Kids' Candy Crafting Table for Christmas 2013

From creative crafting ideas to candy-colored decor, designer Casey Noble shares fun and festive ways to turn a living room coffee table into a kid-sized holiday hangout.

By Brian : Patrick Flynn

The center of this great room is designated as a holiday gathering spot for kids, complete with snacks and interactive crafting ideas. With kids occupied, parents can enjoy a more formal dining experience in the next room.

Turn a coffee table into a holiday snacking and crafting spot by grouping floor cushions in seasonal hues around the perimeter. Similar to high chairs at standard dining tables, a small stack of fluffy cushions or pillows can help boost toddlers up to the perfect height.

Give kids a designated surface to draw on with a roll of kraft paper spread across the surface of the table. In addition to being able to express themselves creatively, this also gives parents a chance to suggest seating by writing each child's name onto the paper with markers, chalk or crayons.

Similar to vintage milk bottles, Mason jars are a sophisticated alternative to plastic vessels or drinkware. To bring classic farmhouse style to a kids' table, consider using Mason jars for snacks such as crackers or pretzels.

While kids entertain themselves at the holiday soiree, it's important to always consider safety first, especially when it comes to candy. Before laying candy out, be certain to ask parents if their children have any allergies or dietary restrictions, then stick solely with small, soft styles rather than hard candy, which could pose a choking hazard.

One of the keys to making candy and snacks interactive as crafting supplies is to choose ring-shaped options with holes directly in the center. This will allow kids the option to use their food to make crafts by sliding twine, ribbon or string directly through the center to create garland, bracelets or necklaces.

Kids can also put the holiday table to use as a place to create handmade gifts for friends and family. To turn colorful candy into necklaces or bracelets, supply kids with string, twine and ribbon in assorted styles. Encourage them to get creative with color and shape, and then bestow their creations to friends or family.

Candy garland is a more practical alternative to candy necklaces or bracelets. The key to creating these effectively is ensuring kids use safety scissors to cut strands no less than 48 inches in length. Once placed around the tree, these strands can create a cohesive, seamless look without the hassle of having to start directly at the bottom, then winding up and around the tree with one extra-long single strand.

Help tiny guests gather their culinary crafts with unique party bags. Find letters and fonts online, and then print them directly onto paper bags by running them through a basic color printer. Prior to the end of the party, keep the bags displayed nearby as tree decor, encouraging kids to take them down and fill them up before they leave.

Easy Painted Pumpkins : 2013 Halloween Decorations Ideas

This Halloween, create artistic pumpkins with paint, fun embellishments, and little (to no!) carving.
Get inspired by  this 2013 Halloween Decorations Ideas  ideas . I hope that you will find it useful for you ... Enjoy it !!

For a rustic look, paint a plaid pattern on a pumpkin. Use various colors and stripe widths.

Create a litter of kittens with painted pumpkins.

First, coat each pumpkin with matte finish sealant to dull the waxy surface.

Paint the pumpkins different colors, applying two or three coats of paint (let the paint dry between coats). Draw a nose, mouth, and whiskers on each pumpkin with a black felt tip marker.

For the eyes, draw eye shape outlines and eyelashes using the marker.

Paint the inside of the eyes white, let dry, then paint green irises outlined in black.

Cut out ear shapes from crafts foam, and hot-glue them in place.

To get this patterned look, draw a template for your design (or create it on a computer).

Trace the design onto contact paper, and cut out the interior of the design using fine tip scissors.

Adhere the stencil to the pumpkin.

Using a lightly paint coated stencil brush, apply paint with a bouncing motion.

Carefully remove the stencil and repeat as desired.

Grab the paintbrushes and get crafty with these designs that use pumpkins as canvases.

The simple graphic motifs, inspired by country decor, are a treat to display all autumn long.

This witch has rhythm! Tall pumpkins set the stage for this soft shoe scenario.

All you need to keep in step is black paint, ribbon, and shallow carving.

The painted sinister spider dangling on its luminous web warns visitors to beware.

The lines of the web are carved just deep enough to let the glow of the candle shine through the pumpkin wall.

Chisel windows in a painted mansion and carve a moon behind.

Candlelight from inside the pumpkin will bring the haunted scene to life.

Paint a pumpkin your favorite color for a stylish approach to Halloween decorating. Sprinkle the wet paint with glitter to add some sparkle to the color.

For a pumpkin that spans from Halloween to Thanksgiving, try a leaf motif. Find different types of leaves, trace the shapes on the pumpkin, and paint.

Add color and texture to your pumpkins with graphic stripes.

First, paint the entire pumpkin black.

When dry, create a design by scraping off the black paint to reveal the orange pumpkin rind beneath.

To use the painted pumpkin as a vase, carve out a narrow hole in the center to fit an existing vase.

Insert vase into the hole, then add flowers.

When summer fades to autumn and songbirds start to fly south, a birdbath becomes a perfect perch for a pumpkin adorned with a macabre silhouette.

Choose any number of eerie shapes for your outdoor display: think crow, black cat, bat, witch, or spider. Apply a coat of varnish after the paint dries to protect the pumpkin from the elements.

Tufts of garden moss help keep the pumpkin stable on its perch.

Play a game of cat and mouse this Halloween with this set of silhouettes.

Download our free templates, then trace the cat onto a large pumpkin and the mice onto three smaller pumpkins.

