Do It Yourself Halloween Projects
How to Make Your Own Garage Door Bat Swarm
Bat Swarm! This is a quick and easy way to decorate your garage for Halloween.
Tools:
2mm thick black craft foam sheets (I used 9”x12”)
Cardboard cereal boxes
Silver Sharpie marker
Scissors
E6000 glue
1/4" x 1/16" neodymium magnets (**keep these away from children**) - one for each small bat, two for the largest winged bat
Download and print out the Bat Templates listed below. Cut out the paper bats and trace them onto thin cardboard. The cardboard is sturdier than plain paper to trace onto the foam sheets. Trace as many bats as you’d like onto the black craft foam using the silver Sharpie (other light colors may also work, I just had silver on hand). Using the E6000, glue a tiny neodymium magnet onto the back of the bat (I usually did this on the traced side, so any silver tracing left after cutting out is not seen). Be sure the magnet is glued down on the correct side to ensure the magnet will stick to your garage. I also added one additional magnet to the center of the top wing of the largest winged bat to keep it from flopping down once it’s mounted on the garage door (see photo).
Bat Template 1 - XS, Small and Medium Bats
Bat Template 2 - Large Bats
Upgrade a Dollar Store Door Knocker
Meet Eyegore, our front door greeter. He’s made from a rather dull dollar store door knocker. But with a few additions, Eyegore now has some extra spook!
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Tools:
Dollar Store Door Knocker
Paperclay
Glass cabochon
Printed Eyeball Template (print with laser printer, as ink jet may bleed from glue)
Craft acrylic paints, your choice of colors
Wire wreath hoop or wire coat hanger
Polyfill
Cheesecloth
Modge podge or Elmers glue and Hot glue
Plastic Creepy Critters
Step 1 - Add eyeball
I used paperclay to deepen the eye socket and nostril and I tucked in a little homemade glass cabochon eyeball. I used the Monster Eyes template created by the infamous Terra on Halloween Forum (if you don’t know her, you need to check out her impressive creations and informative tutorials). Save the high resolution Monster Eyes jpeg below and print out on a laser printer. Cut out your favorite eyeball and glue it to the flat side of the clear glass cabochon. Add a little hot glue to secure the back of the eyeball when you tuck it into the freshly applied paperclay. The paperclay may crack as it dries, but I think that just adds to the charm. Once dry, paint up the paperclay to match your skull or however you'd like.
Step 2 - Create wreath base
You can do whatever fits your style. Here’s what I did. Start with a wire hoop or create one from a wire coat hanger. Wrap a little bit of polyfill around the wire to bulk it up and then wrap that with strips of cheese cloth. Mount your skull to the wreath base with craft wire and hot glue. Then add natural items like bendable birch branches and bits of dried hydrangea flowers. Top it all off with creepy critters like spiders, centipedes, rats and maggots! Tack all those decorative pieces down with hot glue.
Transform This:
To This!
