fall crafts for under a dollar

this week i have been working on a lot of crafts using things i had just laying around the house.  this pumpkin is probably my favorite thing i have made. ever.  all you need is an old book, scissors, hot glue and an object of your choice to use as a stem.  i used a pencil wrapped in wire because that is what i had but anything could work: a twig, pipe cleaners, a pretzel...be creative.  the point is not to spend a lot of money on this. 

 these are easy peasy to make.  it took me fifteen minutes.  i had an old book laying around.  (i actually used Little Women which is my favorite book of all time and had a couple copies of).  if you don't have a book you want to cut up you can get one at a thrift store for a quarter.  for starters remove the cover of the book.  next use your scissors to cut the corners off the top and bottom of the pages to give your pumpkin a rounded look.  depending on how good your scissors are you can cut a pretty decent chunk at a time.  at first i was obsessed with getting each section to be the exact same size but i think i actually like it better when they are slightly different sizes; it gives the pumpkin a more natural looking texture.  once you have finished cutting glue the front and back pages together.  stick your stem in the middle and done!  i ended up gluing a few sections together because my book was kind of stiff.  if you don't have a hot glue gun it would even work to paper clip the front and back page together.  remember, be creative. 

 my next craft originally started from an idea i saw to make jack'o'lanterns out of painted tin cans.  i started on this idea but had some issues with my drilling.  i was too lazy to paint new cans so i had to think of something to cover the hideous holes i had drilled.  for this project i used tin cans in varying sizes, craft paint and brushes, fabric strips, twigs and hot glue.  again if you don't have some of the objects find a replacement.  the pumpkins would also looked cute wrapped in ribbon or twine.  again, get creative!  to begin paint your cans.  make sure you let the paint completely dry between coats otherwise the wet paint will just smear around.  once you have all your coats and the paint is dry tie the fabric strips around the pumpkin and hot glue on a stem.  see how easy that is?

and there you have it!  two quick, easy and inexpensive fall projects!  happy crafting!

enjoy your weekend,
k