DIY Halloween Tutorial: Hanging Spirits

So… I’m a Pinterest freak. Seriously… It’s an illness. I saw a picture of these things on there and with a little sleuthing I finally found the tutorial for it. Lowe and behold, it was a Martha Stewart tutorial. I was amazed. I didn’t know the Domestic Queen could come up with something so cool and amazing. So… Sit back, read this and then go make some hanging spirits.

Supplies You’ll Need

You’ll need some newspaper to lay out on your work surface if you’re a messy crafter like I am lol. Sponge brushes are the best tools to work with. You can also use just a regular paintbrush to help kinda push the cheesecloth into the nooks and crannies. You’ll need some cheesecloth. You can get this at Hobby Lobby, Michaels or Walmart. Scissors are a must. You’ll need however many foam heads you want. My sister got these for me over at Sally’s for super cheap (cheaper you can get them at Hobby Lobby!) and you’ll need Alleen’s Fabric Stiffener. This works awesome and you’ll definitely use a bit of it, so get the biggest bottle you can.

Step One:

Cut your cheesecloth to varying lengths. Make some long, some short.

Open it up and spread it out so you don’t have to do this when you’re right in the middle of everything.

Step Two:

Get ready to get messy. Pour out a good amount of the fabric stiffener on a paper plate and have your sponge brush at the ready.

Step Three:

Drape your cheesecloth over the foam head. I usually start with a shorter piece of cloth at first and build up from there.

Step Four:

Start glopping on your fabric stiffener. It isn’t going to look completely perfect, but it doesn’t really matter. They’re both white so it’s not really going to show. It is kinda hard to get the cheesecloth to stay in the hollows of the eye, but you just have to keep at it until it looks like you want it to.

You’ll continue on with the rest of the layers of cheesecloth.

NOTE: You do NOT have to cover the entire head with the fabric stiffener. I use the seam of the foam head in the middle to judge where to start with it and then end right around the jaw line/chin.

You can put four to seven layers of cheesecloth, it is all a matter of how flowy you want it. I put four layers on each of mine and I’m pretty pleased with how it looks. But it probably could have used a couple more.

Now these things have to dry completely, and I mean completely. And it will take at least 24 hours, if not closer to 48. The more layers, the longer it will take to dry. It is some SUPER sticky stuff, so make sure wherever you put it, you don’t have to worry about it falling over or sticking to something.

Step Five:

When you’re all done and everything is dry, then you’re ready to hang them! You’ll need some fishing line, a pair of scissors and eye hooks or eyelet screws.

Be mean and give your foam head a headache by taking the eye hook and pushing it into the top of the head. If you’re planning on leaving this out for a few days (and I really don’t, because the fabric stiffener doesn’t react well with moisture) you might want to use a little epoxy or hot glue to make sure that the eye hook stays in there. Then string with fishing line and hang!

Pretty darned creepy huh? I can’t wait til Halloween and I can put them all out. I think they’re really gonna creep people out. It’s gonna be fabulous. I will of course I’ll have pictures of the final setup!

Let me know if you make these awesome little ghoulies!

Tutorial Corner: Halloween Hobgoblins and their habitat

So I’ve been sharing pictures on my Facebook via Instagram of the cute little Hobgoblins I’ve been making. I got the idea from a picture on Pinterest:

I was like hmmm… I could do those with no problem! So here’s how I did them!

You’ll need a habitat (if you want one, it’s optional! You can always hang them from the ceiling from fishing line, as it’s shown in the picture above. You’ll also need some feathers of your choice (Walmart, $2.97); Spanish Moss (Walmart, $3.49); miniature skeletons of your choice. I got mine at the Dollar Tree. They’re a part of a “Skeleton Garland” that I just cut apart from the string. You’ll also need a hot glue gun, glue sticks and scissors.

Step One: Remove your skeletons from the string (if applicable).

Step Two: If needed, shorten the legs. Just take a small bit of the lower leg out.

While you’re at it, take the femur from the knee joint with your scissors. It’s best to do both legs at the same time, just make sure you don’t get your sides confused.

With a small amount of hot glue, attach the lower leg back together.

Do the same with the thigh.

Then glue the leg all together. Give the knee a bit of a bend backwards to make it look like it’s floating.

Step Three: Cut the lower arm off at the elbow. Poor Skelley.

