I love Halloween, and I love Halloween projects.

And by the way, I’m seriously lazy.

So when a friend of mine told me he had a great, terrifying-looking, gory, easy prop to show me, I was all in! But even I (the corner-cutting queen) was rather delightfully surprised at how easy this really was. Together, my friend and I created three creepy decaying skulls in less than 10 minutes.

And the best part? They were cheap to make…very cheap. Yet they looked incredible. Want in on my friend’s and my little secret? Follow the directions below.

How to Make Your Skull

You will need:

• A plastic novelty skull, any type you’d like (check your local dollar store)
• Saran Wrap or bargain/store brand cling wrap
• A heat gun OR a hair dryer with a “high” setting
• Any medium to dark color wood stain or crafts paint
• Paint brush, sponge/crafts brush or stippling brush

Directions:

1. Wrap the plastic wrap COMPLETELY around the skull, including the bottom, at least 4-5 times. (The more you layer, the more “decaying skin” you’ll get, but don’t go overboard. We found 4 times was our minimum to produce a really good result.)

2. If your gun or hair dryer has settings, start on the lowest unless it is a “cool shot” setting. Wear protective gloves if you wish; otherwise, WATCH OUT, YOUR SKULL WILL GET HOT. Hold the heat source approximately 4” from your skull. The plastic wrap will begin to shrivel in some areas; in others, where the heat is concentrated for more than several seconds, you will achieve holes (see pic, below). Don’t overdo this; melt a little bit at a time, all around the area of your skull.

3. Do NOT hold the heat source directly against the plastic wrap/the skull. If the wrap is melting too slowly, turn up the heat source in increments and/or hold it closer to the skull, but never closer than 1.5” away.

4. When you have the effect you want, set the skull aside to cool completely.

5. After your project is cool, dip your paint brush into a small circle of paint or dip no more than 1/4” deep into your wood stain. Begin painting your skull. You will want to paint it all over; inconsistencies in color are a good thing and add to the realism, so don’t worry about painting “perfectly.”

6. Allow the project to dry completely, about 10 minutes.

Where Should Your Skull Rest in Peace?

You can do practically anything with this cool skull. Here are a few ideas:

1. Have it be a prop in your witch’s kitchen.
2. Set it up next to a candelabra (I suggest battery-operated flicker candles for safety) with faux cobwebs all over to make an awesome, spooky and very realistic-looking party centerpiece or decoration.
3. Straighten the curved top of a wire hanger using wire cutters or a bending tool. Stuff the head with cotton balls or cheese cloth; anything to create bulk and resistance. Stick the point of the straightened end at least halfway up into the skull, so it’s on the hanger firmly. Drape cheesecloth from the “shoulders” of the hanger, allowing them to float. Hang so your decaying ghost floats in the autumn breeze.
4. Using the above idea, hang an old shirt from the hanger’s “shoulders.” Stuff the shirt with any material you have on hand to bulk it up. Place the torso on a chair near the area your trick-or-treaters will be approaching. Now take an old pair of pants and stuff them similarly; place on the chair, bending the knee area and placing the cuffs at ground level. Gather each cuff and stuff it into a shoe. Very scary and very cool!
5. Stuff the head with cotton balls or pieces of styrofoam. (If using cotton balls, stuff very firmly.) Stick a tall dowel – 5-6 feet – into the cotton or styrofoam. Carry with you as an evil walking stick or wizard’s wand; dress in draping clothing and, if you wish, a scary mask.
6. Remove the head from a life size (or at least 4′) plastic poseable skeleton. Carefully remove the head that came with the skeleton using the easiest and safest means; some pop right off – if so, you’re in luck. If not, you may have to cut to remove the skull – BE CAREFUL. Stuff your mummified skull with any method mentioned above; stick firmly down onto the now-empty top of the spinal column of your skull, replacing the manufacturer’s skull with your mummified one. Set up your creeped-up skeleton in a faux spider web, leaning against your front steps to scare the ghost out of trick-or-treaters, etc.

Have fun with this prop. It’s versatile and if you pack it away carefully after Halloween, you can reuse it year after year. And it’s so inexpensive, you can create a whole army of ghouls if you wish. Happy haunting (and creeping-up)!

What’s that peeking out of that window? Is it…can it be?? A WITCH!

Dress up your windows this Halloween with a life sized paper witch silhouette to peer out at trick-or-treaters and frighten the neighbors. Look for large rolls of paper at teacher supply stores or substitute with black posterboard.

