If you don't need to spend the day at a pumpkin patch I would recommend checking out your local grocery store. They really are not that bad. Then maybe if you still want to visit the farm, go and enjoy but skip the overpriced pumpkins. Someone else is going to buy them, don't worry.

This article isn't really about crafting, but that is for my next article. On-line resources for pumpkin carving kits.

Milk Jug Ghosts

10/07/07 - Decorating
Originally uploaded by Wicked Stepmom

If you are looking for cheap ghosts to fill up your graveyard, then you should consider these milk jub ghosts. What fun your kids would have decorating these fun faces. Fill them with christmas lights and stick them in your yard around your tombstones.

Halloween School Party Planning

We have just started to look at ideas for a Kindergarten Halloween Party. There are two of us who are working together to come up with a great party for our kid's class, but we want to keep the budget as cheap as possible. We only have so much to spend and so far we only have 4 volunteers to donate items and help for the parties. I have learned in past years you can make a great party for less than 20 dollars, but you have to be very creative.

We are looking at crafts that are made out of recycled or cheap materials. The kids honestly do not care what we make. Most parents do not care, but it should be memorable in some way. One idea I have found is Alien Masks. To make them a little easier for the kids we can make masks in general. We can use items we all have laying around the house to decorate. We can even use egg cartons to make the tips of the antennas.

Another idea I like is have the kids make their own treats. My friend thought it would be cute to have the kids create their own scary monster cupcakes. Or we can have the kids decorate a bag to look like a pumpkin, fill it with popcorn, and twist the top to look like a pumpkin stem.

No matter what we decide to do for the kids, they will love it. I hope I have inspired someone to save a little money and enjoy a fun filled afternoon with their child's class.

The graveyard

The graveyard
Originally uploaded by jeanlaredo

I love these tombstones with cute little sayings. My favorite is, "See I told you I was sick." I am going to try and make these for out home, but with leftover wood.

Frankenstein Cupcake Single

Frankenstein Cupcake Single
Originally uploaded by alachia

Scary Spider Spinning a Web

Scary Spider Spinning a Web
Originally uploaded by bon_here

This paper plate craft is very inexpensive for a classroom project. the web can be drawn on by the kids or painted with a marble technique. I think black markers would be the best thing to use at school since it dries fast. The spider can be made with an egg carton and pipe cleaners and googly eyes. That is not what they used here, but I am trying to keep every cheap!!

Halloween Cookie Variety

Halloween Cookie Variety
Originally uploaded by gensler97

These cookies are all my own creations, though some of the ideas have been borrowed from other cookie decorators. One day I decided I needed to learn how to make these cookies. I had grown up with this cute little bakery in our mall and had always gotten a decorated sugar cookie when my mom took me there. I had never been able to make a good sugar cookie until a friend of mine gave me a recipe. It was so much better than I had ever had. I made these for years with just canned frosting or powdered sugar and water. Until i decided to research it and sample icing after icing.

My final product is a combination royal icing and glaze. It leaves a shiny coat on the icing, but it still hardens up enough to stack them. Though my family has grown tired of eating cookies, they still love to see and share my creations with their friends.

My favorite cookies to make are the mummies and the layered scene cookies.

Halloween Candy Favors

Halloween Candy Favors
Originally uploaded by callista1172

I am going to try these out for Halloween. I don't have a lot of Halloween paper, but I do have a lot of craft paper laying around the house. I am not sure what i will fill these with, but these might be what I give out for Halloween. We live in a dead end, so I won't have to make too many, but I like to make my treats special. If I had to give out a hundred or more I wouldn't bother, but since I give out less than 20 each year I can add a little something special to them. I am going to fill them with mini candies that are all individually wrapped. Nothing like candy corn or any other loose candy.

When I am done I will post a picture.

Jack-o-lantern game

Jack-o-lantern game
Originally uploaded by hII!H

Pin the tale on the donkey is a popular party game, but nowadays it can be adapted to any theme or party. This pumpkin game would be a lot of fun for the kids to play. As well as money saving for me since I can't afford to spend a lot of money for each party.

Halloween Crafts

Halloween Crafts
Originally uploaded by Miss Retro Modern

I love this black cat. In this picture it is made from a clay pot painted black, but I think you could make it out of a black paper cup also. You could use a black pom for the head, or make a head with black yarn.

The tree is also a cute craft to make with your kids. They can come up with different ideas for ornaments. The ghosts are always cute made from tissue paper or kleenex.

I am feeling more motivated with every picture I find.

Spider Egg Sack

1817413028_1f8cc85f3c_b
Originally uploaded by choppercabra666

This spider egg sack is made out of a old stocking, stuffing and plastic spiders. Talk about creepy looking. I hate spiders and if I saw this at a friends house I would definitely not want to go to their door. I have been looking for ideas to decorate my house on the cheap. I hope this works!

Halloween Can Windchimes

Halloween can windchimes
Originally uploaded by ShanBlan

I am room mom at my child's school and have been looking for recycle crafts that we could make at school parties. This is one I found that I I won't be using at school, but might make one at home. I love this windchime. How simple it is and how adorable it is. I might make one with my kids just to make it. I have never had a windchime and this might be a cute sound to hear outside out house this Halloween. Tin cans banging around sounds like the perfect Halloween sound.

Halloween Pumpkin Treat Bags

halloween treat bags
Originally uploaded by craftylikeafox

I have been searching for new ideas for Halloween and thought these bags would be great to put popcorn into for a Halloween Party. Of course these bags can be done in brown and orange, but I think the black is very cute and shockingly different.

These would also be a cute craft for the kids to make. The kids could fill with candy, popcorn, carmel corn, trail mix, or anything you can think of.