Little acorn ghosts

The yearly acorn invasion has begun.  Hundreds of acorns cover my deck making walking on it very precarious. That is what one gets when there is a giant oak tree overhead. Every night I sit in my family room as they crash to the ground, listening to the dog going nuts trying to protect the house from the invasion.  So yesterday I put on a football helmet (got a visual yet) and navigated the ice skating rink-like deck and collected a few specimens for crafting.  I thought, Halloween is near and why not some acorn ghosts.  Make sure you pick acorns that are not wet and starting to germinate or your ghosts may end up with goatees! 

You will need:

Acorns with caps (but you will be taking the caps off before painting)

Acrylic paint in white

Paper plate

Piece of scrap cardboard to protect your work surface

Sand paper or sanding block

Masking tape or double-faced tape

Small paintbrush

Black sharpie marker 

Tacky craft glue

Acrylic matte finish (optional)

1.     Apply the tape to the cardboard so the sticky side is facing up.  Remove the caps from the acorns and set aside.  Place the acorns flat side down on the tape to secure.  This is how you will paint the acorns.  You don’t have to worry about painting the top since the caps will cover it.

2.     Sand the acorn a bit with a sanding block or a piece of sandpaper before sticking to the tape for better paint adhesion.

3.     Squirt some white acrylic paint onto a paper plate and apply a coat to the taped acorn.  Let dry and apply a second coat of paint.  Let dry.

4.     When the paint has dried remove the acorn and add some tacky craft glue in the cap and replace on the acorn.

5.     Use the sharpie marker to draw a ghost face on each acorn.  Be creative and make them all different.  (See photo)  You can get ideas for faces from the internet, or computer clip art.

Note:  Make a bunch and use them to accent the décor around the house.  Try using orange paint for a pumpkin and paint the cap green or green.  You can also make a frankenstein monster.  Simply paint the cap black, draw the face and glue on some tiny cylinder type beads on the sides of the neck.  This is a fun family project to try with the kids!

Many thanks to Bowdabrablog.com for choosing one of my tutorials for their

 bowdabrablog.com/2012/10/05/feature-friday-bowdabra-top-crafty-showcase-picks-17/#

For more fun projects or to add some of your own visit Bowdabra's Saturday showcase