Halloween Decorating Ideas

Let Roberts help you make your house the envy of the neighborhood this Halloween with these fun decorating ideas created by Janene from our American Fork Store. Follow the links for instructions. 

Click HERE for Instructions

Click HERE for Instructions

Click HERE for Instructions

Halloween Keepsakes & Recipes

By Renee Kaas

I was inspired to create a series of characters for my scrapbook that are unique. They are all squares and rectangles. Below you will find the basic shapes, sizes, and materials list with instructions. Also, some patterns are included. Now you can create your own cube characters for Halloween. Think “IN THE BOX”! What about putting these in a 12” X 12” shadow box frame to display your pictures from Halloween this year? By the way, I have fallen in love with the new Core’dinations™ cardstock Roberts is carrying now. Check it out! You will love, love, love it.

BASIC CUBE

4” X 3” piece of cardstock (in appropriate color for character)
15 mm black animal eyes with shanks removed
GlueDots® to attach eyes to cube
Foam Adhesive Squares (we have different brands to choose from)
Zots GlueDots® (red box)
Adhesive of choice
Personal trimmer (I love the full sized Fiskars™ Cutter)
Scissors
Chalks
Glossy Accents

Were-Cube

4” X 4” piece of brown Core’dinations™ cardstock (with grid pattern)
2—1” circles of brown Core’dinations™ cardstock (with grid pattern)
1 black Core’dinations™ cardstock triangle for nose
1—1” X 3” piece of White Roberts cardstock for teeth
Glossy Accents
2—15 mm Black animal eyes with shanks removed
Sand paper
Trace the were-cube pattern and circles on the back of the brown cardstock and then cut with sharp scissors. Sand lightly. Cut teeth out of white cardstock with sharp scissors to resemble wolf teeth and glue in the center of the were-cube. Cover slightly with the circles to create the illusion of wolf cheeks and then glue black triangle nose to the top of where the circles meet. Glossy Accents placed on the nose makes it shiny and looks like an animal nose. Using Zots GlueDots®, attach the eyes to the face above the cheeks and nose.

Franken-Cube

Use lime green Core’dinations™ cardstock for his head. Cut into a 3” X 4” rectangle. Chalk the edges lightly with green chalk. Cut a 1” X 3” rectangle of black Core’dinations™ cardstock for his hair. Cut one edge of hair piece with pinking shears. Glue to the top of the head. Remove the shanks from the 15 mm black animal eyes and glue with Zots GlueDots® to the face. Set two metallic brads (one on either side of the head) toward the bottom of the rectangle to represent the bolts.

Mummy-Cube

Cut a 3” X 4” rectangle from the lime green Core’dinations™ cardstock. Cut 5/8” wide by 4 ½” strips of white Core’dinations™ cardstock that has a rough texture and a blue interior. This one is great for creating the illusion we are going for. Glue them on at different angles to make it look ‘wrapped’. Raise a few of the strips using the pop-up squares to create the look of wrapping (leave a space for the eyes). Trim the ends so they have a rounded appearance and leave a few slightly longer than the cube is wide. Cut the shanks from 15 mm black animal eyes and glue to the face with Zots GlueDots®.

Jack-O-Cube

Cut a 3” X 4” rectangle of light orange Core’dinations™ cardstock. Chalk lightly around the edges. Cut out a small oak leaf and a vine from lime green Core’dinations™ cardstock. Cut a ½” X 1” rectangle of lime green cardstock for the stem. Glue the stem, leaf, and vine to the top of the orange rectangle at a slight angle and then remove the shanks from 2—15 mm black animal eyes and glue on with Zots GlueDots®.

Vampi-Cube

Using violet Core’dinations™ cardstock cut a 3” X 4” rectangle. Chalk lightly around the edges. Cut a black hair piece with a peak where the center of the forehead would be from black Core’dinations™ cardstock. Glue to the top of the head. Remove the shanks from the black animal eyes and glue to the face with Zots GlueDots®. Using a very sharp pair of scissors or an Exacto™ knife cut a slit mouth. Cut two triangles from white cardstock for teeth. Glue the teeth through the slit onto the back of the mouth.

