Halloween Crafts Part 1

With Halloween fast approaching it seems everyone is putting their thoughts to Halloween crafts, costumes and party decorations. Whether you're after a low key Halloween in front of a scary movie and feeding the mass of trick or treaters, or going all out with a gore themed party, check out some of my favourite craft and decorating ideas for this season.

Halloween Lanterns

Kelly posted a very detailed tutorial on the Craftster forums taking you through making these Halloween lanterns step by step. They'd look fabulous hanging from a front porch, and if you're after something a little scarier you can always make the faces a less cute and more creepy.

Toy Story 3 Costumes

With Toy Story 3 due to come out next year and the buzz already beginning build with the re-release of the first two movies, I'm sure we'll see several Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff Woody duos running around the neighbourhood this year. This Instructable features child sizes, but can easily be adapted to fit an adult with just a little extra cardboard here and there.

Vintage Pumpkin Tutorial

This "Vintage" pumpkin tutorial puts a classy spin on the usual pumpkins decorating porches, I love the use of sheet music, photocopies of 'The Raven' or other similarly eerie poetry would also be a nice touch. Hunt through your local book exchange or thrift store for old copies of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Lemon-Flavored Eyeballs

What's a meal without eyeballs?! Made from Gelatin, these lemon flavoured eyeballs are sure to go down a treat, take the time to hand paint the iris and pupils to get them looking as realistic as possible and you're sure to have more than a few people pull a face before giving in to curiosity.

Eyeball Necklace

If eating eyeballs wasn't enough, wear them around your neck! This simple tutorial will show you how to make your own eyeball necklace, pair it with a black dress, pointy hat and striped stockings and you have yourself a budget Witch costume.

Bleeding Candles

Add a spooky touch to your lighting with these bleeding candles from Blue Cricket Designs. Candles, spray paint and thrift store candlesticks makes this low cost and very effective in setting the mood for any sinister party.

Owl Invitations

As always, Martha has some wonderful ideas posted on her website, these owl invitations are just the tip of the iceberg, take a look around the site for more spooky ideas from the Queen of Craft. These invites would also be perfect for anyone planning a Harry Potter theme party at any time of the year, the perfect nod to the Owl Mail delivery system.

Floating Brain

Looking for the just the right beverage to drink at your party? Try this floating brain, using Peach Schnapps, Grenadine and Irish Cream. It looks disgusting and very fitting for any gory gathering. Substitute the peach for Butterscotch Schnapps and you have yourself a Jam Doughnut shot - a highlight of my college days!

California Roll Costume

Tired of seeing the same old witches, cats and devils on Halloween night? Do something different and come as a California Roll, this full photo tutorial gives you step by step instructions on how to turn some cardboard, packing foam and ping pong balls into a full sushi costume, if you wanted to save yourself some time and skip the roe on the outside, black duct tape would make a great nori seaweed wrap.

Amigurimi Glow-in-the-Dark Ghost

Glow in the dark yarn is the perfect touch on this sweet little amigurimi ghost. Although the pattern is written without a base, if you wanted to hang it from any door frames then one would be easy to add, either crochetted or a small circle of felt sewn on just inside the picot would seal it off and keep the polyfill contained.

Stay tuned tomorrow for part 2 of this Halloween Craft series!

Fern Treacy is blogging from Australia. You can check out her fantastic blog here!