Wicca Course

Lesson 32 – Handcraft Ideas

“It’s fun using the things that you make

because they have stories,

and they have personalities”

Mark Frauenfelder

Crafts for Any Occasion

Silly Putty

2 cups White all-purpose glue cup Liquid starch WARNING: Non-Edible Mix together well. Set on trays for play, or use waxed paper. Can be used as the commercial Silly Putty is. Store in an airtight container.

Beautiful Blank Books

by AmberSkyfire Blank books are one of my favourite things to make. They are fun to fill, make wonderful books of shadows, and are also wonderful gifts to give on any occasion. You will need: Paper - any amount and type of paper that you want for your pages will work Two pieces of Corrugated Cardboard cut slightly (about 1/8 inch) larger than the pages a hole punch glue dried, pressed flowers and leaves 2 pieces of coloured cloth or paper cut two inches larger all around than the cardboard twine or string for the binding and a needle large enough to thread it 2 pieces of clear laminate paper cut the same size and shape as the cloth an awl, icepick, or a sharp pencil Begin by punching holes into the paper. You can have as many holes as you like. Four or five holes are probably best. Punch the holes in one sheet of paper. Punch the other sheets by laying this sheet on top of the others and using the holes as guides. When you are finished, take the two pieces of cloth and the pieces of cardboard. Lay one piece of cardboard directly in the centre of the cloth. Pull the sides of the cloth up around the cardboard and glue them down all around the edges. Do this with the other cardboard sheet and piece of cloth. Determine which of the two will serve as the front cover of the book. Decorate the front with flowers and leaves by gluing them lightly to the fabric or paper. Next, lay the decorated board face down on the laminate paper, taking care not to allow any bubbles or creases to form in the laminate. Cut the corners of the paper square just to the corners of the cardboard. Fold the sides over and press them down. Do the same with the back cover. Next, lay the top cover over the pad of papers and lay the bottom cover under the papers. Straighten them so that they lay exactly above and below one another. Punch the awl or pencil through the top cover where the holes in the paper are punched. Using the needle and twine, thread through the holes tightly to bind the book together. Once the book is bound, open the covers and glue the first and last page of the book to the front and back covers to cover the cardboard and the edges of the cloth and laminate paper.

Rune Stones

Paint the symbols on smooth pebbles. Then, using a stick or your athame, draw three concentric rings in the ground (You can also paint the rings on a cloth that you then lay out to cast the runes onto. The cloth can then be gathered and tied into a sack to hold the stones when not in use.)

Hold the stones in both hands over the circles, high enough so that when they fall, they scatter. Stones coming to rest in the outer circle represent the far, still developing future or people or events slightly influencing the situation. The middle ring represents a more immediate influence or thing about to happen, while the centre ring is Right Now and the situation at hand.

The Stones & Their Meanings:

Man - any male any age

Woman - any female any age

Love - including friendship, family, romantic, pets or things one has a strong attachment toward.

Family - or Clan. This can also represent a group of friends or club that you belong to.

Gifts - presents, things other people "give" you. It can be material or otherwise as in a new bike or the "gift" of their time.

Money - cash or something you've earned

Possessions - your "stuff"

Poison - gossip, slander, bad vibes, negativity. Yucky stuff !

Confusion - disordered thoughts, not thinking straight, not understanding something

War - any conflict, fights or quarrels

Endings - you get that one don't you? When a situation or something is over and ended.

Comfort - Warm fuzzies. Nice things. What makes you feel good, happy and relaxed.

Fire - this stone gives lots of energy to the other stones it's close to. It can also mean this is something you're very excited and passionate about or very angry about

Rain Sticks

by Bried Foxsong You will need: Paper towel rolls (one per rain stick) Brown packing tape (or any kind of tape you can paint on) tempera paint Toothpicks white glue rice For small children, you can pre-poke holes (a lot of holes) in the tube before the kids start to work on it. Bigger kids can poke their own holes through both sides of the tube. Either way, once the holes are done, cover one end of the roll with tape. Use tape you can paint on so it can be decorated later. Paint the stick with brown tempera paint. Let the paints dry, then stick toothpicks so they go through one hole and out another. Glue both ends of the toothpick to the tube. The whole idea is to have the toothpicks going in at different angles to make the required sound. Have an adult cut off any protruding ends of the toothpicks. Then fill the stick with rice. Let the child decide on their own how much to use; just have them put the rice in a little at a time and have them flip it back and forth so they can hear the "rain" sound until they have it just the way they want. It won't take a lot of rice. Tape up the other end with paintable tape, and, there you have it, a rain stick!

Hard-Baking Clay

These are especially great for making Day of the Dead decorations.

1/2 cup salt 3/4 cup hot water 2 cups flour (do not use self-rising flour) Stir the salt and water for about one minute. Add the flour. Work the dough with your hands until it is soft and pliable. The dough should have the consistency of modelling clay. Place a wet cloth over the dough to keep it moist while you’re working on your creations. Dip your fingers in the water if the dough feels dry and crumbly. If your dough still seems too dry, add a little more water. Create skulls and bones. You can make flat, cookie-like ornaments, or rounded three-dimensional forms. For a skull, make a ball, then use a knife or your fingers to give it features. Bones are easy. Think of a cartoon dog’s bone. If you intend to hang your finished ornaments, make a hole with a nail or toothpick before baking. Remember the hole will get smaller as the ornament bakes. Put the ornaments on a cookie sheet and bake fond of as the flowers will often stain the half. The ornaments are easier to remove if you cover the cookie sheet with aluminium foil. Let the ornaments cool completely then decorate them with acrylic craft paint. Add the flowers, vines, insects, and other animals that give them their special charm. It’s not necessary, but if you want to protect the finished ornaments, coat them with clear varnish or spray them with an acrylic sealer. These ornaments are not edible!