Witch-Cube

Cut a 3” X 4” purple rectangle from Core’dinations® cardstock. Cut a nose from the same cardstock using your imagination or the pattern included here with the directions. Chalk with purple chalk around the edges of the face and nose. Pop up the nose with a ¼” foam adhesive square. Cut out witch’s hat and brim from black Core’dinations™ cardstock. Glue hat to the top of purple rectangle. Either crimp wire for hair using the flat blade of a pair of beading pliers or cut metallic ribbon into strands and use that for hair. Place several GlueDots® across the bottom of the hat. Place several strands of crimped wire across the rectangle for hair and bangs. Remove shanks from back of 2—15 mm black animal eyes. Glue hat brim to bottom of hat with Zots GlueDots® covering the hair.

Skele-Cube (not shown)

Cut a 3” X 2 ¼” rectangle from white Roberts cardstock. Cut a 1 ¼” X 2 ¼” rectangle from white cardstock. Cut rectangular teeth with a pair of sharp scissors. You need about 6. Chalk around the edges with light gray chalk. Also, make a nose using the chalk. Glue large rectangle to the top of project and smaller one at the bottom of 1st rectangle. Ink around the edges in a dot-dash pattern. Ink around the edges of the teeth and also make a line across the middle of teeth (for upper and lower teeth). Pop up teeth with ¼” foam adhesive squares and glue across the mouth. Remove shanks from 2—15 mm black animal eyes and glue to the skeleton face using Zots GlueDots®.

Ghost-Cube (not shown)

Cut a 3” X 4” rectangle of white cardstock. Cover rectangle with 2 layers of cheesecloth and trim to size. Glue at the back. Remove the shanks from 2—15 mm black animal eyes and glue to face of ghost with Zots GlueDots®.

You can find the shadow box frames, the new Core’dinations™ cardstock (can you tell I am a big fan of this?), and all of the supplies at Roberts. Yeah, Roberts!
I have really enjoyed the comments on the blog and on facebook by all of our Robert’s devotees! Keep them coming. I love the creativity out there. So, share your Halloween Traditions with us!
Here is another thought: I do not have nearly as many Thanksgiving Traditions to pull from. Do you mind sharing some of yours? I am anxiously awaiting your comments!
Now, here is a non-Halloween project for October. Many of us scrapbook 12” X 12”, but for a quick and simple idea, why not make an 8” X 8” scrapbook? Check out the October’s Party pages. This allows you to save a few pictures for the month without spending too much time or money. The leaves are from The Cuttlebug™. If you haven’t tried this wonderful machine, you are really missing out on adorable dies and embossing possibilities. It works great with other tools, as well.

Below are a few fun Pumpkin Recipes I wanted to share with you as well.

Pumpkin Bars

1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 egg whites, slightly beaten
¼ cup oil
¼ cup water

Spray 17” X 11 ½” pan with Pam, set aside.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and cloves. Stir in pumpkin, eggs, oil, and water. Mix well. Spread batter into pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cool and frost. Cut into 24 bars.

Frosting
¼ cup light cream cheese
1 ¾ cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon grated lemon or orange peel

Beat together the cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, vanilla, and the peel until mixture is light and fluffy. Gradually add the rest of the sugar.

Pumpkin Bread

Prep Time: 10 to 15 minutes
Baking Time: 50 to 60 minutes
Equipment: 9” by 5” by 3” loaf pan, measuring spoons, measuring cups, large bowl, medium bowl, spatula, cooling rack

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ cup raisins or chocolate chips (optional)
2 eggs
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
½ cup water
1 cup (8 ounces) pumpkin, canned unsweetened
Or pureed fresh cooked

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease the bottom only of a 9” by 5” by 3” loaf pan.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and raisins. Make a well in the center. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Add the butter, water, and pumpkin, and mix until blended. Pour the mixture into the well of dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not over mix. The batter will be thick.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool 5 minutes. Loosen the sides of the loaf from the pan and remove. Cool completely on a rack before slicing.

Yield: 1 loaf, approximately 12 t o 14 slices.

Halloween Chandelier

Check out this eclectic Halloween Chandelier made by own own Briana Pinales (Roberts Graphic Designer) that is featured on the Crafting Chicks blog! Great job Briana!

Click HERE for pictures and instructions on the Crafting Chicks blog!

Halloween Family Traditions

By Renee Kaas

Over the years many activities and customs have been included in our Halloween celebrations. We have found recipes, crafts, games, and activities that just make the holiday sparkle. So for all of my ‘boo’tiful friends out there, who love Halloween as much as I do, here are a few of my many favorites!

Anti-Vampire Remedy

(Take ingredients out of original containers and put them in other containers to add to the fun.)

