| How to Stretch a Hat Posted: 27 Oct 2019 05:00 PM PDT Hats can be a fun and stylish way to accessorize an outfit, but it can be frustrating when they don't fit correctly. Don't shell out a lot of money on a new hat just yet—instead, try out a few less expensive remedies that will effectively stretch your headwear. If you have a straw, cloth, or baseball cap, consider using water and a blow dryer to expand your hat a little more. Fitted hat wearers can also use a soccer ball and a bike tire pump, as well as a wooden hat stretcher and some steam. You can also try using a balloon and some sudsy water to expand your hat overnight. [Edit]Using Water and a Blow Dryer - Spray the inner portion of your hat with warm water. Take an empty spray bottle and mist the crown and inner band of the hat with lukewarm water. Don't worry about spraying the bill or brim of the hat. Depending on what the hat is made of, spritzing water on those areas could do more harm than good.[1]
- For example, if the inside of the hat's brim is made of cardboard, the water might end up damaging the hat altogether.
- This method works best with baseball caps, straw hats, and cloth hats (like cotton and felt hats).
- Dry the hat partially using a blow dryer on high heat. Turn on the blow dryer to the highest heat level and move it around so it dries out the inside of the hat. Keep the blow dryer on until the hat is just slightly damp. Be sure to dry off all the crevices and creases of the hat as you go.
- Check to make sure that the hat isn't dripping wet before you continue.
- Place the hat on your head and allow it to dry. Wear the hat so the material adjusts to the size of your head. This is the most important step, as the damp hat material is now malleable enough to widen around the circumference of your head. Wait for the hat dry as you wear it before taking it off.[2]
- Don't use a blow dryer during this part of the process.
- Check to see if the hat is wider. Wait until the hat has air-dried before trying it on again. With any luck, the hat will fit your head more comfortably without any extra effort or stretching. If it still feels tight, repeat the process again and see if that helps.[3]
[Edit]Placing the Hat on a Soccer Ball - Place a soccer ball inside of a plastic bag. Take an unused plastic bag and cover a soccer ball with it. Since the ball will be going inside of the fitted hat, you don't want any dirt or grime from the ball to be getting inside of your hat.[4]
- This method works best with fitted, non-adjustable baseball caps or other similar headwear.
- If your soccer ball is too big for your hat to fit on, consider purchasing a smaller one at a sports equipment store. You can also use any type of small, spherical ball that can be inflated, like a volleyball or basketball.
- Put the bagged soccer ball inside of your hat. Slide the bagged soccer ball into the crown of the hat. Fit it in as snugly as possible, since this will be the item that enlarges your hat from the inside. Make sure that the inflation point of the ball is accessible, since you'll be needing it in a moment.[5]
- Plug a tire pump into the ball and pump it up. Stick the inflation needle of the tire pump into the soccer ball and push the handle up and down to fill the ball with air. The hat should slowly expand as the ball inflates. Don't pump too much or too quickly, as you don't want the ball to get damaged in the inflation process. Keep pumping until the hat feels tight around the soccer ball.[6]
- Let the soccer ball stay in the hat overnight to stretch out. Leave the inflation pump connected to the soccer ball overnight, as it will help the soccer ball keep its shape within the hat. The next day, remove the bagged soccer ball from the hat and see if the hat's circumference feels any wider. If not, repeat the process.[7]
- If you try this method again, consider deflating the soccer ball slightly so it can have the same enlarging effect each time.
[Edit]Spritzing with Shampoo and Water - Blow up a balloon and put your hat on it. Take a party balloon and fill it with air. As you're filling it, stick your hat on the balloon so it begins to expand as well. Keep filling the balloon until it reaches its maximum capacity.[8]
- Make sure you're using a latex balloon and not a helium party balloon.
- This works best with hats made of soft material, like wool.
- Mix baby shampoo with some lukewarm water. Take of baby shampoo and stir it into at least of warm water. Pour the solution into a small spray bottle. The shampoo and water amounts don't have to be exact—just make sure that you have a sudsy mixture in the bottle.[9]
- You can use regular conditioner if you don't have baby shampoo lying around.
