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DIY Cardboard Costumes

October 25, 2022 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

Have you ever looked at your child creating something and thought “how did they think of that?” It happens over here a lot. I am constantly amazed at my kids’ creativity, and it really shows in their cardboard costumes. I love Walt Disney’s quote,

“our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.”

This quote sums up the process of my children creating something they need. We try to go as thrifty as we can for Halloween costumes. I love dress up and I love creativity and it feels like Halloween can merge those two passions so beautifully. Cardboard is a cheap material, so they often opt to make a cardboard costume for Halloween.

Do I Buy or Make a Costume?

For the record, I am NOT about paying a ton for a costume that you wear one time. Yet, we had probably a half dozen Toy Story costumes when our kids were younger because they literally lived in them all day long.

So, knowing your children and their interest level is important when deciding how invested you want to be in a Halloween costume.

Now that we have big kids, they wont wear the costume again. Dress up is not one of their everyday hobbies anymore. In that case, we want to have fun, play, and have something to wear and celebrate the day. Cardboard costumes can be quick, resourceful, inexpensive, fun and get the job done.

cardboard costume

What do I need to create a DIY Cardboard Costume?

Big boxes can be the whole costume. I will never forget being out on a walk and seeing Sponge Bob run up to me. It was one of the funniest parenting moments. Who expects to see their child in a cardboard box version of Sponge Bob run up to them!?

A box box can be taped shut, painted and have holes cut for the arms and legs and be pretty amazing.

Our Caleb loves shoes. He buys shoes, he paints shoes, he draws shoes, and he even sells shoes. Do you know anyone like that? You can see more of his love for shoes/art on his YouTube channel. It made perfect sense that he would dress up as a shoe box one year. When we let our kids create their own costume, it can be more personalized and tuned to their individual interests.

Maybe you just have a sheet of cardboard laying around. It ca be turned into a mask. It can be as big as a pumpkin (wearing sunglasses) or smaller like an animal face. I love that the DIY style lets you be as elaborate or simple your time frame and heart’s desire cares to invest.

Our Reagan loves to create, so of course she spent more time on the fox mask than I did on the large cardboard piece we used for a skit.

cardboard costumeWe all are ordering online these days. By having things we love shipped directly to our door, we can have smaller cardboard boxes pile up. Am I right!? A smaller cardboard box can be the perfect addition to clothes you already have at home.

Have you ever been to a stadium baseball game or basketball game where the ushers are going up and down the stairs selling drinks? One year, our Caleb dressed up as a Dr. Pepper sales guy and it still makes me laugh to look at this picture. DIY Cardboard costumes can be hilarious and so fun. Caleb literally gave away some caned Dr. Peppers during our trick or treating that night. You should have seen the kids asking to trade candy for a drink with him!

What do you think? Do you still need a costume for this year’s trick or treating or Halloween party? Have fun imagining the possibilities! You can save a trip to Walmart and some $ by recycling your cardboard box into a creative costume.

cardboard costumeNeed more help tapping into your exquisite imagination? Join me in this 30 day challenge to practice imagining and allow the interesting, rewarding possibilities to emerge!

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Create your own inexpensive foliage!

February 25, 2020 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

Are you ready for spring?

I don’t mind the winter, as long as there is snow and it’s pretty! Sometimes the pretty is just the trees’ silhouette outline on a colorful sky, since we haven’t had as much snow this winter. There have been a lot of gray, wet days. It has me itching to bring back color, so the other day, I took down all the winter decorations at our art studio and started creating some spring ones. Let me show you how I came up with my foliage!

As the founder of a non profit art studio, we get a good amount of local craft donations from other artists or businesses in town. Recently, we got some fabric samples from a home designer and it got me thinking if I could turn those into some inexpensive green, spring foliage.

I loved how there were different patterns, texture of fabrics and shades of colors. I started by cutting about 3″ long leaves. I didn’t measure or worry about the exact width or shape. This is a great activity to do during a movie or couch lounging one night.

Once I had a huge stack of leaves, I simply started hot gluing and folding them around some wire stems.

