ENTERTAINING: Halloween Special – 2

Very Special Halloween Cloche • Cat & Snake Toilet Roll Decoration

By Mary Canovas

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Ghostly Halloween Cloche

A very special Halloween decoration that is near and dear to my heart. I always loved those crystal bells or cloche with special and wondrous objects inside when I was little. In the States, they are easy enough to buy and make great crafting projects. In Spain- almost impossible! My solution – plastic soda bottles. You won´t believe how beautiful they come out. Not to mention how very economical and how many you can make because it costs less than nothing.

We´ve even used twigs and fallen leaves and dried ivy to decorate. Even the ghosts were hand made with home- made cold porcelain. You don´t have to be this crafty but I´m sure your cloche will be something really memorable. Making these cloches is not difficult – just a little time consuming but believe me it is really worth your while.

You will keep it just like you keep your especially cherished Christmas decorations and take it out year after year. After all, it will be your very own work of art. There are also other cloches in our video that can give you more ideas for your project.

Materials:
• Soda or water bottle with completely smooth sides. The bigger the better – e.g. 2 liters. Ours is 1.5 l. You can make them smaller or larger. They can be any size. Check out video.
• Cutter, scissors, medium and very fine brushes
• glue gun, white glue,
• Polystyrene Base – minimum of 2 cm or 1 ” thick
• polystyrene balls 2-3 cm or 1 ” for top, or make them with toilet paper and white glue
• tree twigs or dried grape clusters (without the grapes)
• very small ivy leaves – dried and pressed or silk
• Black and white acrylic paint
• Optional – tiny resin Halloween figures – Jack o’lantern, Ghosts etc.
• Optional – crushed dry leaves for base

How To
• With cutter and scissors cut off the top of the bottle – as close as possible to the top.
• Cut out bottom at the height you desire.
• Cut the polystyrene in a circle that extends beyond the base of the bottle from half cm to 1 cm..
• Place the bottle over the circle, twist lightly to make a small incision along the base of the bottle.

Prepare ghosts:
• Paint leaves with a layer of white on both sides and let dry. Paint eyes and mouth with black paint and a fine brush. Let dry
• Paint circle base
• Insert trees at the base – make a small cut and fill with glue while placing twigs . Hold them in place till dry .
• Glue the ghosts to branches and ornaments to base

Put a little white glue on the base and spread dry leaves around the tree and figures. Let dry.
• Make a circle with your glue gun on the circle indentation and carefully place the bottle on it pressing lightly till dry.
• Decorate and Glue styrofoam ball to top of cloche.

Toilet Paper Roll Cat and Snakes

Toilet Paper Roll Art is not just for kids anymore (yes, it really is an art form for all of you non- crafters!). You wouldn´t believe the beautiful and economical home decorations crafters are designing. The great thing is that we may consider it one of the best uses of recycled material. These decorations are so easy and cheap that the entire family can enjoy making them. These Spooky Cats and Evil Snakes are just right as a decoration for holiday centerpieces, as party favors or toys for the kids to play with,

Here are the materials. Follow our self explanatory tutorial in Spanish for easy instructions.

Materials:
• Toilet paper rolls (without the toilet paper please!!)
• Scissors
• Acrylic paint: black, red and white
• White glue
• silver and red glitter
• medium and fine paint brushes
• Black Construction Paper
• Optional: glue gun

How To for both snakes and cat
Prepare rolls: Paint inside and outside black acrylic paint, let dry

Snake :
•Draw and cut out the head and tongue on black construction paper (cartulina)- Follow our templates or draw by hand (the head is basically a rounded triangle).
• Glue the tongue to the head and paint eyes and nose.
• Put white glue on eyes and nose and sprinkle with glitter. Let dry
• Starting at the bottom cut the painted roll in a spiral (thin at first then getting wider up to the top. Make a perpendicular cut at end.
• Paint body with white glue and sprinkle with glitter, let dry.
• Glue the head to the body.

Cat:
• Make legs : Cut two openings in the bottom front and rear
• Draw and cut out the head and tail on the black construction paper. The head is basically a circle with two triangles for ears.
• Paint facial features. Paste eyes if you used moving plastic eyes.
• Paint with white glue where required – whiskers, eyes – and sprinkle with glitter. Let dry.
• Glue on the tail first and then head at a small angle. You can use either white glue or silicone.

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Featured image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay