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Ideas for Homemade Halloween Crafts for Dracula’s Chef

You’d be amazed to discover that your kitchen holds boundless possibilities for making homemade Halloween crafts. Cook up some very unique homemade Halloween crafts projects using simple kitchen materials. Learn how to make different varieties of Jack-O-Lanterns, witch kitchen jars, and Halloween treats.

Not Just Another Jack-O-Lantern

People display the same old boring Jack-O-Lanterns year after year. Wouldn’t it be nice to create something different from the rest? But first, learn how to make the basic Jack-O-Lantern.

First, draw a circular outline around the stem of your pumpkin. Carve out the outline at an angle you have a cone shape under the lid. Twist the lid off the pumpkin. Remove pulp with a knife and scrape insides with a spoon.

Draw your favorite Jack-O-Lantern face or pattern on the pumpkin and cut through the outline. Place a tea candle or flashlight inside.

Knowing the basics of making a traditional Jack-O-Lantern will help you move on to using different vegetables and fruits as homemade Halloween crafts materials. You can use green peppers for goblins, mandarins for mini Jack-O-Lanterns, red peppers for lil’ devils, and melons for pale ghosts.

Witch Kitchen Jars

If you want to add an interesting flavor to your Halloween kitchen with homemade Halloween crafts, the best project would be witch kitchen jars. Your homemade Halloween crafts materials for this project could be endless.

The first step to do is to simply paint the lids with spray paint so the old labels will be covered. Popular colors are black, red, silver and green.

Next, fill the jars with virtually anything in it, such as mushrooms, rice, dried fruits, vegetable roots, and spices. Fill with water.

Once you’ve thought of a name like “Brain Stew” or “Goblin’s Eyeballs”, play around with your Word Processor’s font styles and print your label out on paper.

To make the labels of your witch kitchen jars look aged and old, you can brew tea bags in just-boiled water, remove, and let the tea cool. Pour tea into a spray bottle and spray on your label. Let your label dry on wax paper. Once dry, stick the label on your jar using glue. Brush on varnish if desired. Finish off by tying old-fashioned twine around the neck of the jar.

Halloween Treats

After you’ve made some homemade Halloween crafts, it’s time to cook up real edible Halloween treats! This homemade Halloween crafts project is especially fun to make for kids. All you need are spoons, candy melt and a few other materials for decoration.

Melt according to its instructions. Then dip each spoon into your candy melt, scoop out and lay the melt on parchment paper until it is cool enough to remove. Cover candy with clear cellophane and secure with a ribbon or string.

Cut out an egg carton and paint them on to create fun hats for your candies. Attach yarn to the hats for “hair” and draw on eyes and mouth on the candy plastic with markers. Use green candy melt for witches, white for ghosts, and orange for Jack-O-Lanterns.

Now that you have these few tricks up your sleeves for your homemade Halloween project, think of other things you can find in your kitchen to create something spooky and entertaining!

Are you running out of ideas for homemade Halloween crafts for this year? Know out how you can add a different twist to your old homemade Halloween projects!

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A Family Homemade Christmas From A Parent’s Heart

The time of year has arrived when everyone is scampering around the shops and malls in a tizzy trying to find just the right gift for that special someone in their lives. The holiday season has become more commercialized as it’s ever been. Wouldn’t it be nice to see more families have a simple homemade Christmas without all the stress?

Just thinking about it gives me 10 fun ideas the whole family would enjoy, especially from a parent’s perspective. Enjoying a homemade Christmas with your children can be fun, educational, and entertaining. Children need to experience the true meaning for the season and I can’t think of a better way than sharing and giving homemade gifts.

1) Homemade Christmas cards. All you would need is a computer, printer, and some sort of card/stationery software and you’re ready to go. I print out newsletters myself every year for the holidays. You could do this or make your own cards. Get the kids involved, they’ll love helping with the various designs. Also you can always have the kids make them with crayolas and colored markers on construction paper.

2) Homemade Christmas ornaments. Decorating your tree with homemade items can be both fun and economical. You would be surprised at how much money you would be saving. Get everyone together (Dads too), and make some holiday traditions and memories.

