Corpse Heads

You'll need:

Balloons

newspaper

Paper Mache mix (See Recipe)

Paint

Hair from a wig

How to:  Blow up the balloon and cover it really well with Paper Mache.  Dip strips of newspaper into the glue mixture and spread it flat out on the surface of the balloon.  2 to 3 coats is what I would recommend as this is the most sturdy.

When it's dry, paint it, adding blood, bruises scars, use your imagination.  When the paint is all dry, use a hot glue gun to attach the hair to the top of the head.  You don't want any features to be perfect or it won't look realistic.

Another variation on this project is skull and crossbones.  You can pretty much make anything or any shapes you want.  It takes a little practice and a little imagination.

Cute Coasters

You'll need:

Colored foam (from a craft of dollar store)

Scissors

Glue

How to:

Use a base color such as black and cut out coaster sized squares

Use all other colors to cut out pumpkins, skull, bats, cats, ghosts and more.  If you are really creative you can cut out words like: BOO, Happy Halloween etc.

Glue all of your foam creatures to your coasters.

Stenciled Candles

Use letter stencils and a ball-head stylus or other carving instrument to carve out the word BOO on small orange and/or white pillar candles.

After, use craft paint to color in the carved words.  It doesn't matter if your carving is not perfect because the paint will cover it.

You can make your own stencil by finding or drawing weird fonts and print them out.  Then  use an exacto knife to cut them out.

Spookier Pumpkins

Use bat and cat etc. type stencils, and color them in black on your pumpkins.  For example, carve a crescent moon in your pumpkin, and add a couple of bats flying around it in black craft paint.  Carve some stars and put a large cat in the middle.  You can also opt to not carve your pumpkin, and you can stencil a scary crow or ghost.

Custom Candy Holders

Use large tomato cans (or other large cans) and use craft paint to make them look like ghosts, or Frankenstein's etc. and then use them to hold candy on your tables.

For the Crafting Impaired

If you are among those who are crafting impaired, fret not, there are so many places to get unique decorations.  Above and beyond your local party store, there are dollar stores, Better Homes and Gardens put out magazines you can order from as well as giving you project tips and ideas, and of course as a last resort, there is always Wal-Mart.

Happy Crafting!!