Halloween crafts for any budget and location

Recently, I've been collecting a lot of Halloween craft ideas on Pinterest and storing them on this board: Halloween Craft Inspiration

I decided to share some favorite Pinterest craft finds with all of you, but I wanted to focus on projects that nearly everyone could do. I know that outside of The United States, Halloween merchandise is a little more difficult to find. So I looked for the projects that involve materials that can be found everywhere, things like glass jars, natural materials, and paper. These also turned out to be fairly inexpensive projects. Here are 10 favorites of mine.

This first project comes from Martha Stewart. These spooky silhouettes can be cut out of cardstock from the templates Martha was nice enough to provide on her web site. The silhouettes hover above the candles on wires. Here's a link to the project and Martha's templates: Shocking Silhouettes

This skeletal hand project comes from the Formal Fringe blog and full instructions can be found here. This project requires latex gloves, a permanent marker and little LED candles inside a jar or candle holder.

 If anyone knows the source of the next image, please let me know. The link on Pinterest didn't lead to any instructions. Still, I'd say this project is as simple as spray painting any wine bottles you happen to have. I like the mixture of glossy and matte finishes.

This next project is from Country Living and it's something I've been doing for years. You simply cut masks, horns, hats, etc. out of black construction paper and tape them to the photos you already have in your house! It's simple and adds a mysterious look to what you see every day.

Also from Country Living, are the instructions on how to make these decorative candle holders. Basically, what you're doing is printing a spooky image onto vellum and wrapping it around a glass candle holder.

I found this project on the Page Turners Hollow blog. These Halloween Silhouette Lanterns require a glass jar, some bright paint, and a cut paper silhouette. The blogger who made these jars found her silhouettes on The Graphics Fairy blog. I think they'd look cool with many other shapes too, like the silhouette of a bat or a raven.

These spiderwebs are made from black trash bags! I found this idea on the How About Orange blog. Here's the blog post with detailed instructions: Trash Bag Spider Webs

Here's another spiderweb cutout, this time from black construction paper. This is from the Green Baby Guide blog: Template for spider cutout

These rocks were another Pinterest find with a link that led to nowhere, so I can't give you a source. The type looks so perfect that I wouldn't be surprised if there are scrapbooking letters Mod Podged onto the rocks. I collected quite a few rocks this year by the lake, and I plan to paint them for Halloween. I'll probably do more spooky faces than type, but I really like the look of these!

This last project is super simple and I think it could make a cool porch decoration! Or better yet, set them on the ground as if they're emerging from the earth. This idea comes from the Family Chic by Camilla Fabbri blog. Although, the Pinterest link didn't take me to the how-to, I think we can guess how these glowing hands were made. Trace your hand on a brown paper bag and cut out the shape. Then rubber band the hand to a glass votive candle holder. These remind me of zombie hands reaching from a grave!

Sometime this week I should have some photos of the finished projects I've been working on. These upcoming projects had their start with Dollar Tree products. I learned from assembling this list of crafts, how much I rely on Dollar Tree and local craft stores. This little experiment helped to give me the perspective of people who don't have tons of Halloween craft supplies readily available. I hope to try some of the projects in this post, and I'll share the results if I do!

The Justine's Halloween Blog Party is planned for Friday October 26th, and of course you're all invited! So if you have a photo of yourself in costume from any time in your life, please email it to me at this address to be included in the fun: contactartgirl@gmail.com

If you participated last year, I'd prefer a different photo this year. So get digging through those old albums, or create something new! 

Here's a reminder of the festivities from last year's party: Justine's Halloween Blog Party 2011