Halloween Cone Gift Idea

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of HERSHEY® for SheSpeaks. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you "boo" your neighbors? This is such a fun tradition that our family looks forward to each year and we can't wait to do it again! 

 Simply leave a basket of Halloween goodies on your neighbor's doorstep, ring the doorbell and RUUUUUN! Inside the baskets are treats and little Halloween gifts like HERSHEY® candy from Walmart, glow sticks, cards and stickers. Get the entire neighborhood in on the fun with this You've Been Booed gift basket idea! For this idea, instead of using a basket, I've created a cone to hang on neighbor's door knobs. They're so quick and easy to make, you could easily create them for the entire neighborhood in no time! 

I headed to Walmart  to gather everything I needed to put inside the Halloween cones. Walmart is the one-stop shop for all things Halloween and I knew I'd find some fun items to fill my baskets with. The HERSHEY'S All Time Greats Miniatures large variety bag was perfect for this project since we'll be leaving a lot of gifts on neighbor's doors and I wouldn't want to run out of goodies! 

To create the cone, print out this template and trace your choice of pattern paper around the template. Once your pattern paper has been traced, cut it out and glue it into a cone shape. Grab the download to the cone HERE.

 

Using a hole punch, punch a hole on each side of the cone and thread black ribbon through to create a handle. Tie a few strands of orange and aqua ribbon to the handles and decorate however you'd like! You could add stickers or cut out fun Halloween sayings from paper, just anything that gets you in that Halloween mood. 

Next, fill your cones with a little bit of paper shred and a Halloween card. Tuck in some Halloween stickers, glow sticks and lots of delicious candies from the HERSHEY'S large variey bag. 

Your Halloween cones are now ready to be hung around the neighborhood! Your neighbors will love these cute cones filled to the brim with all those Halloween necessities like HERSHEY® candies! 

It's always nice to let neighbors know how much we love and appreciate them. A little Halloween token of treats and small gifts is the perfect way to celebrate and bring the community together.

Be sure to stock up on HERSHEY Halloween products so you can enjoy them all season long!

10 Halloween Party Activities

 

Disclosure: As a member of the Oriental Trading Fun Squad, I received compensation and/or products in exchange for my styling and crafting services. This post contains affiliate links.

If you're planning a Halloween party for kids this year, these activities are spooktacularly fun! The little ghouls and goblins will have a thrilling time creating and getting into the spirit of Halloween. Check out all 10 Halloween Party Activities on the Oriental Trading FUN365 site! 

Halloween Movie Night Concession Stand

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of HERSHEY® for SheSpeaks. All opinions are 100% mine.

We LOVE Halloween at our house and you better believe I stock up early on treats to enjoy all season long. A quick trip to Walmart's candy aisle and I'm in Halloween candy heaven! Some of my new favorite treats are the New KIT KAT® Witch's Brew Bar with their bright purple wrapper and adorable little witch. When you open them up, they're a really cool pale green that has the classic crunch of a KitKat but the coating is marshmallow flavored! You MUST try these, they're so yummy! Also we're loving the New Reese's Franken-Cup that feature a spooky splash of green. Head to WALMART  for your one-stop shop for all things Halloween. You can get everything you need to start the season with one quick trip to Walmart, Walmart.com or my favorite, Walmart Grocery Pickup!

With all these festive treats I knew I had to incorporate them into a Halloween movie night with the family! Check out below how I put this creepy cute concession stand together. 

One of my family's favorite Halloween movies is Hocus Pocus and it's tradition that we watch it on October 1st. So of course the theme of the concession stand is a nod to this spooktastic movie. I started out transforming an old bookcase by creating a balloon garland in pink, orange and black and draping it over the bookcase. Next, I used my cutting machine to create a mini awning and attached it to the top of the bookcase. 

I created a concessions sign and black arrow pointing to the treats out of black and pink paper. 

For this next detail, you could cut out the title to your movie and attach it to a chalkboard using tape or simply write out all the details in chalk onto the board. 

Next, I used my cutting machine to create pink and black star boxes and filled them with REESE'S Franken Cups, REESE'S Pumpkins, New KIT KAT® Witch's Brew and Hershey Milk Chocolate Bars. I wanted it to feel like we were actually going to a movie inside a movie theater so I created mini movie tickets and tucked them inside the treat boxes. 

You could prepack all of the goodies into the boxes or you could leave the boxes empty and have your family pick and choose their favorites! 

We're so excited to devour these delicious treats from Hershey for our annual Halloween movie night.  I hope you enjoyed our Halloween movie night concession stand! 

No matter how you celebrate Halloween this year, your celebration will be the best on the block with your favorite treats from HERSHEY at WALMART!

