Monday, October 3, 2011

Easy Peasy Halloween Craft - Jack-O-Lanterns

The world shifted on its axis recently and my family has been the beneficiary of the effects!   Seriously.  Here it is October 3 and my Halloween decorations are up and I've even had time to do some Halloween crafts.

This little one was so quick and easy (and had my neighbors scratching their heads).  It was so easy, I just had to share it with you. 


You'll need: 
bigger empty plastic jar with lid (clean and no label)
orange paint (spray paint or craft paint)
brown or green paint
a straw
something to make the face:  vinyl, sharpies, paint

I had some empty plastic jars (mayonnaise and beef jerky treats) that I washed and removed the labels.  Took them outside and spray painted the inside of the jars orange.  (Seriously, I wish you could have seen my neighbors' faces when they saw me out on the front lawn painting plastic jars orange and surrounded by a bunch of little kids who were watching with tremendous intensity.  It was so funny.)

Anyway, where was I?  Oh, yeah...  Painted the jars orange (we had orange spray paint...very weird)


and painted the lids brown.  Gave it a little more thought and came up with those "kid's cup" straws from restaurant kid's meals and painted them brown, too.  (The neighborhood kids were equally split between brown and green...I had brown on hand, so brown it was!)

Let everything dry and headed downstairs to get some pumpkin face vinyls via my Silhouette machine.  (Have I mentioned how much I love that machine?  It is so awesome...seriously awesome!)


 Once the paint was dry, we applied the faces.  Isn't my assistant cute? 



 Drilled holes in the lids and inserted the bendy straws and added some hot glue to keep them stable.  (Careful drilling the holes...one of the lids cracked when I drilled the hole.)



  Added our battery operated candle and we're ready for nighttime!



The kids can stick these in their windows and I don't have to worry about anything more than dead batteries.  Love it!

2 comments:

Tutus and Choo-Choos said...

That is a great idea for Halloween! We might have to try that one.

Erin said...

They were really cute at night, but I couldn't figure out how to photograph it.