Supplies:

1 cup squished witches (peanut butter)
1 cup ghost’s blood (8 oz. Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk)
1 cup frog’s eyes (mini chocolate chips)
½ cup powdered ghost (powdered sugar)

Combine ingredients while hopping on one foot. Then repeat your name backwards three times. Roll into balls, then roll in more powdered ghost. One morsel a day keeps the vampires away!!!

Thank goodness for this recipe! Every Halloween we make up a batch. Trust me, it works! Since we have been making it, no one in our family has been bitten by a vampire!!!!!!!

You will find a crypt load of dishes, bowls, and other holiday containers in our gift or seasonal areas in each Roberts store. They will really “dress-up” this fun treat! Make sure you keep it refrigerated after making it.

What do you call it when a vampire has trouble at his house?
A grave problem

Why doesn’t anyone like Dracula?
He has a bat temper

The Apple Game

We all love to play this game and we use the apples for a healthy snack

Supplies:

Paring Knives for the adults
Potato Peelers for the children
Enough apples for everyone to have a least one
(to keep the peeled apples from turning brown, place them in
a bowl of cold water with a small amount of lemon juice in it)

The goal of the game is to see who can produce the longest, unbroken strip of apple skin. It is challenging in a very ‘apple’ing way!

What did one ghost say to another?

Do you believe in people?

What do you call a witch that lives at the beach?

A sand witch

The Magic Pumpkin

One tradition we really loved was the magic pumpkin. Some years we tried planting them (which didn’t always work) and others they appeared after Papa took a ‘special’ trip to the farmer’s market shortly before Halloween. Then the pumpkins would mysteriously appear in the garden without being planted (so they had to be magic). After being carved by the family within a few days of Halloween, they would be placed on the porch to keep them cool. Each morning a prize would be left in the pumpkin or by it. Prizes such as Boo Berry, Franken Berry, or Count Chocula Cereals; Halloween erasers or other small toys or gizmos; whatever the magic pumpkin thought was appealing to the children at that age.

What happens when a ghost gets lost in the fog?
He is mist

Why is a ghost such a messy eater?
Because he is always goblin his food

What is a monster’s favorite bean?
A human bean

The Eyes Have It Scareware

Supplies:
Any flatware with a simple metal handle
1 block of black Sculpey clay (per utensil)
1 block of white Sculpey clay
1/16 each of: blue, brown, green, and black Sculpey clay


Unwrap your black Sculpey clay and start to condition it by pinching it between your fingers. Continue to stretch and pinch until the clay starts to become more pliable in your hands. Pat the clay into a flat shape and crank it through the pasta machine or use a rolling pin several times until you have a long thin strip of clay to wrap around the handle of your flatware.

Wrap the knife, fork, or spoon starting at the top of the handle and work your way down to the end. The thickness should be about ¼” to ½” deep. All metal on the handle should be covered. Smooth gently rolling it in your palms and “burnish” the seams away with your fingertips. Thumbs work especially well. Set the piece aside.

Wash your hands using lotion and paper towel. Then use soap and water. If you do not, you will have black transferred onto the white and it will look very dirty after it is baked.

Roll out 16 to 20 white balls of clay ranging in size from ½” to ¼” in diameter. With an Exacto knife cut these in half. Smooth the shape back into half round balls and smooth all the edges and set them aside.

Flatten one by one tiny balls of color for the iris of your eyes. Place each iris on an eye as you flatten it. Try to create an even number of each color for your eyes and then set them aside.

Roll an even smaller ball of black clay for the pupil of each eye and flatten in place in the center of the iris. The pupil will need to be centered in the eye to look life-like. Place a piece of baking parchment or simple type paper on a cookie sheet. Place the eyes on the sheet. Bake them in the oven at 220 degrees for about 15 minutes. Let them cool in the oven.

Gently press the cooled eyes into the black clay on your flatware handle. Five is a good number of eyes for each handle. Make sure they are secure. Roll a tiny snake of black clay and carefully place over the eye to create an eyelid. Smooth the clay with your fingers or a clay tool. Place back onto your cookie sheet and bake the whole piece again at 220 degrees for about 45 minutes. Let it cool in the oven. If it cools too fast it may crack.

When cool, paint the eyeballs with a gloss sealer for a realistic look.

Always wash by hand and never in a dishwasher. Wash separately from your other utensils and use mild dish soap and warm water. Do not leave in your water. Let them air dry.

What is Beethoven doing in his coffin right now?
De-composing

Where did the goblin throw the football?
Over the ghoul line

What is a mummy’s favorite music?
Wrap!!!

