5 Ways to Decorate a Twig Tree for Halloween

Book Page Ghosts:

* Black Ribbon

* Mini Wooden Pegs

* Scissors

* Black Marker

* Pencil

* An Old Book

Colourful Felt Pumpkins:

* Black Ribbon

* A4 Felt Sheet in Black, Orange, Cashmere, Green & Pink

* Soft Toy Filling

* Black Card

* Scissors

* Pen

* Hot Glue Gun

Lolly Stick Spider Webs:

* Natural Wooden Craft Sticks

* White Cotton Twine

* Scissors

* Hot Glue Gun

Spooky Punch Needle Characters:

* Monks Cloth 12 Count

* Punch Needle Size 9

* 8-inch Embroidery hoop

* DK Yarn in Pink, Orange, Pistachio, Purple & Black

* Scissors

* Marker

* Hot Glue Gun

* Ribbon

Treat Paper Bats:

* Black Ribbon Knot Cord

* 7mm Googly Eyes

* Black Card

* Scissors

* Pencil

* Double Sided Tape

* Hole Punch

* Snack Size Wrapped Chocolate Treats

Book Page Ghosts Template

Colourful Felt Pumpkins Template

Spooky Punch Needle Characters Template 1

Spooky Punch Needle Characters Template 2

Spooky Punch Needle Characters Template 3

Treat Paper Bats Template

Step one: Print off our bat template or get creative and draw out your own bat shape. Cut it out.

Step two: Use a pencil to trace your bat template onto black card.

Step three: Cut out your bat shapes and use an eraser to rub out any pencil marks.

Step four: Add a bit of personality to the bat by attaching some googly eyes. Also add a hole in between the ears and attach a hanging cord.

Step five: Time to add the treats! Add some double-sided tape to the centre of the bat and stick the chocolate treat to it.

Step six: Fold the bat wings over the chocolate and secure in place with a piece of double-sided tape.

Step one: Unless you are happy freestyling you will need a way of getting your design onto the fabric before you begin punching. The easiest way to do this is to draw or print out our template onto paper. Tape the design to the flat side of the frame. Hold your frame up to a window and put the side with the design flat against the pane of glass. The light should shine through and allow you to trace the image onto the fabric with a marker.

Step two: Hold the punch needle like a pencil and push it through the fabric as far as it will go.

Step three: Pull the tail through so it hangs on the underside of the fabric.

Step four: Pull the needle out of the fabric again but don’t lift it too high. The tip of the needle should be in contact with the fabric at all times and graze the surface as you move into position for the next punch. Keep the open side of the tool facing the direction you are punching.

Top Tip: Make sure you always have plenty of slack on your ball of yarn and it isn’t caught around anything as you punch. If there is anything at all pulling against the yarn the stitches won’t stay in.

Step five: Pierce the fabric again about 3 holes or 0.2 in (0.5 cm) approx away. Make sure to punch the tool down as far as it will go each time. Think of it like drawing a line on the fabric with the tip of the needle as you travel to the next stitch. If you lift it too high you will have loops on the wrong side of the fabric.

Top Tip: If your stitches are too close together the tension becomes too tight and puckers the fabric. When the stitches are too far apart the tension is too loose the yarn will fall out easily. Experiment with stitch length until you find a tension that works for your needle and yarn. Rotate the frame as you change direction, so you are always punching forward.

Step six: Begin by punching the main sections of the character motif. Starting with an outline and then filling in the shape concentrically. For this project the pile side is the finished side.

Step seven: Finish by filling in the eyes in a different colour.

Step eight: Repeat steps 1-7 for the other half of the character. You could do this in a different colour or the same colour if you wish.

Top Tip: When you are finished you may turn it over and panic that some of the edges seem blurry or that some of the loops are uneven. Take an unthreaded punch needle or small pair of scissors and organise the loops into their distinct lines. This takes time but will really define the edges of your image and make a dramatic difference. Definitely worth spending the time on!

Step nine: Once complete cut around both halves of the character leaving a 1 cm fabric seam allowance. Snip into the border at each 2 cm intervals to allow the fabric to fold around the sides easily. Be careful not to snip into your punching.

Step ten: Use a glue gun to attach the fabric border to the back of the punching. Pull the fabric tight so you can’t see any white on the front of the character.

Step eleven: Fold a piece of ribbon in half and hot glue it to the top corner of one of the character halves.

Step twelve: Hot glue both sides of the character together. Finally, trim any loose threads to tidy.

Step one: Use a hot glue gun to glue 3 craft sticks together in an asterisk shape.

Step two: Cut a 2.5 metre piece of twine and tie in a double knot around the centre of the craft stick asterisk.

Step three: Wrap the twine around the sticks to make a star pattern.

Step four: Continue wrapping the twine around the sticks, over and around each one as you move around the circle of your web.

Step five: Once you reach the outside of the web wrap the twine 2 to 3 times around the final stick and secure on the back with a small dot of hot glue.

Step six: Cut off the excess twine, leaving a 15 cm approx tail. Add another dot of hot glue onto the back of the stick and attach the end of the twine to create a hanging loop.

Step one: Print off our ghost template or draw out your own ghost shape. Cut it out.

Step two: Cut out a few pages of your old book and use a pencil to draw around your ghost template.

Step three: Cut out your ghost shapes and use an eraser to rub out any pencil marks.

Step four: Use a marker pen to add a spooky or cute face to your ghost.

Step five: Cut a 15 cm piece of cord and use a peg to attach it to the top of the ghost to make a anging loop.

Step one: Print off our pumpkin template or get creative and draw out your own pumpkin shape. Cut it out.

Step two: Use a pen to trace your pumpkin template onto a folded piece of felt. Cut this out to give you two identical pumpkins.

Step three: Use a hot glue gun to put a line of glue around the edge of one pumpkin and stick the other on top. Leave the bottom open.

Step four: Stuff the pumpkin with a small amount of the soft toy filling.

Step five: Use hot glue to close the pumpkin.

Step six: Take a 15 cm piece of cord and glue it to the front of the pumpkin to make a hanging cord.

Step seven: Trace the pumpkin stalk onto some green felt and cut out 2 pieces.

Step eight: Glue one piece of the green felt stalk to the front and one to the back, sandwiching the hanging cord in between.

Step nine: Cut face details out of some black card and add to the pumpkins for a spooky finishing touch.