- Spray the hat lightly with the mixture. Spritz the surface of the material with the shampoo solution. While you want to coat all of the hat, make sure that you're not drenching the material. Aim for it to be moist, but not wet.[10]
- Make sure your bottle has a mist setting, if possible. Misting the solution will prevent the hat from getting drenched.
- Tug the hat to continue stretching it over the balloon. Keep pulling on the edges of the hat to stretch it, so that more of the balloon's surface is covered by the material. This encourages the material to stretch, and helps your hat to mimic the shape of the balloon more accurately.[11]
- While you want to stretch out the hat, you don't want the balloon to pop in the process.
- Allow the hat to air-dry on the balloon overnight. Wait at least one night for your hat to dry completely. Once the hat is no longer damp to the touch, remove the balloon. Try the hat on and see if the material feels stretchier than before. If it still feels too tight, you can try the process again.[12]
[Edit]Steaming with a Hat Stretcher - Place a wooden hat stretcher into your hat. Hat stretchers, also called hat jacks, help to push gently along the sides of a hat without damaging the material in the process.[13]
- This method works best with fitted hats, like cowboy hats and baseball caps.[14]
- Turn the center knob clockwise to tighten the hat stretcher. Pinch the center knob of the hat jack and begin rotating it in a right, or clockwise, direction. Since you don't want to overstretch your hat, twist the knob slowly so the hat expands gradually.[15]
- Apply some steam beneath the brim of the hat. Take a clothes iron or tea kettle and squeeze out a consistent stream of steam beneath the brim of the hat. Aim for the steam to touch the inner circumference of your headwear. Depending on the style, this part of the hat might have some sort of leather band going around, which may be making the hat feel tighter than it should be. Continue applying steam to loosen this area, thus expanding the hat's circumference slightly.[16]
- If you have a straw hat, you can forgo the hat stretcher altogether and directly apply steam to the inside of the hat.[17]
- Tighten the hat stretcher knob to make your hat wider. Continue rotating the hat jack knob, allowing the steam and the stretching mechanism to expand your hat's circumference. Work in small increments as you keep going. As tempting as it may be to widen your hat a lot, you don't want to warp or damage the material—or worse, make the hat too big![18]
- Twist the knob counter-clockwise to remove the hat stretcher. Take the stretcher out of your headwear by rotating the hat jack knob in the opposite direction. Once the mechanism is loose enough, take it out so you can try on the hat. See if the hat stretcher and steam have made your hat a little more comfortable to wear. If not, keep repeating the process.[19]
- If you're having repeated trouble getting the hat to stretch out, consider going to a hattery for help.[20]
[Edit]Things You'll Need [Edit]Using Water and a Blow Dryer - Spray bottle
- Lukewarm water
- Blow dryer
[Edit]Placing the Hat on a Soccer Ball - Soccer ball
- Plastic bag
- Bike tire pump
[Edit]Spritzing with Shampoo and Water - Baby shampoo
- Conditioner (optional)
- Lukewarm water
- Balloon
- Spray bottle
[Edit]Steaming with a Hat Stretcher - Hat stretcher
- Iron (optional)
- Tea kettle (optional)
[Edit]References |
| How to Make Granola Posted: 27 Oct 2019 09:00 AM PDT Buying bags of granola at the grocery store may seem more convenient, but it's actually really easy to make your own delicious granola at home. All you need are a handful of ingredients you probably already have in your pantry, a few standard kitchen tools, and an oven. Start with a basic recipe that uses a 6-to-1 ratio of dry to wet ingredients, then customize your homemade granola with whatever flavors you prefer. After that, you can munch away anytime you like! [Edit]Ingredients [Edit]Basic Granola Recipe - 3 c (775 g) rolled oats
- 1 c (225 g) nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc.)
- 1 c (225 g) seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc.)
- 1 c (225 g) other dry ingredients (coconut flakes, millet puffs, etc.)
