Simple Halloween Banner & Cute Accent Spiders

I am absolutely in love with this time of year.  The crisp colors of crimson red, electric yellow and burnt orange as I look out the window at the big maple in the front yard.  The football games and cool nights where you need a blanket to snuggle! I love that it gets dark earlier which makes me stay inside more and then my creativity shoves into overdrive and the ideas start flowing.  Here are two quick and easy ways to create some Halloween fun!

My kids love the holidays and we always try to come up with something that we can do together.  Well this year they wanted to do something with spiders.

I love thinking outside of the box and while shopping the other day, I passed the Styrofoam ball and the vision of spiders began.

I purchased a bag of 2 4” Styrofoam balls, black craft paint, pipe cleaner and a strand of red beads for the eyes. I went home and got to work.  First I tore off a piece of aluminum foil, placed the Styrofoam balls and started painting.

I let those dry.  I loved the texture of the Styrofoam and the paint.  It gives it a lot of definition.  Once dry, I used tacky glue and placed the eyes on and added the legs.  The first one I put in I had to play with a bit until I got it to work the way I wanted. I stuck in it about 1/4” and bent it down at 4 ½” and bent it up at 10 so it would make a foot.  Add four legs on both sides and ta-da! You are finished.  Easy right?

 

 

I have seen the accordion flowers everywhere and for some reason they draw me in every time.  I thought, “This is the year my friend!” However I wasn’t exactly sure how to do it so I had a friend show me how to make the accordion part.  They are so fun I thought I would share with you!I have an old sewing mat that I use to cut my paper and an old rotary tool.  Hey I am resourceful.  What can I say?

Start by cutting two 12″ x 2″ strips of paper. I made the word SPOOKY so I ended up with 12.

I cut out 12 strips, measured out ½” and marked on the back where the folds would go. When folding, I found it works best if you start by folding up on the first strip and then start the second strip by folding down. That way when you go to glue them together, they don’t have a seam and it looks like one continuous piece.

Make sure you have a glue stick handy and glue the ends together to make a circle.

If you push the top end down, it makes the bottom lay flat.

To make it lay flat I cut out 6 squares left over from my strips, and put a dab of hot glue on the back to help it lay flat.Then I cut out 6 circles using the same cardstock I used for the accordion. I used the lid from my Elmer’s spray glue to make my circles and it was the perfect size!  I cut them out and glued those on the top. I found a type font that I liked on my computer, printed the word SPOOKY,  cut those out and glued on top.

For the banner I found some cute polka dot paper (I’m obsessed with polka dots). I cut out a 6×9 piece, flipped it over and measured up 3 inches..I drew an upside down V and cut out.

Then I measured ½” down and drew a line across..measure in 1” on both sides..draw a dot and that is where you will punch the holes. Do this with the other 5.

I used hot glue to attach the accordion flowers and finally take some jute and string it through. Ta-da!!!

Here it is again with both spider and banner…oh how it makes my heart swoon!!!