As the holiday season approaches, Thanksgiving celebrations for friends and family commence. With that comes the need to decorate the house, but it can be difficult finding just the right touches for your fall party. Here are some unique crafts that will certainly be conversation pieces.
Pumpkin Planters
Supplies: A Sharpie, a large fake pumpkin, a ruler, a box cutter or a precision knife, hot glue, a floral foam block and artificial flowers, preferably in fall colors.
Step 1: Using a Sharpie, draw a circle around the stem of the pumpkin that is about seven to eight inches in diameter, depending on the size of your pumpkin.
Step 2: Use the box cutter/precision knife to cut out the circle and remove the top of the pumpkin. The pumpkin should be hollow inside.
Step 3: Squeeze some hot glue onto one side of the floral foam block, and place it glue-side-down inside of the pumpkin to secure it.
Step 4: Arrange the flowers by sticking them into the foam block. This might take some time to get just right, but once you do, this decoration will last for seasons to come.
Bookish Pumpkins
Supplies: A 300-plus page paperback book, a piece of paper, a pencil, scissors, a precision knife, clamps, acrylic paint, paint brush, hot glue and a stick.
Step 1: Grab the book, and rip the front and back covers off. Sketch a half circle no larger than the book on a piece of paper, then cut it out. Line up the straight edge of the half circle with the spine of the book, and use the half circle as a stencil to trace onto the first page of your book. Use a precision knife to cut around the half circle you traced onto the book, then rip the excess paper from the spine. Repeat this step until all the pages have been cut away. Use scissors to trim any rough edges. Once you are done with this process, the book should look like the outline of a letter D.
Step 2: Place the clamps on the top and the bottom of the book. This should keep the pages in place while you paint them. Using the acrylic paint, paint the edges of the pages. Once the paint has dried, remove the clamps, and separate the pages.
Step 3: Open the book to the middle and lay it flat, bare spine up, on your workstation. Place a moderate amount of hot glue along the middle of the spine, leaving the top third of the book unglued, then press the spine together. Once the glue has dried, glue the front and back pages together. When standing up, the pages of your book should fan out so that it resembles the body of a pumpkin. If it does not stay in place like you want it to, apply glue close to the spine every few pages.
Step 4: Finally, squeeze a generous amount of hot glue onto one end of the stick. Shove the stick into the unglued portion of the spine. This acts as the stem. Now you have a unique decoration for your mantel.
Candled Apple
Supplies: A votive candle, an apple, a Sharpie, a paring knife, a melon baller, a strand of faux cranberries, florist wire, hot glue, star anise and a cinnamon stick.
Step 1: Center the candle over the stem of the apple, then, using the Sharpie, trace a circle around the top of the apple.
Step 2: With the paring knife, cut into the apple following the path you traced with the Sharpie. Scoop the flesh of the apple out with the melon baller. Use the candle to check if your hole is wide enough. If it is not, use the pairing knife to widen it, a little bit at a time. Place the candle inside.
Step 3: Wind the strand of cranberries into a wreath just large enough to rest on top of the apple like a crown. Use a piece of florist wire to twist the ends of the wreath together, so they keep their shape. Finally, hot glue the star anise and the cinnamon stick around the cranberry wreath to garnish.
Note: Do not glue the wreath onto the apple. That way, you can reuse it for the next apple. Also, keep an eye on the flame. Do not let it stray too close to the wreath.
Written by Emma McKay
You must be logged in to post a comment.