3) Baked items in festive tins for gifts. If you are financially challenged this year, these would be practical gifts that would always be appreciated. Have the kids help make them up special for family and friends. And yes, the made from scratch recipes are always the best.

4) Croteched items. Now this is more for the Moms of course unless you have a teenage daughter that would be interested in crocheting. You can make various gift items including potholders, scarves, afghans, and angels, just to name a few.

5) Craft items. For this, the sky is the limit. You can make all sorts of crafty novelties, including holiday placemats, stockings, gift bags, paper snowflakes, pine cone ornaments, beaded ornaments, and many more projects.

6) Traditional holiday recipes, such as main dishes, pastries, breads, cookies, and pies. Get the whole family involved including non-immediate members. If you’re hosting this year, have your guests bring one homemade item per family.

7) Photo albums. Making photo albums is always fun. Your kids will love helping with this project. Gather up all those old photos that have been stored in your closet for years and put them to use. If you have a large amount of photos, you can make up many small ones or standard sized ones if you choose. Be creative with borders and backgrounds. You can also use quotes with each photo. Also various quilting patterns can be used for the outside of the albums.

8) Scrapbook of memories. For this you can save special bows from gift packages, gift tags, gift wrap, festive stickers, tree garland, holiday cards, and letters to Santa, just to name a few. Get your children coloring pictures. You can also use some of your favorite photos. A family tree is also another great idea. Gather creativity and imagination from all family members.

9) Homemade decorations for your front window. I used to really have a lot of fun making things for our window when I was a small child. All you would need is construction paper or poster paper, scissors, crayons, glue, and glitter. I always had fun with the glitter.

10) Recipe books. This project can be a lot of fun when you include recipes from various family members. You can share stories that go along with each recipe and also add photos. For this, you will want to use all the family favorites that have been passed on from generation to generation. These are great for gift ideas.

Make these activities a family tradition year after year. You will be making memories that your children will reflect on for years to come and also teaching them the true meaning of the Christmas season.

Article Written By Tammy Embrich

You can find more articles by Tammy, visit Parenting Articles

You can also find Tammy at her Work At Home Articles blog, offering work at home articles, work at home tips, recipes, and job leads.

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my dads b day is coming up but he doesny want us to spend any money on him i need some homemade craft ideas?

any cool home made craft ideas will work… as long as the crafts are easy and the supplies can be found easily.
Thanks

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Homemade Christmas Crafts

Product Description
Usually, after Thanksgiving, people start gearing up for the Christmas season. They drag out the decorations, cut down or buy a Christmas tree, and start making their homes festive. Those decorations help to truly get us “in the Christmas Spirit.”

You could do what most people do. You could go to your local discount or department store and purchase your tree ornaments and other decorations. But how special would it be to make your own?

Making your o… More >>

Homemade Christmas Crafts

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Do-it-yourself Wedding Crafts: How to Make Your Own Wedding Invitations, Homemade Wedding Centerpieces, Videos, and More!

ften referred to as the “most important day of your life,” your wedding day should be perfect and exactly what you imagined it to be. And what better way to insure that everything turns out precisely how you wanted it without breaking the bank than to have a DIY wedding? Becoming increasingly popular, the handmade wedding (also called a homemade wedding or do-it-yourself wedding) is a great way to save money, bond with your bridesmaids or spouse-to-be as you create all the wedding elements, and still have the wedding of your dreams. Here at FaveCrafts.com, our Wedding Craft Editors have put together this comprehensive guide to our favorite homemade wedding centerpiece ideas, do it yourself wedding invitations, how to make your own wedding cake, and other great wedding craft ideas!

Favorite handmade Wedding Invitations:

Create these gorgeous wedding invitations using craft punches and calligraphy pens.

By Sue Eldred for Uchida of America, Corp.

