Trunk or Treat: Pandemic-Style

I think we all agree that 2020 came with challenges.  Most activities for the year were cancelled due to the pandemic.  By the time October came, our church decided it was important to have an activity for the children so we decided to proceed with our annual Trunk or Treat.  We looked for creative ways to be safe and socially distance.  I think most actually enjoyed the challenge.  There were a lot of fun ideas.  I'm not sure what made me think of this, but I decided to hand out the candy using a "vending machine".  

When the children approached the vending machine, my husband instructed them to put their bag at the end of the chute and speak into the machine their choice of candy.  

This is a close-up I took after the event was over and it was partially disassembled.  You can see here that as we ran out of a particular candy I would put an out of stock sticker over that selection.  It wasn't easy to access the candy that was actually inside the "machine", so this was the best I could do.  

This photo is bad, but I wanted to show the set up behind the scenes.  We arranged the candy on a shelf behind the vending machine with each candy labeled with its corresponding vending number.  I was standing behind the machine listening to the selection each child chose, and I would quickly drop it down the chute (seen to the right of this picture).  Occasionally the machine would "malfunction" and send extra candy, especially toward the end when I still had a lot of candy left.  It was fun, and the children (and adults) really got a kick out of it!

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I had nothing to do with this one (other than letting them borrow a few items), but I wanted to post it because I loved it.  My niece and nephew set up this lumberjack theme and handed out the candy using a remote control Jeep (that matched their own Jeep).  I thought it was so clever and cute!

 

Speaking of Teepees . . .

I thought I had already posted this but apparently I haven't.  Back in 2013, Cricut had a contest using designs from their Southwest cartridge.  I rarely enter contests where skill determines the winner, but I had an idea for something I wanted to make as a gift for my two-year-old nephew anyway so I decided to enter.  I actually won!!  I couldn't believe it!  It was a great gift package worth nearly $500!  I've never won anything like that before or since. 

Here is the teepee I made:

 

I made the extra props just for the contest.  I didn't even give him the cacti or critters.

 

The back

 

Close up of the sign I made.  I created the letters using various shapes on the Southwest cartridge.  I enjoy challenges like that.

 

 

 

This was what it looks like unassembled.

 

I made the teepee from a canvas dropcloth.  For the poles I cut bamboo from my mother-in-law's yard.  The designs are fabric appliques cut from the Southwest cartridge.  If you are interested in more details on how to make this, you can find the instructions on the Cricut website HERE.

 

I was pretty proud of it, but I was really shocked when I learned I had won.  I had so much fun making this I have made three more since.  One was identical to this one, one was plain, and one I recently made customized for my two-year-old grandson.  (I hope to post that one later.)

Thanksgiving Teepees

I host Thanksgiving each year and I like to have a fun activity available to anyone who would like to participate.  Last year I found a teepee printable on the Made With Happy blog.  I thought the kids and some of the adults would enjoy it.  I was pleasantly surprised at the participation, especially from one of the newest members of the family, my youngest sister's husband.  He is very creative and seems to be good at everything!  He took the teepee to new levels (literally).  Here are some of the creations:

 

My creative granddaughter's teepee

 

 

This one was done by one of my crazy nephews.

 

 

Not sure who did this one, but I like it.

 

 

My sister's family compound/reservation, including the royal palace complete with a hot tub and an outhouse.

 

 

Here's a close up.

 

 

Somebody burned the turkey!

 

 

My patriotic nephew's version

 

Not sure what we'll do this year.  I'm still trying to decide.  Hope we have as much fun as last year!

Falling Leaves

Just a quick post.  I ran across these pictures from several years ago.  I cut a bunch of leaves (and a few pumpkins) from black contact paper and applied them to my bathroom wall for a fun little addition to my skeleton shower curtain. 

Pumpkin Carriage

This pumpkin carriage was originally supposed to be a decoration for my daughter's fall wedding, but it didn't get finished in time so it just became a decoration for my home.  (It turns out there is a lot of stuff to do to prepare for a wedding -- who knew?? 😉)  I had planned to add a silhouette of a couple inside and also an appropriate license plate (I forgot what that was going to be), but I didn't see any reason to add those details after missing the deadline.

The file is from the Enchanted Autumn kit from SVG Cuts.  I really enjoyed making it.  I just wish I had completed it in time for the wedding.

 

I added a strand of tiny lights (from the Dollar Tree) to the inside and put one of the lights through a hole into each of the tiny lanterns.  I really loved how it turned out!

