Love from heckerty

Nine spiders weaving

“On the 9th day of Christmas, Zanzibar gave me:

Nine spiders weaving,

Eight cats a howling.

Seven bats a squeaking.

Six cauldrons boiling,

Five magic wands –

Four hooting owls.

Three blind mice,

Two jumping frogs,

And a sardine prepared for my tea.”

For this Christmas craft, you will need a grown-up to help with the wire and beads.

Weaving Spiders

Weaving spider

WHAT YOU NEED:

  • Beads – 9 large multi-colored beads
  • 9 smaller beads
  • tube of sparkly, tiny seed beads or delicas
  • 24 gauge wire
  • 18 size 8 seed beads

DIRECTIONS:

To make one spider (body first):

  1. Cut 4 lengths of wire about 4.5″ each
  2. Cut 1 length 3″
  3. On the 3 inch wire string 2 size 8 seed beads for eyes
  4. Bend the wire and twist
  5. Insert the twisted wire into the smaller of the two larger beads to make a head with the eyes sticking out
  6. Add the large bead to the wire leaving a small gap between the two bigger beads.
  7. Complete by making a small loop in the wire behind the larger bead
  8. Cut off excess wire

To make the legs:

  1. Take the 1 of the 4 lengths of wire and put a small loop at one end
  2. Fill the wire with very small beads leaving about 1/2″ of bare wire at the end
  3. Finish with another loop
  4. Repeat 3 more times
  5. Take one of the beaded wire strands and move beads to both ends so the bare gap is in the middle
  6. Wrap the wire around the gap between the two bigger beads in the shorter  wire.
  7. Repeat 3 more times
  8. Take each “leg” and bend it slightly so your spider stands on its own!

Heckerty’s Halloween Hacks – Day 12 Halloween Sugar Cookies

Halloween Sugar Cookies

What you need:

Halloween cookie cutters

1 cup butter, softened

1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour and baking soda – gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Chill for at least 1 hour or until easy to handle.

Divide dough into 4 parts. Sprinkle confectioners sugar on surface and roll the dough til it’s about 1/8th inch thick.

Using Halloween cookie cutters, cut out shapes and put on ungreased baking sheets.

12b

Bake at 350° until the edges of the cookies begin to turn brown, about 6-9 minutes. Cool on wire cookie racks.

Frost with Halloween colors, orange, black, purple etc.

12c   12a

Check back tomorrow – slinky snakes abound!