- olive, canola, or grapeseed oil
- liquid sweetener (honey, maple syrup, etc.)
- dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, etc.) to taste
- seasonings (cinnamon, salt, etc.) to taste
[Edit]Coconut Cashew Almond Granola - 3 c (775 g) rolled oats
- 1 c (225 g) slivered almonds
- 1 c (225 g) cashews
- 0.75 c (170 g) shredded sweet coconut
- 0.25 c (56 g) plus 2 tbsp (28 g) dark brown sugar
- plus maple syrup
- vegetable oil
- ¾ tsp (3.6 g) salt
- 1 c (225 g) raisins
[Edit]Basic Granola Recipe - Add 3 c (225 g) of rolled oats to a large bowl. Rolled oats are really the only non-negotiable ingredient in homemade granola. For this basic recipe, they should make up half of your dry ingredient total (3 out of 6 cups).[1]
- Any type of rolled oats will work, but old-fashioned rolled oats may provide a better texture than either quick-cook or instant rolled oats.
- Combine your other dry ingredients with the oats. Use a wooden spoon or your hand to incorporate everything together. Add the following amounts of the other dry ingredients:[2]
- 1 c (225 g) nuts (cashews, almonds, peanuts, walnuts, etc.)
- 1 c (225 g) seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, etc.)
- 1 c (225 g) other—this could be more nuts or seeds, or another dry ingredient like coconut flakes or puffed millet. However, dried fruit is an add-on that you'll add later, and doesn't count here. Likewise, chocolate chips or other add-ons that melt don't count here and should be added at the end.
- Mix your wet ingredients in a medium bowl. The wet ingredients make up total in this recipe, and should be half vegetable oil and half liquid sweetener. Pour the oil and sweetener into a medium bowl, then stir them with a wooden spoon.[3]
- Canola oil has the mildest flavor, but extra virgin olive oil and grapeseed oil also work well, depending on the flavor profile of your granola.
- For liquid sweeteners, try honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, brown rice syrup, or coconut nectar.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine them. Pour the contents of the medium bowl into the large bowl, and use the wooden spoon or your hand to thoroughly incorporate the wet and dry ingredients. Do your best to coat all of the dry ingredients in the oil and sweetener mixture.[4]
- Preheat your oven and add the granola to a rimmed baking sheet. Set your oven to . As it preheats, spread your granola out in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet. If desired, you can lay parchment paper on the pan first.[5]
- Depending on your oven's temperature accuracy and your preferences on how toasty you like your granola, you may instead choose to set your oven to .
- Bake the granola for about 45 minutes, stirring it every 15 minutes. Pull the granola from the oven every 15 minutes, stir it around with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, smooth it back out into a single layer, and return it to the oven. After 30 minutes, check it every 5 minutes or so for doneness. When it's golden brown, it's finished.[6]
- Keep checking often, because the granola can go from golden brown to burned quickly!
- Mix in dried fruit, other add-ins, or seasonings as desired. Let the granola cool for about 5-10 minutes, then scoop it into a large bowl. Stir in as much and as many kinds of dried fruit as you like—raisins, dried cranberries, and dried cherries are just some of your options. Taste the granola and decide if you want to add any seasoning—maybe a pinch of salt, a spoonful of sugar, or flavors like cinnamon or vanilla.[7]
- If you're adding chocolate chips or another add-in that you don't want to melt, make sure the granola is completely cooled before mixing it in.
[Edit]Coconut Cashew Almond Granola - Mix the dry ingredients while you preheat the oven. Set the oven to , then grab a large bowl and stir the dry ingredients together with a wooden spoon or your hand. Use the following:[8]
- 3 c (775 g) rolled oats.
- 1 c (225 g) slivered almonds.
- 1 c (225 g) cashews.
- 0.75 c (170 g) shredded sweet coconut.
- 0.25 c (56 g) plus 2 tbsp (28 g) dark brown sugar.