You can use whatever wire you have or you can pick some up in the craft floral section at your local craft store like I did. I added a dab of hot glue on the wire and kind of folded one end of the leaf around it. I don’t have any pictures of this step, but if you look closely you can see what I am saying.

I worked in about 3′ long pieces of wire and made a stack of this foliage as I went. I made 8 separate pieces, but you could make as many as you wanted. I intended for my foliage to hang like a garland, but you could create yours on dowel rods for a sturdy base to stick in a vase as well. There are lots of possibilities!

I love how the fabric creates a soft leaf and foliage look. It really makes it more believable by how it moves and does not have a harsh fold. I took my foliage to the studio and hung it down in our faux fireplace.

I love the natural, yet creative pop of inspiration it gives in the space.

It was a perfect way to add some spring decorations in an inexpensive way to our space. What do you think?

So, are you ready for spring? Or, do you want to will it into existence by creating spring looks too?

Creating doesn’t have to be expensive. Use what you have. If you have some old green Christmas decorations, you can cut that up for some leaves. Do you have some green shirts with a stain? You can use that too! On those little leaves, you can’t tell where they came from or what they use to be. When they are all strung up together though, they create a beautiful look!

Have fun and imagine the possibilities! If you create some inexpensive foliage, tag us on Instagram or Facebook so we can see!

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Marbled Soup Can Canister Tutorial

November 12, 2019 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

Do you love recycling trash into treasures as much as we do!?

Art doesn’t have to be expensive. Using things you might normally throw away as art supplies is one way to create in an inexpensive way! Soup cans are one of our favorite recycling materials to repurpose into a fun craft. It is sturdy and strong and be a great base for something else.

Today, we are excited to show you how you can turn those cans into marbleized storage canisters.

The first step is to collect your soup cans. We have gotten in the habit of just saving all our soup cans, so when a project idea arises, we are ready with cans on hand. I take the paper wrapper off our soup cans and run them through the dishwasher with our dishes to get clean. Once you have your dry cans, you are ready to create! We spray painted our cans white to have a nice matte base coat for this project. While the tin cans were drying, we collected our spray paint cans and filled a bucket with water. For each can, we choose two different spray paint colors. We added one color at a time.

All you have to do is spray the water with your spray paint color. The spray paint sits on top of the water. You then lay the can on top of the water and the paint will adhere to the can like a sticker might grab onto your hand. After one color was added, we simply looked at the can, maybe rotated it a little to figure out what side needed some more color, and did this step again with the second color of paint.

The can comes out of the water looked marbleized and super fun! After you get the hang of it, you can play with how much spray paint you spray on top of the water to create a more thick or less thick look on your can. We had so much fun doing all four of our cans that we prepped!

After the cans were dry, we used ours to hold art supplies. You could do the same or turn it into something else! A wind chime, flower pot, vase, or candle holder are fun ways to use your new canister too. You can personalize this craft using colors that fit your taste or the size can that fits your need best.

Sometimes it is easier to understand the steps to a project to see it actually happen. To see this craft in video form, you can watch the process on our YouTube channel here.

We love how quick, colorful, process art base, and inexpensive this paint technique can be! We had so much fun doing it to the tin cans that we bought some inexpensive raw wood candle sicks to paint this way too!

How fun are those!? We think they look like they belong on shelves in World Market or Anthropologie. We found some white candle sticks that make the colors pop even more, and we are going to use them as Christmas presents for family this year!

What do you think!? Will you try this paint technique? Do you like making Christmas gifts too!? We’d love to hear from you! Find us on social media by tagging us with your pictures #spoonfulofimagination

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Easy DIY Satin Flower

February 26, 2019 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments

Satin-Flower-Featured

As I mentioned in my last post, we are READY for spring around here. Sunshine. Warmth. Color. Anything to get beyond this cold grey reality. While the weather around here isn’t totally cooperating with my desires, I’ll continue to take matters into my own hands and create something to introduce a little warmth and pop of color. Take that Old Man Winter.

