Holidays Crafts

The kids are back in school and a new school year has begun. Where did the summer go?? Up in smoke, I am afraid! We all need to pray for cooler weather so the fires won't get worse. But look on the bright side and start thinking of all the fun things you can do with your kids to prepare for the upcoming holidays!

One thing my kids had fun doing when they were young was painting tin cans to look like pumpkins or ghosts. This is a cheap and cheerful craft activity. All you need to do is save all the cans you want to use from the meals you prepare. Tuna cans are good and so are soup cans or fruit cans. Wash them out well and take off any labels. Then pull out the acrylic paints used for tole painting, in white, black, orange and green. These can be bought at Wal Mart or Michaels for about .99 each. Paint the cans a solid white if you are making ghosts or orange if you are making pumpkins. Then use your imagination to paint jack o lantern faces and ghost faces. Black is good for drawing faces or yellow to make it look like its glowing. A little green for a stem.

As a final touch punch 2 holes in the top of the cans and attach a pipe cleaner for a handle. They are really cute and you can use them to give goodies to neighbors, as a candy dish in your house, or just as a decoration. You can even use it as a candle holder. Make sure the pipe cleaner is out of the way so you don't start a fire!

In the following weeks I will be giving you simple ideas to make the holidays more fun. Stay in touch!