You’ll Need:

• Window sized sheet of black paper
• Sharp scissors
• Chalk and pencil
• Witch template
• Ruler
• Clear, double sided tape

1. Look for a picture of a witch silhouette (or click and save the template below.) Print it out. This will be your template. Using the ruler and pencil, draw equal lines to create a grid, about one inch squares or smaller. Count the number of lines horizontally and vertically. There will be ten down and seven across if you spaced them out an inch.
2. 

   Window Halloween Witch Template - Right click and download

   On your large black sheet, calculate how large you have to space out the lines to fill. For instance, if your sheet is four feet long, each line will be spaced out a bit more than 4 inches (no need to make it exact!) The basic idea is that you’ll need the same number of rectangles in roughly the same proportions to those on the print out.

3. Look at the line in each grid square of the silhouette, and draw it large in the corresponding larger rectangle on the sheet.
4. Once the entire witch is transferred, cut out carefully.

Attach to the inside of your window using double sided tape. The effect of this witch is greatly enhanced by placing it in a window where curtains can be drawn to provide better contrast between the witch and the background. Done!

Grapevine pumpkins pack craft and décor stores this time of year. But how about making your own? It’s quick, simple and allows you to customize it to create something a little more unique – like this spooky black version, perfect for your Halloween porch decorations!

You’ll need:

• 1 – eight foot grapevine garland
• Floral wire
• Wire cutters
• Matte black spray paint
• Newspaper

1. Soak the grapevine overnight in a tub of water to help soften the wood and make it more pliable.
2. Untie the larger strapping but leave the small wires that hold the vines together into a garland. You’ll remove these later but leaving them for now will make forming the pumpkin easier.
3. Grasp one end of the garland, leaving about four inches of the tail sticking up to form the stem of the pumpkin. Bring the long end of the garland over into a loop and secure with a length of floral wire where the two cross.
4. Continue to loop around, forming a pumpkin shape and continuing to wire the garland together at the core, until you reach the end of the garland.

• Clip the small wires along the outer part of the pumpkin to release the individual vines in the garland, causing the pumpkin to fill out. Use short lengths of wire to help disperse the vines evenly.
• Allow the pumpkin to dry overnight. Spray with paint over newspaper, turning to assure even coverage. Allow the paint to dry before displaying.

Over and over again I hear from rueful friends, “I just don’t have the time to decorate my house for Halloween…and besides, I don’t want to spend a lot of money.” My answer? Both the time AND money you spend on decorating your house for the scariest day of the year are up to you – and neither has to be a frightening prospect.

Through the years, I’ve haunted my own house in every possible way, from dollar-store die cut black cats to a full-on front yard cemetery, fog machines, zombies and more. I’ve gathered my go-to Halloween preparation tactics, the ones I use year on year because they’re so easy, yet they’re guaranteed to bring a smile (and a spooky chill!) to admirers of all ages. Choose the ones that work for you, and remember: it’s your own creativity that’s puts the “spooky” in Halloween. Whether you’re the autumn harvest type or you adore a great Freddy or Jason flick, show your love of Halloween this year with freaky flair!

What’s That Peeking From Your Windows?

Windows offer perhaps the best opportunity to show off your dark side as they’re above the level of the ground and therefore usually very visible to passersby. No house is truly haunted unless it has creeped-up windows, so try these ideas:

• Attach cobwebs across the windows and dangle a plastic spider from each. Or buy or make an oversize creepy crawly and have it cover one entire window. You can even bundle an old doll in gauze or cheesecloth and dangle it from the web as a spider “victim.”
• Buy “creepy cloth” in black or white (or rip into some old sheets with scissors or an old nail file – it’s great therapy!). Hang it on either side of each front window of your house for a tattered-curtain look.
• Cut spooky shapes out of black construction paper; tape to the inside of any window, facing out. Then tape yellow tissue or other transparent paper behind the entire scene. On Halloween night, turn the light on in that room. The lighting behind the tissue paper will make your window scene glow eerily.

