I’ve tried to find Cricut craft projects that don’t require a big investment in more cartridges, though some do, of course. Several of them offer free template downloads or instructions on how to create the projects on your own. Also, some of these patterns are just as easily made on other paper cutting craft tools, such as the Gypsy and Cuttlebug.

Related Pages: Printable Box Templates, Printable Vintage Postcards, Printable Dragon Paper Craft

Cricut Paper Crafts

Cricut Paper Purse	Cricut Robot Papercraft	Pretty Cricut Cupcake Wrappers	Cricut Paper Flowers Craft

Halloween Cricut Crafts

Cricut Halloween Decorations	Cricut Paper Pumpkins	Decorated Halloween Candles	Halloween Door Hangers

Thanksgiving Cricut Crafts

Cricut Thanksgiving Turkey Craft	Cricut Thanksgiving Pie Favor Boxes	Cricut Thanksgiving Place Cards	Thanksgiving Paper Banners

Christmas Cricut Crafts

Paper Cutting Christmas Ornaments	Cricut Glitter Snowflakes	Christmas Mouse Candy Cane Holders	Cricut Paper Christmas Scene

Valentines Day Cricut Crafts

Cricut Valentine Treat Bag Toppers	Cricut Strawberry Valentine Treats	Cricut Valentine Cards	Cricut Valentines Day Banner

Easter Cricut Crafts

Cricut Spring Flower Easter Treats	Cricut Easter Bunny Basket	Cricut Easter Egg Holder	Cricut Easter Place Cards

Check out more paper cutting crafts while you are here, too!

Pippi Longstocking Braids	Swim Noodle Spider Costume	Homemade Umbrella Bat Costume	Easy Homemade Eyeball Costume
Toilet Paper Mummy Costume	Nerd Costume	Homemade Lego Costume	Easy Ghost Costume
Cotton Ball Sheep Costume	Easy Bubble Bath Costume	Clark Kent / Superman Costume	Easy Ladybug Costume

Find more last minute Halloween costume ideas at Blissfully Domestic. And be sure to check out our Halloween coloring pages, Halloween printables, and pumpkin stencils, too!

The first set of puppets have been extremely popular. You might also like these pumpkin decorating ideas, my guide to carving artificial pumpkins, this owl crafts roundup and our big collection of Halloween printables!

Halloween Costume Finger Puppets

Halloween Finger Puppets Craft Materials List

I’ve placed a photograph next to each finger puppet with the exact materials needed for each Halloween Critter. All of them require a very easy to find set of stuff:

Pipe Cleaners

Pom Poms (The pumpkin puppet uses a larger pom pom than the others)

Googly Eyes

Glue (Hot glue gun works best, but I’ve since discovered that even regular glue will suffice, it just takes longer to dry)

Wire Cutters (So you don’t ruin your scissors cutting the pipe cleaners)

For Dracula – scraps of black fabric

For Princess and Fairy - a small amount of white tulle (less than 1/8 yard) and for each one small plastic rhinestone ‘gem’

Making Halloween Finger Puppets

Please refer to the original Easter finger puppets post for general assembly instructions. It gives general instructions on how to wind the pipe cleaners around your finger and how to attach the pom poms accurately.

Halloween Fairy Finger Puppet

Fairy Finger Puppet

Cut 5 pink pieces of pipe cleaner about 1.5 inches long, and bend them into a “U” shape as shown.

Cut two green pieces of pipe cleaner about 1 inch long and bend them in half as shown to resemble flower leaves.

Cut a piece of white tulle into a long oval for the fairy wings, approximately 6-7 inches wide. To attach the wings, simply tie them to one of the coils on the back of the pipe cleaner finger puppet base.

Tulle fairy wings

Glue the pink petals around the white pom pom in the shape of a flower, then add the flowers behind the petals:

Cut one piece of white pipe cleaner about 3-4 inches long and bend it as shown for the arms. Then cut a piece of silver pipe cleaner as long as you want your fairy wand to be. Twist tie the end of the wand to one of the ‘hands’.

Fairy Finger Puppet Craft Assembly

Glue the plastic gem to the end of the wand, then glue the googly eyes and nose to the pom pom face. Then glue the rest of the fairy finger puppet parts together.

