Create

Okay, so I don't think President Uchtdorf meant that the women of the church should make a run on JoAnns, but I liked what he said in womens conference about creating. "As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you." I'd always considered myself NOT the creative type, but since womens conference I've tried to have more fun creating things of beauty. And you know what, it is lots of fun. So in that spirit I'm sharing today's creative project with you. SPOOKY TREES!!!! Shiver.....

(In the spirit of the pioneer woman website I took pictures of the process. Those of you that have not wasted hours at thepioneerwoman.com don't start. Unless you like delicious recipes that call for pounds of butter and her hilarious love story of how she, a vegetarian from LA married a cattle rancher from Oklahoma. Now back to SPOOKY TREES!!!)

Materials Needed
Branches
Rocks
Yogurt or Cottage cheese containers-- clean
Black Spray paint
Clear gloss spray paint
Black Acrylic paint
Halloween candy
Thin Ribbon


To begin take your 3 year old and a pair of pruning sheers out for a walk in the neighborhood park. Look for piles of dead branches, cut off any small branch that looks spooky. Bring the branches home.
Then lightly sand the bark of the branches (only do if needed. As long as things aren't flaking off you're probably fine without sanding.) the following picture was taken by Henry.

Stick smooth branches in a pot for easy spray painting. Or just hold and rotate while spraying. (All but last picture by Henry. And don't worry, I stayed upwind of the spray paint so little girl won't be a sniffer.)


Make sure to get under the branches and every angle. Oh and buy the little attachment for the spray paint. So worth two dollars. It saves your fingers from getting tired and painted and makes spraying so easy.I just did one coat, but you could do two for a darker color. After the paint has dried to the touch, spray with gloss finishing spray to help protect the paint and make things shine.