Spider

I started with a blown up balloonI made a mixture of flour and water with a little Modge Podge mixed in. I tore strips of typing paper, dipped the strips into the flour mixture and covered the ballon. Hung it to let it dry and repeated the process 2 times. This takes several days to do, so start ahead of time on this project! After all the layers were done, I formed the "fangs" with chicken wire and attached them to the balloon with duct tape, and did paper mache over the fangs and then covered the entire piece (body & fangs) two more times with paper mache... Let dry completely before painting!

I used black gloss spray paint for the spider itself and red puff paint for the hourglass. I wasn't sure what to do with the legs, so I used pipe cleaners inserted into holes I made into the paper mache. I wish I had thought the legs through a little better, but in the dark, it looked great anyway!

Candles

We made candles from old PVC pipe and swim noodles we had lying around. Added a little hot glue and some paint!


We started by cutting the PVC into different sizes with a saw.

Next, we cut the swim noodle in half with a knife.

We used battery operated tea lights, so use that to judge how much to cut your noodle, you will want the noodle shorter than your pipe, leaving enough room for your tea light to sit "flush" with your pipe.

 



You then need to go around the top with the hot glue. You will need to let it drip, and run. You may have to do several times around to build it up. Don't forget not to get it too close on the top, or your tea light will not fit inside the pipe!! 



Then spray paint with white paint, if you choose, then add tea lights!! You can leave them single candles and arrange them how you want every time, or you can affix them to a board so that you just have one single arrangement. My friend made these with black PVC pipe and Hot Blood Stix and they looked equally as cool!!! I will tell you, I do not put these away after halloween. I use them in my Christmas decorations and even when the electricity goes out!!

Tombstones

We started out with a short trail in 2011. It began at the Cemetery", complete with tombstones & a coffin... We bought insulation board at the hardware store and cut out the tombstones with an exacto knife. We will be making a lot more this year, and I will post some more pictures. The coffin is also made out of styrofoam. To get the "wood" effect, I just took a pencil and made lines through it before painting. Spray paint works pretty cool too, because it sort of eats the foam and creates a neat look. Don't use too much however!! I hope to add some "how-to" pictures and before and after pictures this year as well.