If you’ve been around here for a while you know that I love to make flowers out of all kinds of materials for different projects. Burlap. Felt. Chiffon. Today I want to walk you through one of my all-time favorite projects, the Easy DIY Satin Flower.

If you like to read the step by step, carry on, my friend. However, if you’d like to get your supplies and create along with me – you can do that too! Our latest YouTube video is me walking you through this tutorial step-by-step. Enjoy!

Supplies:

  • Your favorite colors of satin fabric. (An 1/8 of a yard will go a long way. The more satin flowers you want to create and the more colors you would like to incorporate, the more satin you should purchase.)
  • Sharp scissors
  • Needle and thread (thread color doesn’t matter because it won’t be seen)
  • A multi-purpose lighter
  • Fun embellishments of your choice, i.e., buttons, beads, scrapbook charms & hardware, jewels, etc.
  • Hot glue and hot glue gun
  • Once you’ve created your flower it can be used in dozens of different projects. In the YouTube video, I use mine for hair bows and headbands. You can get a variety of those from the dollar store.
  • Alligator clips (If you’d like to have a flexible way to attach your flower without permanently connecting it to a hairband.)

Tutorial:

For this tutorial, you are going to cut your satin into 6 circles. When you branch out to make your own, feel free to adjust the number of layers for your own unique look. Before starting on your circles you may want to cut the satin into manageable squares/rectangles to making cutting the circles easier.

satin-fabric

The circles do not need to be perfectly round and you’ll see why in a moment. The first circle should be the largest. You can decide how large you’d like for your flower to be but I’d recommend 3-4″ round for the first one. Now cut 5 more circles making each one a little bit smaller.

satin-circles

satin-circles2

Now being very careful, use your lighter to singe the edges of your satin circles. As the flame is applied to the satin, the heat will cause the edges to begin to curling up. The longer the heat is applied the more the satin will curl. Test it out and find the look that you prefer. This step will also help to seal the edges of the fabric and keep it from fraying in the future. The satin flower should not catch fire. If it does, you are holding the flame to the fabric too long.

burn-satin

Once all of your satin circles have been curled with the lighter, stack them largest to smallest. Get your needle and thread and go ahead and thread your needle. I like to double thread mine to make it extra strong. Give yourself about 18-24″ of thread and double knot it at the end leaving a few inches of slack past the knot.

Now sew your needle through the bottom of your satin flower petals all the way through to the top of the smallest one. Because you are going through 6 layers of satin you may want to use a table or hard surface to help push your needle through. Be careful and watch your fingers! Don’t ask me how I know!? 😉 Pull your thread through so that the knot presses against the bottom of the satin petals. Now sew back through the top down to the bottom. Repeat this step 5 to 6 times to make sure that your satin flower petals are securely fastened. Finish by sewing through the bottom. Take the remaining thread and the slack from your first knot and tie them together with another double knot. Your flower is now secure you can cut off the slack, being careful not to cut through the knots.

sew-satin

sew-satin2

Pick out a fun embellishment for the center of your flower. Sew or hot glue it to the center of your flower depending on what you choose.

embellishment

At this point, your satin flower is done. Now the question is, what are you going to do with it?
The possibilities are endless. Make several and sew them to a pillow. Hot glue it to a frame or table display. Sew or clip it to a handbag. Or you can do like I did and incorporate it into a hair bow.

satin-flowers

If you are going to use it in a hair bow for a little one and you’d like to add some flexibility and longevity to your flower, I’d recommend hot gluing one of the alligator clips to the back. That way the flower can be attached to the perfect newborn headband for those itty-bitty newborns… but as they grow, it can be moved to a bigger hairband to grow with them!

alligator-clip

alligator-clips2

reagan-satin-flower

You can do this! This project is easy, fun, and a GREAT way to give an inexpensive but super special gift for a variety of occasions. Share your projects on social media using the #spoonfulofimagination hashtag so that we can be inspired by your creations. Keep checking out our YouTube Channel for new videos and projects. We’d appreciate it a ton if you’d subscribe and share with your followers. Have a great week that hopefully filled with lots of warmth and color!

 

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