Pumpkin Terrarium

Disclosure: As a member of the Oriental Trading Fun Squad, I received compensation and/or products in exchange for my styling and crafting services. This post contains affiliate links.

It's the most wonderful time of the year! I'm so excited for Halloween crafting and decorating, how about you? Today I'm sharing this spooky scene I created using a pumpkin terrarium from Oriental Trading. 

For this craft, I spray painted the pumpkin using aqua spray paint and painted the stem black using acrylic paint. After the paint on the pumpkin had dried, I used my Cricut Maker to cut out a haunted house, a spooky old fence, bats and stars. I loved the colors from pastels cardstock variety pack and knew they'd be perfect for this project. 

After all my pieces were cut out, I attached them using hot glue to the pumpkin and to bottle brush trees. I also painted a few mini pumpkin candy buckets using black and coral paint to place around the terrarium. 

When the lights go out, add some sparkling string lights or tuck a battery operated candle inside the pumpkin. 

 Your spooky scene is now ready to go! Place it on the mantel, table or any other place you can think of for a little Halloween cheer. 

Thanks for stopping by!

5 Sweet Ice Cream Crafts for Kids

Disclosure: As a member of the Oriental Trading Fun Squad, I received compensation and/or products in exchange for my styling and crafting services. This post contains affiliate links

Get ready for summer with these kid-approved ice cream crafts! Dream of lazy days and ice cream cones by the pool as you and your child create these 5 good enough to eat ice cream crafts. From a pretend ice cream shop to ice cream necklaces you'll want to wear all summer long, there's something fun for kids of all ages! Head over to Oriental Trading's FUN365 site to check out all 5 ice cream crafts today!

Cricut Maker Questions

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut for Cricut. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you've been on the fence about whether or not to puchase a Cricut Maker, allow me to answer a few questions that I get a lot from readers. These are the questions I get asked the most so I hope this will help!

WHAT MATERIALS CAN I CUT?

The Cricut Maker is every crafter's dream come true! Are you ready for this? Check out the list of materials the Cricut Maker can cut.

• Adhesive Cardstock
• Cardstock
• Cereal Box
• Chipboard, 2 mm
• Chipboard, Kraft, 1.5 mm
• Construction Paper
• Copy Paper
• Corrugated Cardboard
• Flat Cardboard
• Flocked Cardstock
• Flocked Paper
• Foil Embossed
• PaperFoil
• Poster Board
• Freezer Paper
• Glitter Cardstock
• Glitter Paper
• Kraft Board
• Kraft Board Foil
• Kraft Paper
• Metallic Cardstock
• Metallic Paper
• Metallic Poster Board
• Notebook Paper
• Paper Grocery Bags
• Parchment Paper
• Paper Board
• Pearl Cardstock
• Pearl Paper
• Photographs
• Photo Framing Mat
• Post Its
• Poster Board
• Rice Paper
• Scrapbook Paper
• Shimmer Paper
• Solid Core Cardstock
• Watercolor Paper
• Wax Paper
• White Core Cardstock

VINYL

• Adhesive Vinyl
• Chalkboard Vinyl
• Dry Erase Vinyl
• Glitter Vinyl
• Glossy Vinyl
• Holographic Crystals Vinyl
• Holographic Sparkle Vinyl
• Matte Vinyl
• Metallic Vinyl
• Outdoor Vinyl
• Pearl Metallic Vinyl
• Permanent Vinyl
• Printable Vinyl
• Removable Vinyl
• Shimmer Vinyl
• Stencil Vinyl
• True Brushed Vinyl

IRON ON MATERIAL

• Everyday Iron On
• Express Iron On
• Flocked Iron On
• Foil Iron On
• Glitter Iron On
• Glossy Iron On
• Holographic Sparkle Iron On
• Iron On Lite
• Matte Iron On
• Metallic Iron On
• Mesh Iron On
• Mosaic Iron On
• Neon Iron On
• Patterned Iron On
• Printable Iron On
• SportFlex Iron On

FABRICS AND TEXTILES

• Burlap
• Canvas
• Cashmere
• Chiffon
• Cotton Fabric
• Denim
• Duck Cloth
• Faux Leather
• Faux Suede
• Felt
• Flannel
• Fleece
• Jersey
• Jute
• Knits
• Leather
• Linen
• Metallic Leather
• Moleskin
• Muslin
• Oil Cloth
• Polyester
• Printable Fabric
• Seersucker
• Silk
• Soft Metallic Leather
• Terry Cloth
• Tulle
• Tweed
• Velvet
• Wool FeltSPECIALTY MATERIALS

The list of materials the Cricut Maker can cut doesn't stop!