Wind Chimes

by Bried Foxsong Wind chimes are very easy to make and calm any room they are hung in. And what parent doesn't appreciate a little calm? For this project, you can experiment with materials a little bit, and see what makes the best sound. For outdoor chimes, you can go to hardware stores and get hollow metal rods. Have the store cut the rod in to different sizes for a beautiful array of notes. For indoor chimes, you can use metal trinkets, ceramic figurines, or anything your imagination can dream up. Terra cotta tiles are easy and sound great, but you can also use rods, pieces of porcelain tile, sea shells, bits of slate or stones, jewellery, glass, old toys, and so on. For starters, you will need an embroidery hoop, some fishing line and chimes to attach. Any sharp edges on any chimes need to be supervised for small children. You may simply want to get some sandpaper to deal with the sharp edges. Or for a safe and purely decorative chime for small children, try dipping macaroni onto water colour and using those. To make the chimes, tie the fishing line across your embroidery hoop and then tie the other side to create a cross. From this you will attach your chimes. Tie a hanging loop on the hoop and hang the hoop on the back of a chair. This will make it easier to attach your chimes and evenly distribute the weight. Using the materials you have chosen, tie or hot glue the objects onto the fishing line, then tie around the hoop. Keep doing this at different lengths until you have chimes hanging from all around the hoop. Take care to spread the objects evenly, and to make them hang at lengths where they will come in contact with one another as they move in the wind or at the hands of your child. Finally, attach some chimes in the centre of the hoop where you first created a cross. Make sure your chimes are evenly balanced n weight and add a few more where necessary before hanging. Hang the chimes, and with your children, be sure to take time to enjoy the product of your own labour.

Stained "Glass" Windows

Supplies: old broken crayons wax paper white paper warm iron scissors newspapers markers potato peeler Place several newspapers on the table to protect it. Separate the crayons by colour. Use a knife or a potato peeler to make shavings out of them. A pencil sharpener also works well, but crayons will dull the pencil sharpener. On the white paper, draw several Pagan symbols (pentagram, tree, chalice, etc.). You can also use printed pictures as long as they are very simple. Choose a symbol that has special meaning to you. Then place one piece of wax paper wax side up over your picture, and sprinkle the wax shaving in the colours you like in the form of the chosen symbol. Be sure you leave a one-inch border around all the edges. The final step is to place the other sheet of wax paper, wax side down, in top and seal it with a warm iron. The crayons will melt and crate a stained glass symbol. You can frame it or just put a hole through the top of the wax paper and hang it in the window for a sun catcher or a house blessing.

Window Frosting

-by Bried Foxsong This is a perfect way to play winter in the summer or to create privacy, as in a bathroom window. Make sure you start by cleaning your windows completely. Dissolve 4 heaping tablespoons of Epsom salts in 1 cup of beer. This mixture will foam, so be sure you do it in an area that you can easily clean up afterward. Let the beer mixture set for at least 30 minutes. The salt crystals will partially dissolve. After the time has elapsed, apply the mixture to your window. This can be done with a cheap two-inch paint brush from any hardware store, but for a nicer effect, you can dip a facial tissue or terry cloth in the liquid and wipe over the window as if you were washing it. Smeary is better in this case, so let the child go to it!! Then while the window is still wet go back and dab and pat at the glass with the wet tissue to create patterns. The mixture will dry to form beautiful crystals. It will look even better the next day, and lasts quite a long time. In time, the mixture can be washed off with water and a cloth, and it is easily reapplied. So you can do it over and over until you've got it just the way you want it.

Painted Stones

Find smooth round stones from your yard or from a riverbed. You can create gifts and talismans with just a little acrylic paint. Paint on totem animals, symbols of luck or runes of protection. Just have fun with it.

Pentacle Dreamcatcher

A pentacle dream catcher is not difficult to make. It requires a circular ring; even a large curtain ring will do. You will also need some thread, string, or heavy crocheting thread to weave the design upon this ring. If you really want to be decorative, you can string tiny beads on the thread and attach little feathers where the string is wound around the ring. To begin, tie one end of the thread to the ring. Wind the thread around the opposite side of the ring three times at a slight angle from the original attachment, pulling it tight. This will be part of the left leg of the pentacle. Each time you attach the thread to the ring, wind it three times. Now wind the thread about the ring a short distance from the 1st tying. Your design should look like an inverted V-shape. Pulling the string to the let side of the ring, wind it about the ring a little more than half-way up the side. Adjust it until it looks like the lower angle of the cross-arm of the pentacle. Now stretch the thread across to the opposite side and wind it about the ring. For the finishing angle, pull the thread back to the point of the beginning. If you carefully check the angle of the thread each time you prepare to wind it at another point on the ring, you can adjust the design. Make a small loop for hanging at the top of the pentacle. If you want to string beads on the thread, do it on each section before you wind the thread around the ring. I've seen one pentacle dream catcher decorated with a Samhain artificial cobweb and a tiny spider in the centre. Dream catchers do work. They are symbols of personal control over dreams. And the subconscious mind which creates dreams only understands symbols.

Creating a Bee House

Besides bees that nest in hives of thousands, some bees prefer to live alone. Bumble bees and carpenter bees are just two examples of bees which love to nest in holes. You can help these wonderful pollinating creatures by building an easy bee house. You will need: block of wood 6x6x6 inches a drill with a 3/16 inch bit an eye screw some string You will need an adult to help you with the drilling. Drill about 12 holes in random places on one side of the block 5 inches deep. These will be the individual bee houses. Be sure that the holes are drilled at just a slight upward angle to prevent the rain from coming in. Screw the eye screw into the very centre of the top of the bee house and tie a piece of short heavy string to it. Hang your bee house in a tree where you think the bees would be safe from the elements. As the wood ages it will turn a nice grey colour and blend in with the surroundings. Your bees will return again and again to visit your house and stay around to pollinate your gardens.

