A corn husk doll is a traditional doll made by Native American children and also children of Colonial families in early America. No facial features are painted on the doll, also called the “faceless” doll.

The Native American legend says that the Creator made the first corn husk doll to help watch children while the parents were busy gathering food and doing other adult activities. The doll had a beautiful face and the power to walk and talk. One day after a rain, the doll saw her reflection in the water. She was so beautiful that she spent all the day gazing at her reflection in that pool of water instead of caring for the children and the Creator punished her by taking away her face and her ability to walk and talk.

To make your corn husk doll you will need cleaned and dried cornhusks. You can save your own the next time you buy corn from the farmstand and dry them in the sun or you can purchase them at craft stores.

You will also need:

*Twine or string
*Scissors
*Pipe Cleaners (optional)

1. Soak the dried cornhusks in warm water until they are bendable and soft.

2. Take six husks and arrange them with all the tips at one end and all the large ends at the other. Tie a string around them a about an inch from the top of the large ends.

3. Trim the large ends with scissors to make them straight and even.

4. Holding the cornhusks by the knotted end, turn down the corn husks over the knot to form the head.

5. Tie another length of string at the “neck”.

6. For the arms, take a pipe cleaner and roll another of your husks around it to make the arms. Tie the ends with string at the “wrists”. This will make the arms poseable. An alternative method is to take three strips of husk and braid them to make the arms.

7. Slide the arms between the husks under the neck knot.

8. Tie another string below the arms for the waist.

9. Take two thinner husks and tie criss-crossed across the chest and back and tie at the waist to form shoulders.

10. If this is a boy doll, divide the husks hanging down from the waist into two and tie with small strips of husk at the ankles, knees and hips to form legs. You can use pipe cleaner here too, to make the legs poseable.

- or-

If this is a girl doll, take some more husks and tie them at the waist to form a full skirt.

11. Tie small strips of husk around the neck and waist to cover the strings.

A quick gift for teachers or grandparents or for a favor at your Halloween party. All you need is some orange tissue paper, glue, a paintbrush, a black permanent marker and a glass jar.

Cut or tear tissue paper into stips. Paint a layer of glue onto the outside of a clean, glass jar. Place strips of paper over the jar onto the glue. If you want to make a layered texture, repeat the process by applying a little glue to the existing paper and placing more strips of paper. Stagger the strips in subsequent layers to enhance the textured effect.

Using a black marker, draw a jack o’lantern face on the jar. Fill with candy corn or other holiday candy.

There are only two more weeks to Halloween. The time leading up to it is exciting for children, the anticipation second only to that of Christmas.

To keep little hands busy until they can get them on that Halloween night candy, here are some crafts that are fun for kids and require only occasional parental supervision. From macaroni skeletons to windsock ghosts, this site has spooky ideas for kids of all ages. Check out the costume ideas for great spooky looks kids can create themselves. Also fun are the games and “rancid recipes” but the ghost stories might be too ghoulish for young children.

Halloween is Here.

If you have decided to paper the walls rather than paint, there are a couple of little tricks I can tell you about, one that makes the job easier and another that mends mistakes. And we all make mistakes sometimes, don’t we?

The first thing to do is remember that the scissors belong on the pasting table. Buy yourself one of those snap-off blade knives and use it for cutting off the excess paper top and bottom and around obstructions. Push the paper well into the corners and then run the knife along the join between wall and ceiling (or whatever else you’re cutting around). This is more accurate and much quicker than using scissors.

The reason for the snap-off blade will soon become apparent. After you have cut a few pieces of paper, the knife will start catching the paper - this is tough work for any sharp edge and it soon becomes blunted. So snap off the end of the blade and carry on with what is effectively a brand new knife. Simple and easy.

If you’re hanging patterned paper that needs to be matched, sooner or later you will make the classic mistake of cutting a piece a bit short. It happens to everyone. But don’t throw the piece away (if you have estimated the number of rolls required correctly, you may well need this piece). Just put it up and allow the bottom to come short of the skirting board.

Now comes the magic. Cut a short piece, making sure that the pattern overlaps the end of the piece already hung. Then cover the bare wall, allowing it to overlap the previous piece by about three or four inches. Then, with a new blade in the snap-off knife, cut a line about an inch down from the top of the overlapping piece, pressing hard enough to go through both layers of paper. Peel off the unwanted piece on top, lift your short piece and remove the excised piece beneath, tamp the piece down again and you will have a perfect join.

It’s what we call in England a “bodge”. But it works and no-one but you will ever see it; in fact, give it a day or two and even you won’t be able to find it!