Fall/ Autumn Tips..............xoxo shimmerkiss

Leaf Clean Up Tip Use a high pressure hose to spray the leaves into a pile. The wet leaves compress into trash bags more efficiently or they can be added to a mulch pile. Since they are wet the wind won't blow them back all over the yard again. Saved me a lot of time this year. (Ernie Komarek - MilehiMall)

_____ WindChime (easy for young ones) Take a regular paper plate you can use craft beads, old buttons,magazine cut outs,or anything that you can get to stick on a paper plate. Have the kids color or paint the paper plates however they like. Then take the beads or whatever else you have found and glue them with Elmer's glue, glue stick or safe non toxic glue. Punch out 3 to 4 holes on the bottom of the paper plate. About 1/2 to 1 inch from the bottom. Get some yarn or string (about 3 feet)and loop it through and make a know and let the rest of the string hang. Make one last hole at the top of the paper plate and loop another piece of string or yarn about 1 to 3 feet. After everything is dried you can hang it from a hook or wherever else in your house you like and you now have a wind chime. (Sally)

_____ Magnets Get a bag or regular animal crackers the plain kind. Then have the kids color them with regular markers or little school paints then take clear nail polish and paint over what they have colored after it is dry. Then use a magnet small enough and glue it on the back with a hot gun or other strong glue. Now you have instant magnets that you can put on your fridge or around your house or give as gifts. They are great fun for the whole family. (Sally & Lissa)

_____ Pumpkin Patch (craft) Supplies you will need: Piece of flat, rectangular styrofoam, paint, green pipe cleaner, orange pompoms, small plastic eyes, paper green grass, and glue.

Paint the styrofoam with black or brown paint and allow to dry. Put down a layer of glue on the styrofoam and attach the paper grass to it. Glue the pompoms to the grass and continue to decorate your pumpkins with eyes and pipe cleaner stems with glue. My kids loved this. (Wendy)

_____ Halloween Decoration/Treat (craft) My favorite is a great decoration and then treats for the kids for Halloween. What you need is White fabric, any type, I usually buy the dollar a yard stuff, a bag of blow pops, black 1/4 satin ribbon, black fabric paint or fabric marker, 1 cone shaped styrofoam piece. Cut fabric into 5x5 squares. Cover the top of the lollipops and twist around base of pop. Tie with ribbon and paint eyes and a mouth and you have little ghosts. Then put the pop sticks into the Styrofoam for display. It's cute!!! Happy Halloween. (Debby)

_____ Windows & Screens (tip) I notice that my window sills, this time of year, look forgotten... maybe some bits of leaves and the spiders are looking for a warm place to live! I take my vacuum cleaner hose nozzle off of my wand-- and thoroughly suction out the sills now, as heating season starts. If there is a nice collection of cobwebs and leaf parts there, you may want to hold your hand against the hose nozzle to make sure and get everything sucked down into your vacuum cleaner! Also, rather than bother with washing screens (yuck!) I will use my vacuum nozzle suction there, too, screens look great after... SO MUCH easier than taking out one at a time, getting garden hose out and etc.! (Jean)

_____ Place mats (craft) When my children were young we would go out and pick up the prettiest fall leaves we could find. We would then use a little glue and arrange them on construction paper (child's choice of color). Use clear contact paper to cover the page and a bit over the sides. It makes great place mats for them to use or give as a self-made gift. (Bonnie)

_____ Fall Vest (craft) Make a kid's vest with a brown paper bag, construction paper and some glue. Cut out leaves from the construction paper in different colors such as red, orange, and yellow. Take the paper bag and cut out the vest and have the kids glue on the leaves.

_____ Sunflowers (craft) Materials -Paint -Glue -Construction Paper -Sunflower seeds

Instructions: *Have kids paint hand yellow and fan fingers from the center out in a circle on white construction paper (these will be petals for a sunflower). Glue sunflower seeds on brown construction paper circles that will be glued in the center of the petals. Add a green construction paper stem the height of the child, don't forget a leaf of two. Very cute! (Kim)

_____ Collecting (tip) Don't forget to collect the leaves, pine cones, seeds, sticks, etc. for your craft projects for Fall and Winter.

_____ Fireplace Ashes (tip) Don't know what to do with those fireplace ashes? Save them for the spring and use them to keep the slugs out of the garden areas! Slugs don't like ashes or sawdust.

_____ Windows (tip) Remove the debris from the window areas. They won't be able to drain properly otherwise.

_____ Old Costumes (tip) Donate old Halloween costumes to a day-care center, or family center. The kids will love playing dress-up with them.

_____ Windows (tip) Take down screens and awnings and wash & store them. Wash and put away summer clothes and blankets. Bring out the winter clothes and blankets.

_____ Firewood (tip) Burn only well seasoned hardwoods, such as oak, maple, beech, ash or hickory.

_____ Chimney (tip) Have your chimney checked once a year and install a chimney cap to keep out animals and other items that could block the chimney.

_____ Gutters (tip) Remove the leaves from your gutters. Leaves left in the gutters will cause them to clog and possibly collapse.

_____ Sprayed Leaves (craft) Spray with hair spray, they will look great on your table around a centerpiece, and they will keep for years.

_____ Mower (tip) At the end of the season, remove the oil and spark plugs from your lawn mower. Also lightly oil your tools.

_____ Fort (craft) Make a leaf fort with boxes and leaves. Be sure to cut out windows and doors. Let the kids help rake the leaves in a pile for the famous leaf jumping contests.

_____ Scarecrow (craft) Get a pole, or an old broom as a base. Get some old clothing. Stuff clothing with hay, dried leaves, or crumpled newspaper. Make a head from a stocking, add gloves, shoes, a scarf, & hat.

_____ Apple Craft (craft) Take two paper plates and have the child color the outsides red. Put the plates facing each other so the outside is showing, punch two holes in one side and tie together with yarn. Open "apple" up and glue apple seeds into the middle of the plate. Cut out stem and green leaves and glue them to your peek-a-boo apple.

_____ Tree Craft (craft) Get colored construction paper (red, orange, brown, green, yellow) Trace the child's hand onto several sheets of several colors. Cut out. Then cut out a tree trunk with branches in proportion to the amount of leaves. Have the child glue the hand shapes to the tree to form the leaves of the tree. Option: Have the child think of things to be thankful for and label the leaves.

_____ Pressed Leaves (craft) Gather the leaves while they are supple. Press between thick layers cardboard. (Don't overlap leaves.) Place a stack of these layers between two heavy, flat boards or books and bind tightly with cords or straps. Store in a warm, dry place for about 10 days, checking often and tightening straps as needed. Seal between layers of clear contact paper, laminate or wax paper. Use to make cards or other crafts.

_____ Milk Jugs Make a bird feeder by cutting a 2" hole in SIDE of container near center for the birds. Punch a tiny hole in all four sides near the TOP. Thread string through, in both directions, and tie above. Put seed in the bottom and hang up in a tree.

Show all stories by   Author:  6915 ( Click here )