Paperback Book Pumpkin

These pumpkins were all over blogland last year and I thought they were so cute but didn't make any until this past weekend.  We rented The Avengers and since I had some time to kill I thought this would be the perfect project to work on.  For New Year's Eve last year we had a white elephant gift exchange.  My husband ended up with a box of books that included two trashy romance books that were a bit beat up.  As soon as I saw them I knew they'd be great for this project since neither one of us would read them.  I put them aside and have been saving them ever since.

Directions:  (sorry I didn't take pics along the way and I gave away three of the pumpkins last night so I only had the one left to take a pic of.)

1.  Make your template.  I cut a piece of paper half the size of the book and then cut it to look like a pumpkin shape.
2.  Rip the covers off the book.
3.  Trace your template on the page twice (once on the top of the page and once on the bottom of the page. I ended up making two pumpkins out of each book)
4.  Cut your shape out.  You can either just keep using the previously cut pages as a guide to cut more pages or keep tracing your template and cut out about six pages at a time.  I just kept cutting and cutting and my pages kept getting more and more wonky till they didn't match by the time I made it all the way around the book so it's probably best to trace the template every once in a while to keep your shape consistent.
5.  After you've cut out all your pages glue the first and last pages together with a glue stick and start fanning out your pages.
6.  Use an orange marker to color the outside edge of your pages.
7.  Find a stick in your yard and break it to the right length and then hot glue it in place.
8.  Raid your ribbon stash for a green ribbon and tie it around your stem and you're done!
9.  Give the extra pumpkins away for presents.
10.  Keep one for yourself to enjoy!
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{Tutorial Tuesday} - Coloring Pages

I'm the Kindergartner teacher at the town after school program.  Most of the time they don't have homework so I come up with a craft or activity for them to do while the other grades are doing their assignments.  I wanted to have some cute coloring pages today and searched online but couldn't find anything I liked.  I remembered that I had these clip art cds from back in the day when I worked at Provo Craft.  I brought up some line drawings and printed them out for the kids to color.  They loved it and the images were way cuter than anything else available.  Going to make some more to have on hand when we have free time.

{Money Saving Monday} - Handmade for the Holidays

Last night we drew names for my husband's family Christmas Gift Exchange.  This is the second year we've done this.  Each year the family grows so it's a good idea for each family member to just have to come up with one gift.  There are three groups: the aunts, the uncles and the kids.  I suppose we could have the kids by gender as well but there's only 3 nephews right now and 8 nieces with one on the way any day now.  I don't think the nephews have any chance of catching up because I don't think there will be that many more kids.  Anyways... since I like to make gifts way in advance I'm glad to know who's on our list this year for my husband's side of the family.  I already delivered most of my family's gifts when we went to CA last month.  Only about 85 more days till Christmas so there's still plenty of time to make everything I need.  I already have several ideas for the remaining people on my lists.  Now just to find the time to craft in between unpacking boxes after our move last week.  Ugh!