Halloween Party Crafts-Easy-to-Adapt Halloween Crafts for a Bewitching Party

"Lots of children's games and crafts adapt nicely to Halloween with a few set changes. 'Pin the tail on the donkey' can become 'pin the tail on the black cat.' A simple bean bag toss game can become a ghostly game by drawing ghosts on the target board with their open mouths as the scoring goal. Look through craft catalogs and think about how you can adapt the projects to your own needs."

Click here for more on having a great Halloween party.

Green Alternatives To Halloween Candy: Ten Ways to Have a Green Halloween Without Giving Up the Fun

Halloween candy contributes plastic bags and individual wrappings to landfills after the children have eaten themselves into sugar overload. Choose alternatives that teach or entertain, recycle items you may already have or create items for fun projects. Help children build good habits for tomorrow.

For ways to ditch the sugar and still have fun, click here.

Share Your Bounty, Seek Your Needs at egiva.com

Part of a crafty ministry is getting the things you need and giving away the things you don't need. A new free website gives people the opportunity to do just that!

With egiva.com, a person can offer things she doesn't need but is willing to give away, and ask for things she does need. For example, Cathy Crafter may have odds and ends of yarn left over from a variety of projects. She offers them on egiva.com and hears from Annie Artistic, who needs yarn for an upcoming project. Annie picks up the yarn and Cathy has some free space!

Later, Cathy realizes she needs styrofoam meat trays for her Sunday School class project next month. She posts a request on egiva.com and hears from several people who have trays and will give them to her.

The use of egiva.com is free and anyone can register. The site allows people to connect with others in their area to give and receive-furniture, clothing, extra produce from the garden, you name it. Check out the site and share the information with everyone you know.Your church, school, fraternal organization or neighbors can form an egiva group and you can be a member of more than one group.

You'll find more information here.

The site is here.

How to Donate Extra School Supplies and Make a Difference in a Child's Life

"Back-to-school means a frenzy of collecting supplies and getting ready. Thrifty shoppers try to get the best deal possible on the items their children need for school. Sometimes that means buying a bulk package of needed materials and perhaps ending up with more than you need."


Click here for more...

Elmer's and Walmart Team for Virtual Bag It Forward

Well, thrifty crafters,  here's a chance for you to help get supplies to schools. But you must act quickly! The promotion ends August 12.

ELMER’S VIRTUAL BAG IT FORWARD RULES

• Copy and paste these rules into your blog post or Facebook note.
• Create a post giving a “virtual bag of school supplies” to other bloggers or write about your Back to School shopping trip at Walmart.
• Link back to the person who gave you a bag of school supplies.
• Let each person you are giving a virtual bag of school supplies know you have given them a bag.
• Leave your link in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward comment section. You can also find the official rules of this virtual #bagitforward program there.
• Elmer’s is donating $10 for each blog participating in the Virtual Bag It Forward Donation to Adopt-A-Classroom (up to total of $10,000 for blog posts written by August 12, 2010).
• Please note that only one blog post per blog url will count towards the donation.

Click here for Elmer's Virtual Bag It Forward

How to Make a Football Cake - Touchdown!

"With or Without a Special Pan, Anyone Can Create a Football Cake

 

For a small gathering or a big crowd, a football cake scores big during the season. There are many options for baking and for decorating to help make the cake as important to the celebration as the game itself."


Click here for more on fun with football cakes...

Garden Weaving from a Guest Contributor

I wish I could claim credit for this lovely idea. Instead, I'll refer you over to a gifted lady who put together several small activities to create a lovely finished artwork. I think you'll enjoy the project and the lessons to be learned during the creation of the final hanging.


 Click here to view Ruth's delightful project

And of course, I have to add my two bits, right?

Depending on budget and time constraints, I could easily see this project in a variety of ways.

Laminate the finished work between two clear sheets to turn it into a place mat (for a full page project) or coasters (smaller projects).

Use other images for different study models: a forest scene woven with a close up of a single tree; a vegetable garden woven with a picture of a dinner plate; a pasture with cows woven with a picture of dairy products, a Bible scene woven with a picture of an open Bible. Ruth's project provides a great way to tie together source-and-product lessons.

Thanks, Ruth, for a great project!