31 Halloween Projects-2 Snake Wreath

Project 2 of our 31 Halloween Projects is just fixing a project that I did last year but since I started ALMOST from scratch I thought I would still share it.  Last year I made a wreath that was covered in rubber snakes and painted all black.  It ends up looking like a crazy snake nest since it is all one color and the snakes overlap so much.

^ This is the inspiration that I got from Martha Stewart.  She had a really neat idea and I really like that it was matte and subtle.

Last year I found a wreath of branches at Hobby Lobby on sale half price (love a deal) and hot glued rubber snakes all over it and then sprayed it with black multi purpose paint.  It looked great and my mom even asked for one when she saw mine.  I was so excited.

^ This is how my wreath looked this year.  All my snakes fell off!  I fell in love with this shape when I saw it because I thought it looked a little creepier and less store bought.  The extra twigs that were not trimmed off made it look even better.  This looks like a perfect snake den to me, feel free to experiment with different shapes and sizes.  You can also make them in different colors or you can add details to the snakes so they stand out more.

^ You can see all the spaces where the paint is missing because the snakes are gone this year.  I was pretty disappointed that ALL of the snakes fell off before I even used it one season.  This is not from packing or storage, they came off the next day!

^ I pulled all of the extra hot glue off of the wreath, it came off pretty easily.  I was just left with a black wreath with some weird spots on it.

This is where you would start if you did not have to do any repairs and had a fresh wreath to work with.

I ordered more rubber snakes from OrientalTrading.com and started to glue them back on to the wreath.

Since hot glue was clearly not working I decided to go with a sure fire adhesive, E6000.  I started using this in Art class in high school since it glues almost any surface to any other surface and is strong while it is still easy to work with.

I like to spread the snakes out as I glue so that I get the wreath covered pretty evenly, if you like it more random then do it however looks good to you.

^ Here is a photo of the wreath once all of the snakes were glued on.  The bright colors make it easy to see where I placed the snakes and how they are woven together and through the twigs organically.

^ I wanted to show you my spray painting set up also.  I usually paint my projects at my parents' house since they have the room and we live in an apartment but I was impatient and had a small area to paint this time.  I used a plastic tablecloth folded in half, I taped it to the balcony railing so I would protect that surface and then taped it to the ground so the wind would not move anything.

I sprayed the wreath with satin black paint and covered every inch that I could see.  This was a really quick process since the wreath was already mostly black.  It takes a little longer when you do it the first time because you really have to spray it from every angle.  I did a general coat on the front and then just rotated it around to get all the sides.  Once it was dry I sprayed it from the back and inspected it for any hints of color or unpainted twigs.  (I actually noticed a spot that I missed after it was hung and took it down to do another quick spray.)

 

Here is the finished wreath.

And here it is hanging on my door.  I really love the way it turned out.

Tell me what you think.  Any suggestions for making a different version?  Anything I can do to explain the process better?  Leave me a comment.

~Liz

31 Halloween Projects-1 Googly Eye Photo Frame

Ok, I am getting ready to get a ton of projects finished up and am really excited to see what you think of them!  I am officially starting off the 31 Halloween Projects posts with number one, a googly eye photo frame.

I, of course, found the initial inspiration on Pinterest.  Here are a couple of photos I have found floating around.

^ This is the one I liked best and is pretty close to what I ended up with.  The original link is here.

^ Here is another one I found.  This looks like it is just a photo that was taken and pinned so I am not sure where it came from.

Below is my version.
 I found a wooden frame and some googly eyes at Michael's. I also had on hand green paint, paintbrushes, multi-purpose glue, ribbon and a cut out.

I started by painting the frame all over on the front and back.  This is a terrible photo of the color by the way; it is a very bright, almost neon, green.

I then opened my bags of googly eyes and started to spread them around on my frame.  I bought several different packages because I wanted different kinds of eyes on my frame so I opened all of the packages and poured them in a large bowl so I could easily pick out the ones I wanted.  I started with the largest eyes I had so that I could space them out the way I wanted.

Optional:  Put the large googly eyes on your face and make creepy faces with your husband.

Keep adding eyes and fill in the spaces as you go.  I tried to vary mine as much as possible so it would be random.

