This week on Halloween Crafts Roundup, we’re featuring two women with a flair for esthetics and expansive creativity! First is Pamela of French Knots, a blog dedicated to food and crafts (we love both!). Next we have Laura Fisher. Laura is a textile artist, clothing designer and the owner of Baisebeige Studios. Her fashion line is devoted to the Green movement and creates pieces that are friendly to the planet and humanity.

Spooky Halloween Garland

This lovely Garland concept is created by Pamela of French Knots will surely spruce up your living space on Halloween. Directions are located here and the materials needed are normal day items so it’s super easy to make. If you aren’t feeling the “spooky” garland, you can substitute other Halloween-themed words. Or perhaps, make multiple Garlands with different wordings to string around your home as unique decorations!

Polka-dot Pumpkins

While browsing through Pamela’s blog archives, I found this little gem of a Halloween decoration. We all know pumpkins are iconic for Halloween, and many households either crave Jack-0′-lanterns or place pumpkins of various sizes outside to spice up the atmosphere of fall and Halloween. Pamela took this Halloween staple and gave it a twist! Polka-dot pumpkins will definitely stand out from the rest of the crowd.

Decorative Masks

Laura of Baisebeige Studios created these one of a kind decorated masks out of salvaged textiles. Since she’s a designer, making these masks is a second nature for her. She has a special affinity towards Halloween because she discovered people generally are more adventurous and willing to try something new during this festive holiday. Through her various crafts and projects, Laura hopes to inspire and teach others that wonderful things can be made from discarded objects. This craft is targeted for young teens but children could also decorate these masks by drawing or gluing objects or cutouts onto them. Step by step directions can be found here.

We’re constantly on the lookout for more craft ideas to add to our weekly roundup. If you have an idea or a suggestion, please do not hesitate to leave a comment or email us! We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

Whew! Can’t believe another week flew by and what a week it’s been! Most kids are back in school and tomatos are back in season. Can we say “yippee”? Thanks to email submitted after last week’s roundup as well as combing through copious craft blogs, we have a fresh batch of creative crafts ideas for Halloween. So let’s get started!

Eerie Luminarias

What can I say? I love these paper lanterns from Better Homes and Gardens. Stick them inside your house or outside to create a unique atmosphere for all the trick-or-treaters coming to your doorstep!

Cereal Box Monsters

These cereal box monsters from SheKnows.com are great arts and crafts project for kids! You can either choose to make your own personal Frankenstein or Mummy. Directions are located here and they are simple to follow.

Creepy Cute Leaf Ghosts

Another fantastic idea from SheKnows.com is the leaf ghost made out of silk leaves (not real ones! although that would be a great way to recycle those autumn leaves). These little ghosts are perfect on tabletops or you can string them in numbers to make a garland to hang across the rooms in your house or classrooms.

Monster Treat Bags

The very talented and creative Amanda Formaro is also the creator of the Eerie Luminaires. On her blog, there are all sorts of craft ideas for people of all ages and for every occasion you can think of. These colorful treat bags are made out of ordinary brown lunch bags but with a little creativity and spicing up, these brown bags are ready to be taken out for a night of trick-or-treating!

That’s all the crafts for this week! Hope you’ve enjoyed the roundup as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Stay tuned for more amazing crafts next week!

We’re constantly on the lookout for more craft ideas to add to our weekly roundup. If you have an idea or a suggestion, please do not hesitate to leave a comment or email us! We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

There are many sites out there that have crafts and DIY projects for halloween decorations. In anticipation (we know we know Halloween is still a few good months away, but we’re starting to rev up our engines in preparation!) of Halloween, every week here at GH will have a roundup post of crafts to share with our viewers! Below is the first batch that caught our eye thanks to their creativity and promotion of more family time with your kids!

If you have an idea to submit, feel free to email so we can include it in the upcoming roundup posts! We look forward in hearing from you!

Spooky Thumbprints

Create Halloween art with your thumbprints! It’s simple and fun. Your kids will sure to be pleased by their artworks! Click here for step-by-step directions.

Tootsie-Pop Spider

A decoration that has a treat inside it! How sweet is that? This Spider’s body is made out of a Tootsie-roll lollipop. Head on over to FabulousLiving.com for directions on how to make your very own candy spider!

Hanger turned Pumpkin

Next up, we have a pumpkin made out of old wire hangers courtesy of the San Diego Zoo. Instead of tossing them out, turn them into a creative Halloween decoration! Not only is the pumpkin super eye-catching, it’s simple to make and it’s eco-friendly to reuse materials.  All you need are old hangers and Halloween colored pipe cleaners!

Glue Ghost Necklace

From MarthaStewart.com comes a spooky and delicate necklace that your kids will scream for! This is the perfect accessory to make to go along with their costumes this year. Who wouldn’t want a string of cure transparent ghosts following them around while they treat-or-treat around the neighborhood?

For the last two days, we’ve  promised to share the easy-to-make, healthy face paint recipe from our book, Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family.

So (drum-roll, please) here it is! Direct from page 100…

Make your own perfectly natural face paints

A test performed by Washington Toxics Coalition and a Seattle-area investigative reporter found that even children’s products labeled as “non-toxic” may be laced with known toxins such as lead. Store-bought,“non-toxic” face paints are no different and can expose you and your children to an array of chemicals and preservatives, including BHA, formaldehyde, kohl (due to lead), phthalates, and parabens, which the Environmental Working Group states, “can disrupt the hormone (endocrine) system, and [in one report] were found in the breast cancer tumors of 19 of 20 women studied.” Given that most face paints and pencils contain parabens, your best bet is to make them yourself. You might just save some money doing it this way too.

To DIY-for face paints:

• 1 tsp cornstarch
• ½ tsp water
• ½ tsp all natural diaper rash cream, such as the California Baby brand (we know, we know, it sounds weird, but it works)
• 1-2 drops natural/ organic food coloring

In a small bowl, mix water and cornstarch. Add baby cream and food color and mix a bit more.

Budget101.com can also help to turn you into a Hollywood worthy make-up and wardrobe artist with their list of do-it yourself, chemical-free or easy to alter recipes for all your kids’ costume requests, from the sweet to the gross and ghoulish.

(Photo by Holli Dunn)

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Have you made your own face paints? Have another recipe you’d like to share? We’d love to hear it. Add your comment, below.

Halloween is almost here and that means our contests will be coming to a close.  Don’t forget to enter now for your chance at fame and fortune, or at least a cool prize, like the Razor Scooter being given away by our national sponsor, Crayons Beverages for their pumpkin carving contest.

Pumpkin Carving Contest*

Photo contest (by BabyLegs)

Craft contest

* For help with the carving, you might like these free stencils from the World Wildlife Federation or try carvingpumpkins.com, dltk-holidays.com or bhg.com.

Pumpkinmasters.com also has some great, free stencils as well as some tips for how to photograph your jack-o-lantern for submission to this or any other pumpkin carving contest.