- Combine the wet ingredients (plus salt) in a medium bowl. Pour the liquids and the salt in a separate bowl from the dry ingredients, then stir them together with a wooden spoon. The wet ingredients include:[9]
- plus maple syrup.
- vegetable oil.
- ¾ tsp (3.6 g) salt—while this is obviously a dry ingredient, mixing it into the wet ingredients first helps incorporate it evenly throughout the granola.
- Mix the wet and dry ingredients together thoroughly. Pour the medium bowl of wet ingredients into the large bowl of dry ingredients, then stir them together with your hand or a wooden spoon. Make sure to give the dry ingredients an even coating of the maple syrup and oil mixture.[10]
- Don't be afraid to use your hand as a mixing tool—just make sure you wash it first!
- Pour the granola onto a sheet pan and bake it for about 75 minutes. Use a rimmed baking sheet and spread the granola out evenly. Every 15 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and stir around the granola to ensure even browning. After 1 hour, check the granola often to make sure it doesn't over-brown. Remove it promptly when it's golden brown.[11]
- You can try increasing the temperature to and reducing the baking time to 45 minutes, but you'll run a slightly greater risk of burning some of the granola.
- Stir in 1 c (225 g) of raisins when the mixture cools. After 5-10 minutes of cooling, scoop the granola into a large bowl. Then, mix in the raisins.[12]
- This granola tastes great slightly warm, but don't store it in a sealed container until it is completely cooled to room temperature.
[Edit]Storing and Serving Granola - Store fully-cooled granola in an airtight container. A glass jar with a screw-top lid is great for storing granola, but a zip-close bag will do the job as well. Just make sure the granola is completely cooled first![13]
- Warm granola will release moisture inside the sealed container, ruining the granola's delightful crunch.
- Keep the granola sealed in a cool, dry place for up to 1 month. Your pantry is a great place to keep your granola. Make sure you seal it back up tightly after each use, and it should last for a month—if you haven't eaten it all before then![14]
- If you're giving granola as a gift—in small screw-top jars, for instance—add a tag with a use-by date.
- Enjoy your homemade granola! It's great with yogurt, as a breakfast cereal with milk, and on ice cream. Or, just grab a handful for a quick snack![15]
- Once you start making your own granola, you'll probably never want to settle for the store-bought stuff again.
- Search "make granola" on wikiHow for some great granola recipe ideas.
[Edit]Related wikiHows [Edit]References [Edit]Quick Summary |
| How to Make Halloween Decorations Posted: 27 Oct 2019 01:00 AM PDT Homemade halloween decorations are a world away from the mass-produced flimsy plastic and paper dollar store offerings. Making your own decorations ensures a unique look, plus you can reuse items around your house that might otherwise go to waste. By making your own decorations with family and/or friends each year, you can look forward to an enjoyable Halloween tradition. [Edit]Decorating with Pumpkins - Make a Jack O'Lantern. No Halloween would be complete without the iconic Jack O'Lantern in its various forms. The classic Jack O'Lantern is made by carving a pumpkin and placing a candle inside it, but here are some other ideas:
- Carve a disco ball pumpkin. This is a carved pumpkin with a twist and it throws light out from all over its many holes. It's a load of fun to make and people won't be able to resist making comments about it.
- You can make Jack O'Lanterns out of various fruits and veggies, including oranges, pomegranates, and peppers.
- Decorate a pumpkin. If you don't want to go through the mess and stress of carving a pumpkin, there are many ways to decorate a pumpkin without carving it:
- Paint or spray paint a pumpkin a single color. You might leave it one color (silver and gold are popular), or draw designs on the pumpkin with a sharpie after it's been painted.
- Use a stencil to help you draw or paint a face or other design on your pumpkin.
- Use stickers or other surface embellishments to decorate a pumpkin. If you want to use something more natural, consider covering a pumpkin in lovely autumn leaves.
- Dress your pumpkin up like a person. Use your pumpkin as the head of a mummy or zombie in your yard, put a wig on it, or add other embellishments that make it look more human (or monstrous, as the case may be).