Dracula Halloween Finger Puppet

Dracula Finger Puppet

Cut a fabric triangle out of black fabric for Dracula’s cape as shown – you can be imprecise, it doesn’t need to be perfect!Cut off the top corner as shown.

Cut a teardrop shaped piece of black fabric to glue on top of Dracula’s head for his hair. Glue it onto the pom pom with the point in front – this can be a little tricky and an adult’s help might be needed.

Glue the googly eyes onto Dracula’s face.

Glue the top of the cape to the top of the red pipe cleaner finger puppet base, then glue the head on top.

Once the glue is dry, draw a tiny black line for Dracula’s mouth. Then put two tiny white vertical lines at the corners of his mouth to make his fangs.

Frankenstein Halloween Finger Puppet

Frankenstein Finger Puppet

Cut a 4 inch piece of green pipe cleaner for the arms and bend it as shown.

Cut two tiny pieces of black pipe cleaner to resemble the bolts on the sides of Frankenstein’s neck.

Glue the two black bolts to the sides of the pom pom, then glue the googly eyes in place.

Glue the rest of the parts in place.

When the glue is dry, paint black hair onto Frankenstein’s head and a sewn-up mouth with the black fabric paint.

Ignore the green paint and tiny green pom pom in the picture. I don’t know what I was thinking. :-)

Halloween Princess Finger Puppet

Halloween Princess Finger Puppet

Cut a piece of yellow pipe cleaner just over 2 inches long and shape it into a crown as shown:

Halloween Princess Crown

Cut 8 pieces of white tulle about one inch wide by 4-5 inches long:

Tulle Princess Skirt

Make your pipe cleaner finger puppet base and tie the pieces of tulle around the bottom coil of the finger puppet:

Princess Finger Puppet Skirt

Glue the triangle plastic rhinestone onto the top point of the crown, then glue the crown onto the pom pom head. Then glue on the googly eyes and assemble the parts.

We hope you love all of the Halloween activities from our Woo! Jr. Network sites!

What is so great about decoupage? Is it the fact that my kids can do it with practically no help from me? That decoupage is pretty hard to mess up? That decoupage projects always turn out awesomely? All of the above? Yes!

Decoupage Ideas for Halloween

Halloween Decoupage Projects

How to Decoupage

Really – this is brain dead easy. All you need is some Modpodge, paint brushes and paper or fabric. And technically you don’t even need Modpodge, as you can use watered down glue. I like love Modpodge because you can get it in a matte, glossy, or sparkle finish, there’s very little mess, and it lasts forever. They even have an outdoor strength version- WOO!

Step 1A – figure out what you are going to decoupage – it can be glass, plastic, wood, metal – practically anything. It can be jewelry, kids crafts, or even home decor. You can cut out pictures or fabric to adhere to your item or you can print out your own designs (though ink jet ink can smear – I have a laser printer that works perfectly for decoupage). You can also add pieces of ribbon, sequins, and pretty much anything that can be glued to a surface.

Step 1 – brush some Modpodge/decoupage medium onto your item

How to Decoupage - Step 1

Step 2 – place your paper or fabric onto the decoupage medium

How to Decoupage - Step 2

Step 3 – put a thin coat of more more Modpodge/decoupage medium on top of your paper or fabric

How to Decoupage - Step 3

Step 4 – Repeat until your project is covered!

Once it is dry, you can and should put at least one more coat of Modpodge over the project to seal it and protect it.

Making these Decoupage Halloween Candle Holders

I got all of the the glass candle holders at my local dollar store. Cheap, cheap, cheap!

For my Jack O’ Lantern mummy, I used strips of white tissue paper and cut out a pumpkin face out of black paper. This particular pumpkin face is from the Punkinhead font.

For the tall owl candle holder, I used this Fiskars Owl Squeeze Punch, cutting out the owls from scrapbook paper scraps.

For the orange pumpkin tall candle holder, I measured the circumference of the glass and created an orange rectangle in a drawing program. I then used this Halloween borders font to add the pumpkin and vines, then simply printed it out and decoupaged it onto the glass. I don’t recommend this if you only have an ink jet printer unless you test it first to make sure your ink won’t bleed all over the place. Then again, for a Halloween decoupage project, that might just look pretty cool.

