Halloween and my obsession with DIY decorations - Pt 2 - 2012

In this post, I will show you some of the awesome ideas I found and tried for my Halloween party/decorations for 2012. 

First of all, chain! Those plastic chains you can get at the store for about $5-$10 for maybe a few feet? Psshaww!! That's what I have to say!! The reason being is that it is SO easy to make  your own!! Now, it may not have all the details the plastic chain would, but you can always add your own details later!! The site I used for reference was : Tutorials: Easy Chain Pipe Insulation

And voila!! a 6' tube of pipe insulation = 12.5' of homemade chain!!! Once done, you can just add a slight spray of a light gray paint or even black to texture it up, and you're good to go!









Next on the list? Dripping candles!! Fake, mind you, but awesome dripping candles that you can reuse each year!! Reference? How-to: Making a Faux Dripping Candelabra

I didn't actually use the instructions though, just the idea, so mine didn't turn out quite like I wanted. They still look pretty awesome though IMHO and there's always next year to make them better!!

Grab yourself a PVC pipe (I used a 3" diameter by 6' for about $7.50) and a Miter Saw to cut them

Glue gun (with very old sticks apparently that ended up more yellow than clear!)

Spray paint white to cover the yellowed glue and the blue lettering on the sides of the pipes

Add bases the candles can sit on

Yay fake candles!!

I was actually too paranoid to light these for my Halloween party however as bf was worried if anyone knocked them enough, the styrofoam would go up in flames!! When I fix these up next year, I'm going to try and adjust what the candles are sitting on more like the original post and also maybe find clear glue sticks (see: new) and make them a bit more drippy. Thing is, I can totally see using these guys throughout the rest of the year also!! Red and green for Xmas, brown, orange and gold for the fall/Thanksgiving, pastels for Easter? I might have to try these out as well as maybe different ways to create easy bases/insides so you don't have to worry about lighting them and will let you guys know how all that turns out!


Next on the list? Bats!! And instead of just buying the plastic bats to put on the wall, here's an idea: cut out of paper and put on the wall AND string from the ceiling!! Reference : Flight of the Bats

Tried getting a good perspective shot.

And another.

Closer-up of the bats.

And re-used some of the bats for Halloween night on the wall to our front door.

My bf is the one who cut out all the bats, free-hand no less!! I couldn't believe how good these guys turned out and yes, I'm so jealous he can do that!!! And they only cost me about $5 for the 50-pk of black cardstock, some fishing line and a handful of clear push pins! He adapted the handle of a broom with a socket that the pushpin could sit in with the metal part sticking out, I would reach up and just pop those suckers in the ceiling! The other end of the handle with the loop isn't perfect, but it works in catching the edge of the pins later to get them back down again!

Something easier you can get the kids to help with is Finger Weaving! My brother taught me how to do this when I was younger but a reference for anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about or how to do it: How to Finger Knit

I mixed orange and black at the same time. A little harder to do the knitting, but you get used to it.

Works like a charm for using as a type of garland!!

It may not be shiny, but if you only spend the $4 or so each on black and orange yarn, you can easily get many yards of garland to use as you wish!! I wasn't able to measure exactly how long these skeins got me, but the ball when I wrapped it all up was about 7"-8" in diameter!! I only used about a 1/3rd to do this decoration, and saved the rest for next year. 

I'm going to go ahead and wrap up part 2 as this is getting long, and there's still a few more things I wanna show you guys plus the reveal for the full effect later!! 

Craft ya laters!!