Deadly DIY - Spooky Wreath

A really cool spooky wreath is the one major thing I have not yet aquired for my Halloween decor. Ok, there's a lot I have left to do on my decor, but I feel a wreath is tantamount. I just keep waiting for the perfect spooky wreath to come along...
Well, now I'm thinking, I should just MAKE my own spooky wreath...


Want to make one too? Check out this sweet spooky wreath tutorial from A Forest Frolic.

Handmade Halloween

It's only the beginning of October and I feel like I've already blown through my Halloween budget for the year, especially since we're already kinda on a tight budget. So, I think it's time for me to get a little resourceful, and start making a lot more of my spooky effects. Here are some cute DIY ideas from Country Living you can do with stuff you have or on the cheap.








Get all the tutes over on Country Living...

Dusty Walls and Ghostly Writings

There's something kinda spooky about chalk. Wipe clean your image and left behind is a ghostly image of drawings past. There's something wonderfully wicked about old dusty chalkboards. Dusty old anything reminds me of tattered sheets in the wind and creaky doors. Perfect for a little Halloween fun! Check out some of these wicked Halloween inspirations using chalkboard paint and some good old dusty chalk.


Poetic Home has some fantastic chalkboard ideas...


Old books and planters make great Halloween accessories! Not to mention that vintage typewriter... where can I get me one of those?


Apartment Therapy knows how to spook up some glam with chalkboard paint borders.


Make online has these fantastic chalkboard paint bottles. Write dusty messages or contents of potion bottles on them!


LittleBigHead made this super cute chalkboard pumpkin. Dress him up differently every day! I personally dig the mustachio look.


What about this charming chalkboard witch from Colonial Candle? I bet you could make your own with some chipboard and vintage photos.

Chalkboard paint is a great way to not only add a little darkness, but an ever changing surface! Paint a frame, paint and old statue... it all looks cool with chalkboard paint and a little imagination.

Deadly DIY - Faux Mercury Glass Pumpkins

Fall is really and truly here, and I celebrated today by doing one of my favorite fall activities: apple picking! We went out to an orchard and picked crisp fall apples, ate too much wild rice soup, drank too much apple cider (as if there is such a thing) and picked out some pumpkins.

We got a truly glorious pumpkin specimen from a local grower that would have cost us at least an arm, maybe a leg and a half, at our local grocery store. It made me appreciate how nice real pumpkins are and how crappy some of the local ones can be. Most of the time I go for fake punkins, just because they're shaped so much nicer. Still, faux orange plastic pumpkin doesn't exactly instill the chills of Halloween proper, does it? So here's a way to take your plastic pumpkins and make them shine... literally!



Get the full tute over on the DIY showoff (scroll down a bit), and give your pumpkins and elegant, spooky shine.

Deadly DIY - Seance Party Table

I was recently informed of an oh so spooktacular site, How to Haunt Your House, whom, among many awesome Halloween goodies, has some really cool tutorials. Have a peek at their Seance Party Table tutorial, made out of a card table, some plywood, and a little ingenuity. It looks like you can get some really great professional effects! They also have a book out, which I'll be sure to add to my Halloween wishlist. I'm thinking I'm just going to start a library of Halloween decor books... anyone care to share their reading list?

Deadly DIY - Tattooed Pumpkins

This is definitely a DIY you need to do now, but if perchance you're enough of a Halloween nut to be growing your own pumpkins, Craftster user Steven James has an awesome idea for you... tattoo your pumpkins! Steven says:

If anyone has been growing their own pumpkins this summer, now is the time to give them a tattoo. As the pumpkin grows the tattoo becomes a raised scar. The end result is really cool and creepy. You can create custom messages or images. You can even write names on Jack Be Lantern pumpkins to use a place cards for a Halloween dinner.

Check out the how-to here!

Deadly DIY - Hanging Leaves

Ever wish you could take the magical colors of fall and preserve them forever? Yeah, me too. Especially when sitting in the bleak blankness of Minnesota winter. Well, with this little tutorial from Martha, you can! Learn how to preserve leaves by dipping them in beeswax and create colorful fall hangings to let the season shine long after the leaves have fallen.

