I know I'm fashionably late to make decorations for Halloween this year, but it's better late than never, right? So here is how I made DIY Halloween decorations for my mantle.
If you are wondering how I made this gorgeous book art wall, you can find a full tutorial here.
This year I decided to upcycle most of the decor that I made a few years back. But also added a few new additions, like the haunted village and spooky ghosts from scrap wood.
How to make a spooky Halloween village
I turned to my favorite Dollar store for the supplies. Last Christmas I made an advent village with houses from cardboard. If you are feeling adventurous, you can make all houses from scratch. It looked fabulous but it took so much time that I decided to go an easy route for this Halloween spooky village.
Materials for DIY spooky Halloween village
- doll houses from dollar tree
- Bird houses from dollar tree
- Candles
- Black paint
Instructions to make a spooky village
Step 1
Gather your dollhouses and birdhouses. To prep, take off all the labels and remove the bottom from the birdhouses. You'd want it to be open so you can add flickery candlelight underneath.
Step 2
Prepare your space for painting. I like to use a card box when I paint small objects so the paint won't splatter all over the floor.
I chose spray paint since it's so much faster and easier to manage, but you can also use acrylic paint. It would probably take more time though.
Spray paint the houses with black paint. I chose a matte finish since I wanted houses to look less glossy.
Let them dry for a few hours.
Step 3
Add flickery lights in the windows to create a spooky effect as someone is leaving there.
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Spooky ghosts from scrap wood
As a woodworker, I have tons of scrap wood in my garage. So to find materials for this project was a super easy task - I already had everything on hand.
What I love about this project is that you don't have to have mad jigsaw skills. It doesn't require any precision and the more uneven ghosts look, the better😁
Trace the eyes, top of the head, and a mouth with a pencil.
Cut it out with a jigsaw.
Sand lightly, after all, they are supposed to be spooky so don't work too hard haha
I used Minwax weathered oak to finish the spooky ghosts. And it's ready!!
I love the way they look!
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DIY spider web wreath from natural materials
This spiderweb is so simple but looks pretty cool hanging on the doorway.
To make it you'd need 3 sticks, some rope (I used 3mm macrame rope), and a spider (I got mine from a dollar store).
Start making this Halloween wreath by wrapping rope around three sticks. Make your way up, creating a web, and tie it in the end. Attach a spider crawling up!
It's such an easy project that could be done in 30 minutes and kids would be delighted to help you with it.
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This is how our Halloween 2021 mantel looks like. Find out more details about all other decorations that we used this year in this blog post here. And also compare it to previous years.
If you'd rather watch me make it, you can find a video on my YouTube channel here.
I hope you enjoyed these easy DIY Halloween crafts! If you like it, follow me on Instagram @ifonlyapril. You can find there all the sneak peeks and updates.
xoxo,
April
