I put up my  Halloween outdoor decorations last weekend and I’m so excited to show you guys FOUR Easy Kid-Friendly Halloween Projects you can do for your front porch!

Along with pumpkins, mums and bales of hay, I added a few Halloween critters to the mix …we love kitties and owls around here 🙂

I also made a Big-BOO-Banner! Not that I want anyone to be scared mind you…this Boo is meant to be silly not scary!

In case you want to make your own Halloween outdoor decorations, here’s how I made mine!

My friends at Plaid Crafts sent me a box of fun stuff to help me create my kid friendly Halloween projects…I was excited to see Outdoor Mod Podge in the box…I’ve been wanting to try it,Outdoor Mod Podge is a water based glue/sealer that allows you to decoupage your outdoor projects!!! Gotta love Mod Podge, now you can decoupage everything indoors and take that obsession outside!

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Project ONE: The Kitty Cat & The Owl Halloween Friends!

Easy Halloween Friends~Here’s All You Need:

*Thin Plywood

*Paper Pattern for your owl

*Fabric

*Outdoor Mod Podge

*Craft Paint (for edges)

Draw a simple pattern for your owl & Kitty Cat- I enlarged clip art photos on my computer and drew them on a large piece of graph paper. (These were simple, basic drawings, nothing complicated!)

Cut out your “friends”  in plywood then  sand and paint the edges and just a little overlap onto the front of your shape…

Cut apart your pattern to make patterns for individual  pieces of your “friends” …

Use your individual pattern pieces to cut out fabric for each part of your little friend…

 Using outdoor Mod Podge glue the fabric pieces to the wood in the appropriate places…

When your pieces are all in place you can seal your little friend with an outdoor sealer if it’ll be right out in the elements. My little guys will be under a little overhang so I left well-enough alone

***UPDATE- we had a torrential rain the first night they were outside…I’m thrilled to say they did great!***

Project TWO: What a HOOT! Little Gauze Owls!

  My next project were these adorable gauze owls! You’ve seen gauze ghosts around, those are made with Stiffy Fabric Stiffener. The stiffener does just what it says…permanently stiffens fabric so you can work with it better when doing projects! Because I love the see-through quality of gauze and the fact that gauze is easy to find (got mine at the grocery!) I wanted to use it to make my little owls. But gauze is too flimsy to use without the Stiffy Fabric Stiffener. Plaid Stiffy gave the gauze a texture that was easy to work with.

What A Hoot! Gauze Owls~Here’s What You Need:

*Gauze

*Craft Paint (watered down, to dye the gauze)

*Stiffy – Fabric Stiffener

*Fabric for eyes and wings

*Mod Podge (Use Outdoor Mod Podge if you’ll use these outside!)

*Owl Template (I found a clip art image online-enlarged it on my computer screen and traced around it, right there on the screen, using tissue paper)

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Soak a piece of gauze in watered down BLACK craft paint for a few minutes to give it a black/gray color-let it dry completely

Use Plaid Stiffy Fabric Stiffener to stiffen your coordinating fabric and a piece of gauze…let them completely dry.

When the gauze is dry use your template to cut out owls and wings & eye…using Mod Podge, adhere the pieces to the gauze to make your ittie bittie owl…

(Use bent paper clips to hang your owls on branches or sew them to twine to make a cute banner!)

Project THREE~Cute as a Pumpkin, Kitties!

The last little Halloween friends are these cute as Pumpkin Kitties! I made these from Dollar Store Styrofoam based pumpkins!  Aren’t they too cute?

Cute as a Pumpkin, Kitties! Here’s What You Need:

*Styrofoam Based Pumpkins

*Craft Paint

*Stiffy Fabric Stiffener

*Outdoor Mod Podge

*Fabric

*Twine

*A bit of floral wire

*One floral pick

*Straight Pins

*Paint Pen for their tiny smiles 🙂

Use Stiffy Fabric Stiffener to stiffen a piece of fabric and a piece of twine- hang or lay these on a piece of plastic-wrap to dry…

Paint your pumpkins with black craft paint…let dry.

When fabric is dry (about 2-3 hours after you dip it in the stiffener) cut triangles for your kitty’s ears…fold the edge under and use straight pins to pin the ears into place. (I used 4 straight pins for each ear)

Next, cut almond shapes for your eyes and glue them on using Outdoor Mod Podge…

To make the whiskers – cut the stiffened twine and wrap it in the center with floral wire…twist to secure and attach it to your kitty’s little face with a floral pin…

Cut another triangle big enough to cover the floral pin and glue it onto the pumpkin/kitty with  Outdoor Mod Podge…I also glued a smaller triangle over the larger one to give the kitties a cuter nose 🙂

Using your paint pen give your kittens the sweetest of smiles 🙂

Project FOUR~Big BOO Banner!

Why not add a super easy Big-BOO-Banner to your outdoor decorations!???

Easy Big-BOO-Banner ~ Here’s what you need:

*Fabric (2 kinds- I used black/white check & burlap)

*Pinking Shears

*Outdoor Mod Podge

*Sponge Applicators

*Twine

Cut out your triangles (using your own measurements-mine are 24″ long) use pinking shears-

Cut out your letters (I drew them free hand)

Glue the letters onto the triangles with Outdoor ModPodge!

*Sew twine along the top of your banner and WaaLaa! You have a cute Big-Boo-Banner!

So there you have it! Four Easy Outdoor Halloween Decorations that are sure to tickle the tiny ones in your corner of the world!

Do you guys decorate kid friendly or super scary for Halloween!???

And whatever you’re doing today my friends, let’s find inspiration for what matters most…xo