Delight trick-or-treaters with spooky, yet silly, oversized spiders

Right now, my house is infested with giant spiders, but I won't be calling the exterminator. These spiders are made from foam balls and furry yarn and they're totally cute (in an ugly kind of way).

When a friend gave me a garbage bag filled with really big foam balls, a picture of silly, oversized Halloween spiders popped into my head. So, I set out to the store to pick up the rest of the materials. I should have resisted going through the Halloween section, because what did I see? Huge, furry, spiders ready to drop into my cart.

For a second, I thought, "Why make them? I can just buy them." I quickly shoved that thought away.

Let's face it, these days you can buy just about any cute, crafty thing in a store. That's not the point though. Making crafts is about the making. It's about taking "me" time, using the creative part of your brain so you don't lose it, and it's about a sense of accomplishment.

I'm glad I didn't buy the store spiders. Mine are WAY cuter!

What you need

• Large and (1) medium foam ball
• Black paint (optional)
• Black yarn
• Straight pins
• Scissors
• Toothpicks
• Hot-melt glue and glue gun
• Moving eyes

Hanging spider:

• Chenille stems (black)
• Screw eye or wire
• Invisible thread

Standing spider:

• Wire coat hangers
• Wire cutters
• Pliers

Step 1: This step is optional. Paint the foam balls using brush-on acrylic or a Styrofoam-safe spray paint (such as Krylon H2O Latex) in black. The balls will later be covered with black yarn. By painting first, you won't have white peeking through and can use less yarn.  Leave until dry.

Step 2: Pin one end of the black yarn (I used Bernat Disco yarn in a shade called Glad It's Night) into the foam ball using a straight pin. Wrap the yarn around the ball until you're back to the pin. Keeping the tension with your thumb, rotate the ball and make another wrap. Continue until the ball is covered. Cut the yarn, leaving a tail and secure the end with another straight pin. Repeat with the second, smaller foam ball.

Step 3: Plug in the glue gun. Squeeze a small amount of hot glue onto the large foam ball. Working quickly, push a toothpick through the glue and up to the halfway mark. Squeeze glue onto the smaller ball. Push this ball onto the toothpick so the two foam balls are attached. Now you've got a body and head.

Step 4: Glue two moving eyes onto the head and give your spider some fangs. Cut a white toothpick in half and push each half, side by side, into the head (below the eyes) with the pointy ends sticking out.

Hanging spider: Make legs from eight black chenille stems. Curl one end around your finger. Make a sharp bend near the top. Press each leg into the spider's body. Shift the yarn to get the chenille stem right into the foam. To hang, twist a small length of wire into a loop with a tail or use a screw eye. Squeeze glue onto the spider's body at the top. Push the wire/screw eye into the spider. Tie on invisible thread to hang.

Standing spider: Standing spiders need strong legs. Cut up a wire coat hanger or two or use heavy-gauge wire. Use wire cutters to cut eight lengths of wire (note: this takes some good, strong squeezing to cut). With pliers, bend one end of each leg into a curl and make an L-shaped bend at the other end.  Turn the spider upside down and push the legs into the body. The L-shaped end goes into the foam. The curl should face you. When you've got a pleasing placement, remove each leg, squeeze hot-melt glue into the hole and replace the leg. Allow the glue to harden before standing the spider.