I am crazy about these wooden spool and feather turkeys made by Joel Henriques of Made by Joel from the November issue of Parents magazine. Super cute and easy!

Materials: Wooden spool, Covered floral wire (12-inch piece), Wire cutter or old scissors, Scissors, Colored paper, Small button, Feathers, Pen, Clear tape

Step 1: Wrap the middle section of wire twice around spool tightly. Twist together to secure. Bend wire to make a foot on each leg and trim excess with old scissors or wire cutter.

Step 2: Trace the end of a spool and a button about 1″ apart on paper. Connect the circles to form a neck, and add points on head. Cut out shape, and draw eyes, beak, and spiral.

Step 3: Tape the paper body to one end of spool, then flip over and attach 3 feathers to other side, taping each one individually. Adjust feet so turkey stands.

As Halloween was fast approaching, I did not have a costume for Oliver. It was truly like the cobbler’s kid with no shoes. So based on his wardrobe, he was either going to be a teddy bear (brown onesie), an elephant (gray onesie), or a frog (green onesie). He has frog-like gestures sometimes so I went frog. I modeled the collar and wrist/ankle bands after this costume from Parents magazine, but the tongue/pacifier was my most proud invention! He may look back one day with a big eye roll!

How cute and easy is this? Sawing the heads off of plastic animals might be a bit distrurbing, but the end result would be adorable in any kids’ bedroom or playroom! Found via Ohdeedoh.

I wasn’t sure exactly how to title this post without being uncouth. Ma Cacabane is the ultimate item ever for the more private youngster in our lives: an entertaining, well-designed porta-potty. Well, it’s just the four walls, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen!

Found via Minor Details.

Planning a backyard Halloween party? Check out these fun games and adorable (if I do say so myself) decorations that I designed for this month’s Parents magazine.

I made homemade stencils and spraypainted the letters to the broom bristles. Seriously, my favorite Halloween decoration ever!

Have a bone hunt: paint a bunch of dog bones white and one orange and send the kids on a mission to find them. The one that finds the orange one wins a special prize.

Wrap a bunch of boxes in black paper and make windows, doors, and shingles using yellow post-it notes. Have a contest with the kids to see who can build the tallest haunted house.

Make a spooky street sign with scrap wood and black paint.

Give your pumpkins some personality by dressing them up for the occasion!

This old fashioned game never goes out of style! Put grapes, noodles, and baggies of pudding in glass bowls, blindfold the kids and have them guess what they are touching!