What to do With Pumpkins After Halloween

You can leave pumpkins sit around until they inevitably rot or you can turn them into something neat!

"Like what?" you might ask. A turkey!

Gobble, gobble!

Pictured here is a pumpkin that I turned into a turkey. I used a kit  I ordered online via LillianVernon.com. However, if you put your mind to it and hit up your local craft store, there are other ways you could accomplish this. Off the top of my head, I am thinking felt, possibly with wire glued on to add stability and also, poseability! You could also use paints or things in nature, such as real leaves, acorns, pine cones and glue them on...you get the idea. Whatever you use, make sure you use a pumpkin with minimal holes in it, if any at all. You do want it to last until Thanksgiving!

Have fun with it and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Spider Webs on Stair Rails (and other stubborn surfaces)

Noticing a theme here? Spider webs are kind of my forte! Now for a [not so] random question: got Christmas light clips? Before you question my sanity, I can assure you there is a reason I ask! You can use those same clips you use to hang up your lights during the holidays for Halloween! How? Just clip them on your railings every so often and use those as points to secure your webs. You are just giving the webs something to grab onto. It really works! Otherwise you are stuck with them falling right off or trying to knot them all up.

The best part is, you will be able to hang lights from the clips and it will make the webs look extra cool! To do this, hang the lights first. Then, put on your webs. You can also add in fake spiders or whatever else you can dream up. When you turn the lights on, it will illuminate what you did. It is a really great effect and the clean-up is easy too! Enjoy!

Attaching Webbing to Tombstones

Want to give those foam tombstones a little something extra? Attach some webs! Not so easy when they are made of foam, is it? Actually, if you have some toothpicks hanging around, it is! Cut your toothpicks down to about an inch in size and strategically poke them through different areas on the front and back of the tombstone. Stretch a small piece of webbing (a little goes a long way) over the toothpicks you put in place. Do this as you wish, until it looks good to you. Make sure the webs are stuck on well and tightly to stand up to the elements! You can also wrap any loose ends around & around the toothpicks until they are tight. That is all there is to it!

Making an Ordinary Tree Halloween Extraordinary

You need to start with stretch webbing which can be found in almost any store in the creepy aisle your kids don't want to go in. You need to stretch some of it out and test if it will stick to the bark of the tree by slapping it on, smoothing it down and tugging. If it doesn't fall off, you're good. Next, go to town. Wrap it every which way until it looks good to you. It is all about how it looks to you! If you have a lot of excess, trim with scissors, smooth the rest down and you're done! After that, you can add whatever you want to the webbing. I used spider lights but you can use any lights you can find to illuminate the webbing and make it look extra amazing. For the spider lights, I weave them through the webbing, wrapping small strands around their legs to make them stay in place. It is much the same for any other lights. The key is, you don't want them to go anywhere so wrap them in tight and smooth any web you loosened while doing this back over the bark of the tree. Obviously, you will need a way to plug the lights in. If you don't have a place, you can do as I also have: illuminate the tree itself with a set of solar spotlights pointed up at the webbing in the tree. You can also put whatever else you can think of in the webs: fake spiders, bats, snakes, etc. Have fun with it, it's yours! :)