October Crafternoon

In an effort to get back on the crafting bandwagon, I decided to plan a monthly crafternoon party with my Mom. What is a crafternoon, you ask? Basically, it is an afternoon of crafting! To me, that sounded like the quickest way to get back to crafting, while surrounding myself with loved ones, and having the opportunity to eat yummy things. On the invitations I sent, I wrote: "crafts, food, fun!"

For October's crafternoon, we made easy luminaries out of mason jars. Basically you cover the outside of the mason jar with strips of colored tissue paper (using Mod Podge or glue to seal the paper) and then add a face with black tissue. After the glue is dried completely, you can place a tea light inside the jar and light it up!

I pre-cut the face shapes (eyes, noses, and mouths) for my crafternoon guests so that they could just focus on gluing. I kept the parts separate on paper plates, that way they could just grab and go!

The luminaries can be monsters, pumpkins, ghosts, vampires, witches, cats, you name it. Any Halloween character could make a fun and festive lantern!

It's important to let the glue dry completely and only put the paper on the outside of the jar, because the fumes from wet glue and any paper is flammable! I didn't have any problems once the project was completely dry, but I did have a scary moment trying to light the candle with a damp jar (Check out the burnt paper on the inside of the jar on that Frankenstein monster). Be warned! ;)





I think everyone had a lot of fun. I already have my plans for a November crafternoon set, so I will be sure to share more photos on the project and the party closer to the day!