Spooky October Calendar

October is one of favorite months! Why? Well because it’s the month my dad was born and without him I surely would not exist!

I also love it because of Halloween! I love Halloween!  Crafts, decorating, costumes, parties and so much other fun stuff!

Today we went all out and designed a spooky October Calendar! We were sure to take a lot of photos so that you could make one too!

First thing we did was head to Walmart to pick up the supplies that we didn’t have on hand.  Emma and I used this as an excuse to have some one on one time together.  Go check out our fun trip on ThisMoment. Emma found a mask she had to model and then she found a fun house mirror that was on display.

So on with the project…

Supplies:

• Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Board
• Elmer’s Glue Spots
• Elmer’s School Glue
• Water Color Paper
• Black Spray Paint
• Water Colors
• Elmer’s 3D Washable Paint Pens – Classic Glitter Colors
• Purple and White Acrylic Paints
• Card Stock
• Washable Paint
• Wiggly Eyes
• Halloween Stickers
• X-Acto Knife
• Silver Sharpie
• Pencil

The first thing you’ll want to do is the Glue and Water Color Paintings.  This is a very easy and fun technique that my girls love!

For this part of the project, you will need Elmer’s School Glue, Water Color Paper, and Water Color Paints.  Oh and a few brushes too!

The first step in this technique is to figure out what you are going to draw.  I chose to draw two Pumpkins.  Lauren did some ghosts and bones.  Emma did what was supposed to be candy…that didn’t work out too well!

Using the Elmer’s School Glue, draw your design on the water color paper.  You’ll need to set this aside to dry completely.

Once the glue is completely dry you can paint your designs with Water Color paints.  This is so much fun and you will see how the glue gives your art texture and depth.  You do not have to stay in the lines, in fact, I encourage you to paint beyond the lines so that the glue outline will show.  You are going to be cutting these out later.

Once the paintings are dry you can cut them all out.  I was super stoked on how well my pumpkins turned out.  I used to paint all the time (and even sell them) before I got sick.  It’s been a long time since I have done any painting!  What do you think?

See how the glue lines add so much to the painting?

Next thing we did was paint the back side of the flaps on the board so that we could close them like doors.  This part of the board is brown cardboard and printed with text.  I used Flat Black Spray Paint to do this job quickly.  You do not need to do the middle part on the back, only the flaps that fold in.

After the flaps were dry I used a pencil to sketch scary windows for the “doors”.  Once I had it the way I liked, I traced the pencil lines with a Silver Sharpie.  I love those things! After the windows were all drawn out I cut out the “panes” with an X-Acto Knife.

Next using Washable Paints (super affordable and sold at Walmart), we mixed up some purple paint.  Do I need to tell you how?  Just in case…Red and Blue make Purple.

Using this purple paint, the girls painted the window.  It only shows slightly on the black, but this is part of the layering that we did to get the look we were going for.  They can paint right over the Silver Sharpie lines.

While this dried we moved onto our next step.  Bloody hand prints! I added a bit more red to our purple mix.  Then got Emma ready…

Hands! Yes, paint a hand or two! And use them to print some bloody hand prints!

Bloody hand prints with no pain!

Next I went back to the window with Purple and White Acrylic paint to get the texture that I wanted.  Paint with purple first and then with the same brush work the white into it.

I also used the White Acrylic to paint door knobs.  Then using the Silver Glitter Paint I wrote “October 2011” across the top.

Next take the Elmer’s Glue Spots and adhere the Pumpkins to the bottom of the door.  These Glue Spots were so easy to use!  This is the first time we have used the Elmer’s Glue Spots. They are super easy to apply and stick like crazy! Make sure you have it where you want it before sticking it down!

Next cut a ghost shape from the card stock.  This is going to be peeking out from one of the windows.  We added Wiggly Eyes that we picked up from Walmart.  They come in several sizes in one pack.  We chose to use one large and one smaller eye.  We used the Elmer’s Glue Spots to stick the eyes to the ghost.  No waiting around for them to dry when you use the Elmer’s Glue Spots. We also  added the eyes to the back of the ghost as well.  This way when you open the door the ghost is turned back around to see you!

On the other window, hang your bloody hand prints using the Elmer’s Glue Spots.  Then using card stock we made a witches shopping list.  I used the same purple acrylic paint to paint the list.  The girls used the Elmer’s Glue Spots to add Emma’s “candy” pieces to the list.  It’s cool because some of them ended up looking like fingernails and eyeballs!  We used the Elmer’s Glue Spots to glue this over the back side of the handprint page.

In the center of the board, I drew a frame of bones.  Within the frame of bones, I added an October Calendar.  Then using watercolors I painted the bones.

The girls added their bones and ghosts using Elmer’s Glue Dots.  They also added a border along the bottom with spider and pumpkin stickers.

Whew! That’s it!  Here are the girls showing off their fun project!

Happy October!  Hope it’s Spook-tacular!

This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Elmer’s #gluenglitter #collectivebias #CBias.  All opinions are my own.

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Girl on Fire

Photographer at Loudmouth Photography

Brandy is the wife to a carpenter/musician and the mother of 3 amazingly awesome homeschool/unschooled girls. Brandy is a Photographer as well as a Coach for the Weebellion as part of Rolling Rebellion Jr. Roller Derby. Brandy is passionate about many things and suffers from a very painful and degenerative neurological disease called CRPS/RSD.

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