Anne Bowman

Halloween is coming up and I am determined to throw the best D.I.Y. party for under $50 bucks. Naturally you’ll have to rely on the help of others to bring food but here’s some ideas I found so far, mostly from Martha Stewart. The easiest thing I found is to center all my decor around a black light.

You can get a simple bulb for $10 at walgreens if you don’t already have one. I like the Beetlejuice feel it gives the room, especially with the Portaits below. : )

A simple idea for dessert is to display assorted candy (you can get this at the super market ot Target for a buck)

For the bags you will need:

Your computer

A printer

Paper

Glue

Scissors

Brown Paper Bags

1. Find clip art of animal skeleton’s (I used X-Ray photos found on Google). Drag into a photo editing program and reverse the colors, leaving a black background and the skeleton drawing white. Size to paper bag and print out.

2. Cut out and paste on bag.

3. Set under blacklight with candy!

Similar rules apply to these portaits.

What you’ll need:

Your comupter

A printer

Fluorescent Posterboard

Spray Adhesive

Crafting Knife

1. Find old-timey, black and white portraits. Google is full of old creepy families. Adhust then to a size you feel comfortable printing out. If you want large scale, print out in pnales and overlap. Print.

2. Using a crafting knife and a cutting mat, cut out eyes, slices in the throat, drips of blood, etc. on the portraits.

3. Glue evenly on the posterboard, leaving an inch or so on each side to give the appearance of an old-timey frame, unless you have a frame you want to use. The original project called for you to buy a frame and paint it the same color as the poster board you are usuing…I think thats a waste of effing money. A black frame looks just as good too.

4. Hang on your wall near a blacklight and voila!

This project brings you in way over $50, but it’s so cute I couldn’t resist.

What you’ll need:

Wooden Candlesticks and Wooden Plaque (found in most craft stores)

Sand Paper

Hot Glue Gun

White Spray on Primer

Small Paintbrush

1. Sand candlestick and plaque. Make sure to go with the grain.

2. Fill center of candlestick with glue, cafefully set the plaque on top. Turn upside down and let sit for 2 hours.

3. Coat stand worth white spray on primer. Let dry.

4. Use a small paintbrush to coat with optical white paint. et dry. Give a second coat if needed.

There you go….my faves so far….Enjoy!