Spooky Halloween Treat.  My boys, niece, and nephew all LOVE Halloween!  What they don’t especially love is the forced daily reading time they are assigned from school. (Even my niece has “reading homework”.  And, even though the kids all love to read, they just don’t like to be forced to read…as moms, my sister and I are tired of the daily fight.  

In our house, we don’t allow the boys to watch a movie before they have read the books.  My youngest son is currently whipping through the Harry Potter Series, and as a result, we have watched several of the movies recently.  We usually set up the popcorn maker and have special mini Coca Cola bottles when we watch a movie after reading the book.  (A mini party of sorts) 

To help encourage all of the kids to read more, I started making fun bookmarks for them with my Xyron Creative Station and Clear Laminator refills.  Last month, I made cute little owls, this month, in honor of my boy finishing the second Harry Potter book, I made spider bookmarks!

Cheese cloth (I starched and ironed it)

Sizzix Big Shot and Tim Holtz Candlelight Fright Bigz Die

Black Glitter Card Stock

Baker’s Twine

Begin by ironing and starching the cheese cloth.  I ironed and starched it three times to make it more sturdy.  Once it was sturdy, I cut the card stock spiders.  I used the Sizzix Sandwich method; Cutting Pad, Die, Paper, Cutting Pad, and ran it through the Big Shot Machine.  

Next, I placed the spider on the cheese cloth and cut a piece to fit the spider.  There is no need to be precise.

Place the cheese cloth and spider on the Creative Station “loading dock” and gently guide it through the Creative Station.  

Once it has been laminated, cut it off the Creative Station. Trim the excess laminate around the cheese cloth.

Punch a hole in the top of the bookmark in the card stock.  Lace the baker’s twine through the hole and prepare to surprise the kids!

These would be fun Halloween class treats too!