The sizes of eyes you use and the space you have to fill will help determine where to put everything.  Just keep filling it up.

I took some close up photos so you could see all the different eyes I found.  I got a package with lots of different sizes so I had very large (bigger than my eyes) and very very small (the top of a stick pin).  One package had different colored backgrounds, I only really loved the green ones from that package because they matched my background perfectly so I didn't use a lot of them.  Another package had eyelids and eyelashes painted on the front of them.  There was even a package that had different colored irises (the inside of the eye).

This is the jar of what I have leftover, you can see more of the colors that were included that I didn't use.

Keep adding more and start paying attention to the colors as you add them so you don't have too many of the same ones together.

Once it was all finished I was so excited!  I love the way it turned out and a few finishing touches was all it needed.  I touched up any areas that needed more paint and found some ribbon and a Halloween scrapbook punch out that I had.

The ribbon is self adhesive so I just cut it to length and wrapped it around.  I used vellum dots to attach the label so it would stay nicely.  Tip: I made sure to paint the back nicely and wrap the ribbon all the way around the back since mine is on a stand and you will be able to see the back of it.  I bought the frame in the broken/discount section because it didn't have the stand on the back so I bought a cheap plate display stand at the dollar store and used that.

I spent a total of $8 on my frame and I just love it.  You could save money by getting a frame at the dollar store or using one package of eyes instead of the 5 that I bought (I had a TON leftover).  Hanging the frame on the wall or getting one that isn't broken will also save you from the display cost.

Here is the finished product with my fave photo from last year in it.  This is a photo of all the costume contest winners and I just love how goofy they all are.

Leave me comments with your questions.  Is there anything I can do to make the instructions easier or clearer for you?  Let me know.

~Liz

Web Sites to look at

I found a couple of cool web sites that should help in your planning as well as mine.  I don't know about you but I usually like to have a theme in mind and start working towards the party in August, and its getting closer!

Divine Dinner Party -has good themes

Yahoo Voices -neat theme ideas

eHow -a great checklist and info for beginners

These are a couple to start with.  Leave me a comment with your favorite party planning web sites.


-Liz

Dead? Or alive?

I bet you thought I had abandoned this blog since Halloween is over.  Well I haven't, Halloween is something we think about all year long we have just been crazy busy and super stressed.  Buuuuuuuuut....... I promise we will be back soon.

Another blogger suggested a No Spend Month in January, where you do not buy craft supplies, food, clothes or anything else that you do not absolutely need (you can buy fresh produce you just can't buy food until your pantry and freezer is cleaned out), and I am considering doing this and seeing what Halloween projects I can get done for next year with the mountains of things I have lying around the house. 

OOOHH!!! By the way... our Halloween decorations are still up, for any of you who are challenging our dedication ,)



liz

Paper Bats

I originally saw a great photo of felt bats pasted on to an exterior door on countryliving.com (via pinterest.com) and wanted to do it.  I decided that I had so much scrapbook paper however, that mine would be paper.  This also meant they had to move inside.  Then I found this, she was also inspired by Country Living but wanted to use paper.  Her bats look great flying through the dining room and I have a great dining room for it too so I started cutting bats.  You can use the template from her web site, she links to the Country Living Template, and print it out then re-size it on your scanner so you have a couple different sizes. 

I have tons of scrapbook paper so I just dug out some Halloween colors, patterns I thought would look like bats and things I liked.

I folded the paper in half with the back showing so I could trace my multiple templates.  

 I found it was easiest to draw several on the page and then cut them all out.

Once cut out, you can unfold them and you have easy bats.  You can do this freehand if you would prefer to give them more character.  Use the scraps you have for smaller templates and/or freehand small bats.  (I have to say that my freehand bats were pretty hilarious to everyone else while we were hanging them up)

Do this as many times as you want, unfold and admire your bats.  We used lots of graphic patterns instead of just black.  We also used shades of brown, maroon, grey, green and orange.

We let them swarm towards a vent in the dining room so they flap in the 'wind' a little.

We ended up with tons of them so they flew all around the room.

If you look at the top of the doorway here, you can see that my clever little brother put a couple hanging upside down like they hadn't flown off yet.