Finger Puppets

Everyone has a glove or two lying around the house that will never be used. Remember that glove that lost its mate last winter? Put it to some good use instead of throwing it away. You will need: a glove scissors markers different coloured felt wiggly eyes coloured pipe cleaners acrylic craft paint (all colours) wool school glue Begin by snipping each finger off of the glove at the base. One glove will make 5 finger puppets. You may want to create puppets for characters from a story or you can create a story for them after you have created the characters. All sorts of people, plants and animals can be made from fingers of gloves. For example, if you want a bat, just cut some wings and tiny round ears from black felt and glue them to the finger piece. Glue on some wiggly eyes and you have a bat. If the glove is not black, you can paint it with some acrylic craft paint before you glue on the parts. For a cat, just cut some pointy ears, wool whiskers and a little wool tail. Butterflies, bees and even people are easy to make. For people, you can just glue on yarn for hair. Cut clothes out of the felt and glue them onto the front of the finger. When you are finished it is easy to make a little stage for your characters. Just use a shoe box. Turn the box on its side and cut a rectangle out of the bottom of the box leaving about 1/2 inch all around the sides and 1 1/2 inches on the bottom. This will be what you hide your hands behind. Cut the top off and make curtains from red cloth or felt. You can even paint the sides of the box to look like a background and make props such as trees or furniture out of coloured paper. Mount them on paddle pop sticks to use in your performance!

Crafts for Yule

Make a Yule Log

The Yule Log is an ancient Pagan Tradition that goes back many 100s of years. The Winter Solstice (Yule) it is the darkest time of the year. Yet on this day, the Sun is “re-born” in the sky and begins to grow stronger and stay out longer and longer. The Yule log represents the Light overcoming the Darkness. Since the celebrating and parties would last for as long as the log burned, people would choose the biggest log they could find. Sometimes the log would be so large that it required a team of horses to drag it home! Then the families would decorate it, pour wine over it and sing songs around it. The Yule log represents Good Luck in the coming year. Decorating the log is so much fun and there are so many ways you can do it! Tie pine and holly to it with a bright red ribbon. Glue on Pine Cones, berries and even dried flowers. Colour and cut out little paper suns and glue them to ribbons that can dangle down. Sprinkle the whole log with glitter from a craft store. Each member of the family can even write little wishes for the coming year on bits of paper then roll the paper up like scrolls and tuck them under the ribbons. If you don’t have a fireplace you can just "glue" a candle on the top of the log with a bit of melted wax!

Yule Tree Decorations to Make

Cinnamon Stick Bundles - Bundle a few short cinnamon sticks together using a bit of slender ribbon and tie a bow and a loop at the top. Then glue on little sprigs of holly, pine or dried flowers like rose buds, marigolds or baby’s breath, tucking the stems under the bow.

Bay Balls - Take some Bay leaves. Fresh is best but if all you have is dried, then soak them overnight in warm water to make them pliable (that means you can bend them more easily

without breaking them). The next morning, pat them dry. Next, take a Styrofoam ball and use Tacky Glue to cover it with bay leaves. Start at the bottom of the ball and work your way toward the top so they overlap a bit. Some of the leaves you may have to hold in place while the glue dries so they don’t pop up. Cloves or rosebuds stuck through the leaves into the ball will help hold the leaves in place and look pretty besides. A very pretty effect is to “dust” your finished ball with a light spray of gold paint. Pin a pretty loop of ribbon or gold cording to the top to hang it by.

Pinecone Ornaments - If you have pine trees in your area, collect the fallen cones. If not, you can buy the cones in a craft store. Cover the very edges of the pinecone with glue and sprinkle glitter over the glue. It will look like the cones are tipped with frost – very pretty! You can also simply spray paint the cones gold or silver and then immediately sprinkle them all over with iridescent glitter. Pinecones are light enough to just tuck into the tree’s branches or you can glue on a ribbon loop to hang it with or twist a loop of wire around the base. Cinnamon Stick Pentagrams – (this project uses hot glue, so parents might wish to help younger children) Soak 5 cinnamon sticks (each about the same length) overnight in warm water. In the morning, pat them dry and form them into a pentagram. The soaking will make them pliable so that as you overlap them, they will bend more easily. Hot glue the ends together and then wrap the ends also with twine or raffia and tie it off. Use extra raffia to create a loop at the top for hanging. Yule Sachets - Take about a 4 inch square of lace or fabric (if you’re going for a very “organic”, natural look for your tree, then burlap or hemp works well). In the centre, put a tablespoon of Yule sachet mixture (below), bring the ends of the fabric up and tie ribbon or twine around the top making a little pouch with the herbal mixture inside. Tuck a sprig of holly, mistletoe or little birch pinecones into the ribbon. If you can find a rubber stamp at the craft store with a sun, star or moon on it, you can stamp the outside of the fabric with a picture before adding your herbs. Yule Sachet Mixture - 2 parts fragrant pine leaves, 1 part rosemary, 1 part cinnamon, 1 part cloves, 1 part dried orange peel broken into little pieces. Add a bit of cinnamon oil; stir it up good and let it sit for a few days in a closed jar. Pomanders - Tie a loop in a length of ribbon leaving the ends long enough to wrap around a small orange, lime or lemon. Wrap it around the fruit and then tie it at the bottom. If you want you can cut the ends off, let them dangle or even add a tassel. Then, poke large cloves all over into the fruit. You can use a nail, wooden skewer or even an old crochet hook to get the holes started if you want. Completely cover the fruit with the cloves or create a pattern with some of the fruit showing through. Gilded Acorns - Often, when you find acorns on the ground, their little caps have come off. If that’s the case, then collect both caps and bases. If not, then remove the caps yourself when you get home. Paint both halves with spray paint or craft paint using either gold or silver. Then cut a slender ribbon about 3 inches long and glue each end to the inside of the cap so that it forms a loop. Then glue the cap back on to the base of the acorn. When it’s done, you can paint the cap with watered down white glue and dust it with glitter.

Cinnamon Ornaments – Put about a cup of applesauce in a strainer and let it sit & drip for a few hours. Then combine1 cup cinnamon with one tablespoon each of cloves and nutmeg. Add 2 tablespoons of white glue and ¾ cup of drained applesauce.

For a more intense fragrance, you can add about ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon and/or apple oil.