- Peel your pumpkin. Draw a design on your pumpkin and then use a knife to only cut deep enough to pierce the skin. You want to expose the pumpkin's flesh without cutting the flesh. Draw an outline with your knife and then dig the knife beneath the pumpkin's skin as you pull the skin back.
- Grow a pumpkin patch.[1] This one is a long-term project and will only work if you have access to a yard, but it's sure rewarding. Choose a large spot that will give the pumpkins ample space to grow and that will be easily seen by trick-or-treaters.
- Make sure the spot will get lots of sun, and that the soil can get ample drainage, especially after heavy rain.
- You'll need to find out when to plant pumpkins in your region. Pumpkin seeds generally need to be planted in late spring or early summer if you want to harvest them in the fall.
- There are different types of pumpkins to choose from: pie pumpkins for eating, decorative pumpkins for carving, and mini pumpkins.
- Make a fake pumpkin patch. If you aren't into growing pumpkins, just buy a bunch of pumpkins and arrange them in a way that mimics a pumpkin patch. Don't forget to add vines and greenery to make it look more authentic.
- You can even make a neat yard design with pumpkins, for example, having them line your path. In this case you could connect them with vines so that they look kind of like a pumpkin fence.
- Make pumpkin tabletop decorations. There are quite a few ways that the pumpkin can grace your Halloween party or dinner table:
- Make a still life arrangement using miniature pumpkins of various shapes and sizes. Pile them up beautifully, with a few fall leaves here and there.
- Decorate a pumpkin with netting and ribbon, and then place it in the middle of your table as a centerpiece.
- Make paper pumpkin cut-outs. Use construction paper or different types of card stock to make pumpkin-shaped cut-outs for decorating your home.
- You can make big cut-outs to fix to your walls, or smaller ones for bunting, banners, and mobiles.
- To make pumpkin bunting or garland, glue a row of paper cut-outs to yarn or a long strip of paper, and hang them up around your home. If you're worried about the cut-outs falling off the yarn, poke holes in the top of them and run the yarn through instead of glueing them.
- Make pumpkin favors. These cardboard decorations can be placed along benches, on shelves or they can be strung along like bunting for a ceiling decoration:
- Cut out a 3-inch circle from a piece of orange cardboard (one for each favor/guest). This will form the base of your pumpkin.
- Cut out a 9-inch circle from orange crepe paper or tissue paper. This will form your pumpkin. You need one for each base that you cut.
- Place the cardboard circle into the center of the crepe paper circle. If you want to, you can fasten it in the center so that it doesn't move around while you finish making the favor.
- Gather the edges of the crepe paper/tissue and pull them up so that it looks like a bag.
- Stuff the "bag" tightly with cotton balls, shaping it as you go so that the bag is in the shape of a pumpkin. Tie a knot at the top of it.
- Twist the paper at the top so that it looks like a stem. Add some glue to the "stem" so that it won't unravel, then cover the stem with green paper.
- Use a black felt pen or stickers to add a face to your pumpkin, and you're done!
- Make a pumpkin collage. A pumpkin collage can be an interesting piece of artwork for decorating a wall. Start with a cardboard cut-out of a pumpkin, and then fill it in with items of your choosing.
- You might fill the collage with autumn leaves, photos of previous Halloweens, or images from your favorite scary movies.
- Make a pumpkin wreath. A simple wreath can be made using a wire wreath form and miniature pumpkins as follows:[2]
- Place the miniature pumpkins in a circle to see how many you'll use to make a wreath. You may need around 14 to 20 pumpkins, depending on their size.
- Drill a horizontal hole through each miniature pumpkin. Keep the holes as close to the bottom of the pumpkins as you can, as this will keep them hidden from view when the wreath is hanging.
- String 20-gauge wire through the first pumpkin's holes. Place this pumpkin against the wire wreath form and twist the wire inside the pumpkin holes around the wire wreath form to keep in place.
- Repeat for each pumpkin until all are attached to the wreath form.
- Tuck dry moss into the gaps between the pumpkins. Keep this in place with more wiring.