Materials:

Clever Lever Super Jumbo Scalloped Heart Punch
Clever Lever Jumbo Daisy Punch
Clever Lever Standard Daisy Punch
DecoColor™ Extra Fine Silver
DecoColro™ Silver Calligraphy Pen
Paper Trimming Buddy: Straight Blade
Mini Glue Tape
Wedding Faded Paisley (Dé ja Views )
Vellum 40 lb.
Adhesive Pearls (K & Company)
Black & Grey Cardstock
Accu-Cut Die A-7 Card Foldout #4
Xyron Sticker Machine with Permanent Adhesive
Glue Stick

Steps:

Cut Invitation base out of black cardstock using an Accu-Cut Die Cutting Machine and the Accu-Cut Die A-7 Card Foldout #4.

Size computer generated Wedding Information so that it can be cut 4 ½” x 6 ½. Print Wedding information onto 40lb. Vellum and run through Xyron Sticker Machine to get an even coat of adhesive on the back of the vellum. Adhere to the Wedding Faded Paisley scrapbook paper and cut to 4 ½” x 6 ½”. Add glue tape to back of paisley paper and adhere to a piece of dk. grey cardstock 4 ¾” x 6 ¾”. Adhere to inside of black wedding invitation base.

Cut a 1” x 11” strip of Wedding Faded Paisley, adhere to 1 ¼” x 11” piece of black cardstock, then adhere layers to a 1 ½” x 11” piece of grey cardstock. Gently fold around invitation so that each end of the layers meet in the middle of the invitation. Adhere ends together.

Punch two Super Scalloped Hearts one from the Silver Wedding Texture scrapbook paper the other from black cardstock. Glue the two hearts together. Using the Silver Calligraphy Pen, add a thin silver line around the front of the scrapbook heart. Add small dots with the Extra Fine Silver Deco Pen in each scallop.

Punch two daisies from both the standard and jumbo daisy punches. Adhere both daisy sets together so that you can see all petals. Glue smaller daisy on top of larger daisy, add small adhesive pearl to middle of daisy. Adhere to middle of the Invitation Band to cover seam.

Do It Yourself Wedding Centerpiece Tips and Video

Click here for great tips and ideas for DIY wedding centerpieces ­- http://www.favecrafts.com/Wedding-Crafts/Homemade-Wedding-Centerpieces-DIY-Budget-Receptions

How-to Make Pick a Vase for a Floral Wedding Centerpiece

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA_bT_oICG8

Make your Own Wedding Cake Tips and Video

Click here for great tips and ideas on how to make your own wedding cake – http://www.favecrafts.com/Wedding-Crafts/Homemade-Wedding-The-Cake-DIY-Thrifty-Reception

DIY Wedding Cake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBZ1lMrP43g

Kelly Mellott is an Editor for Favecrafts.com and favecraftsblog.com.

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homemade outdoor Christmas decoration crafts for kids?

my kids are 2 & 4 and really want to make something themselves to decorate our yard with. i need some craft project ideas that we can decorate our yard for Christmas!

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Homemade Gift Idea – Melt and Pour Soapmaking

Making homemade soap as gifts can be pretty easy and a lot of fun. Homemade soap bars are great gift ideas because you can also whip up pretty large and attractive batches of them in a day or two and satisfy your entire holiday gift list. I made these as gifts for the holidays a few years back and some of the recipients were sincerely unsure whether these were purchased at a boutique or if I had actually made them.

The process to making these gifts is quite simple. Simply melt the soap base for a few minutes in the microwave, add the natural scents and exfoliants, pour them into molds and let them cool. That’s it! Creating unique names and gift labels can add to the creativity and presentation of these gift to make them even more memorable. Soapmaking purists might use a more difficult process that requires the use of lye and therefore there is a safety issue, but I found that the melt and pour soap variety as gifts can be just as elegant, much easier and safer, and creativity can be involved in every step of the process.

Soap Base…

Brambleberry.com can be your one-stop shop for all the supplies. I have had a lot of success, and have been very happy with their site and products. They specialize in everything that is soapmaking, from soap base and molds, to exfoliant and essential oil ingredients, to even boxes and labels. You can get an olive oil soap base (as well as some of the other ingredients) at Michael’s, or other craft store if you can’t wait for the shipping, but brambleberry.com has so many interesting and quality choices of soap bases that it would be a shame not to use them. I have used their aloe vera base, their creamy and dreamy goats milk base, shea butter, organic clear, a honey base and they even have shaving base, that would make a homemade gift idea that is more accessible for guys.