Mix it all up with your hands until its a smooth ball, all mixed up. (be careful to wash your hands after handling the oils. You don’t want to accidentally get any in your mouth or eyes)

Roll it out about ¼ inch thick and cut shapes out with cookie cutters. Use a straw to poke a hole in the top. Let them sit out to dry for a few days, turning them over once or twice a day so they don’t curl up. Then, poke a ribbon through the hole to hang them with.

Making a Prosperity Talisman Gift by Edain McCoy (adapted for Southern Hemisphere)

You can easily make a prosperity talisman to give away by using items found in you own backyard, or with old coins from the bottom of your change purse. Anything which speaks to you of prosperity is appropriate. You will also need a $5 note (real or fake), a 3 1/2" x 5" rectangle of poster board, a pen, a pair of scissors, and some decorative items like glitter or paint. Leaving the four corners of the card blank, decorate the rest of its face with glitter, ribbons, magickal symbols, herbs, or any other items linked with the attributes of prosperity. Next, take the $5 note and cut off the four corners. Glue the note’s triangular corners to the four corners of your card. This is sympathetic magick-one must have money to attract money. Then, either on the back of the card, or on a separate piece of paper, write out instructions for using the talisman: This is a talisman of prosperity. Place this card someplace where you will see it every day, preferably in a bedroom. At least once a day hold the card to your breast and say the chant: Talisman of prosperity, all good things now come to me. Be sure to strongly visualise the success of the talisman as you are constructing it. When blessed, decorated, and wrapped, this simple card becomes a cherished and functional gift.

Dehydrated Orange Slices

These are also excellent at Yule because they represent sun symbols. All you will need for this craft are oranges. Choose only small oranges with a thin smooth peel. The large, fleshy oranges tend to go bad before they are dry. Cut off the two ends. Cut the oranges into slices no more than ¼ inch thick. Place the slices in an oven at 200F and leave the door ajar. Turn them every 10 - 15 minutes. It will take about two to five hours. When you are done, you will be left with thin, clear, dry orange slices. These can be used in potpourri, hung in windows or made into wreaths and garlands.

Yule Snowflakes

Celebrate the season of winter by making these perfect six sided snowflakes. Use them to decorate your windows. What you need:

Paper

Scissors

Ruler

Pencil

Plate or cereal bowl

Glitter and glue - optional

Crayons or markers – optional

What you do: 1.) Lay the plate or bowl upside down on the paper. Trace around the rim. Remove the plate or bowl and cut out the circle you made. 2.) Fold the circle in half. 3.) Fold the outsides in. 4.) Fold the paper in half. 5.) You are now ready to begin cutting out the design of your snowflake. Do not cut away all folds or the snowflake will fall apart. 6.) Gently unfold the snowflake and see what kind of design you have created. 7.) Optional: put dabs of glue on the snowflake and sprinkle with glitter or colour them.

Snowflake Stickers

These stickers are great for Yule and are fun to stick around the house. You will need:

glitter

thick dimensional white or silver fabric paint

clear plastic sandwich bag

snowflake patterns Place the pattern inside the plastic bag and make sure the plastic lies perfectly flat. Trace over the pattern with the fabric paint making sure to keep the paint thick. While it is still wet, sprinkle glitter over the snowflake. Wait a few hours until it dries and then peel the snowflake off of the plastic. Stick them wherever you like! They come off easily and don't leave any residue behind.

YULE GIFT TAGS

Crafts for Imbolc

Imbolc is often celebrated with the making and blessing of candles.

If you have saved and pressed flowers, leaves and ferns during the Spring and Summer, you can make an extra special candle to burn during your festival.

You will need:

A pillar candle Pressed flowers and leaves White glue An old paintbrush A little melted white wax or paraffin from the supermarket

Use the paintbrush to dab some glue on the back of the leaves and flowers and then position them where you want them onto the candle. Wash the paintbrush and let everything dry while melting the wax.

Then, dip the paintbrush into the melted wax and brush it over the leaves and flowers to seal them. You may want to apply a few coats of wax, letting each coat dry before you add the next one.

If a leaf or stem tries to pop up away from the candle, just dab some wax underneath it and press it back down, then seal it on top quickly. Soon you will have a beautiful candle for Imbolc. But be prepared – this is so much fun, you might want to make several! Perhaps some for gifts?

Make an Imbolc Wand Imbolc comes at a time that often seems the coldest and wettest of the year. Yet deep in the ground, Mother Earth is stirring in her sleep and preparing to wake. The plants in your garden may look dead but many of them too are merely sleeping. You may want to help them wake up and here’s a way that you can do this: Take a straight, slender stick from the yard and break it so that it is about the length from the tip of your middle finger to your elbow. Paint the stick with white glue and roll it in glitter. Let that dry. Then dip the end in glue so about ½ an inch of the tip is covered. Did you save any tinsel out from Yule? I hope so - because now you will want to glue the ends of the tinsel to the tip of the stick so that the shiny strands are dangling off the end. When that dries, dab some more glue (yes, More!) onto the tip and tie thin green and gold ribbons there so that their ends hang down about the same length as the tinsel. (The ribbons will help hold the tinsel on and the extra glue will help keep the ribbons from slipping off.) Then tie little jingle bells to the ends of the ribbon. If you want, you can paint more ribbon with glue and wind it in a spiral up the length of your stick. You now have a Magick Wand to wake up your garden with! Go around the yard and gently shake your wand at any plants that need to waken. The jingling of the bells and reflecting light off of the tinsel will perk up even the sleepiest flowers – and if you can make a little song to sing to the plants at the same time, that will be even better! After that, be patient and watchful. In a few weeks, you will start seeing the first green buds of Spring.

Candied Violets for a Springtime Cake

Violets are edible and very high in Vitamin A. A good way to serve violets is to make them into candy and serve them on white cake. What you will need:

violets (about twenty per cake)

a cake

white icing

egg whites

paint brush

fine granulated sugar

Bake a cake and put white icing on the cake. Make sure that the violets have been rinsed and let sit to dry a few minutes on paper towels. Beat the egg whites until they are light and fluffy. Using the paintbrush, CAREFULLY paint egg white on each of the flowers. Sprinkle fine granulated sugar over the flowers until they are covered. Decorate the cake with the flowers, serve, and enjoy!