Raise the Undead

I find the use of skeletons an integral part of any Halloween decoration scheme. Look for inexpensive jointed plastic skellies; don’t worry if they’re a little banged up – that only adds to the charm. Or have fun with super-cheap cardboard cutout skeletons. Here are some possibilities:

• Wire one posable skeleton to your roof with one arm dangling down (always be careful and use a spotter when climbing a ladder or crawling around on your rooftop). Wire a second skeleton with one arm vertical, as if he’s reaching for help up.
• Hang skeletons from your trees.
• Set up either a posable or non-posable but dimensional (plastic or rubber) skeleton at the top of your front steps for visibility and dress him up. Give him a saucy pirate getup (eye patch, hat, sword), put two together in unholy matrimony with wedding clothes (check your local consignment shop for deals) or even set him up with an empty can of beer, an ashtray and that 1970s TV you’re always saying you’re going to throw away. The possibilities are endless, and in my experience, the funnier and more outlandish, the better the response from trick-or-treaters (and their jealous moms and dads who didn’t think of it first!).
• Dance a row of inexpensive cardboard skeleton decorations across the front of your house. Be sure to use tape that’s weatherproof but can be removed later without harming the siding.

Create a Creepy Cemetery

• Foam tombstones can often be had at a steal. Or consider making your own. Check out this tombstone tutorial.
• Make use of old, broken Halloween decorations by scattering plastic bones and skulls around the area, making the scary site look freshly picked by someone (or something).
• Make liberal use of fake spiderwebbing across and between your tombstones for a haunting touch.

Get Ghoulish

Ghouls are easy to make, and the more tattered the better (or look here for some great choices at prices that won’t come back to haunt you).

Set up something wicked on your front porch by sitting a groundbreaker-type ghoul in a patio chair and adding pants (stuff these with newspapers or old clothing if you’d like) and shoes. Or drape cheesecloth over an old Halloween mask, prop on a broomstick stuck into the ground and voila – the Angel of Death is ready to greet partygoers with an evil grin.

Get Your Autumn On

Last of all, don’t forget to take a little of the outside indoors and to drape mementos of the soon-to-be-gone season along your decorations. Make liberal use of leafy faux vines, inexpensive knick-knacks and seasonal baskets or even toys and dolls to bring a delicious, crisp chill to your home, both inside and out.

One last word: we LOVE to hear from you. Over the years we’ve gotten a great response from our website and HallowZeen newsletter readers with their own favorite tips and tricks. That means our biggest autumn inspiration is you. Please feel free to comment or to email us and remember…no matter how you decorate your home, show off your Halloween “spirit”!

Decorating your house for Halloween doesn’t have to mean rushing out to buy styrofoam tombstones and plastic skeletons, although those can make fun additions to your home as well! Almost anything can be made into a Halloween decoration with a little time, spray paint and sense of fun.

Look around the house for tchotchkes, ornaments and knickknacks you don’t really care about anymore. Or if your house is knickknack free, hit up your local charity store and bring home a bag of candle-holders, porcelain statues and small vases.

Give everything a good scrub in hot, soapy water, or run through your dishwasher to remove any dust or sticky labels.

Once dry, set your pieces 5-6 inches apart on cardboard and spray with black, glossy spray paint in short, thin bursts. You’ll end up with a cleaner finished product using several thin coats rather than a single thick coat that is likely to drip.

Continue painting, turning the objects as needed, until they are completely covered in paint. Allow the paint to cure overnight before scattering your Halloween Knickknacks thought out the house.

Each year I try to find interesting Halloween jewelry but all I find is lots of cheap trinkets.  So last April I decided to take up beading.  Now I make my own amazing Halloween jewelry.

If you can thread a needle and tie a knot, you can bead! One of my favorites is this ‘String of Skulls Bracelet. Its simply a matter of stringing an interesting set of beads for the main line, then stringing smaller sections and sewing through one little bead at set intervals. Its quick, simple and great looking.

A slightly more interactive stringing job produces this unusual ‘Pumpkin Shroud Wine Jewelry’.

Beware though as beading can become addictive.  Suddenly you’ll find the simple stringing isn’t enough and you’ll want to try your hand at more intriguing stitches.  Written and video instructions are available all over the Internet and can produce items fairly simple such as my beaded ‘Vampire Bite Choker’ or the somewhat more difficult ‘Bat Wing Bottle Jewelry’.

I love the fact that I can design my own beadwork items or purchase other people’s inexpensive patterns online.  Along that line take a look at my creations and patterns at www.DebrisDeCollette.com and have a bloody good Halloween!

Over the years several companies have been creating small scale collectible models for Halloween. These models represent a variety of buildings – Victorians, mansions, morgues, movie theaters, etc. – as well as a wide array of characters and decorations.

Often these models are limited productions, the runs lasting only a season or two. This limited production time plays havoc with those of us who are rabid collectors, but it also creates a rather eclectic and original townscape for each collector’s home.