Step Four: Kind of bend your skeletons arm at the joint however you want it.

Step Five: Glue the arms to the elbows in a raised fashion so it looks like this:

Pose your dude like he’s drunk.

And him and his buddy will eventually look like they’re doing the Thriller.

Now comes the fun part….

Step Six: Taking your feathers, get your idea laid out on the table in front of you. Think about how they’ll look on the finished product, so make sure the curved feathers go in the right direction.

Step Seven: Using a pretty good size dollop of hot glue (be careful not to burn your fingers!) attach the wings to the back, right between the shoulder blades on the spine.

Finish both sides and then take a smaller feather to cover up the mess you made out of the spines of the feathers. Trust me, you’ll make a mess. I know I did.

Repeat the steps with your other, more bashful, Hobgoblin.

And make it look like it has an awesome little purple backpack.

Ehhhh this one doesn’t really care, as long as he’s part of the party.

Step Eight: With a small amount of hot glue, affix a bit of the fishing line to your hobgoblins back.

Step Nine: If you’re making a habitat, this is the time to figure out how you’re going to want to fix them in it. I was having issues trying to get them on the lid right, so I ended up using a small amount of glue on the rim of my glass canister and held the fishing line for a bit for the glue to firm.

Add some Spanish moss, some twigs and maybe some mini-tombstones if you have them and voila! You have a Hobgoblin Habitat. But! Please Note: If you plan on leaving these outside, please note that you’ll want to use high heat hot glue. If not, if they are in direct sunlight, the hot glue will weaken and your hobgoblins will fall apart. Plus, if they’re in a small container, like a jar, the glue heats up and causes condensation in the jar, so make sure to poke a few holes for heat to get out (oh and to let your Hobgoblin breathe!)

If you would like to see a tutorial on how to do the spider web lid to this canister, let me know and I’ll do one!

Awww look they’re dancing!

This is my first Hobgoblin, the one that started it all. Unfortunately, I had to do some emergency surgery to him and whilst putting him in his new habitat, I re-broke his arm. Poor guy!

Halloween is Near…

Ahhh the chill on the air… The pumpkins lining stoops and porches… The tinge of red edging leaves… The spicy aroma of cooking pies… The squeals of delight… yes… Halloween is near.

My all-time favorite season, other than tornado season of course. Hot chocolate, foot ball games, warm sweaters and jeans. *sigh* Our town always gets into the swing of things, as they put the banners for our Neewollah festival about a week before my sons birthday. I’ve been seeing more and more houses pop up with decorations and I was anxiously waiting for the three pre-requisite houses to be decorated before I myself could decorate without looking ostentatious. I saw the third house last Thursday. It. Was. On.

Most all of my Halloween decorations are re-used. I never throw anything away. If I do, I give it away to someone with less stuff. I think the only thing I bought this year was the door cover we decided not to put on the door. For a buck. Not bad at all.

This is the little nook next to my door. I used one of our folding tables and just loaded it with all kinds of macabre things. I used some of my old prop trunks (thanks go to Mr. Good Witch for getting those out of storage for me!) to add a little depth.

Aforementioned door cover thingy. We decided to put it up on one of the windows that’s painted shut *grumbles*.

Just so not everything is scary… A cute basket full of fake apples, leaves and sunflowers. Uber cute.

Got a Happy Harvest pumpkin from Hobby Lobby a few years ago. Man that sucker is heavy. Also, the white pumpkin has Scentsy written on it in permanent marker. I used it for my Scentsy open house when I first became a consultant.

Used this set up last year for my Halloween mini sessions. Decided to reuse it for my own decorations. It took forever to get that wax to drip like that. And more than one black candle.

My absolute favorite decoration… It’s a skull “candy” dish with a scrolly decorative stand. I filled it with miniature skulls and skeletal hands. Oh, and the ONE raven to make it through last year’s mini session with its beak in tact resides over it.

Templeton and an eleven legged jeweled spider.

One of my oldest Halloween props, a macabre lantern that lights up… Along with a skull and cute little pumpkins.

Two skull candle holders and another eleven legged spider.

I <3 Glitter.

MOAR GLITTER!!!!

Another view of the setup.

My BOO and broom (my other car!) and my little houses.

The graveyard with a very……. Odd…. Looking skeleton…

The whole setup!

Mr. Bones says hello!

As does the one pumpkin that didn’t fall off the vine <3!