Day 12: Spooooooooky Stump!!

It is official. I am addicted. I found my long lost glue gun, and I am in love. I forgot how fast that glue dries. I forgot how easy it was to make crafts. I missed my little friend. But she is back, my friends, and my son and I knocked not one but SIX crafts this weekend! And really, one of those didn't even need the glue gun, but my husband hadn't yet taken her away, so used she got. My son is a little angry at me for taking away his pleasure of squeezing that stinking glue bottle until it was empty, but I will make it up to him! AnyBOO! (yeah yeah I know, my husband just shook his head at that too.......


do you still have those ghostly suckers you made? If you do, you will need them, if you don't you have to take the five minutes to make them for today's craft.
My son and I had a lot of fun doing this. Him mainly because he likes glue and he likes painting and if you put them together, he is in Heaven.

Pretty simple! But it does take some time for it to dry each time. So, my recommendation is not to plan on doing this all in one sitting.

Materials:

• lollipops
  
• string
• tissue
• black permanent marker
• tissue paper
• a few spaghetti strands (substitute q-tips without the tips)
  
• a few mostaccioli or similar noodles (or anything that is about the width of a pencil that you can make about an inch long.)
• Brown paint (or as I learned, half and half red and green subsitute just fine)
• tissue paper
• mod podge ( you can mix half tacky glue and half water to make the same thing)
• plastic cup (16 oz)
• fake flower petals if you have them, small ones like off a sunflower.
• hot glue gun (you can use any other glue, but I REALLY recommend something that is fast drying, and that is why I recommend the hot glue gun. 
  
• x-acto knife or something similar to make a hole. 
• Scissors
  
• 2 paintbrushes. For the mod podge I always use the little foam ones, cheap and effective. 
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut the tissue paper into squares
2. Paint a layer of Mod Podge on the cup, and then place the squares of tissue paper over it. Keep layering, tissue paper and Mod podge, until the cup is well covered. (don't worry about smoothness, you WANT it to be textured)
   
3. Make a few "bumps" in the tree. To do this, simply crumple bits of paper, make squares, bumps, whatever out of the tissue paper and layer it with the mod podge, and then another flat tissue over it
   
   
   
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4. After you have made all the bumps and textures in your tree that you want, place a final layer of flat tissue to keep it all together. 
5. Let dry.
6. While drying, paint the noodles brown.
7. When the cup is dried, paint it brown.
8. Let dry.
9. Using the X-acto knife (and actually I used the tip of scissors to make the hole bigger-the tip of the scissors is the perfect size), make about six small holes in the top of the cup, not too closely spaced.
   
10. Use the hot glue gun to glue the noodles to random places on the tree. I found that bumps were a great place to put the noodles as they added a little "shelf" to place them. 
11. Hot glue gun a few leaves to the "branches", just a few, as it is fall (Note, I did not paint my brown first, as the experienced knowledge of telling you to do it first!)
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. Make the ghost lollipops. Very simple. Simply place a piece of tissue over the top of the lollipop, use a string to tie it at the top of the stick. Make eyes and a mouth with the marker. Done!
13. When everything is dry, place the sticks into the holes, and there is your spooky stump!!