More Halloween Kids Crafts

Easy Halloween Finger Puppets

Easy Halloween Handprint Crafts

Paper Bag Crafts for Halloween

I’ve always loved carving real pumpkins, but never really got adventurous with the designs, knowing that the thing would be mush in a week or so. I recently found some Funkins artificial pumpkins on sale, picked up a few, and suddenly I found myself carving pumpkins non-stop! If you aren’t familiar with Funkins, they are made with a solid type of foam that make them both carvable and realistic looking. They come in several shapes and sizes, and even color variations, including white pumpkins.

Artificial Pumpkin Carving

Funkins Carving Tips

I started out with one of my little pumpkins to get an idea of what it was like to work with the material. For the most part, it was just like carving a real pumpkin, which as we know can be a bit challenging sometimes. The foam is thick and requires as much pressure to cut it as a real pumpkin.

Mini Funkins Pumpkin Display

The tools I used at first was a very cheap wood carving set, which for this kind of job, worked just fine. They made perfect little squares and circles, and sliced through patterns pretty well. A little saw might have been better for longer cuts, but most of the stuff I was working on were small, short cuts. I experimented with carving out only the skin of the pumpkin, leaving the “flesh” intact. That turned out OK, but the foam looked pretty ragged.

But then my husband brought out the Dremel and it was like a hit of crack, I swear to you! I still needed the carving tools to make the small squares, but the Dremel was my new tool of choice.

That is, until I started making mistakes with the Dremel. Mistakes that were hard to fix and that started to tick me off.

Fixing Pumpkin Carving Mistakes & Troubleshooting

Getting Sharp Corners

Some of the mistakes I made with the Dremel might just have been because I didn’t have the right drill bit to use. But regardless, it’s pretty hard to get into tight angled corners with a round cutting bit. You get ‘sloppy’ corners that don’t look like they are supposed to:

Cutting corners with a Dremel

The way to get sharp corners is to go back in with a straight carving tool and carefully clip out the remnants that the Dremel left behind. Easy peasy.

Paint Fraying and Peeling

I noticed that sometimes the dremel breezed through the foam pumpkin, but left behind some frayed paint coating like this:

Frayed Edges on the Funkin from Dremel cutting

The way to get rid of it was to go back with a sanding bit and clear away the flakes of paint. DO NOT peel them off, because they will peel away from the part of the pumpkin you want to stay intact!

Ragged Cuts in the Artificial Pumpkin

Once that sanding bit came out, it was hard to stop. I was able to clean up a lot of my mistakes with it. Rememer the ragged cuts in the foam I got from the wood carving tools? Smooth as can be with the sanding tool. Plus it made it look much more realistic instead of bad exposed foam:

Jagged Cuts in the Artificial Pumpkin

After I cleaned up some of the edges, I ended up getting really anal retentive about making all of my edges smooth. So I took the Dremel bit and sanded over every single one of my previous cuts and edges. I would never go though this much trouble for a real pumpkin – but since I knew the artificial pumpkin would last, I wanted to make it as perfect as possible.

Fixing Cuts You Didn’t Want to Make

The most frustrating part was when I didn’t hold onto the Dremel hard enough and it went awry on me. That sucked. So instead of letting it ruin the pumpkin pattern, I incorporated the mistakes into my design.

I started making swirls on the sides of the pumpkin, with the intention of the ends looking clean like they did in this first shot. But then the Dremel made a big hole on the end of the swirl like in the second shot:

Pumpkin Cutting Mistakes

So I could have made all of the swirls wider, which would have been a huge pain. Instead I just went back and added random ‘dots’ to the swirls, to make it look like they were there on purpose. I liked that look better in the end, anyway!

Turning Carving Mistakes into Design Elements

But the one thing I couldn’t fix this way was that one of my more fragile carvings broke right off.

Attaching Broken Pumpkin Pieces

My attachment point was t-i-n-y, so I had to use something very thin to attach the pieces together. A toothpick would work if I had a little more width to work with. But I didn’t, so instead I used two small segments of floral wire. I stuck them into both ends, and gently pushed them together. I found out the hard way that Funkins are stronger than skin, and in my first attempt the wire shot right into the end of my thumb. OUCH. So please be careful with this step!

