As promised, we had a go at eco-friendly Halloween crafts and the results are, well, mixed.

I wanted to do something with TetraPak milk cartons as we recycle about 5 of these a week at the moment. And when I say recycle, I mean pile up in a corner of the kitchen until they threaten to topple over and bury a child. Only at that point do we take them down to Waitrose recycling point.

Milk carton Frankenstein monster

To combine Halloween with milk cartons, I made Frankie:

One minute, he’s an empty almond milk carton, the next, he’s an all smiling, bow-tied Frankenstein monster.

I know it’s a little rough around the edges but it was super easy to make. I just:

• covered an Alpro almond milk carton with green card
• Snipped off the excess card at the top, folded this over and stuck it down
• Used poster paints to paint the hair, smile and bow-tie
• Used milk bottle tops for the eyes

If I had time to finish it properly I’d like to add a 3D bow-tie out of card, or maybe something else I can find in our recycling bin. I could have done a better job of the hair too – perhaps cardboard hair stuck on would work better?

Since making this I’ve found a tonne of milk carton crafts online. I’m planning to make an entire fairy village because, you know, I am a child.

Joni’s spooky tomato tub spider

We often get tomatoes and mushrooms in our weekly food box delivery and they come in cardboard containers. That means not only are they easy to recycle, but they’re also ideal for crafts.

I fished one out of the recycling bin and passed it to Joni. She decided to make a spooky spider, which is ironic given that she hates spiders almost as much as me. (No they are NOT more scared of me than I are of them!)

She covered the box in black paint, much of which ended up in her pink and white dress as I forgot to put an overall on her. When it had dried we stuck on some goggly eyes I found in the craft box and made some legs out of pipe cleaners.

It’s pretty basic but it’s cute and I’m hoping it’ll act as some sort of low grade exposure therapy for mine and Joni’s arachnophobia.

Here she is, what a beaut:

Leaf jars for autumn

This one is less cute and instead is a more charming and cosy addition to the decor. At least, it was meant to be anyway. I found a guide to making jars covered in autumn leaves with flicking lights inside here.

We had a go, and it didn’t quite turn out as I hoped.

Joni painted the jar in orange paint first so then the leaves wouldn’t stick properly. It’s a bit of a mess but it does have a certain charm about it.

We’ve started on another jar and stuck on some red leaves. Next time we’re out and about we’ll find some more and see if we can get a bit nearer to recreating the fancy jar above.

Crafting with recycling was really good fun and definitely something we’re going to keep doing.

Evan, sadly, has lost crafting privileges due to eating paint. Seriously, is there nothing this kiddo won’t eat?!