While the availability of pieces (and the necessary funds to acquire them) can be limited, the greatest challenge for a collector often lies not in the acquisition, but in the display of the pieces themselves. The display of Halloween villages can be done quite creatively, especially when considering the holiday’s rather unorthodox celebrations when compared to some of the other well-known and well-kept holidays in the United States. The Halloween holiday, it seems, is one which calls for us to create something new each year, rather than lapsing into any sort of mundane tradition. The display of the Halloween villages is one way to keep each celebration of the holiday fresh!

Where to Place Your Halloween Collectibles?

If you have been collecting Halloween village pieces and have a large collection, finding a place to dedicate for that collection’s display can prove difficult. Limited space should not be seen as a hindrance, but as a challenge. This challenge will make you think creatively as you begin to prepare for the Halloween celebration.

Creating multiple, small villages is the best way for someone with limited space to maximize their collection’s potential. Not only are multiple locations a better option concerning space, it can also be far easier to light the villages. Most of the various buildings now produced have lights, speakers, and small figures which move.

These buildings have the option of being powered either by batteries, or via electrical outlets. Using the battery option can often be expensive, depending on how often you have your buildings on. On larger villages using the outlet option, however, they can quickly run to large, dangerous masses of cords and extensions. Multiple locations, then, allow you to eliminate the wastefulness of batteries, and the danger of electrical over-crowding.

Safety aside, though, the creation of many small Halloween villages another benefit: the spreading of Halloween decorations to a broader array of rooms and surfaces within your home. Reminding yourself of Halloween all around the house is definitely a Good Thing!

Preparations for Halloween can never be started too early. As the economy continues its slow descent it becomes more important to stretch the dollar, and to find a wider selection of activities to do at home with the family.

For families that love Halloween, the weeks and months leading up to October 31st are full of opportunities to obtain decorative pieces for both interior and exterior purposes. These decorative pieces can be found at yard sales, rummage sales, flea markets, transfer stations, swap shops, landfills, and at the curb on trash day. You can also find some great bargains online, from distributors like ABC Distributing or Halloween buy-sell sites such as Yardsellr. Not only will your decorative pieces be easy on the wallet, but environmentally you and your family will be recycling, saving space in the Untied States’ already limited landfills by bringing home items perfect for Halloween.

Halloween conjures up images of ghosts and goblins, the restless dead, the headless horseman, and a slew of others both malignant and benign. Regardless of your decorating preference – playful, dark, or some where in between – bargain hunting and salvaging can add to your Halloween supply.

Halloween Scarecrows on the Cheap

For those who enjoy exterior decorating, a variety of old clothes and chairs can be found in different locations. With a few well-spent dollars you can purchase enough shirts, pants, pillowcases, and old shoes to create a scarecrow family!

The newly created scarecrows can sit in broken or off-kilter chairs which can easily be found at the curb, local landfill, or transfer stations. On Halloween night you can sit amongst your scarecrow family (wearing old clothes and some liberal face paint), and hand out the treats while keeping a weather eye open for tricks.

Gothic and Victorian Treasures

For those looking for a darker theme, yard sales and fleamarkets are treasure troves to be explored. Candles seem to be available at all such events, and in a wide array of shapes, sizes, and colors. Old plates with chips and cracks are also readily available, making easy, inexpensive and somber additions to catch spilt candle wax.

Also at fleamarkets and yard sales old cabinet photos are often available. These photos, strategically placed among the newly acquired candles, can be arranged together around the holiday treats – making the trick or treater wonder who might be watching.

And finally, items can be found at the various locations to be used to display Halloween pieces. Occasionally real treasures can be found, such as a tall bookshelf, or a wall clock’s empty wooden case. The possibilities are broad, and are only limited by your own imagination.

So, as you drive to work, or serve as the family’s taxi, keep your eye out for future decorations!

Ghouls, our prayers have been answered! How many of us know about the famous leg-shaped lamp featured proudly in A Christmas Story? You know, the one that accidentally gets broken?

Well, wait until you see the Halloween version! It will be the perfect addition to any Halloween abode all year long and will be such a fun conversation piece as your Halloween guests trick-or-treat or come to your party. Check this wonderful lamp out!

Grandin Road has such an item, and it is a dandy of a lamp. It is, of course, orange and black with a skull finial and black fringe trim that dangles enticingly over the spider web-covered leg that rests in a fine witch’s black, buckled shoe. Mini lights glowing from inside the leg make sure the eye is drawn to the shapely limb.