Some of the paint chipped when the part broke off, so I touched up the seam with a little bit of off white paint. I’ve zoomed in very closely in this photo, but you can’t really see the fix if you’re standing and just looking at the pumpkin.

Pumpkin Carving Patterns

I have a lot of posts of pumpkin stencils I’ve drawn myself or hacked out of clip art:

Disney Pumpkin Stencils

Scary Pumpkin Stencils

Cute Pumpkin Stencils

Spongebob Pumpkin Stencils

Ni Hao Kai Lan Pumpkin Stencils

Buy Funkins and Pumpkin Carving Tools at Amazon

12 Inch Orange Funkin	10 Inch Orange Funkin	8-pc. Mini Wood Carving Chisel Set	Dremel Variable Speed Rotary Tool with 55 Accessories

So why do we only hear about pomanders around Christmas? This is a terrible under utilization of an exquisite fragrance, IMHO.

Behold: The Halloween Pomander

Fall Pomander Crafts

How to Make Fall Pomanders

Pomanders are incredibly easy to make – though I have to admit, I thought you could just poke those whole cloves into the orange skin wherever you wanted. This didn’t work so well, they frequently crumbled or broke. So I thought of using a toothpick to ‘pre-drill’ my holes in the orange, but those holes were too small. So instead I used a wooden skewer that you can find in any grocery store – perfecto!

Oranges and Cloves for Pomanders

Step 1 – Buy the most perfect round oranges you can find. Wash and remove the stickers.

Step 2 – Poke holes in the pattern of your choice with the wooden skewer – keep them slightly spread apart to leave room for the wide tops of the cloves.

Great fall themed picture ideas: jack o’ lantern faces, spiders, acorns, trees, witch hats, leaves, etc.

Insert cloves into the holes you made.

If you want to attach a ribbon to hang it, you’ll need to tie it around the entire orange. I tried several ways of attaching a ribbon just at the top, and none of them could hold the weight of the orange. That’s why my pomander is sitting on a window sill instead of hanging in front of my window. *grin*

Want more fall activities? Try these Applesauce Recipes, Halloween scavenger hunts, and all of our printable Halloween masks!

Beautiful Painted Pumpkins	Fall Leaf Decorated Pumpkins	Elegant Pumpkin Decorating Ideas	Wire Spider Pumpkin
Teddy Bear Pumpkin	Mr. Potato Head Pumpkin	Cute Puppy Pumpkins	Painted Pumpkins
Star Wars Death Star Pumpkin	Geeky Pumpkins!	Painted Pumpkin Patterns	Painted Witch Pumpkin
Martha Stewart Pumpkins	White Mantle Pumpkins	Pumpkin Halloween Decorations	Vintage Photo Pumpkins

Also check out these easy Halloween handprint crafts, Halloween party food recipes, Halloween scavenger hunts, and our awesome Halloween pumpkin stencils!

Halloween Kids Crafts Finger Puppets

When I first launched Craft Jr earlier this year, I put together a set of Easter finger puppet crafts, and they were a huge hit. So I’ve decided to make it a tradition to create pipe cleaner finger puppets for every major holiday (wait till you see the turkey one for Thanksgiving – sooo cute!!). I got so carried away last weekend with making this set of Halloween finger puppets that I ended up with too many to fit into one post! So here is the “Halloween Critters” edition, and next week I’ll add here is the “Halloween Costumes” finger puppet collection.

Halloween Finger Puppets Craft Materials List

I’ve placed a photograph next to each finger puppet with the exact materials needed for each Halloween Critter. All of them require a very easy to find set of stuff:

Pipe Cleaners

Pom Poms (The pumpkin puppet uses a larger pom pom than the others)

Googly Eyes

Glue (Hot glue gun works best, but I’ve since discovered that even regular glue will suffice, it just takes longer to dry)

Wire Cutters (So you don’t ruin your scissors cutting the pipe cleaners)

The jack o’ lantern finger puppet also needs fabric paint (no matter how hard I tried to make the face with other materials, it just looked l.a.m.e.)