Fill in the outlines with black paint, or use a paint pen for a quick and easy alternative.

Go to the next slide to see another silhouette creature.

To create this patchwork design, paint your pumpkin with latex primer and let dry.

Then apply a base coat with cream color latex paint and allow to dry.

Mark off squares with masking tape, or download our free pattern below.

Paint an overcoat of khaki color latex paint; let dry.

Remove tape to expose cream color paint.

Use paper doilies as stencils to create intricate, lacelike designs.

Take miniature pumpkins to bewitching new heights with an aerial display.

Draw bats on white pumpkins with a permanent marker.

Cut a length of thick jute and knot one end to a large washer.

Tie a loop in the other end.

Punch holes in the top and bottom of the pumpkin, and use wire to pull the twine through the holes. (The washer supports the pumpkin's weight, and the loop attaches to the shepherd's hook.)

Like any culinary confection, this tiered treat has all the right ingredients. Select two pumpkins and a Cinderella squash that stack easily. "Ice" the pumpkins and squash in pretty pastel paints, embellish with lacy trims and adhesive gems, and stack.

A black cat and a bat this painted pumpkin duo is "spooktacular"! Spray paint two pumpkins luscious matte black. Craft cardstock features, and pin in place. We carved the cat and bat faces, but you can cut them from cardstock, too.

Too big to pop in your mouth, these candy corn look painted pumpkins still look good enough to eat. Use cone shape pumpkins and spray paint to create these Halloween treats.

Here, pumpkins go to great lengths to form a caterpillar.

Paint pumpkins melon green, and paint their stems black.

Decorate the body with adhesive felt dots, and denote the head with a pair of googly eyes and curled pipe cleaner antennae. Arrange the pumpkins in a creepy, crawling S shape.

You'll have to get your fingers wet to leave your mark on this playful pumpkin!

Decorate Your Porch With Rustic Fall Style 2013 Ideas

Natural materials and found items make inviting fall decorations for your favorite outdoor room

Fall is here, and with it a new season of activity as a prelude to the holidays. If you can find a free afternoon, spend just a few hours sprucing up your porch or patio with seasonal spirit before your trick-or-treaters arrive.

General Fall Porch Style 

Natural textures layered next to found items can create a cozy outdoor seat for watching the leaves change. Using a hay bale as a temporary coffee table is an inexpensive and functional way to cozy up your outdoor space. Try using a small tray or basket as a sturdy, flat surface to hold a beverage or book.

Here, a rustic chair doubles as a side table for a vintage cola crate holding pink mums.

Make over tin cans with paint and fill them with your favorite seasonal flowers. A generous neighbor let me pick these from her garden.

Use your arrangement to freshen up any space, from an entry to a tabletop.

A wood crate provides extra display space and storage. A stack of old paperbacks bolsters some mini pumpkins. Lavender sprigs in a vintage milk jug add both a pleasant aroma and height to a wooden-crate-turned-side-table.

Simple Burlap Pillow Cover 

Burlap or linen sacks make for an easy pillow cover during the holidays. This small burlap sack was one of those "I'll find something to with this one day" items that found a new (and temporary) purpose as our porch swing cushion. If you don't have one, you can just cut some burlap to length and sew one up.

Stuff your pillow into the sack and tuck leftover fabric into the open end, hiding the pillow inside.

Wrap a ribbon around the sack and tie it. Of course, if you are using an indoor pillow as the filler, bring your pillow inside if the weather gets too damp.

2013 Thanksgiving Tabletop Inspiration Decorating Ideas

love the holidays and thinking about festive holiday entertaining in new and unexpected ways. Here are some fresh and inspired ideas to bring a stylish touch to your Thanksgiving harvest table.

I hope that you will like and find it useful for you ... Enjoy it !!

Easy Tabletop with the Naturally Colors 2013 Fall Decorating Ideas

Fill a basket with a range of pumpkins and gourds from the market or pumpkin patch, and you'll have everything you need to welcome fall holidays with style. Then, when Thanksgiving rolls around, you can turn your decorations into pumpkin breads, squash soups and casseroles, clearing the way for the winter holidays ahead.

 Get ideas for your patio or table with these simple ideas for pulling together the season's best natural colors.

Combine the last blush of roses with miniature pumpkins and candles on a table runner glowing with oranges and reds.

Tip: Create a makeshift runner by lining up placemats down the center of the table.

Even just two or three pumpkins on a table that you can see out a window can brighten an October afternoon. These volunteer pumpkins sprouted from compost added to planting beds last spring. Free decor!

Tip: Return pumpkins to the planting bed this winter, so you'll have homegrown pumpkins to play with again next fall.

Succulents are often at their best in fall, when their coral, gold and magenta blooms play off harvest colors. 

Tip: Anchor your arrangement with a feature plant or pumpkin that has an attention-grabbing shape or color, such as this Japanese red kuri squash. Don't worry about symmetry; instead, balance the center with a casual arrangement of smaller pumpkins, pomegranates and other seasonal fruits and flowers.

When it's time to clear away your tabletop, potted succulents like echeveria and paddle plant (kalanchoe luciae) make great additions to a low-maintenance garden. Hosting a dinner party? Let kids and friends choose a mini pumpkin or baby succulent to take home.

A delicious edible pumpkin with the unlikely name Long Island Cheese anchors an outdoor arrangement of fresh pomegranates and a burgundy-leafed liquid amber branch.