 

Here is another view of it lit.  If you look closely you will see in the background the fall tree I made featured in an earlier post HERE.

Mr. Bones - My Crazy Skeleton

We like to have fun at our house and tend to get a bit silly at times.  A few years ago Cricut had a Halloween contest using images from A Frightful Affair/Movable Monsters.  For my contest entry I made the shower curtain featured HERE.  Before cutting the vinyl skeleton for the shower curtain, I made a practice skeleton out of poster board to plan sizing and posing.  Not wanting it to go to waste, I dressed it up a bit and hung it on a wall (which just happened to suit my need as a backdrop).  Little did I know how much fun we would later have with Mr. Bones.  I hope to post more about that in the near future.

 

Another Bulletin Board

A while back I told my husband I was done with bulletin boards for a while, but soon after I said that I was specifically asked by the church secretary to decorate two bulletin boards in the hallway outside the church offices.  I was in the middle of helping with my daughter's wedding and a baby shower for my daughter-in-law.  I told her I needed to get through the craziness and then I would see what I could do.

Now, a full year later, I finally got one of them done.  I have a plan for the other one, but I am facing some more craziness, so that one will have to wait a little while longer (hopefully not a year).

For this one, I blended ideas I found on Pinterest and other places on the internet.  I used burlap as the background and burlap ribbon for the border.  The Bible verse was specifically requested by the secretary.  For the mountain I just very quickly tore kraft paper and crumpled it for texture.  The little climbing man was recycled from another bulletin board I had previously done.  (I guess I still need to post that one.)  This is a simpler version than what I originally planned (in fact I had several completely different ideas through the course of a year), but I was on a bit of a time crunch and just wanted to get it done.  I put it up in record time (for me, at least). 

Bulletin Board Promoting Sunday School

Once again my blog has been neglected.  I'm so far behind I didn't even know where to start, so I just hunted down something that matched the season. 

A few years ago I was asked to do this bulletin board and was given the layout, so I can't take credit for the design.  The only thing I added was the bird, which I moved each week to highlight that week's theme.

I used my Cricut to cut everything.  The bird is from the 50 States cartridge and the leaves are from A Child's Year.  The cut letters are the free font in Cricut Craft Room.

Faith Girlz Fall Door and Sign

I guess I'm pretty out of season on this one, but I haven't posted in so long I just dug up whatever I could find.  This was our classroom door in the Fall of 2013.  I cut the tree out of a brown paper roll and just crinkled it up to give it texture.  I added the "hole" in the tree trunk intending to add some animal peeking out, but like so many other good intentions, it just never happened.  I'm sure he's in there somewhere, but I guess he is just a little more timid than I thought.  :-)  I cut the pumpkins out using one of my cutting machines (probably my Cricut, but I've slept since then, so I can't remember for sure).  The leaves were purchased at the Dollar Tree, as was the owl cutout.

My favorite part was the sign.  I cut it out of two layers of heavy textured cardstock and sanded it to make it more rustic.  The font was from the Pooh Font cartridge.  I added line details and "nails" (dots) with a very fine point brown Sharpie.  I hung it using some jute.  I was very pleased with how it turned out.  I wish the pictures showed the texture and dimension a little better.

Here is a scan of the sign.  The color is way off, but it shows some of the detail better.

Skeleton Shower Curtain

Since I'm getting back to blog posting and Halloween is quickly approaching, I thought I'd post this project from last year.  (Yes, I am really, really behind.)  I made this skeleton shower curtain for a Cricut contest using images from A Frightful Affair/Movable Monsters cartridge.   I don't really get into the scary part of Halloween, but I have had a blast with this skeleton!  (I hope to post the other projects eventually.)

The skeleton cut is from Movable Monsters, but it is also available as an individual cut which is what I bought.  Cricut had some of the cuts (including the skeleton) for free use during the contest, but when I saw how much fun I was having with the skeleton I had to buy it.

The bats, spiders and spider webs are from the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge.  The shower brush is from Everyday Paper Dolls.  The paper doll cartridges are among my favorites.  They have a little bit of everything.  The rubber ducky and the bubbles are from A Child's Year.

 

 

Cricut Create-a-Critter 2 Contest

Back in September of 2012 (yes, I am very behind) Cricut had a few cuts from the Create-a-Critter 2 cartridge to try for free and had a contest to go with it.  This was my entry.  I had a lot of fun making it.  Here is the link:  Here is the link to the contest entry.