- Tie a large bow at the top of the wreath, leaving long tie lengths hanging below the wreath. Cut the ends diagonally to prevent fraying.
- Hang a wire hook at the top of the wreath and hang the wreath in position on your front door.
- Make mini-pumpkin candle holders. Pick out some mini-pumpkins at your local grocer or pumpkin patch. Cut off the tops and scoop out enough flesh to make room for a votive candle or tea light.
- Push the candle or tea light into the emptied mini-pumpkin and you're done.
- Place the candle holder wherever you'd normally use a candle, using common sense to keep it away from flammable items.
- Make pumpkin-shaped candles. Purchase wax, wicks, and pumpkin moulds from your local craft shop. Place the wick in the mould, melt the wax down, and pour it into the mould too.
- Once the wax cools, remove it from the mould and you've got a pumpkin candle.
- You can add colors and/or scents to the wax to the candles as well.
[Edit]Decorating with Witches - Make a witch hat decoration. You can do this using paper, felt, or if you're comfortable sewing, you can use fabric. You'll need a quarter-circle for the top and a circle with a hole in the middle for the brim.
- If you're short on time, you can buy plain black ready-made witch hats from the dollar store or anywhere else that sells Halloween costumes, and then decorate those.
- Once you have your hat, decorate it with artificial gems, glitter, stickers, felt pieces, ribbon, sequins, or whatever else tickles your fancy.
- You can even make a witch-hat collage by pasting various items onto a paper witch hat or a piece of cardboard that has been cut into the shape of a witch's hat.
- You can use the decorated hat as a centerpiece on your table or on other surfaces around your house.
- You can also hang the hat from the ceiling — just make sure it's low enough that people can see your decorations, but out of the way so that no one will accidentally bonk into it and knock it down.
- Get creative with your witch hats. Use decorated witch hats or paper cut-outs of witch hats in varying sizes around your house. You can use small witch hats for bunting or garland, for instance, alternating the hats with cut-outs of black cats, brooms, and candy corn.
- You could even make a witch hat in a candy corn theme by sewing or pasting together fabric that has orange at the base, yellow in the middle, and white at the tip.
- Make paper witch decorations. There are lots of ways to turn the silhouette of a witch into decorations, including witch garlands, streamers, collages, cards, signs, and cut-outs.
- Witch silhouettes are especially effective decorations when placed against a window or white surface.
- With the witch come some other traditional symbols that can be added into your artwork, including the black cat, the moon, and the broomstick.
- Make witch legs.[3] Stuff a pair of stripy stockings with whatever you've got handy — batting or polyester filling will work nicely. If you'll be putting the legs outside, avoid filling them with paper products or anything else that is easily damaged by water.
- Draw and cut out witchy-looking boots on a fabric of your choosing (black is recommended). Draw each boot on 2 pieces of fabric (or 1 piece folded in half), and make it extra large as it will shrink when sewn and stuffed.
- Cut, sew, and stuff the boots, and attach them to the ends of the stockings.
- Put some wire in the legs to make them bendy, then stick them in a prop cauldron to make it look like the witch fell in her own brew. You can also have the legs coming out from under a flower pot or anywhere else for that matter.
- If you're a film buff you could make it look like your house fell on a witch (like in The Wizard of Oz) by stuffing a pair of black and white striped stockings and putting sparkly red shoes on them, then fastening them to the ground near the foundation of your house.
- Make dangling witch legs.[4] Follow the instructions for making witches legs — stuffing tights and sewing witchy boots on to the ends of them. Once that's done, make the witch a skirt:
- Cut 20-inch-long strips of black tulle or another crunchy fabric that will mimic a fluffy crinoline.
- Cut the handle off a cheap umbrella (be careful that you don't hurt yourself doing this), then tuck and tie the legs and crinoline up into the spokes of the umbrella.
- The crinoline should hide all of the metal in the umbrella so that it just looks like a large skirt with a witch's legs sticking out. Fasten it to your ceiling (you can cut a hole int the top of the umbrella and pull the stockings through to use as a hanging device) and Voila!