This item is a must-have for any Halloween lover, and I think it’s a bargain at $99.00. I plan on putting it on my Christmas list because I can’t think of a better Halloween item to ask for since the idea did come from Christmas after all.

Now if only I could convince my darling hubby that we need this kind of a lamp for our living room. But unlike the dad in A Christmas Story movie, I’m buying insurance!

You were always jealous of this lamp!

If you go to a certain quiet corner of Michigan in the fall, near the shores of Lake Huron, you’ll find quiet cottages, harvested wind-swept fields, and scarecrows with scythes, bloody eyeless skulls and severed limbs. It looks like you’ve reached Scarecrow Village, created by your dark entertainers for this chilly evening, Sandy Reebel and Sada Egenriether.

Sandy has been creating yard haunts and her delightfully gruesome “scrows” for many years, and when she isn’t preparing her village, she co-owns a local landscaping company. Recently, she and her daughter Sada Egenriether have teamed up to provide professional design services and advice for anybody’s haunted attraction. Their website, The Horror Teller Online, showcases innovative products and concepts, and provides e-books and CD’s to help you produce your own haunted show.

We recently caught up with Sandy and Sada for an interview, where they discuss their ideas, thought processes, and what they hope to accomplish with their new business.

Sandy Reebel and Sada Egenriether

HA: What is your background?

We are a mother-daughter team of dark entertainers whose specialty is blending old school haunting with innovating new concepts to bring our guests horror with a dash of theater. We have been the owners of Scarecrow Village, a haunted house, haunted woods, pumpkin patch, and various other family-related businesses that have all stemmed from our love of entertaining, Halloween, and fall.

HA: What inspires you to create a prop or scene?

I actually think we sleep, breathe, and live Halloween every day of the year. With this level of immersion, virtually anything can serve as an inspiration: a scene in a movie, an old folk tale, a frightening real-life story, or even a peculiar person we encounter. Once even a single, small idea has been sparked, it will eventually develop into something much larger.

Welcome to our humble abode

HA: Was this self-taught?

Yes and no. There has been a lot of trial and error over the years. Learning how to run a haunted attraction came partially from books, and the age of the computer brought us into contact with a fellow haunter, who took us under his wing to teach us what the books didn’t. The ideas for haunt sets and scenes have always been our own, as well as the entertainment aspect of our attraction.

HA: How do you implement your ideas?

Creativity comes to us naturally. We take a simple idea or concept and determine how many ways there are to implement it. We like being different and expressing our unique outlook on life through our work, then bringing it to the village for our guests to enjoy. We believe a good attraction should have its own unique signature.

HA: What are your thought processes when you are imagining your creations?

First, we set the theme for the next season, which is usually done before the present season is even over. Once we have a theme, we begin the process of determining what kinds of characters, props, scenes, and so on will be needed for the new season. We begin the search for masks; sometimes we are able to revamp ones we already have in our possession, other times we need to purchase new ones. We scour garage sales and thrift stores weekly, searching for clothing that can be used as pertinent costumes. Through the summer, we create the scrows, and get them ready for their big Halloween debut.

We’re a bit tied up at the moment

HA: With twenty years in the business, have you seen a change in Halloween from when you started to today?

Definitely. From decorations to professional props, they certainly are advancing rapidly because of the technology that is available today. From animatronics to sound chips, and even synchronized musical light shows — it is unbelievable. More and more artists are arriving on the scene, developing new products that even the home haunter has access to. There has been a definite increase in the level of gore involved. However, even with all of these varieties of “eye candy” out there, I still like the old school type of haunting: the one-on-one personal experience with the guests, sprinkled through — rather than inundated — with the newest eye-catching props.

HA: Do you find a lot of demand for your professional services?

We have always been around on a lot of the Halloween forums, offering advice here and there, but our professional services are fairly new. These services are for anyone who wants help, whether it is working with scares, themes, effectively “recycling” an old set to use the following season, promoting and advertising, technical issues, scareactor training, or Horror-Telling. Our goal is to someday be the prominent name for new haunt-themed shows and new ideas for haunters to incorporate into their own establishments.

HA: Is this all year round, or only during the Halloween season?

We just introduced our services in January 2008. Our hope is that once we become known for our capabilities, our reputation will sustain us, generating year-round service to the industry.

HA: Last words?

Yes: Follow your dreams. If you believe in yourself, with a lot of hard work, success is around the bend. Most importantly, have fun, and keep doing what you love to do.

For more information on Sandy and Sada’s business, please visit:
www.thehorrorteller.com
www.scarecrowvillage.com/