Patticrafts » Halloween

Mini Monster

Patti — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:06:28 +0000

Cut out two head shapes from lilac felt. Take one piece and use three strands of embroidery thread to sew on features and scars. Add a single button for one of the monster’s eyes. (pic a)
Stitch the decorated head to the other piece with running stitch, leaving a gap at the top to add stuffing. Cut five short pieces of black cord and knot one end of each. Place the knots inside the head so the ends of the cord stick out and sew up the gap. (pic b)
Cut out two body pieces from lilac felt and pin together. Begin sewing around the edges with running stitch. Once you’ve sewn around a whole limb use a pencil to push stuffing in, right to the end. Carry on sewing and stuffing as you go before filling the main body and closing up the gap. (pic c)
Cut several narrow strips of white felt. Stitch these to the front of the body to look like bandages and trim neatly. Place the head onto the body and secure with stitches on the back of the monster. (pic d)

Download the Mini Monster template ►

Skull Neck Purse

Patti — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:26:10 +0000

Draw a 9cm skull design onto a piece of white felt and cut out. Use scissors to cut out the eye sockets, nose and teeth. Turn the skull over so any pencil lines don’t show. (pic a)
Cut a 9.5cm diameter circle from black felt. Pin the skull to the centre of the circle. Take three strands of orange embroidery thread and sew it in place with a line of neat running stitches around the outline. (pic b)
Secure the teeth and nose in place with white thread. Sew rings of decorative stitches in various colours around both eye sockets. Make the stitches different for each eye. (pic c)
Cut a bag shape from some folded red felt to give you two pieces. Cut some black cord for the strap and knot both ends twice. Secure to the inside top of the bag by sewing over the knots. Stitch the skull to one half of the bag and then close up the sides with running stitch. (pic d)

Download the Skull Neck Purse template ►

Mexican Mask

Patti — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:24:36 +0000

Cut out a large skull design from white foam. Mark out where the mouth, nose and eyes will be in pencil on one side. Cut a large blue heart from sticky foam and fix this to the other side of the skull so you can still see the features. (pic a)
Use a pair of sharp scissors to cut out the mouth, then the eyes and nose from both layers of foam. It is easiest to poke the scissors through the middle of the feature and then cut out towards the line. (pic b)
Cut out several small heart and star shapes from purple, black and red sticky foam. Lay them out in a symmetrical pattern on the front of the mask. Peel away the backing paper and stick them into position. (pic c)
Use PVA to glue lines of sparkling sequins around the outlines of the mask and leave to dry. Punch two holes on both edges of the mask and thread lengths of brightly coloured ribbon through them to tie around the back of your head. (pic d)

Download the Day of the Mexican Mask template ►

Trick or Treat Bag

Patti — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:21:13 +0000

Cut a piece of pale orange foam 30cm by 10cm and secure into a tube with double sided tape. Cut an 8cm square of foam in the same colour and round off the corners. Sit the square on one end of the tube and hold it in place with a 3cm wide strip of black sticky foam with a fringe cut along one long side. (pic a)
Cut a 3cm wide strip of pale orange foam, long enough for a handle. Cut a narrower strip of sticky orange foam and place this down the centre of the first. Cut out a simple bat shape from purple sticky foam and fix a third of the way along the handle. (pic b)
Secure the ends of the handle to the outside of the bag using double sided tape. Cover the ends of the handle by wrapping a wide strip of orange sticky foam around the top of the bag. Add more strips in other colours, wrapping all the way around. (pic c)
Cut a large bat shape from black foam and fix some double sided tape onto one side. Decorate the other side with 3D metallic pens and leave to dry before fixing to the middle of the bag. Add more bat shapes and spots of metallic paint to finish. (pic d)

Download the Trick or Treat Bag template ►

Halloween Thank You Cards

Patti — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:05:06 +0000

Draw a small pumpkin head design onto a piece of sticky foam. Cut out the head and all the features using a small pair of scissors. (pic a)
Fix the cut-out design onto a second piece of foam and cut around the outline. This makes the stamp thick enough and will prevent extra ink getting onto the background and spoiling your prints. (pic b)
Fix the pumpkin onto a double thickness of foam cut into a square and add a handle to the back – using a strip of foam – if required. Use a black ink pad or some paint to carefully cover the design and then stamp it out onto orange card several times. (pic c)
Cut the stamped images into single motifs. Glue each one onto a bigger piece of red card and cut around leaving a 3mm border. Glue the mounted pictures onto rectangles of black card and add a greeting using a gold metallic pen. (pic d)