Pressed Flowers

Gather flowers from outside on a nice day. If the flowers are wet, you will have to let them air dry just a little before you press them. Press the flowers by placing them between the pages of heavy books. Old phone books are perfect for this. Make sure you place paper markers in the pages that have flowers so you will not have to go looking for them when you are done. Be sure not to use nice books or books that you are fond of as the flowers will often stain the pages. Once the flowers are in the books, stack the books on top of each other and place in an out-of-the-way spot. Check the flowers in one week. If they are not completely dry, leave them for another week. Flowers usually take about two weeks to dry. When the flowers are done you can make things with them such as bookmarks, stationery and cards. To glue the flowers down, use a mixture of 1/2 glue and 1/2 water. Paint the backs of the flowers and glue them down. Then use some of the glue mixture to coat the flowers. You can make clear bookmarks by pressing the flowers between two pieces of laminate paper.

Candle Cans

Imbolc is a time to light many candles in celebration of the lighting of the world and the new warmth. Candle cans are a wonderful and safe way to decorate for this holiday. You will need:

tin can

water

hammer

nail

paper

scissors

pencil or crayon

Save tin soup cans or other tall metal cans to use as candle holders. Fill the cans almost to the top with water and freeze them in the freezer. Cut a piece of paper to fit exactly around the tin

can so that it covers the entire can. Have your child draw a picture on the paper the way that they want it to look on the can using dots as if it you were making a dot-to-dot picture ... (example: stars, flowers, suns, moons, etc.) If doing it yourself you can print out a picture or draw one yourself. Once the picture is finished, wrap the paper around the frozen can. Take a nail (adults will need to do this for smaller children) and hammer it lightly over each dot on the picture, so that it will be transferred to the can. When finished, remove the paper and let the ice melt. Put tea lights inside of the tin can through the opening in the top so that they sit on the bottom of the can. The pictures drawn in dots on the can will glow with the light of the flame and will be projected onto the walls of a dark room

Pine Cone Candle Holder

A very simple pinecone wreath can be made by gluing pine cones onto a wreath form cut from heavy corrugated cardboard. Use a small wreath form and small pine cones with a pillar candle placed in the middle for an attractive table decoration. Stick a little evergreen or holly in between the pinecones.

Winter Treats for Birds

If your yard has that dreary winter look, cheer it up with a tree decorated for the birds! String popcorn and cranberries. Hang scooped out orange halves filled with peanut butter and birdseed. Make suet balls and hang them in the mesh bags in which oranges and onions are packaged. Cut attractive shapes from paper plates, spread them with peanut butter and bird seed and hang them on your tree. Don't forget to put out some fresh water for the birds, also.

Crafts for Ostara

Egg Holders

Save the pictures below on your computer and then print them out. After that, colour the pictures (Coloured pencils or watercolour paints look nice.) and then, cut them out. Cut a cardboard tube left over from a roll of toilet paper into 1-inch rings. Next, glue the coloured decorations around the rings. When they're dry, use them as a base to hold Ostara eggs so they stand up or use them as napkin holders.

An Egg Full of Blessings Spell

The egg is a special pagan symbol of spring & rebirth. The little yellow round yolk represents the sun. The white that surrounds the yolk symbolises the moon. And the shell is the winter ice cracking and thawing to reveal new life all around us.

Take a raw egg and dye it a pretty colour. When this is dry, you can also go back and paint magick symbols on it.

Next, use a spoon or knife to crack a bit off each end of the egg and dump out the contents (the raw egg part). Let the egg sit on a windowsill where the moon will shine on it at night and the sun will find it in the morning.

The next day, when the inside of the egg is dry and it’s seen both moonshine and sunshine, tape up one end of the egg. Use the hole on the other side to fill your egg with lavender, glitter and confetti. Afterward, tape up that end of the egg as well.

On Ostara, take your egg, shout “Blessed Be!” and smash it on someone’s head so that the shell cracks and the egg’s blessings rain down on them. Make a bunch of eggs and bless lots of people. You can even bless yourself!

Better do your blessings outside though. This is a pretty messy spell!

Real Grass Baskets

One of the most lovely crafts you can make before Ostara is baskets with real grass in them. This is easy for both children and adults to do. What you will need:

Round basket

plastic disposable plant water catching dish as close to the size of the basket as you can find

dirt

grass seed

Place the dish inside the basket. The closer the dish is to the size of the inside of the basket, the better. Fill the dish up to the top with potting soil. Sprinkle grass seed over the top of the soil and water. You will need to water the grass every now and then to keep the seeds moist. Make sure to use lots of seed so that the grass grows thick and keep in a sunny location. When Ostara comes, you will have a wonderful grass-filled basket to put the eggs you find in. The basket can be kept with grass all year long as a window decoration, or the grass and soil can be tossed into the yard.

Crafts for Beltane

One of the customs of Beltane celebrations is to crown a young girl as the “May Queen” and a young boy as “May King”. The girls’ crowns would have flowers and the boys’ crowns would have all sorts of greenery. You can make a crown to wear out of things growing in your garden or that you collect in the wild or at the park. Just start with an old clothes hanger (the metal kind) and cut the ends off with wire cutters. Then, with a pair of pliers, bend the ends around into loops. Have one end hook through the other to make a circle that fits your head. Next, using floral tape or masking tape (you might want to spray paint that green first) attach little bundles (about 3 or 4 inches long) of flowers and greenery you’ve collected to the wire. Start at one end, and overlapping the bundles, work your way around til the whole wire is covered. When you’re done, you can add long ribbon streamers to hang down your back. (Yellow and green ribbons work well for boys.) Tie little bells to the ends of the ribbon and you’re all decked out for Beltane!