Remember to keep up those creative traditions and

Have a Fang-tastic Halloween!

All of your Halloween craft supplies can be found at Roberts!

Also, see your local Roberts store for details on how to earn Roberts Boo Bucks 

(now through Oct. 31, 2010)

Thinking About Inking

By Brett Lund

Ink plays an important part of my supplies at my craft desk. I have every type and kind of ink there is possible. I must admit, next to stamps, I have an ink addiction. Robert’s crafts carry many, many different inks. If you don’t know much about them, it can be quite overwhelming. In this post, I will explain three different techniques and the ink that I used.

In the “Just saying hello” example, if you look very close at the bird and the birdcage you will see that the bird looks like it is on the top of the cage. Notice, there are no lines over the bird. This process is known as masking. There is a tool that I love to use when I want to do masking. That tool is Frisket Film. It’s not sold in the scrapbook section. It’s actually sold in the section that the air brushes are sold. It is sold in a roll, and you can use it over and over. The concept behind Frisket Film is you stamp the image on your paper, stamp the image again on the film, cut out the image very close to the edge, place the image over your image that you are working on, and then stamp the other image over the film. When you are done peel off the little image that was placed over the original image and your stamp looks like it on the top of the image. You can also do this technique with post it notes. Although I love Frisket Film. You can use the images over and over and over.
Once the images are stamped, I use Tombow markers to color in the image. Markers are an excellent way of using ink in your projects. There are many different types of markers, as well as many colors available. My favorites are the Tombow markers. They are sold in packs as well as in open stock.

In this example, you can’t see it really well, but I took the image, used StazOn ink and stamped the image on a piece of transparency. Then on the back side of the image, I used alcohol ink markers to color the images. To adhere the image to the card, I used Vellum tape. The great thing about both StazOn ink and the Alcohol Inks, is they are good for anything nonporous (that means that it isn’t absorbed into whatever you are doing) Usually they are very glossy surfaces, such as metal, glass, plastic, glossy cardstock, and painted surfaces. The StazOn ink is permanent, so if you stamp something using it, make sure to clean it off, use StazOn ink remover.

This example was really fun to do. First I took an image and stamped it using Versa mark ink. I then sprinkled clear embossing powder on top of it, melted the powder and let it dry. I then took three distress inks, Yellow, Red, and Green and swiped them on a craft mat (a non-stick surface), spritzed the inks with water, then placed a tag on top of the ink. Funny thing about this card was I didn’t use any orange ink. The colors just mixed together. When I got the color that I liked on the tag, I dried it off using my heat gun. (Be careful, the tag will get really hot) To finish off the tag, I used flowers, clear buttons that were glued onto old book paper, and pop dots. This example of the three was my favorite to do. I really liked how it turned out.
As you can see, I have just touched the surface when it comes to ink. If you want to learn more about inks, might I offer a few suggestions: first, go into any Robert’s store and talk to any one of the associates there about inks and what ones are good for which project. They are a wealth of knowledge. Second, check blogs and YouTube for videos on how to use inks. I will be honest here; I have learned so much of my techniques this way. It’s nice because if I don’t understand a technique or project, I can always start it over and watch it again and again.
I hope this gets the creativity juices flowing, and as I always say, Happy Crafting!

Homework Station

Help your kids keep their homework organized and make it a little more fun with this Homework Station!

Featured in the Roberts weekly advertisement 

September 7-11, 2010

Click HERE for instructions

Seize the Cake

Created by: Lynette Bullock

September 8, 2010

2 News @ 7:o0 am

Click HERE for instructions

Card Making

By: Melissa Van Denover

One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is make cards. I love finding cute paper that I can turn into something creative or using my Cricut to create “just the card” for that special occasion. Working at Roberts Arts & Crafts, I consider myself extremely lucky. I get to see all of the cute paper and accessories before they go out to the floor.

A few months ago the DoodleBug Glitter cardstock caught my eye. It reminded me of the ocean on a sunny day at the beach. I didn’t know how I was going to create it but knew it had to be done, since it was still snowing in May!

One day while I was helping a customer she asked me about the Life’s a Beach Cartridge from Cricut. I pulled it out and we started playing with it. Once I found out that you could make any of the shapes into a card I was SOLD and so was she.

I created a “beachy” card for my Summer Card Club and it was a huge hit. Using the Glitter Cardstock as the sky/background and a few embellishments added just the touch that I was looking for.