This time of year is the best! I feel pretty well established with our back-to-school routine. We've survived the first 6 weeks of Preschool & Kindergarten! Yay! Now, the leaves are changing, and although the holidays are just around the corner. I feel like we're at a point where we can take a break from the hussle and bussle and just relax a little bit before the holiday rush begins. It's such a nice feeling.
Yesterday was rainy and windy and since my little guy was off from school, it was the perfect chance to stay in our pajamas and craft. We made a bunch of crafts, but the one I want to tell you about now is the ghosts made out of gauze. These were simple, very inexpensive and turned out so cute.
Here's what you need:
- Johnson and Johnson Gauze Pads / Large 4 inches x 4 inches (10.1 cm by 10.1 cm)
- White Glue - such as Elmer's
- Googly Eyes or Paint to give your ghosts eyes and a mouth
- Glow in the Dark Spray Paint (optional) Purchased at WalMart. I read that Party City has it too.
You'll need a base to drape your gauze around. After looking around the house for the perfect size and shape base, I went to the recycle bin and found a clean Yoplait container and a Dannon drinkable yogurt bottle. By turning the Dannon bottle upside down and placing it inside the Yoplait container it made the perfect base for my ghost.
The guaze will come folded like a square. Open up the gauze and remove the paper backing.
Then, take some white glue and put it in a bowl. Add about 3 parts glue to every 1 part water (for instance 3 tbs of glue & 1 tbs of water). You'll want to thin the glue out a little bit, but if it's too watery, it won't work. So, if the kids are helping with this part, be sure to watch carefully.
Soak the gauze in the water/glue mixture. Squeeze the gauze to remove the excess mixture, since you don't want it to be too heavy. Then drape it over your container base and wait for it to dry.
Once the ghosts were dry, we spray painted them with Glow in the Dark Paint, waited for them to dry again and then added cute little faces. I was skeptical that they would harden enough so that they could stand upright, but the combination of the glue and the spray paint made them sturdy enough to stand, but still delicate enough to maintain their ghost like quality. I think some people do this craft with liquid starch instead of glue, but since I did this with a 3 year old, glue seemed like a better choice.
What do you think? Didn't they turn out cute?