Ingredients…

As soon as your base is melted, you can add your ingredients. Now there are far too many options to mention here but I will mention a few. As far has scents, Brambleberry carries an enormous variety of essential oils and other types of scents. Again, you can get a few of these at Michael’s, or better yet your local health food store, Whole Foods or grocery co-op. They tend to be a bit pricey depending on the scent, that is why Brambleberry carries cheaper options like extracts and fragrance oils. Essential oils, though expensive, have a stronger, purer scent than any of the other types of scents, so if you are making large batches I would recommend getting a few of the basics. The ones I’d recommend as essential oils are a nice soothing lavender, a citrus oil like bergamot which is a great uplifting, “wake-up” scent, and maybe a rosemary, eucalyptus, or peppermint. You can get a essential oil sampler kit from Brambleberry. They also carry a wide variety of exfoliants. My personal favorites are their shredded loofah and pumice. You can also be creative and use oatmeal, (which a lot of people combine with honey) a light exfoliant like bamboo extract, and walnut seeds, or even cornstarch. You can also look in your kitchen for ingredients like cinnamon and coffee grounds. You can find soap recipes to start out with at teachsoap.com. They also have a detailed tutorial on melt and pour soap making. You can use dyes and colorants, but I have found that once you add the other ingredients, the bars take on an already attractive, and natural looking character.

A few tips on scenting…

The scents listed here are pretty universally enjoyed by men and women alike. I would keep the scents on the subtle side, and stay away from the overly floral scents unless of course you know that the person receiving the gift will enjoy it. When experimenting with scent combinations your smelling sense will often soon become overloaded, making it difficult to sample each smell. A tip that a local soapmaker once told me is to keep coffee grounds nearby, and smell them to sort of cleanse your olfactory palate between batches. Coffee grounds, by the way, are a great ingredient to include in a kitchen soap as it tends to remove or at least disguise strong smells. This is great for when you have chopped a lot of onions for instance.

Molds…

Brambleberry carries carries a wide variety of soap molds. You might also find molds at your local craft store or Michael’s. I personally use just a standard rectangular soap mold I got from Michael’s. Again, I think that the soap ingredients make the bars attractive enough, and have found that unusual shapes might just make them look chaotic and busy.

Here is a video tutorial on the complete melt and pour soapmaking process.

Presentation…

Yes, brambleberry.com also carries gift boxes for homemade soap. If you use these sliding gift boxes, make sure your soap molds are rectangular and small enough to fit. They also carry natural-looking gift bags for homemade soap. These gift boxes are excellent for applying your own personalized gift labels that you can make from Avery’s full sheet labels that you can get from any office supply store. It was fun for me to come up with an overall design and unique names like “lavender dreamtime” or “sunny citrus”.If that is too much work for you, wrap them in some raffia ribbon from your local craft shop, and tie a little gift label to it.

Counting down 100 homemade gift ideas at http://100homemadegiftideas.com

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Five Easy Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas

Homemade Christmas gift ideas don’t need to be complicated in order to work. They don’t have to look sub-standard or tacky either…you know, homemade!

It’s best to stick to a theme and give everyone the same type of gift. That way you can buy in all your ingredients or supplies and set up a bit of a production line.

I tend to stick to items I can prepare in my own kitchen as that’s where my strengths lie. You may be interested in craft or woodwork. Go with your established hobbies and skills. This isn’t a time to be too adventurous or you’ll find it hard to enjoy.

My theme this year is gourmet cooking supplies. I love to cook and with the resurgence in home cooking in the past few years, I know I’m not alone.

It can be hard to find really good quality ingredients without going to specialty stores, and who can afford that?

A better option is to make your own. So why not make some for everyone else too? They really are inexpensive Christmas gifts to make.

Here’s my top five to make this year:

Flavored olive oil:-Buy the best quality olive oil you can and infuse it with a variety of herbs and spices. These always make popular Christmas gifts as many people never think to buy themselves a treat like this.

Flavored vinegar:- Very quick and simple to make. Again, just use a variety of fresh herbs and your favorite spices for a ready made marinade or salad dressing.

