DIY Reversible Fall & Halloween Bunting

Create unique, inexpensive and Reversible Fall & Halloween Bunting for your home with this simple DIY tutorial using Stencils from Martha Stewart Crafts and dollar store craft foams. This bunting will look amazing on your table, mantle, walls etc and is cheap to make. And since it is reversible, you can change it according to the mood of you or your guests to either Fall or Halloween(BOO) to show. All you have to do is just flip it over. 

I love buntings, banners and garlands. They are an inexpensive way to add a festive look to the house and decorate for the party or any occasion. So far, I have only made buntings with paper, coffee filters and/ or cardstock like the Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Banner, Coffee Filter Sun bunting, Birthday Banner using phone book pages, Paper Leaf Banner etc. I would love to make a cloth bunting when I own a sewing machine. This time, I used craft foam sheets and I had no idea I would end up making it a reversible one!
Materials Required: 

• Craft Foam from Dollar Store( mine were 4"X6")
• Foam Brush
• Craft Paint in Fall/ Halloween Colors
• Ribbon or Twine
• 2 Wooden dowels
• Vase filled with lentils
• Martha Stewart Holiday II Adhesive Stencils
• Martha Stewart Glass Adhesive Stencils- Condensed Sans Alphabet
• Martha Stewart Holiday Icons Laser-cut Stencils
• Martha Stewart Bristle Brushes

The Adhesive stencils are great for using on curved surfaces like vases, bottles, and pottery. Plus, they're repositionable and removable for precise placement.  First, stick the adhesive oval dotted stencil on a sheet of craft foam. Using a brush, paint on top of the stencil. Peel the stencil off while the paint is still wet. Then stick on the alphabet stencil in the center of the oval. Now paint over it with contrasting color, do not use a lot of paint. Make sure not to paint beyond the outer edge of the stencil.  

 Peel the alphabet stencil off to reveal your finished painting. I love how neat it looks, thanks to the awesome stencils which really helps non-artist people like me.

 Repeat these steps above for as many craft foam sheets as needed and make it to spell 'F.A.L.L' or anything you fancy. If using the same stencil multiple times, be sure to wipe off any excess paint on the stencil before placing it onto a new position. Here are all the letters of my bunting.

 Next, place the laser cut stencil on the craft foam and paint over it using a sponge brush. I would suggest taping the stencil down to avoid it from moving/slipping. I used foam brush to paint because I love the texture it adds. I painted 2 maple leaves, which will be ends of the bunting.

 After it dried, I noticed that the craft foam does not become wrinkled like paper/card stock which is what I have used for buntings so far. So, I thought maybe I can paint the back of the foam to make a Two-In-One (reversible) bunting. So I flipped the foam sheets over and painted them in a similar manner, this time used the letters 'BOO', a Bat, Jack-O-Lantern and a Cat stencil.  This time for the oval, I chose alternate color paints for the dots.

 To assemble the bunting, punch holes at the top corner of each foam sheet. Then tie one to another with a piece of ribbon or twine. Ta-Da! Your bunting is all ready to go on the wall or mantle. We do not have a mantle in our apartment, so here it is on the wall.

 You could just flip it over to show the 'Halloween' part when required or place it on the table to enjoy seeing both the sides. I simply tied the ends of the bunting to a wooden dowel and placed them inside a tall vase filed with lentils. Paired with my simple DIY Fall Jar lanterns, it became a festive center piece for my table. The fun is that people from one end of the table will see the 'Fall' bunting while those on the opposite side can see the 'BOO'  Halloween part. Love these Jar Lanterns? Check out my DIY Fall Jar Lanterns created with Martha Stewart Crafts stencils.

 

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Disclaimer :  I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Plaid Crafts and Blueprint Social. The ideas and opinions in this post are my own.

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Fall Kids Craft- Fruit Loops Collage

This Fruit Loops Collage is a really simple Fall/Halloween Kids Craft activity with minimal/no mess and is great for color sorting too.

 Supplies:

• Thick sheet of paper
• Fruit Loops or any colorful cereals, circles, puffs, rings
• Glue
• A paint brush or Cotton swab
• Brown crayon, paint or marker

Draw a picture or have kids draw a picture of a tree stem and branches. It is easy to teach little kids if they know to make the letter 'Y'. 

Next sort the fruit loops into colors, you could use a muffin tray for sorting.  This is a brilliant activity for the kids who are just learning their colors too.  It is a great language exercise as you and the kids talk about the colors the whole time. We talked about the colors of the leaves in fall. Next, apply some glue using a brush or cotton swab and start gluing the fruit loops leaves.

 My girl took care not to stick any leaves on the tree stem and branches as she wanted it to be seen.  But, it does not matter who ever your kid sticks the fruit loops. She added some leaves falling down and some on the ground. She has made these falling leaves with magazine tree, hearts tree and also with scrubber and cork stamping apple tree. I love how the fall tree turned out and the texture that the fruit loops add.

 Later on, she wanted to make a pumpkin too. So I drew a little circle for her to fill up with orange fruit loops. She then added green fruit loops for the pumpkin stalk. That’s it! You’re done. Here is the final  pumpkin picture made out of fruit loops. 

 Be sure to take lots of pictures of  these, because this is one piece of art you might not want to keep- especially if you have bugs. This Fruit Loops Collage is a fun Fall Kids Crafts for all ages.

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Putti's first Fall !!

Some of the fall leaves pictures from around our apartment.

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