Susiej

I am overwhelmed. My friend Amy introduced me to this awesome kid craft site, The Crafty Crow, and visions of bats and ghosts are now filling my head. I love this site for its daily fill of inspiration. There is something about Halloween decorations that make them seem all too easy; all too eerily beautiful; and all too irresistible to try this at home.

After years of craft bombs, I have practically sworn do-it-yourself projects out of our lives. The scenarios often went like this — I would stick my neck out and make a simple puppet for the boys, only to be booed out of the kitchen because “it didn’t turn out right.” Tears ensued over a simple paper plate mask that didn’t line up just right over their eyes. Crafts are tricks; and I’m not falling for them anymore.

Inspired by the Crow, I bought a bag of the cheap apples at the grocery store, just to make the dried apple skulls; but the kids have already eaten the apples. They want to make scary ghosts and hang them from the trees out front. This will require a visit to the fabric super store to buy yards of gauzy white fabric, and standing in a long line at the cutting counter. The line will be filled with all of those type-A crafters who are already buying the materials they need for their Christmas crafts.

The people who cut the fabric for you sometimes give me the feeling that they would rather be home finishing the pile of sewing projects they have at home, instead of cutting up fabric for the rest of us so we can add this to our pile of projects sitting at home. Nor does it help that when they ask me, “How many yards,” I often say, “Well… I’m not sure, because this is what I’m trying to make, so what do you think?” An eye roll usually follows.

Still, I want the boys to have fond memories of the way the house was decorated for Halloween.  I want them to be delighted by memories of bats swirling around, the crispness of orange and black, the joy, the effortless of it all.  The myth, if you will.

I dared to show the boys this picture.

And this is what they want. A scary shadow running up our stairs, from who else?  Martha Stewart. The foyer in the picture looks eerily looks like our very own. This project is screaming my boy’s names. The instructions look overwhelming. Print out the template, cut it, and then cut it again on taped pieces of black construction paper? (Why does the construction paper need to be taped, when it comes out in pieces? Something I guess, I’ll figure out as I go.)

The shadow covers 9 steps, and includes 29 templates. Would you believe me if I told you the printer even jammed while printing the template?  It did. Still, I’m persevering. My goal is to build the shadow over a period of 12 days. The 12 days of Halloween, each day after school. At this point, this is the only way to go. Baby steps.

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