Craft Solutions

Don’t just buy those store bought plastic pumpkins, this year start a new tradition. You or your child can make their own unique trick or treat bag.  Let your kids decorate a plain paper grocery sack (with handles). They can use cut-outs, markers, paint, and many other craft supplies to make the perfect bag. They can even customize it to match their costume.  For older children, use a pillowcase and let them sew on accents to make a bag that suits their own personal style and costume.

Here are some other ideas to help you create a fun Halloween trick or treat bag this year.

• Pillowcase Trick-or-Treat Bags
• Trick-or-Treat Bags
  These spooky Trick-or-Treat bags from hersheys.com are easy and fun to make
• Jack-o’-Lantern Bag
• Ghost Bag
• Spider Bag
• Haunted Tree Bag
• Sewing a Halloween treat bag
• Trick Or Treat Loot Bag
• Holiday Tote Bag

Need a bag quick? Try these Free Printable Treat Bags

• Witch Design Halloween Treat Favor Bag
• Pumpkin Design
• Costume Party Design
• Tombstone Design
• Blank Bag Template

Check out these new projects just added to our project web site directory.

• The Witch And The Full Moon
  A gorgeous Halloween greeting card making idea of a witch riding off on her broomstick, into the night with a full moon. An intermediate card making idea.

• ”Have A Spooky Halloween!” Said The Friendly Ghost
  A fun Halloween card with a friendly ghost design. Check out the 3-D bat! Great to give to kids. An intermediate card making idea. Ready to make some cards?

• Jack-O”-Lantern Pumpkin Collage
  A card making idea of a Jack-o”-Lantern pumpkin collage with ”Happy Halloween!” backing paper. An easy card making idea that’’s perfect for Halloween!

Every year for Christmas, I try to make at least one special, hand-made gift for my family. An ornament, candies, a hand-crocheted blanket. But after 10 years of handmade holidays, I was really stuck on what my special gift should be. It seems that every idea I came up with was too similar to something I’d already done, or just like something my family member’s already had.

So this year, I began a search for a unique craft idea that my parents, sister, and other family members would love. I wanted my gift to be memorable and unique.

After some searching, I located inspiration for not only one great idea, but several. And I wanted to share these with you.

• Photo Memory Quilts that highlight the best photos of your family
  click here for details
• Personalized gift basket with favorites tailored to each recipient
  Click here for ideas on what to include in your gift baskets
• A hand made recipe book. Collect the best family recipes to create a memorable recipe book that everyone will enjoy for years to come.
• A family-specific calendar. Don’t just send your photos to a printing company and have them create the calender. Do it yourself. Using family photos, create your own calendar on your PC. Add notations for family birthdays, anniversaries, and other special dates specific to your family.
• A memory frame. Pick a special memory you have shared with the gift recipient. On heavy paper, write out the details of the special memory in your own handwriting. Add personal notations about how you feel about the special memory. Decorate the page with scrapbook embellishments, quotes, etc. Purchase a nice frame and insert the memory page. Add matting if you desire.

Now that fall has really settled in where I live, I am finally getting into Halloween and all of the craft projects that come along with it. Over the years, my family has had a number of traditions for each of the upcoming holidays. Halloween included homemade costumes, gift wrapped bags of candy, hot cocoa, and visits to Grandma’s house to give her a special treat.

This is the perfect time of year to start a Halloween tradition with your family. Take a look at these ideas and get inspired to start your own traditions.

• Have a family pumpkin carving party. Let your kids create their own designs and then help them bring their own creations to life. Take pictures of each family member with their creation and put in a special Halloween photo album. You’ll be able to see your kids grow along with their pumpkin carving abilities.
• Have the kids help with creating their own costumes or other crafty decorations for the house. Have a halloween decorating night where all members of the family create crafty halloween decorations and help to “spook” out the house.
• Like to scrapbook? Create a halloween page for each year and let the kids help so that it becomes part of the festive fun. Create the theme-based on the costumes for that year. A Harry Potter fan? Create pages based on Hogwartz. Here are some samples.

And always remember to have fun. If you are having fun with your kids…chances are they are enjoying themselves too which means you are building a memory that will last for years to come.

Looking for some great Halloween decorating ideas for your home? Try your hand at these projects. They will be sure to inspire you during this fun time of year.

• Mummy Candy Pots from bhg.com
• Spooky Halloween Decorations from MarthaStewart.com
• Pumpkin Candleholders from FamilyFun.com
• Stuff We Love: Halloween Decorations with High Style from ivillage
• From the Pumpkin Patch Pillow from bhg.com
• Sparkling Pumpkins from bhg.com

Create spooky scenes with carving templates that will amaze visitors to your house. For carving how-tos, stencils, ideas, and more check out the following websites:

• Pumpkin Carving 101
• Pumpkin Carving at BHG.com
• The Pumpkin Wizard
• Pumpkin Carving Info & Ideas FamilyFun.com
• Free Pumpkin Patterns
• Halloween Pumpkin-Carving Templates - eHow.com

Halloween starts one of my favorite seasons of the year. I love all of the parties, the food, the trick-or-treating, and especially all the craft potential. Many stores have great deals on essential craft supplies so now is the time to stock up. Try these sites for Halloween craft supplies with great prices that won’t spook your wallet:

• Halloween Items at Joann.com
• Halloween books at Amazon.com
• Factory Direct Craft Supply
• Halloween Craft Supplies at Amazon.com
• Supplies on ebay.com
• Yahoo Shopping for Halloween Craft Supplies
• Halloween Scrapbooking Supplies
• Halloween Stickers & Scrapbooking Supplies from Scrapbooking-Warehouse

And don’t forget to have fun! That’s what Halloween is all about!

Welcome to our Craft Solutions blog!!
I’ll be using this blog to tell you about updates to our site; discuss project ideas,  supplies, and craft resources; post book reviews; and offer my thoughts or insights (good or bad) on any other interesting craft-related topics that I think others might find useful.

Please use the comments section to let me know of anything you’d like to see added to the blog. Thanks!