• Adhesive Foil
• Adhesive Wood
• Aluminum Foil
• Aluminum Sheets
• Balsa Wood
• Basswood
• Birch Wood
• Cork Board
• Corrugated Paper
• Craft Foam
• Duct Tape
• Embossable Foil
• Foil Acetate
• Glitter Foam
• Magnet Sheets
• Metallic Vellum
• Paint Chips
• Plastic Packaging
• Printable Magnet Sheets
• Printable Sticker Paper
• Shrink Plastic
• Soda Can
• Stencil Material
• Tissue PaperTemporary Tattoo Paper
• Transparency Film
• Vellum
• Washi Sheets
• Washi Tape
• Window Cling
• Wood Veneer
• Wrapping Paper

There you have it! All the materials the Cricut Maker can cut. Pretty incredible, right?

CAN I MAKE MONEY WITH MY CRICUT MAKER?

Absolutely you can! Last year, our 8 year old daughter participated in the Children's Entrepreneur Market here in Salt Lake City and made a KILLING! She had been taking sewing classes and wanted to sew doll dresses, zipper bags and bows to sell at the market. With the Cricut Maker, she was able to whip up a ton of projects since she didn't have to spend any time cutting the fabric out. With the Maker doing all the cutting for her, she was able to focus on sewing and create a decent sized inventory to take to the market. The Cricut more than paid for itself after one day at the market.

Now, I realize this was from a children's market and that this would be much different than actually starting up your own business or selling on Etsy. But, if you love to craft and make amazing creations then definitely look into selling your handmade wares. You could start selling at a local farmer's market, art fair or on Instagram and Etsy. Start somewhere and see where the Cricut Maker can take you!

Here are few pics from the Children's Entrepreneur Market last summer. The parents stand back and let the kids count the money, advertise, answer questions and make the sale. I'm grateful we were able to utilize the Cricut Maker to help with creating all the projects she created and sold.

IS THE CRICUT MAKER WORTH THE PRICE?

I believe that the Cricut Maker is a small price to pay for an amazing machine that you will use daily. I literally (and I don't throw the word "literally" around too often) use my Cricut Maker on a daily basis. From sewing projects to school assignments, to personalized gifts, cards and party decor, my Maker is constantly running.

Wondering if the Cricut Maker is worth the price is a valid question because the Maker is quite the investment. The Maker will make you want to create more because you won't be spending all your time cutting materials out for your project. I know I've skipped making things before because the thought of cutting out a hundred little things by hand was too daunting so I just gave up. Now that I have a Maker, I don't have to skip out on projects that I worry will take up too much time!

The Maker does more than crafty projects, one of my favorite things that the Maker does is write. I give my Cricut Maker the job each Christmas of addressing all of my holiday cards. The writing is absolutely beautiful and it's so fun to play around with the different writing fonts to create a lovely "hand written" note. People always tell me my handwriting is impeccable and as much as I hate to correct them, I have to admit to them the Cricut Maker does all the work. With the drawing feature, you can also create beautiful coloring pages for kids and adults. I created some fun mini coloring books for my daughter's class one year for Halloween and they LOVED them. The Halloween images the Maker drew were adorable and the coloring books were a huge hit.

So just know that you'll use your Maker for A LOT more than just cutting out paper!

Another reason the Cricut Maker is worth the price are for those times when you can't find what you're looking for so you just make it yourself! If you've ever had the task of finding decor for an Elsa Puppy Dinosaur Shopkin Tea Party all in pink, it's not fun. With my Cricut Maker, I was able to create the party of the child's dreams and it turned out adorable!

WHAT KIND OF DIY PROJECTS CAN I MAKE?

The possibilities are endless! I've made custom gift boxes, personalized gifts for teachers, family and friends, baby shoes, party decorations, cards, home decor and much, much more.

Here is just a small sample of projects I've made with my Cricut Maker.

I hope these questions helped with your decision on whether to purchase the Cricut Maker

or not. It's an amazing powerhouse of a machine and I know I couldn't live without mine!

Please let me know if you have any questions about the Cricut Maker or any other Cricut Machine and I'd be happy to answer.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

4th of July Bike Party Ideas

Disclosure: As a member of the Oriental Trading Fun Squad, I received compensation and/or products in exchange for my styling and crafting services. This post contains affiliate links

Create a festive 4th of July bike decorating party this year and invite friends and neighbors over to decorate bikes in their own unique and individual style. Kids will love decking out their bikes or scooters in patriotic style to ride in the neighborhood parade or just a fun small parade with friends and family to show off their bikes. Check out all 5 party ideas over on the ORIENTAL TRADING'S FUN365 SITE!