Lavender Fairy Wands

“Elf Leaf” is another name for Lavender and, if you have this plant growing in your garden or know someone else who does, you can make a special magick wand from it. Start with an odd number (7 is good) of fresh lavender stalks with the buds just starting to open. The longer the stem the better! Line up the bottom buds and take a long piece of ¼ inch satin ribbon (about 2 feet) and tie them together just below the bottom buds. Carefully, so you don't break them, bring the stems down over the ribbon knot and flower buds. Tuck in the small end of the ribbon and pull out the long end. Going anticlockwise start weaving over and under. Tuck the buds in as you go. You will want to weave them very tightly since the lavender will shrink as it dries. Sometimes a crochet hook will help you reach between the stems to grab the ribbon.

Continue to weave over and under down the stems until you have woven over all of the buds and then at least one more round. Finally tie the ribbon off in a knot and trim the ends of the stems so they are even. At this point, you can cut the rest of the ribbon off or you can leave it dangling and add more lengths of ribbon to make streamers. Now, use your wand to bless your garden, your pets and family. (oh, yes - and don't forget your Self!)

Growing Beltane Basket

Greet the May Day spirit with this 'growing green basket'. An ideal green gift to surprise with! Supplies:

Empty Milk Cartons

lump of potting soil

Grass Seed (fast growing if you have it)

a stapler

a roll of string and some wire

freshly picked herb sprigs,

flower heads (orchids, lilies, or others)

plant foliages( like ivy)

Take empty milk cartons, cut down to 4-5" high. Cover the basket with construction paper and decorate. Fill around 2/3 full with potting soil. Then generously sprinkle grass and some weed seeds. Have it watered daily. Grass should grow in about 4-7 days. With the remaining cartons, cut a handle out and staple it to the basket. Do not add other greens till the last moment. Wire some herb sprigs and flower heads such as orchids, lilies, foliages of ivy or the likes, in separate bunches. Add them to the basket before taking it out to be hooked on the door knob of your dear ones.

Flowery Beltane Hat

An elegant summer hat draped with fresh flower. Isn't this a great idea to celebrate the May Day. The real green way! Supplies:

Poster board

a marker pen

one soft pencil

a pair of compasses (one of those found in the geometry box)

a ruler

scissors

glue

transparent tape

twisted paper for decoration

Steps: 1.) Before getting started, fix up the size of the hat roughly. Tips: Place a ruler flat on the top of the wearer's head. Mark the two ends that hold the length of the wearer's head with a bright coloured marker pen. Read the length. Place the ruler on a paper and mark these two marked-ends along the ruler with two dots. 2.) Now, use a pair of compasses to draw a circle on coloured poster board. Fix up the pencil from the needle of the compass at a length equal to the one read by the ruler. 3.) For a better design, add some 5cm or 2 inches above the length you fix up. Now complete drawing the circle. When the first circle is finished, draw a second circle 2.5 cm or 1 inch inside the first one. 4.) Make even cuts up to that 2.5 cm/1 inch deep from the edge of the paper to the pencilled inner circle. Cut out the paper around the outer circle. This will help you to bend the posterboard along the line of the drawn circle. Fold the cut flaps of paper straight way up. 5.) For the sides of the hat, cut a strip of paper 7.5 cm/3 inches wide and long enough to fit around the folded-up edge of the paper circle. Then draw a line lengthways down the middle of the paper. 6.) Make even cuts in the same way as before along the drawn line on the paper strip. Spread glue along the outer uncut side. 7.) Stick the glued side of the paper band around the edge of the paper circle, ensuring that all the cut strips are neatly attached to it. 8.) Cut a larger circle of card of contrasting colour for the brim. Ideally it should be 7.5 cm/ 3 inches wider all around than the crown. 9.) Cut out a circle from the centre of the brim that measures the same diameter as the crown. Place the crown right way up on a surface, with the cut strips around the sides of the hat folded outwards. Then slide the brim into position. When you know it fits neatly, turn the hat over. And glue the cut strips in place on the brim. Secure them with transparent tape and leave to dry. 10.) Add finishing touches with wide ribbons, bows and flowers.

Paper Flowers

You will Need:

coloured construction paper or tissue paper

glue

scissors

craft sticks or Popsicle sticks

crayons Draw flowers on the coloured construction paper. You can use each colour for different flowers or only one colour. Use your imagination when making flowers. You can trace objects like your hand or a toy or use stencils. Colour the flowers with the crayons and paste the flower parts together. Glue the flowers onto the sticks and then add leaves that you have cut from green construction paper. Paper flowers can be placed anywhere for decoration and look great in baskets. You can stick them in a flower pot of dirt or crumpled paper for lovely potted flowers that will never die. These flowers also make great gifts for loved ones.

Crafts for Midsummer

Make An Offering Altar for the Fairies

Mix up some cement according to instructions on package. Get a cheap plastic drip pan - the kind you use for houseplants. Fill it with cement and let dry a little bit. Once it starts to "set up", press pretty things into it like fern leaves, polished stones, pieces of a broken china plate, bits of old broken jewellery... Look around the house and use your imagination! Try to set all these bits in deeply enough so that the surface is fairly level.

Afterward, be sure to wash your hands.

When the cement is hard (this may take a few days), peel it out of the plastic and find a place to set it out for the fairies - either in the garden or a balcony or even in the middle of a cluster of houseplants.

This will be your little altar for when you want to leave notes or offerings to the nature spirits.

Fruity Popsicles

You will need:

Fruit juices (as many flavours as you want)

ice tray

toothpicks

plastic wrap (or foil if you don't have any)

Each ice cube space in the ice tray will be one Popsicle. Fill the ice tray with juice. You can use as many juices as you want and mix them or keep the flavours separate. Once the tray is full, Place a piece of plastic (or foil) wrap over the top. Make sure that the edges are pulled tight.

Stick a toothpick in each cube through the plastic wrap so that it sticks out. Place the Popsicles in the freezer. Wait until they are frozen and then enjoy, but make sure not to eat the toothpick. (Adults may just want to give small children the ice cube without the stick, though it might be a little messy.) This project is really wonderful because the Popsicles are made mostly of juice instead of sugar and are good for children and save money.