MAKE DIY Halloween Contest!

It's definitely starting to be that time of year, because MAKE online has just announced one of my favorite DIY contests: DIY Halloween!! Check out their page for details, and when you do, be sure to check out last years awesome winner, the creator of the Magic Mirror. Check out this video of it in action:



Best of all, you can get a full tutorial on how to make your OWN magic mirror, but beware Hallows traveler, this DIY project is not for the feint of heart. Still, it's so damn cool...

Deadly DIY - Halloween Pendant

We've had a number of inspirational photo roundups, but we've been lacking in some good old DIY spirit (boo... harhar). Have a gander at these spooky pendants from Creative Kismet.



You can get the full tutorial on the blog on how to create these spooky pendants, perfect for fall while you're counting down the days to Halloween goodness!

Deadly DIY - Halloween Altered Book

Speaking of scrapbooking and stamping... check out this sweet project from Honey Girl Studio. More pics and a full on awesome tutorial on the blog. I need to start getting in on this "stamping" thing...

A stampin' good Halloween

Paper craft has always been a bit of a mystery to me. "Scrapbooking" always conjured up images of old ladies sticking teddy bear stickers on everything, but as I've discovered, stamping, paper work and scrapbooking have some pretty hip tricks up their sleeve. Check out the new stuff from Stampin Up that showed up on Lisa Somerville's blog... is that skull cool or what?


There are more goodies where that came from. Check out some of her previous Halloween crafts, this one featuring some yummy Halloween treat ideas...

Deadly DIY - Felted Pumpkin People

How cute are these guys? I think they'd make absolutely adorable place settings for a Halloween dinner party or even a wedding, if you were ambitious enough. Get the full tute over at Martha's.

Gothic Halloween Plates

I found this post about Tasteful Halloween Decor and loved the idea of black and white plates to add a little gothic ambiance to a room. Problem is, designer dishes can cost a pretty penny. Well, why not make some of your own?


Well Design Mom has a fabulous post on how to make your own gothic plates, using thrift store plates, stencils, and a little paint! Check it.

Deadly DIY - Spooky

How cute! From the "I saw it in a magazine and didn't want to pay an inordinate amount of money for something I could make myself" files. Cheap and classy! Check out the tutorial.

Deadly DIY - Guilded Pumpkins

Take a twist on the classic orange and black theme, and mix it up with a little metallic gold. Painting the pumpkins black first add to the spooky aged look. I'm totally doing a harlequin patterned pumpkin... and the swirly one... and the polka dot one.. and...

anywho, get the tutorial over on Country Living.

Deadly DIY - Spiderweb balloons

A absolutely fantastic DIY party idea using the wonders of something called Hi-Float. Hi-Float is supposed to just prolong the life of your balloons, but it wasn't long before someone discovered it made some pretty sweet spiderweb balloons. Get the full DIY over on Crafty Crafty.

Deadly DIY - Bubbling Cauldron

Pretty spiffy effect. Learn how to make your own boiling cauldron over on Instructables, because nothing says Halloween like boiling your friends alive. Or at least, appearing to.

Nevermore

Learn to decoupage yourself a fabulous Poe pumpkin. Ghastly details over at Mrs. B's.

Deadly DIY - Cat o' Lanterns

Like I said before, sometimes those "homey" magazines really have some cute ideas, like cat o' lanterns. Ok, it's not going to win you any badass points, but they are darn cute, and if you do the eyes just right, just a little bit spooky. Get the lowdown on how to make em over on Sunset.

Deadly DIY - Flamless candle

This blog absolutely has to start off with the wonders of Dave Lowe. Dave Lowe is a comic artist and Halloween aficionado. While is blog is not entirely dedicated to Halloween, it might as well be, because not only is he a fantastic comic artist, he is also a prop master. All year round he seems to be scheming about new Halloween decorations, compiled from heaps of useful junk he has strewn around. Good news is, it's the kinda junk you probably have around too, and he has fabulous tutorials. Check out this one on how to make your own impressive flameless drippy candles.