- Make lollipop witch brooms.[5] You'll need lollipops (big round or oval ones work best), a brown felt pen, tissue paper (the fancy stuff you wrap presents with, not kleenex), scissors, twine, and name tags (optional).
- Use the brown felt pen to color in the lollipop sticks brown. You can also use black or dark brown if you think this would look better.
- Cut a bunch of squares in your tissue paper, all of the same size. Four inches by four inches is recommended.
- Gently put the lollipop stick through the middle of the tissue square and then pull the tissue down until it rests on top of the lollipop.
- Pull the tissue around the lollipop candy, and then scrunch the rest of the tissue up before tying it with twine to hold it in place. You may need to trim the edges of the tissue so that the broom can stand upright.
- These can double as place settings at the dinner table as well as party favors. If you want to use them as place settings, tie a name tag around the section of the broom that's tied with twine.
[Edit]Decorating with Ghosts - Make fabric ghosts. White fabric scraps of all sorts can be easily transformed into ghosts. You don't even need to sew them: you can just cut out squares of fabric and drape or tie them into your desired shapes.
- One popular method is to scrunch up newspaper into your desired ghosty shape, drape a piece of felt or fabric overtop of it, tie the fabric with twine to form the ghost's "head", and then draw a ghosty face on it.
- Use white fabric scraps to make ghost cut-outs to turn into pictures or bunting. You can also sew little white scraps of fabric into finger puppets, or stick them on to empty toilet rolls to make ghosts.
- Make paper cut-out ghosts. Use card stock, construction paper, or simple white printer paper and transform it into ghosts of all sorts, including ghost pictures or cut-outs, ghost collages, and ghost bunting or garlands.
- You can also cut out a large ghost shape from cardboard and use it as the base for a collage.
- Make use of your bedsheets. Drape white or off-white bedsheets over objects around your house to give the impression of ghosts.
- You can also make your room look like a room in an old haunted mansion by covering nearly all of your furniture in sheets and then putting spiderwebs in the corners.
- You might even add a skull and/or a crystal ball to a table, and play some creepy Halloween sounds in the room.
- Make a ghost out of cheesecloth and fabric stiffener.[6] This is just one of the many ways in which you can transform household objects into ghost decorations.
 - Start by creating a frame for your ghost's shape. Stack two cups vertically end to end (with the rims facing out), and place a small balloon on top. Lay down some newspaper or a plastic bag beneath this to catch any liquid that follows from the cloth as it dries.
- Cut 8 inches of cheesecloth. If the ends are ragged, all the better, as this will make your ghost look more creepy and old. Off-white and beige cheesecloths are good choices.
- Soak the cheesecloth in fabric stiffener. Use a bowl for this. Make sure the cheesecloth is well coated before you take it out.
- Remove the cheesecloth from the bowl of fabric stiffener and immediately place it over the balloon-cup frame. It should take roughly 10 minutes to dry.
- Once the cloth is dry, pop the balloon by poking a pin through the cheesecloth. This will leave you with a hardened ghost shape.
- Now you can decorate your ghost in any way you want. When you're happy with it, pull some fishing line, thread, or twine through the top of the ghost and hang it up.
- Make a ghost out of a styrofoam head, a wire hanger, and some fabric.[7] You can give the ghost broader shoulders by adding additional wire and extra fabric to the hanger.
- Bend the hook of the hanger so that it's straight, then gently push the styrofoam head down onto it. Now it'll look like a head sitting on top of shoulders.
- Drape white fabric over the head and hanger, and then adjust the fabric until you're happy with how it looks, cutting it to make it look more ragged, or bulking it up in places to make it look more like a person's figure.
- If you want you can add long wire arms to the hanger and then put stuff white latex gloves at the ends of the "arms" to make it look more like a person.
- Once you're happy with how it looks, hang it up by tying fishing line around its neck and fastening it to your ceiling or anywhere else you like.
- You can find styrofoam heads at most Halloween supply shops, but also some beauty supply and craft shops.