Hairy Harry

What you need:

Styrofoam cup or paper cup (recycle)

scissors

construction paper

markers

glue

buttons (or cut them out of paper for young children)

potting soil

rye grass seed

Steps: 1.) Have the children cut eyes, ears, mouths, nose, etc...out of construction paper and glue in place on their cup. Let them also use markers to colour on the cup. Let them use buttons to embellish or anything else you may have lying around. 2.) Have the children fill their cups about 2/3 full of potting soil. Then plant the rye grass seeds in the soil. Place the cups in a sunny place and water regularly. 3.) Hairy Harry will begin to grow "hair" in about seven days.

Wind Socks

You will need: Styrofoam cup large one works great crepe paper streamers 6 colours yarn glue sharp pencil Take the cup and poke 6 holes in the end of the cup.... Cut strips of streamers about 15 ins long. Roll the end to make a pointed tip.. Poke throw hole and put glue on tip and stick to inside of cup. Do this will all six colour strips. Poke a hole on the side to cup and put another hole opposite to that. Take some extra crepe paper and glue on outside cup-- doesn't matter what it looks like... tie yarn through holes on side and fly cup when dry!!

Crafts for Lughnassadh

The days of late January and early February are known as “The Dog Days of Summer” – named for the Dog Star, Sirius. Ancient people of various cultures all over the world believed that the Sirius was a special power point in the universe and a “star gate” to other worlds. During the Dog Days, Sirius is up in the sky right next to the sun and the weather is particularly hot – perfect for making a …

Magick Dog Days Candle

Take a long taper candle in a colour that you feel represents You. (Your favourite colour usually works very well) With a bit of melted wax, stick the candle upright in the middle of an aluminium pie pan. Then, surround the candle with a tight circle of 6 more upright tapers. These candles should be in colours you think of when you think of the sun and summer – perhaps white, yellow, orange and red.

Around noon, when the sun and the Sirius are high in the sky, take the aluminium pie pan of candles outside. (You’ll be here a while, so put on some sun block!)

Use your magickal imagination to see the strength and power of the sun’s rays and the Dog Star pouring into the candles. As the wax warms and softens under the sun’s heat, gently and patiently, bend the candles, wrapping and weaving them around each other and the centre candle representing you. If it’s really hot out and some of the wax is melting too fast, use a little water to cool it a bit.

Keep wrapping and bending and visualizing until, instead of 7 individual taper candles, you have something that looks like one big, twisty candle. Imagine this candle glowing all over with nuclear (sun) energy and the powers of the Dog Star. Then, clap your hands over it three times and seal the spell with the words: “So Mote It Be!”

Take your Dog Days Candle inside and store it in a cool place.

How to use your Dog Days Candle:

We all have days when we don’t feel very strong. Maybe we’re coming down with a cold or maybe we have to stand up to someone who scares us a little. When you are having a day like this, it’s a good time to take out your “Dog Days Candle” and let it burn a bit. Sit with the candle and, as it burns, imagine the solar star power in it pouring back into you until you are filled with the energy of your Dog Days Spell. Then gently blow out the candle until the next time you need it.

Lughnassadh Placemats

Supplies Leaves, seedpods, small sticks Wax Paper Iron Go for a "nature walk", and collect various leaves, seedpods, and small sticks. Take one piece of wax paper (any size you want), and place the items on this piece. Take another piece of wax paper, same size, and lay this carefully over the first piece. Iron the two pieces together. These clear placemats also look nice hung in windows.

Harvest Napkin Rings

by AmberSkyfire You Will Need: construction paper scissors pencil glue napkins (paper or cloth) ruler (optional) hole punch (optional) Cut out strips of paper about 1 inch wide and long enough to fit around your napkins when they are rolled up (about 5 inches long should do it). Using the pencil, draw harvest designs in coloured construction paper and cut them out. You can make pumpkins using orange paper for the pumpkin and green for the stem or corn cobs using different colours punched out with a hole punch and string for the cornsilk. Once you have made as many harvest pictures as you will need, glue each picture into the centre of the strips that you cut at the beginning. Wrap the ends of the ring around the napkin and glue in place.

Harvest Corn Cob

Make a Thanksgiving corn decoration out of paper and popcorn! An easy group craft to make. What You Need Scissors Glue Popcorn kernels Popped popcorn Yellow and green construction paper or printed pattern and crayons to colour it

Making your Corn Collage Step 1 - Make the Corn Picture Cut out a corn cob shape from yellow construction paper and cut out some leaves from green construction paper. You might find it easiest to cut out the corn cob, then lay it on the green paper, then draw the leaves, then cut them out. You can glue the finished shape to thin cardboard if you want to make it sturdier. Step 2 - Attach the corn Put glue all over the corn cob section, the glue unpopped or popped corn (or both) to the cob.

Crafts for Mabon

Apple Candle Holders for Mabon

Take two bright red apples that are the same size and will sit up nice and straight. Polish them with a soft cloth so they’re shiny. With an apple corer, hollow out a hole in the top of the apple (the stem end) about an inch deep and as wide as your candles. Then, into the hole, place a sprig of rosemary and two soft, grey leaves of Lambsear (a type of plant). Insert a candle that’s about 6 inches tall in each apple. (This will also help anchor the herbs in place) You’re done – and it should look like this:

Fun Ideas With Corn

- Put some popcorn kernels in a cheap sandwich bag (not the good freezer kind. You want some air to get in) and add a handful of dirt and a little water. Then tape the bag onto a window. In about a week or so you’ll see the corn start growing!

You can also have fun with Indian corn - the dried, multicoloured type that you see in stores now: - Put an ear of Indian corn in a dish of water. Keep the water level up and, in time, you will see all these little sprouts come up along the ear. - Put a whole cob of Indian Corn into a brown paper lunch bag and fold the end of the

bag over to seal it. Put it in a microwave and, alongside, place a small dish of water. (this is so the bag doesn’t burn) Microwave it on high for 3 – 5 minutes and Guess What? You’ll have popcorn on the cob! Yum!

