Make Your Own "Scare Case"

Welcome to our Scare Case...our Flight of Scares...our Fright of Stares! Whichever name you prefer, this simple Halloween craft looks spooky and awesome. You can make it with items you already have at home, and a Martha-level of creativity is not required. My five-year-old helped cut out the black circles for the pupils, and both he and my two-year-old glued the eyes together and helped hang them. It's a fun after-school project!

Here's what you'll need:

• construction paper - 2 sheets of same color, per pair of eyes; plus white and black
• scissors
• glue sticks
• masking tape or painters tape to hang them up

1. First, cut out your eyes. I placed two sheets of the same color together, so it's less cutting, and to get two matching eyes. You can make them fancy, if you'd like.

Or make simple ovals (loosely fold the paper in quarters before cutting).

Or, just about any shaped eyes you can imagine.

2. Next, fold a sheet of white paper in thirds, widthwise, and then in half, lengthwise, to get six rectangles. I planned on using ovals for two of the sets of eyes, and a unique shape for the third set. So, I cut away two of the rectangles.

Using the section with four, fold them again and cut the ovals. Take the section with two, fold again and cut the unique shapes.

3. Fold a sheet of black paper into quarters, widthwise, and cut along the center fold. Take one half of the black paper, fold along the crease, and then fold into thirds. You should have six squares. Keep the squares folded and cut out circles for the pupils.

4. Match up your pieces: 2 colored eyes, 2 whites, 2 black pupils.

5. Create a work station for each child with their paper pieces and a glue stick.

6. Get gluing!

7. Attach masking tape or painters tape to the back and create your Scare Case! (or Flight of Scares, or Fright of Stares...which name do you like best? Post a Comment and let us know.)

My kids had a blast making these yesterday, and I've already been informed by my five-year-old that we will be making more after school today.

Have fun decorating your home, classroom, or cubicle with these fun, spooky eyes! As always, thanks for reading.

How Do I Love Thee, Autumn? Let Me Count the Ways

There are times - particularly in the winter, walking outside and feeling like someone is rubbing ice on your face - when I think it would be nice to live in a warmer place. San Francisco, perhaps. But I really don't think I could live someplace that didn't have autumn.

I'm pretty sure I started calling autumn my favorite season because it happens to hold my birthday. But it is, hands down, the best season for so many other reasons. Here are just the top ten.

Top Ten Things to Love About Autumn

1. Opening all the windows to let that perfectly comfortable weather into your home. The air is crisp, the humidity is gone, and the cross-breeze is wonderful.

2. Football. Personally, I do not care about football. However, my ROCpoppa is a Buffalo Bills season-ticket holder and a member of two fantasy leagues. Football makes him giddy and happy in an adorably childlike way. So, football makes me happy in a very roundabout way. Go Bills.

3. Halloween decorations. As a kid, there was nothing better than Halloween at my Grandma's house. She had nine kids - some of my aunts and uncles are only a few years older than me - and they would go all out to decorate the house. There would be life-sized coffins and tombs made of painted cardboard boxes and filled with vampires and mummies, respectively, made from old clothes and paper mache. They would bring fallen leaves inside and scatter them all over the floor. They would take old curtains and tablecloths to make crazy costumes, a little a la Sister Maria and the Von Trapps. They were notorious for movie-inspired costumes: Wizard of Oz, Arsenic & Old Lace, Rocky Horror Picture Show to name a few. 

Then there was the Witch's Parts game. Everyone would sit in a circle and my Grandma would turn off the lights. She told a story about a town where kids disappeared in the woods...eventually the parents found a witch's cottage in the woods with the bones of all the kids who had disappeared...they killed the witch and this is what remains: her eyeballs (we'd pass around two peeled grapes), her hair (a mess of yarn), her teeth (unpopped popcorn), her stomach (cooked and cooled spaghetti with a few cleaned chicken bones stuck in), and on and on. We would squirm and squeal as we passed the witch's parts in the dark, and we loved every minute of it. Looking back, I can't believe we weren't all traumatized by that story! Hmmm. 

But now when my five-year-old wants to decorate early in September, I don't really mind. I love putting up Halloween decorations, and making new ones each year. I've even been collecting some new ideas on Pinterest!

4. Hayrides into a pumpkin patch. It's worth all the hay stuck to your bottom to go out into a field and pick your own pumpkin. There's a sense of ownership you just don't get when you pick your pumpkin from a table or bin.

5. The fall TV season. We don't watch as much television during the summer. Maybe it's because there isn't much on; maybe it's because we're so busy. But now that fall is here, I'm looking forward to curling up on the couch for Fringe Fridays, Once Upon a Time, New Girl, Happy Endings, and Modern Family. Fingers crossed that Elementary remains as fun as the pilot episode, too.

6. Watching the kids jump into a pile of freshly raked leaves.

7. Filling the closet with sweaters, and packing away the swim suits. Sweaters are so cozy, and much more forgiving during the lost battles of will power that occur around Halloween candy, pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice lattes, and Christmas cookies.

8. Apple picking! We start 'em young in the ROCmomma household; my older son went apple picking for the first time when he was just shy of four months old.

9. Warm apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

10. A home that smells like fresh apple crisp is baking in the oven at all times. Thanks to Glade Expressions Oil Diffuser in Fuji Apple & Cardamom Spice, this is possible. The diffuser is cute, with the cut-out leaves, and it really does smell like something wonderful is baking.

What is your favorite thing about autumn? Post A Comment below to share. As always, thanks for reading.

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Disclaimer: I am a BzzAgent and received Glade Expressions Oil Diffuser to try at home. However, I did not receive compensation and all opinions contained in this blog post are my personal opinions.