Some stragglers flew around the room and perched on the light switch....

the fan cord....

even on Justine's face!  lol

I love the way this project turned out.  =)

liz

Zombie Make Up

Our zombie costumes from last weekend were the most complete once we put the make up on to make ourselves look dead, bloody and bitten.  Here's how I did it.

I started off by smearing white grease make up all over my face.  I don't use a lot because I'm already fair and because too much looks too fake.  Be sure to blend everything really well at the edges of the make up and into your features.  Blend lightly onto your neck, ears and into the hairline so it looks even.  Then smear some red cream make up from mouth to chin working in light layers. 

In each layer go a little farther down.  I wanted to look like I had bitten people so I wanted the blood to run down my face.  Be sure to get above the top lip and out to the sides some.  Zombies don't eat delicately, they dive head first into their food and make a sloppy mess.

Each layer of red makes it look  little better, the time to do it little by little pays off because you get good depth in the make up.  My blood was going to run down my face and to a blood stain on my shirt where it pooled so I dragged the sponge all the way down my neck in long swipes.

A little black cream make up added on top of the last red layer makes it look old and dried.  This is what makes it start looking less like make up.

Because we were specifically zombie Longhorn fans we used a grease crayon to add words to my face.

I make sure to get make up on my lips so it looks like I was feeding but kept my mouth closed tightly.  I use only a tiny bit on my lips because its not really good to ingest.  Putting lip balm on top will keep you from licking it or using translucent powder to set it while it is still wet will also keep it in place.

I added some black and blue vein lines around the edges of my face and into my hairline and also smeared some red make up on my forehead for a little added gore.  The lines were easy with a paintbrush, you can buy the make up in crayon form and that is even easier.  The blood helped it look better and less like just white paint.  I smeared it down my nose and across my face too.  Make sure you rub it into hairlines, eyebrows and facial hair by pressing hard and moving your finger or sponge or applicator back and forth.  You can go over the hair lightly with a damp cloth or sponge if you don't want it on your hair, just on the skin.  Doing this is a great trick that makes it look more professional and gives it some realism.  If you don't care about that, cool don't worry about it then. ,)

Green make up completed my face by giving it that sickly look that zombies are known for.  I did it mostly around one eye and then used my fingers to trail it around the rest of my face lightly.  A touch up on the words was needed because you could no longer read them.

I pulled my hair into messy braids and the look was pretty much done.  All that was needed was some fake blood.  I flipped my hair upside down and sprayed it all lightly with hair spray then quickly braided it on either side into very messy braids.  I pulled some strands out, teased it up a little and ran my hands all over it so it stood up.  I sprayed it lightly again so it would stay.

For Thomas' face we went a little different direction.  He had not eaten anyone yet, we decided, so he had less blood and more dark make up.  We used the white grease make up to smear his face again and then used black cream make up around his eyes so it looked sunken and rotten.  A little blood on his forehead looked good and some green smeared around his face completed his easy look.

Now zombie bites!

Use a paintbrush or your finger to dab a round bite mark where you want to showcase your wound.  Using a dabbing motion instead of just making a circle gives the impression of teeth.

This step looks a little funny and seems fake until you put the other make up on top of it.

Add red to the center carefully so you don't smudge the black too much but make sure it is thick.  This is the source of your zombie state-make it look good!  Also rub red around the outside of the black make up and blend outward with your fingers or a sponge.

Use blue grease paint to add dabs of blue around the edges of the wound.  Mix with the red slightly and blend out so you make bruising.  Use your brush and light black paint to touch up the bite mark if it gets too smudged.

Subtlety is a key component with the wounds and bite marks because it will really make the difference.  Use yellow, the darker the better, to add around the edges to give it more bruising effect and to start the sickly look.

Add green paint around the edges and blend out to look like the infection is spreading.  Your bite looks great!

After you have created all of the wounds and bite marks that you want, use fake blood to drip off of wounds and anywhere else you think is appropriate.  I added mine directly to the center of the three bites I had and then let it drip down.  I also added it right below my lips where my blood stains were.  Rub green and red paint into the skin anywhere you think you want a little more gore and give yourself a disheveled look.  I coated my hands with red cream paint and ran them through my hair so I was coverd in blood.

Happy feeding fellow zombies!



liz