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Fun Ideas With Autumn leaves

Leaves are already falling from the trees in many areas and, if you grab them in a hurry, they will still be soft and pliable. So right now is a great time to use them to create fun and interesting art projects. Go for a walk and gather some leaves. Try and find ones that are different from each other. You can make many kinds of artwork, from place mats for your Mabon feast, prints to frame or a ....

Leaf Print Tablecloth Here is what you will need for your project:

Leaves - all sorts

Paints - different colours Brushes

A white disposable paper tablecloth (You can find these at dollar stores, drug stores etc)

Take a leaf, paint one side of it with any colour paint, or even paint a rainbow on it. Then turn the painted side over and press it carefully on to the tablecloth . Do this several times with different leaves until you have filled up your tablecloth with all sorts of lovely colours.

Autumn Handprint Wreath

I love handprint crafts! I save each one in a special binder and peek at them every so often. It's fun to compare and see how they've changed. Materials: glue scissors yellow, orange, and red paint or construction paper. There are two ways to do this craft. One is to trace your/child's hand onto paper and cut out the prints. The second is to make paint handprints on the paper and cut those out.

Make nine handprints (3 of each colour). Cut out the prints and glue to form a wreath. You can decorate the wreath further with pictures (like leaves, pumpkins or corn). Supplies: Leaves Paint ("autumn" colours) Black Construction Paper Lots of Newspaper Put down lots of newspaper! Paint one side of each leaf (not too thick). Carefully arrange leaves in one layer, paint side up, on clean newspaper. Place a piece of black construction paper over the top of the leaves and press gently! A little messy, but very fun.

Crafts for Samhain

Spider web art

Occasionally you will find a beautiful, delicate spider web that has been woven overnight in a spot that simply won't do - for instance in the middle of a stair or entryway. When that happens, try this technique:

Gently mist the web using a can of white spray paint (Make sure the spider isn't around - You don't want to hurt her!) Then take a piece of black construction paper and, placing it behind the web, carefully raise it up and towards you "lifting" the web onto the paper as you do. Seal your picture with several coats of spray varnish.

After that, you can either frame it as a work of art in itself (which it is!) or use it as a mat background for a treasured photo.

Samhain

Ancestor Tree

Find and cut a gnarly old twisted, twiggy branch from a tree.

Spray paint it black and then use screws to attach the cut end to a piece of plywood also painted black.

Now, you know the cobweb stuff you can buy at this time of year? Get some of that and puff and clump it to make “fog” around the base of the tree. You can also take some thin strands to weave through the twig “branches” to make spider webs.

On old looking pieces of yellowed parchment paper (available at any stationery, office or computer supply store) that have been cut into small squares, write the names of deceased family members and ancestors – one name on each square of parchment. Another option is to actually print out small photos of your loved ones.

Using whatever glue you have on hand, glue more black twigs around each piece of parchment to create a frame. You can make some frames square, others round, some octagonal – whatever!

Take some natural brown twine and glue that onto the frames to create a loop for hanging the names from the “branches” of your ancestor tree.

It’s fun to dress your tree up with little seasonal decorations that you find in stores at this time: small plastic spiders, owls and crows, tiny skeletons or skulls or even make little ghosts out of tissue paper or gauze fabric to hang from the branches between the names and photos.

Skewer candy corn and candy pumpkins with old hooks left over from Yule tree ornaments and hang those for the kids to nibble on. It draws their attention to the tree, makes it more fun and enticing, and gives you an opportunity to tell them about the people behind the names that are hung there.

You can even try hanging one treat on each name and then before getting the treat, ask your child to remember and tell you something about that person. If your child is very young, you can adjust this to letting them hear a little story about that person as they enjoy the treat.

The Ancestor Tree makes a nice altar decoration and can be surrounded by more old photographs and mementos handed down through the family.

Lolly Ghost

Supplies Needed: Lollypop Tissue Paper Felt -tip Pen Wool Scissors Instructions: Wrap the tissue around the lolly and tie its neck with wool around the base of the candy part. Draw scary eyes on the tissue with the felt pen. Present your ghostly lolly to the ghoul of your choice. Makes the perfect Halloween Party Favour. These are also great decorations. Make a ghost mobile to hang in the house or on the porch!

Wiggley Spider

Supplies Needed: Black Paint Orange construction paper Black Wool White Chalk Scissors Glue Paintbrushes Hands Instructions: Make sure to spread out newspaper over the work area. Paint inside of palm and fingers, excluding the thumb, with black paint. With fingers slightly spread, press palm on orange construction paper so that fingers are pointing to the right side of the paper. Make an identical print with fingers pointing to the left side of the paper, overlapping the palm prints completely. Glue a piece of black wool to the paper, extending from the top of the spider's body to the top of the page. You may also draw a string. Draw a face in the spider with chalk or white paint.

Creepy Spider Bracelets

What You Need Black construction paper Wiggle eyes White paper (for "fangs") Paper fastener Stapler and staples Scissors White crayon Glue Pencil How To Make It: 1.) Fold black construction paper in half. 2.) Along folded edge, lay child's hand palm down (midway through palm) and trace fingers with white crayon. 3.) Cut out the outline of the fingers. 4.) Unfold and you have a complete image of a spider with eight legs. Now turn the spider over and with the pencil, roll the legs around the pencil...this makes the legs curl under and gives a more creepy, crawly effect.

5.) Cut a 1" strip of black paper from the remaining scraps, and form it into a circle for the bracelet part. At the appropriate length, staple the ends together. 6.) Attach the bracelet to the underside centre of the spider using the paper fastener. 7.) Glue on the wiggle eyes and the "fangs" that you design and cut from the white paper to the spider's head. 8.) The child puts his/her fingers or wrist through the bracelet...the kids can make their spiders creep and crawl with a back & forth rocking motion of their wrists. The paper fastener allows the spider to turn back and forth or 360 degrees, too!

Goopy Slime

2 Cups Water 1/2 Cup Cornstarch Food Colouring Boil 2 cups water in a medium saucepan. Add cornstarch while stirring. After that is mixed well, add food colouring and stir. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Make sure they play with it on a plastic covered surface.