Mini Clay Terra Cotta Pot Halloween Craft

It seems like you can find clay terra cotta pots just about everywhere these days. I've seen them in craft stores, at garden shops, at Walmart, at the Dollar Tree...and many more places around town. I've also found them on garage sales and at craft fairs.

Here is one of the many craft projects we have done using the mini clay pots: 
These one's we found in packages of three at the local Dollar Tree.
We made the little pot look like candy corn and filled it with a few pieces of small candy as a Halloween gift for our little ones. Adults seem to love these too! I even use some of the pots in my yearly Halloween decorations.

Materials used:

• Mini clay terra cotta pot
• Paint brush
• Yellow paint
• White paint
• Painters tape or masking tape (if you want perfect lines)

Recycled Spaghetti Sauce Jar Craft

I am one who likes to reuse and recycle whenever I can. My husband and I try to recycle as much as we can. We have a tote at the top of our stairs near our kitchen were we put all the items in that eventually make their way to the many free recycle center drop offs we have here in town. We like to recycle glass, card board, paper, newspaper, magazines, tin, aluminum, plastic (1-5) containers at these drop off recycle center bins. We also have a composite heap in the backyard behind our shed. And we donate clothing, household goods, etc. to local charities (Veteran's charities, Salvation Army, March of Dimes, etc) and the goodwill. We also shred a lot of paper and keep it in bags to use when we feel like using the fire pit in the back yard to help start a fire on a cold night.

Before getting rid of these items I look at them to figure out if I can reuse them in anyway. Here is how I got the idea for reusing some Ragu spaghetti sauce jars (and one old canning jar).

Materials:

• 2 Ragu jars
• 1 canning jar that was missing it's lid
• Hodge podge (purchased years ago for another craft project I made)
• Scissors - to cut strips and the faces out 
• Tissue paper (reused from gift bags I've received - I never throw that stuff out!)
• Ribbon (out of the dollar bins of left over scrap ribbon)
• paint brush (to paint the hodge podge onto the jars)

Construction Paper Halloween Crafts

Below are a bunch of Construction Paper craft projects I have done with my little daycare kids!

1. Caramel apples!
Materials:

• Scissors
• pencil (to trace)
• Glue stick
• Brown construction paper
• Popcicle stick or tongue depressor
• Crayons (for the little ones to color their creations)

2. 3-D Jack-O-Lantern
Materials:

• Scissors
• Exacto Knife (adult use only) & cutting board
• Glue stick
• Green construction paper
• Orange construction paper
• Black construction paper

3.Halloween creature puppets

Materials

• Tongue depressor or popcicle stick
• Glue stick 
• pencil (for tracing/outlining)
• Construction paper colors: green, purple, black, orange, yellow)

4.  Monster mask
Materials:

• Scissors (to cut)
• Glue Stick 
• Pencil (for tracing)
• Yarn (or string)
• Hole puncher 
• Construction paper colors: green, white, black, orange

5.  Bat with hand-print wings
Materials:

• Scissors (to cut)
• Glue stick
• Pencil (for tracing)
• Your little one's hands (and cooperation)!
• Construction paper colors: Black, white and purple

Growth Chart!

I had been looking around for a cute growth chart for my daughter to document her height as she gets older and couldn't find one that I liked or would hold up with all my little daycare hands touching it. So I decided with the urging of my friends to make one for her.

1. Select your growth chart material. I used recycled old paneling.
We got a piece of old recycled paneling which had come from my brothers new house while he is in the process of remodeling it. He didn't need it anymore and we couldn't bear to have it just thrown out so we got a hold of a few pieces to have on hand "just in case". My husband cut the paneling to the length and width that I desired.

2. Prime the growth chart material, if desired or needed.  
I then painted the paneling white (as a primer) and waited for it to dry. It took about 1/2 a day before I painted my base coat on it.

3. Select your base coat of paint and get to painting. 
I then chose my base paint (a light blue) to paint the background. Again I waited a few hours, until it was dry, to paint on top of it. I painted 3 coats of this paint onto the paneling. You can paint however many coats you desire.

4. Make your markings for the growth chart.
Using a yard stick I made the ruler markings on the growth chart. I found it much easier to use a paint pen (purchased at Michael's Craft Store) to do this part. Though if you have a steady hand that would work well too. I just lacked the patience to do that part :)

5. Select your designs.
I looked at several different designs and patterns on the internet before deciding on using different size circles using four different colors.  I started by locating some left over clear plastic cover type sheets I had kept again "just in case". I then walked around my house and located three different size objects that were circles to trace around. I used an tubberware lid, a candle base, and a glass to trace around. I used a permanent maker to do the tracing. Then I used an exacto knife and cutting board to cut the circle out. I set the circles aside as I was going to use the outer part as a stencil.

6. Make your designs.
I used painters tape (as not to peel up the base coat) to tape down the stencils where I desired. I then used a paint brush with the desired paint to paint over the stencils. I waited again for the paint to dry before painting another coat of paint over the top.

7. Add embellishments.
When everything was dry I added my embellishments. For this project I added some 3 dimensional stickers that I had received in my Christmas stocking last year. They were originally intended for scrapbooking but thought they would work well for this. I had also purchased a while back in the Target dollar bins glittery letters in silver, gold and red. Not sure what I was going to use them for at the time, I knew I would find something to put them. Here was that time. I used the silver letters to put Audrey's name on the growth chart.  

8. Stand back and enjoy your hard work for years to come!

Busy, busy, busy!

Wow! Life seems to have a way of getting in the way of...well...life! I have been busy. Since posting last Audrey has really taken off. She is now nine months old and VERY mobile. It is so hard to keep after her! Just this morning she opened a drawer in the kitchen close to the floor and climbed inside it! Though I haven't had my time to blog about our crafts and recipes it doesn't mean that I've stopped doing them. The next few posts will be some of the recent things I've been making for my family, friends and daycare that I have found to be worth sharing! Enjoy!!