Both candy and corny at the same time.

I really like things with happy faces on them. Especially food. Even food I don’t eat.

I don’t eat candy corn, but boy I’m going to love wearing it! And even more than that, I love how simple and quick this project was.

All you need is:

• Shrink plastic (the regular old clear plastic Shrinky Dink kind is the standard, but there may be other brands available); You should be able to find this at your local craft store or online
• Colored pencils or markers (I’d stick to the colored pencils; They seem to give the best results; I’d avoid Sharpie markers because the pigment is too saturated)
• Candy corn template (please see below)
• Scissors
• Hole punch (A standard hole punch will work just fine, just make sure you punch your hole 1/8″ or so from the edge of your original-sized shrink plastic, before shrinking; If you leave less space than that, your hole may break open entirely as the item shrinks); However, I have found that a 1/8″ hole punch gives you a much smaller and more precise hole, and will still accommodate a standard-size jump ring or earwire after shrinking
• Oven/tin foil/cookie sheet
• Earwires and pliers for attaching the earwires to your candy corn
• optional**: Acrylic sealer (It will help to prevent the color rubbing off your finished piece of jewelry)

1. Print out the above candy corn templates; Notice that the two candy corns are mirror images of each other; If you like your earrings to be 100% identical, you can trace one image twice
2. Trace the images lightly onto your shrink plastic. Please note that you will be drawing on the rough side of the shrink plastic, not the smooth side. Start by coloring in the white, orange, and yellow, then go back in to add the pink for the blushing cheeks, and the black for the eyes; If the colors do not seem vibrant enough to you, don’t worry; Colors will intensify during shrinking.
3. Once all of the colors have been filled in to your satisfaction, trace around your image with black for a nice crisp outline; Note: If you want to conserve your shrink plastic, try to trace your images as close to the edges of the plastic as you can. Also, don’t leave wide spaces between the images you trace. The closer they are together (while still allowing you cutting room) the more finished projects you can get out of one sheet of plastic
4. Carefully cut your pieces out, following the outlines/edges you drew for yourself
5. Make sure to punch a hole at least 1/8″ away from the edge of your piece with your hole punch so that you can hang your image safely from an earwire
6. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and place the cut-out pieces colored or rough side up onto the foil.
7. Slide your cookie sheet into the oven, but do not leave the area; It will only take 1-5 mins for your item to shrink. For safety’s sake – and for fun – you should watch the entire process through the oven window. Please note that your piece will buckle and curl as it is baked, but don’t be too hasty in removing the piece from the oven while it is still in a curved shape. The curves should flatten out again on their own in a few moments
8. Let your pieces cool; If you like, once pieces are fully cool, you can take an acrylic sealer and paint or spray on your design to seal in the color and prevent rub-off
9. Now, using pliers, carefully open an earwire and slip 1 of your candy corns onto it; Repeat for the other earring
10. That’s it!

Hope you’re enjoying Halloween week to the fullest all!

Boo.

Happy Rocktober everyone! I hope you’ve been having a nice lead-up to the year’s most spooktacular holiday!

I love this time of year, and I adore almost everything to do with Halloween, so I wanted to share this project with you. I’ve been taking a design course, and the above was one of our recent assignments.

We were asked to create a pictorial image using black and white construction paper, and tracings of any shape that we could produce with our hands. We could change the size of the shapes as we liked, and use as many cut-outs as we liked. And with my particular love of this otherworldly holiday, I could not pass up the opportunity to get my scare on :-)   I do apologize for the poor photography though. I am more of an opportunist than a planner when it comes to taking pictures sometimes…

But anyway, I got to thinking that this would be a really cool craft to do with kids. We all remember those traced hand turkeys we made in school for Thanksgiving, but this sort of project could be an interesting challenge for any holiday during the year. If a child can hold some kind of drawing implement, and if there is some construction paper/computer paper/old magazines/glue/scissors lying around the house, then you’ve got all you need for a festive and seasonal activity. Smaller kids might need a bit of assistance with cutting or gluing, but older children should have no problem doing this independently.

Kids can experiment with trying to trace as many different shapes with their hands as they can think of. And of course they can add a bit of color if they want to. Orange I am sure would be a particular favorite.  And plus, once kids have finished their projects, these little pieces of art can join the other Halloween decorations around the house. And kids will be so proud to show off their handiwork in their bedroom window, or in some other prominent location. It’s a win-win. The kids will have something fun and inspiring to do, maybe even sharing some social time with their friends or siblings, and parents might even get a little quiet time while the kids are actively occupied in their pursuits.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this project, and that you get to spend some good quality time with your little goblins this month.

Happy Halloween!