Make it Scary, Easily: cute and quick Halloween craft ideas from Sweet Paul

FREE IMAGES I love Sweet Paul, and these ideas are so simple but still dramatic. I might even try them and I am the laziest Holiday decorator ever. Seriously - I don't vacuum the corners of my ceiling for a month and voila - spooky spider webs as my Halloween decorations.

Paint a funkin or pumpkin in a very matte black paint.

To make these spooky skeleton cards, Paul just:

1.bought a bunch of these old photographs at a flea market.
2.Printed out the skulls from online, google old skulls.
3.Cut them out and simply glued them on top of their faces.

Make a scary vignette - the entry or foyer table is a great place to do this. Paul says "By painting some objects in a flat paint they become all of a sudden really spooky. The candlestick is painted, www.momastore.org and the bottle has dripping paint on the inside."

Another great option for the entry way or foyer.. Paul says:  1.Simply trace the lathers to a fabric and sew with white embroidery thread. 2.Frame in old frames and hang.

all images via Sweet Paul

More cool, cute, and spooky Halloween ideas

FREE IMAGES

 Such a simple and great idea!! Spray paint a wreath and some rubber snakes and you have a fabulous creepy wreath.  Instructions to make the wriggling snake wreath.

 A cute little Halloween porch

Love these simple but dramatic raven  decorations. The perches are just cardboard tubes painted black, and you can purchase some inexpensive chain at a hardware store.  Here are instructions.

I LOVE these chicken wire yard ghosts!  So creepy.

As a little kid, I loved it when people set up little haunted houses in their garages.  Of course when you have a garage as nice as this, or as a Garaga garage door,  a large grimacing face, or spooky scene looks festive.

One of my favorite ideas - spooky silhouettes in your windows. Instructions here.



And these aren't necessarily decorations, but they make me smile:

 "The Birds" barbie

Awesome and simple cupcake ideas

SO ADORABLE!  Little Garth and Wayne.

1., 3., 7.  Martha Stewart Living, 2. House of Smiths via Pinterest , 4., 5.  Pinterest  6. via Etsy  8., 9., 10. Pinterest

*disclosure: this post in partnership with Garaga.com

My favorite unique pumpkin decorating ideas

FREE IMAGES I am blown away by all the cool and unique ways Country Living has to decorate pumpkins this year.  Below are my favorites:

Découpage Pumpkins

This gourd gets its graphic appeal from Pictorial Webster's ($35; Chronicle)—a volume filled with cool black-and-white illustrations. Choose your favorite drawings from the book (we used approximately 120 for a medium-size Funkin, or faux pumpkin), then photocopy them onto off-white cover stock paper. Next, carefully tear out each photo-copied image, leaving about half an inch of white space around it. (The rough edges will give your finished product added interest.) Using our découpage technique, cover an entire Funkin with the images, overlapping their edges as you work.

Patterned Pumpkins

You can create all of these nifty designs using acrylic paint and painter's tape. For a two-tone, dipped look, bisect a pumpkin with a strip of tape (angle the tape for a diagonal effect). Use a foam brush to cover one section of your pumpkin with two coats of acrylic paint, allowing 30 minutes of drying time per coat. Remove the tape and discard. Stop there, or repeat the steps to add another color to your pumpkin. To form chevron stripes—whether two or tons—link short strips of tape to make the zigzag patterns, using our photo as a guide. Use a foam brush to cover your pumpkin with two coats of acrylic paint, allowing 30 minutes of drying time per coat. Remove the tape and discard. Clean up the edges with a cotton swab if necessary. If you'd like the second color to be different than natural pumpkin orange, fill in using a small paintbrush and contrasting acrylic paint, as we did for the black and white pumpkin

Black and White Pumpkins

Savannah stylist Liz Demos skipped the carving knife and went straight for a paintbrush to fashion these graphic pumpkins. "With a stark black-and-white palette," Demos says of her trio of bold designs, "you can make any pattern, even creepy insects, look downright chic." HOW-TO For each version, start by brushing the entire pumpkin with a coat of white flat acrylic craft paint ($1.39 for two oz.; createforless.com); let dry for 20 minutes.

 SPIDERWEB 1. Using a black fine-tip paint pen ($2.49; createforless.com), draw a circle around the top of the pumpkin, about two inches from the stem. Keep drawing a continuous line, spiraling around the perimeter of the pumpkin, as shown, until you reach the base. 2. Draw vertical lines in the pumpkin's crevices, starting from the circle near the stem and going to the bottom. 3. Let the paint dry for 30 minutes, then place one or two plastic spiders ($9 for a pair; areohome.com) on the "web." 

BEETLE 1. Print the template from countryliving.com/oct-templates. Use a copier to resize the image so it fits your pumpkin. 2. Cut out the stencil as directed on the template and center it on the pumpkin; affix with stencil adhesive ($6.99; stencilease.com). 3. Paint the beetle within the stencil using three coats of black flat acrylic craft paint ($1.39 for two oz.; createforless.com). Let the paint dry for 30 minutes and remove the stencil.

 WOOD GRAIN 1. Mix a small amount of clear glaze ($1.84 for two oz.; createforless.com) with black flat acrylic craft paint. 2. Demos applied this knotty-wood design freehand, but swears even a novice can pull it off. Using a fine-tip brush and this photo as a guide, begin painting several irregular circles around the pumpkin, as shown, spacing them at varying heights. 3. To complete the pattern, fill the rest of the pumpkin's surface with curving lines. Let the paint dry for 30 minutes.

Moth Decal Pumpkins

The secret to these moth-adorned marvels? Weather-resistant vinyl decals ($1.50 for a three-inch moth, $3 for a six-inch moth; wgwalldecals.com). Show them to their best advantage against white pumpkins: Use a foam brush to cover each pumpkin with two coats of acrylic paint, allowing 30 minutes of drying time per coat, before applying decals.

Veiled Beauty

Part cobweb, part creeping vine, the effect of black lace on painted pumpkins is thoroughly macabre. Begin by painting pumpkins (or faux Funkins, from $18; funkins.com); we opted for Farrow and Ball's Green Blue. Once they're dry, use our photo (left) as a guide to cut out pieces of lace; brush matte Mod Podge onto the back sides, and adhere to your pumpkins. Finish by sealing each with a topcoat of Mod Podge.

Which ideas is your favorite?


All images and instructions from Country Living