How to Make These Halloween Finger Puppet Crafts

Please refer to the original Easter finger puppets post for general assembly instructions.

It explains the general instructions on how to wind the pipe cleaners around your finger and how to attach the pom poms accurately.

Halloween Spider Finger Puppet Craft

Halloween Spider Finger Puppet Craft

Cut black pipe cleaners into 8 pieces about 1 1/2 inch long

Wind the purple finger puppet base

Bend the legs in half slightly and attach 4 on each side to the black pom pom

Glue the small purple pom poms onto the feet of each leg

Glue the spider to the finger puppet base

Glue the googly eyes in place

Halloween Black Cat Finger Puppet Craft

Halloween Black Cat Finger Puppet Craft

This is just like the spring kitten finger puppet with black materials

Cut two 1 inch pieces of black pipe cleaner and bend them in a “V” for the ears

Bend a 2 1/2 – 3 inch piece of black pipe cleaner into a lopsided “S” for the tail

Wind the finger puppet base

Glue the ears onto the top of the head, and then add the eyes and nose on the front of the face

Glue the head onto the finger puppet base

Attach the tail to the rear end of the black cat by simply bending one end of it around the bottom coil of the finger puppet base

Halloween Vampire Bat Finger Puppet Craft

Halloween Vampire Bat Finger Puppet Craft

Cut two 1 inch pieces of black pipe cleaner and bend them in a “V” for the ears

Bend a full piece of black pipe cleaner into the bat wings shape as shown

Pull the ends of the wings pipe cleaner into the middle “V” and wrap them around each other as shown in this image:

How to Make Bat Wings

Wind the finger puppet base

Glue the ears onto the top of the head, and then add the eyes  on the front of the face

Glue the head onto the finger puppet base

Glue the wings onto the back of the bat, or slip them in between the puppet base coils to hold them in place

Halloween Jack O’ Lantern Finger Puppet

Halloween Pumpkin Finger Puppet Craft

Strangely, what should have been the easiest puppet to make turned out to be the hardest to get looking right. There just wasn’t enough room on medium pom poms to make a good pumpkin face. So then I went to the store again to get big orange pom poms. These gave me the surface needed for the pumpkin face, but the size made them much harder to work with. You’ll notice that the finger puppet base on this one is different than the others – instead of winding the top coil slightly tighter, I ended up leaving a ‘post’ at the top to give the larger pom pom added support for the glue to hold.

I swear this dang pumpkin puppet is my fourth or fifth try – I even started experimenting with it back in April to no avail!

Cut a 3 inch piece of green pipe cleaner and bend it into the shape of a pumpkin stem as shown

Wind the finger puppet base leaving a ‘post’ on top to support the large size pom pom

Glue the stem onto the top of the large orange pom pom, and glue the pom pom onto the finger puppet base. Because the large pom pom is so much more fluffy than the medium ones, you really need to hold it in place until the glue sets.

Paint a jack o’ lantern face onto the pom pom with black dimensional fabric paint

More Halloween Kids Crafts

Check out these Halloween handprint crafts, Halloween paper bag crafts, Halloween treat ideas and our Halloween coloring pages, too!

I’ve collected 16 awesome-looking (and much, much easier!) Halloween treats and party food recipes below. I have put together similarly large collections of Halloween Rice Krispie Treat recipes and healthy Halloween treats, too!

Chocolate Witch Hats Easy Halloween Cookies	Eyeball Cookie Recipe	Ritz Cracker Spider Snacks	Halloween Cat Cookies
Witch Hats Halloween Snack	Halloween Hot Dog Mummies	Healthy Halloween Apple Treats	Halloween Egg Critters
Witch’s Broom Breadsticks	Healthy Halloween Banana Centipedes	Bloody Punch Recipe	Ghostly Hand Halloween Punch
Spider Web Pizza	Frankenstein Tamale Pie	Monster Mouths Halloween Party Recipe	Candy Corn Pizza for Kids

Be sure to check out our Halloween handprint crafts and Halloween paper bag crafts, too!