Hot Curry Seasoning:- Take care when you mix this up that you don’t get any in your eyes – it’s hot!! It can look fantastic presented in a little wooden box if you can find any at your craft shop.

Dried Herb Seasoning:- This is always the first to run out in my kitchen, I never seem to make up enough. It’s excellent to rub into meat before cooking, to sprinkle on and in casseroles, wherever you’d like to add flavor.

Flavored Sugar:- These make easy homemade Christmas gift ideas and are great sprinkled on pancakes and used in cooking. The sugar adds a subtle fragrance and flavor that is delicious.

All of these have been chosen for their relative simplicity and their keeping properties.

Once you’ve made them up, take care in how you present them.

Spend some time going through the storage jars on offer in your supermarket or craft supply shop. You’re looking for smallish, stylish bottles that you can dress up.

To decorate your bottles and jars use some or all of the following ideas:

– Labels with your own logo and name. – Colored wax seals. – Ribbons of raffia, taffeta or silk. – Straw lined or padded boxes – Add a recipe card.

Always make extra to cover those occasions when you need to come up with last minute gift ideas.

Don’t forget to visit my website for the recipes and more homemade Christmas gift ideas.

? Ms Murray is the editor of HerChristmasWish.com.

Ms Murray is one of those bossy people who loves to tell people what to do.
She knows you haven’t got all day to muck around looking for Christmas presents, so she’s found the best Christmas gifts for women and put them on her site.

Now you can get your Christmas shopping done online in moments.

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Sewing Project – How To Make Homemade Baby Bibs

I just recently became a first time grandmother and have been enjoying the new little addition to our family. I am also an avid crafter and seamstress so I can often be found in my craft and sewing room creating some wonderful things for my friends and family.

With the new addition of the baby girl to our family, I decided I wanted to make some homemade baby bibs. I thought the process would be difficult, but once I got started…I realized how easy it was to create my own bibs for our grand-daughter.

Here are the supplies you will need:

1 pre-purchased terry cloth bib to use as a pattern
1 package of double fold bias tape (2 yard package), per bib
sewing machine
sewing thread
1/4 yard of cotton terry cloth fabric
Scissors
Miscellaneous sewing supplies

Note: If you really want to be frugal, you can recycle some old terry cloth bath towels for this project.

Lay your pre-purchased baby bib down on a piece of white paper and trace around the shape using a pencil, then cut out your paper pattern. Next, unroll your bias tape and cut off a piece of bias tape measuring 34″ in length. Pin your paper pattern down onto your terry cloth fabric and pin into place. Cut around the paper pattern and then remove the pins. Cover and pin the bias tape around the raw edges of the sides and bottom of your bib, don’t cover the neck area just yet.

Using your sewing machine, stitch the bias tape into place and fasten off. Cut another piece of bias tape measuring approximately 26″ long. Attach the center of the bias tape to the center neck area of the bib, pin into place. (note: a piece of bias tape about 10″ long is left at both ends of the neck edge for the ties.) Using your sewing machine, stitch around the neck opening so that you are attaching and covering the raw edges.

You can use your pre-purchased one as a guide on how it should be sewn.

Decorations: If desired, you can use 3/4″ wide eyelet lace instead of bias tape in step one of the sewing, but you will still need to use a coordinating color of bias tape for the neck area and ties. You can embroider a name or nice design onto the front of the bib or purchase some cute iron-on applique’s.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. Shelly enjoys crafting, scrapbooking and sewing along with various other crafting mediums. You can visit Shelly online at http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com for free family and parenting articles or her recipe blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com for free family recipes.

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The Art of MAKING PERFUME – Learn to Mix Essential Oils & Make Homemade Fragrances Last

Product Description
The Art of MAKING PERFUME – Learn to Mix Essential Oils & Make Homemade Fragrances Last Book for the Kindle is an excellent resource to help you make your own homemade perfumes.
We are pleased to offer thousands of eBooks for the Kindle. Click on our Editor Name next to the book title above (eBook-Ventures) to view all of the titles that are currently available. … More >>

The Art of MAKING PERFUME – Learn to Mix Essential Oils & Make Homemade Fragrances Last

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