Download the Halloween Thank You Card template ►

Baby Dragon

Patti — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 18:01:36 +0000

Paint a polystyrene egg with two coats of green acrylic and leave to dry. (pic a)
Using the template, cut out two spiky wing shapes from bright green foam and add veins to them using thin strips of red self-adhesive foam cut to size. (pic b)
Cut out two feet with a tail attached from more green foam (see template), then fix two small teardrop shapes of red self-adhesive foam at the end of the tail. Glue the painted egg to the foam shape using strong glue.
When dry, cut two slits in the sides of the egg and glue the wings inside these so they stick out from the egg. (pic c)
Cut a small figure-of-eight shape from self-adhesive green foam and make two small nostrils from red foam. Fix the snout onto a small rectangle of green self-adhesive foam and cut a slightly bigger shape around it.
Keep layering and cutting slightly bigger shapes to build up the snout and make the last layer an oval shape (six layers should be fine). Place this on the egg between the wings and add small wiggle-eyes and a pair of green foam ears fixed into slits in the top of the head. (pic d)

Download the template ►

Spider Sweet Tray

Patti — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 10:32:54 +0000

Cut an A3 piece of red card to 28cm by 35cm, and fold in 5cm on both long edges and one short edge. Fold the other short edge over at 15cm and cut slits where the fold lines intersect.
Use a plate to draw around and cut a curve at the top of the 15cm wide section. Fold the sides in and use double-sided tape to hold the corners together in a tray shape. (pic a)
Cut a piece of A3 black card to 28cm by 35cm and fold in the same way, but do not stick together. Cut jagged teeth into the edges of the card, cut away the corners and slip inside the tray. (pic b)
Make a spider’s web by twisting together three iridescent or tinsel pipe cleaners to make a star. Twist more pipe cleaners between the spokes to make the design. (pic c)
Cut two slits in the curved back of the tray and fit the web into these. Cut out several spider shapes from black card and fix a length of thin ribbon to the back with double-sided tape.
Use a green metallic pen to draw on features and decoration. Tie the spiders to the web and fill the tray with sweets. (pic d)

Coffin Pencil Box

Patti — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 10:30:15 +0000

Paint the outside of a wooden pencil box with two coats of brown acrylic, then paint the inside with red acrylic. Leave to dry. (pic a)
Use a gold glass outline pen to draw curved handles on both sides of the box. Paint the lid of the box brown and write ‘RIP’ on the top with the gold outline pen. (pics b & c)
Cut out the skeleton’s skull, torso and hips from white foam. Cut out four arm bones, four leg bones, two hands and two feet from the white foam.
Use a hole punch to make 28 small discs from sticky white foam. Cut 14 x 2cm lengths of white elastic.
Fix a sticky disc to each end of the pieces of elastic. Use these joints to fix the bones together: skull to torso, torso to hips, and so on… (pic d)
Each arm and leg needs two bones plus a hand or foot, and are then fixed to the shoulders or hips. Add a loop of white elastic to the skull if you want to hang your skeleton up later.

Black Spooky Felt Cat

Patti — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:19:22 +0000

Cut out two cat face shapes and four body pieces from black felt. On one face stitch features using three strands each of white, pink and green embroidery thread. (pic a)
Take the other cat face and sew it to the top of body piece number 1 with a small circle of running stitches. (pic b)
Sew body pieces number 2 and 3 together with a circle of stitches in the same way. Pin body piece number 1 to body piece number 2 and sew them together with running stitch in black thread, leaving a gap at the top.
Use a pencil to help you fill the two front legs with stuffing. Pack out the body and stitch up the gap. Pin and partly sew the last body shape to piece number3. Repeat as above.
Pin and partly sew the decorated face to the other piece at the front of the cat. Stuff and close up the gap. (pic c)
Cut a strip of black felt 20cm by 3cm and fold length-ways. Cut the end of the tail into a curve and sew along the edge with running stitch. Bend over both ends of a pipe cleaner so there are no sharp pieces, slide into the tail and sew up the gap. Stitch the tail to the cat’s bottom! (pic d)

Scary Monster Hand Puppet

Patti — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 11:03:39 +0000

Paint the front of a hand puppet with fluorescent green fabric paint and leave to dry. Cut out two lollipop shapes from blue foam and place a smaller circle of sticky green foam in the centre of each.
Add a large wiggle-eye to both pieces and fix the eye stalks to the back of the puppet with double sided tape. (pic a)
Cut circles from both pink and blue sticky foam. Cut out the middle of the blue circle to make pointed teeth and stick over the pink circle. Fix this to the middle of the puppet head. Use fabric pens or paint to cover the body in blue and green spots. (pic b)
Cut two rectangles of dark blue self-adhesive felt 13cm by 21cm and peel away 3cm of backing paper from one long edge of each piece. Place the two sticky pieces together and open out the sides.
Lay the puppet onto the backing paper so the spine runs down the middle, and draw around it to make a template.
Cut out the shape, then cut triangles into the spine. Peel away the rest of the backing paper and fix the felt to the back of the puppet. (pics c & d)