Halloween Party Favors

Spooky Halloween Party Favor Kit
Price: $4.99
The Spooky Halloween favor kit for one guest includes: (1) Halloween Pumpkin Container, (1) Plastic Bat (comes in black or glow in the dark white, our choice please), (1) Beaded Necklace w/Trick or Treat Medallion, (1) Pumpkin Squeeze Ball, (1) Rubber Band Bracelet, (1) Bounce Ball.

Halloween Celebrations

Halloween Celebrations: Everything you need for a fabulous Halloween party shown in 120 photographs–recipes, costumes, decorations and games for the whole family
Price: $9.99
Pages: 64, Edition: illustrated edition, Paperback, Southwater

Halloween Parties

Halloween Parties: How to Throw Spook-Tacular Soirees and Frighteningly Festive Entertainments
Price: $14.95
Pages: 80, Paperback, Harry N. Abrams

Halloween How To

A Halloween How-To: Costumes, Parties, Decorations, and Destinations
Price: $16.15
Pages: 272, Edition: illustrated edition, Paperback, Pelican Publishing Company

This year I vow to send kick-butt treat bags to school with my kids for Halloween. Most years I am lucky if I remember to send them with a bag of candy! This year I think I am going to make some mini books for them with these printable Halloween masks, Halloween coloring pages, and Halloween word puzzles and word searches.

Directions for assembly are on the blank version of this favor bag template.

Printable Halloween Treat Bag

Halloween Treat Bags to Print

Cute Halloween Treat Bag

Vintage Halloween Treat Bag

Monster Halloween Treat Bag

Halloween Treat Bag Stuffers

Gummi Ghouls Halloween Candy: 100CT Bag $15.00 Fun-shaped gummies made with real fruit juice! More nutritious than your average gummi treat! Each piece is wrapped to seal in freshness.Unit Price = $0.15/packet.Bag conta... [Read more] Store: CandyWarehouse.com Halloween Bubbles Assorted (24) $7.99 ""Includes 24 plastic bubble bottles that each have 0.6 fl. oz of bubble solution. Approximate measurements: 1"""" wide x 2.75""&quo... [Read more] Store: CelebrateExpress.com Licorice Skulls Halloween Candy: 5LB Bag $15.00 Spooky skull shaped licorice candy in black and white.Perfect for goth events and Halloween parties!There are approximately 300 pieces per pound.Candy Length: 1 InchUnit Pr... [Read more] Store: CandyWarehouse.com Gummy Body Parts Halloween Candy: 90CT Coffin Box $13.50 Yummy gummy fangs, noses, eyeballs, brains, ears, thumbs, and feet packed in a scary coffin box.... a gummy morgue in your mouth!The perfect candy for Halloween events and ... [Read more] Store: CandyWarehouse.com Light-Up Candy Ring (8) $10.29 ""Like mini strobe lights! Slip on one of these, and light flashes through 1"""" of candy. Plastic, with candy cover. Assorted."" [Read more] Store: CelebrateExpress.com Halloween Cast Pencils (12) $2.49 Package includes 12 halloween themed pencils. [Read more] Store: CelebrateExpress.com Candy Making Kit-Halloween $7.49 The Mega Halloween Candy Kit has everything you need to create over 50 creepy treats! Choose from ghosts bats pumpkins & monster shapes. [Read more] Store: Joann.com Wilton Halloween Candy Necklace Party Pack $2.00 It?s the perfect party activity?kit makes 8 tasty necklaces! Give each kid their own candy necklace pack and watch them have a ball stringing their own treats to wear and s... [Read more] Store: Joann.com Halloween Straws (5) $2.49 Bendable straws with pumpkins and ghosts. Set of 5. Plastic. [Read more] Store: CelebrateExpress.com Halloween Fun Note Pads (12) $2.99 Includes 12 halloween themed note pads. [Read more] Store: CelebrateExpress.com 4-Pack Halloween Confetti $7.99 Includes four confetti options. [Read more] Store: CelebrateExpress.com Brach`s Halloween Candy Corn Treat Packets: 70CT Bag $10.50 The classic yellow, orange, and white mellocreme candy in fun Halloween packets! Each snack size pack features a graphic of a happy Candy Corn character with a trick-or-tre... [Read more] Store: CandyWarehouse.com