[Edit]Decorating with Spiders - Make spider-shaped paper cut-outs. Draw spider shapes on construction paper or card stock and cut them out, then fix them to your walls or to string to make bunting or garland. You can also use the spider shape as the basis for a collage.
- Paper spiders can be stuck all over the wall, among fake webs, and in bushes. Be careful about putting the paper spiders outside, as they might get wrecked if it rains.
- Use cardboard for larger spiders that can be hung from ceilings or greater heights to dangle in people's faces. You might cut up garbage bags and glue them onto these so that they're shiny black spiders.
- Make a spider from repurposed items. As an example, you could make a spider from an egg carton and pipe cleaners:[8]
- Cut out an egg carton piece to form the spider's body. Paint in the color you want the spider to be — black, neon, purple with red spots, etc. You might even use a glow-in-the-dark or black-light paint.
- Pierce four holes down one side and another four down the other side of the egg carton piece, then slip pipe cleaners into the holes each side to form eight legs.
- Reshape the legs so that the spider can stand properly and perhaps have two legs splayed in front.
- Glue on a bunch of pre-made googly eyes or paint them on to make the spider's face. You can also add fangs.
- If you want the spider to be larger, you can use two egg carton pieces for the body, and then glue on a ping pong ball or something similar to form the spider's head.
- Make a spider web. If you want a web or two for all the spiders you're making, you have many options:
- A string web is made by weaving a web using string and a wire frame, and then gluing the cutting out the round part of the web. You then hang the web from the ceiling using another piece of string. (Paper or light plastic spiders go well on this web.)
- A pipe cleaner web is made from twisting together 4 pipe cleaners and then working outward until you've reached the desired web size. (Pipe cleaner spiders go well with this web.)
- A doily web is ideally made of crocheted doilies that have been sprayed black. Use string to attach the doilies to a transparent or loosely woven sheet, keeping space between them so that they look like different webs.
- A cheesecloth web will look like an old abandoned cobweb. You cut it into the shapes you want, and then gently pull on it so that the strings come apart and look more web-like. Then you hang it from your ceiling/on your walls/in your windows.
[Edit]Making Other Decorations - Make a Halloween wreath. Add Halloween-themed items to a plain wreath to dress it up. You can purchase a pre-made wreath base, or you can make a wreath from scratch with Evergreen tree branches, twigs, or burlap.
- To make the wreath look extra Halloweeny, spray paint it black, orange, purple, silver, grey — or any other color you'd like.
- Use a hot glue gun (or have your parents help you) to glue black tulle, orange feathers, fake eyeballs, fake spiders, or other Halloween-y items into the wreath.
- Make glowing ping pong ball decorations. For this you only need felt pens, ping pong balls, electric tea lights, and something sharp to poke holes into the ping pong balls with (scissors or a screwdriver will work).
- Just draw on the ping pong balls and then pop them on top of an electric tea light and turn it on to see them glow and flicker. Creepy eyeballs and faces are good choices for this craft!
- Another option is to attach pipecleaners to the sides of a ping pong ball and make it look like a spider — a glowing spider, that is!
- Make paper bats. Bats, like spiders, are another popular creature featured in Halloween decorations. Use construction paper or card stock to make bat-shaped cut-outs that you can hang around your house.
- You might even use a large bat-shaped cut-out as the base of a Halloween-themed collage.
- Themes for great decorations include bats, black cats, coffins, masks, candy corn, snakes, mummies, eyeballs and toenails, cobwebs, rats, owls, vampires, witches and broomsticks, ghosts, zombies — the list is almost endless!
- You can also make a cool Halloween banner!
[Edit]Warnings - Never leave a burning candle unattended.
- If children make the decorations, supervise anything they're not capable of doing for their age range, such as cutting, piercing holes, sewing, etc.
[Edit]Things You'll Need - Paper
- Fabric
- Recycled goodies
- Markers, pens, paint, etc.
- Pumpkins
- Scissors, glue, and related crafting gear
- Items as mentioned for each craft type
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