5 quick, spooky, and affordable Halloween DIYs

Who doesn't love quick and affordable DIYs, especially quick, spooky, and affordable Halloween DIYs? I have, for your creepy, crafty needs, 5 affordable DIY's for this years' Halloween decor that you can do over a weekend, with minimal supplies, and a low budget!

The great thing about these DIY projects is how affordable you can make them! Almost all of the items I used were either thrifted, obtained for free, or found at my local dollar store. The supplies I needed to create them were typical items, tools, and materials I already had in my garage and craft stash, as I'm sure most of you will have too.

Two of the five quick, spooky, and affordable Halloween DIYs are "Beetlejuice" themed, while the other three are just good ol' Halloween themed. I was able to achieve most of these in about an hour, aside from the Barbie house DIY, which has been an ongoing project of mine, and they were all very simple to do!

5 quick, spooky, and affordable Halloween DIYs!

"Adam's Hand" DIY

First up, Adam's eyeball hand! I only made one eyeball hand as it was meant to be a decor piece on a very small shelf in my bathroom. I can imagine the neat things one could create with both hands, though!

Last year, my bathroom was entirely "Beetlejuice" themed for the Halloween season, so naturally, I needed to DIY some props not only to have one-of-a-kind items on display, but also to save some money! Adam's hand is not the only Beetlejuice-inspired DIY in this blog. Coming up are two DIY framed portraits as well.

WHAT YOU NEED TO CREATE "ADAM'S HAND":

• Plastic arm(s) Halloween decor from "Dollarama"

• 1 bag of plastic eyeballs from "Dollarama"

• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

• Bendable wire

• Scissors

• Stitch ripper

HOW TO DIY "Adam's Hand"

Step 1: Cut off the fingertips just enough so that the eyeball position would look "natural"

Step 2: Hot glue the eyeballs onto the cut-off fingertips, making sure to look where you position them so they don't look all wonky

Step 3: Unstitch, or cut open the end of the plaid shirt sleeve to gain access inside

Step 4: SCut a length of the bendable wire long enough to reach the end of the arm, and insert it through the stuffing.

Step 5: Hot glue the shirt back together

Step 6: Set up your hand in a spooky setting!

GARGOYLE LAWN STAKES DIY

This was a very spontaneous DIY idea that popped into my head while cleaning out my garage. I tend to "hoard" materials like rolled cardboard for painting, plastic sheets for the same purpose, and sheets of styrofoam from packaging. The styrofoam comes in handy for a lot of things, but I immediately thought of making my own lawn cut-outs from it! Of course, you could swing by your local hardware store and purchase a full sheet of foam as well, but if you can save some foam from heading to the landfill, then why not?

I had recently picked up a pack of paper Halloween cut-outs from the thrift store, and some of them happened to be of gargoyles. Gargoyles aren't typically my style, but I was looking for something affordable, quick, and spooky to add to my tiny front lawn cemetery scene.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DIY GARGOYLE LAWN STAKES:

• Halloween paper cut-outs of your desired style, two of each style

• 1-inch or thicker styrofoam sheet/board

• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

• Wooden dowels long enough to match the size of your cut-outs, plus enough extra length to put into the ground

• Miter saw or hand saw to cut the dowels

• Sanding block

• Scissors or utility knife

HOW TO DIY GARGOYLE LAWN STAKES

Step 1: Hot glue one of each cut-out to the foam board. You can pre-cut pieces of the foam sheet first to work with smaller sections

Step 2: Using scissors or a utility knife, cut the foam around the paper cut-outs as closely as possible to the design. THIS STEP IS MESSY

Step 3: Flip the foam piece over and hot glue the matching paper cut-out to the other side.

Step 4: Give the edges a gentle sanding to take down any protruding foam chunks

Step 5: Cut your wooden dowel to the desired length, and on one end, cut an angle out of the dowel to create a 'stake' end

Step 6: Insert your dowel up the center of the bottom of your foam cutout, and add a little bit of hot glue to fasten it.

Step 7: Decorate!

TIP: If I were to create these again, before gluing the designs to the cut-out foam, I would take the extra step to spray paint the exposed edges black.

'BEETLEJUICE' INSPIRED FRAMED PORTRAITS

I mentioned how last year, my bathroom was entirely Beetlejuice themed for the Halloween season. I knew right away that I wanted vintage-looking frames with images of characters from the original movie displayed in them. I originally wanted one image of Adam in his spooky alien-looking mask, and one of Barbarah in hers, but I could not find the right one of Adam, so I stuck with a portrait of the spookshow himself!

I actually got these two oval vintage frames for free from a local recycling shop where everything is donated, and everything is free, all in the name of keeping unnecessary items out of the landfill. I thought the vintage touch and oval shape would bring a unique look to the typical rectangular, square-shaped frame, which, to me, adds an extra element of spooky.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DIY SPOOKY FRAMED PORTRAITS

• Frame(s) of your choice

• Printed out images/portraits of your choice

• Spray paint if a different colour/finish is desired

• Decorative craft paper of your choice

• Glue stick/glue dots/hot glue, your preference

• Very good, precise scissors

If you find frames just like mine, you will also need:

• Disposable gloves

• Pure acetone

• Hot soapy water

• Goo Gone/Goof-Off

• Wire brush

• Wash basin

HOW TO DIY BEETLEJUICE-INSPIRED FRAMED PORTRAITS

My chosen frames were a little different than what you may find on your hunt, but I still wanted to share my process in case you find similar style frames. These frames are literally vintage, metal, and the images inside are actually adhered to the oval shape of the glass. So, as you could imagine, once I took the backing off the frames, I almost gave up and wanted to find another frame option. However, I knew how perfect these frames were going to be for the spooky aesthetic I wanted, so I persevered!

Step 1: Remove the adhered image with pure acetone. I essentially created a pool of acetone in each oval and let it sit over each area for several minutes, until I could sort of scrape it off.

Step 2: Once it was evident that the adhered paper was lifting off, I used a wire brush to start working it off more.

Step 3: I coated the glass with a sticky residue solvent such as "Goon-Gone" to break down the leftover adhesive as best as it could.

Step 4: I filled a basin up with hot soapy water and soaked the glass in it until the water had cooled off.

Step 5: I then used a scrub brush to remove the last of the residue.

The Next steps are likely where you will start if you don't have pesky vintage frames like I did!

Step 6: Print off your chosen image(s) to fit the size of your frame(s).

Step 7: The tedious step of cutting out every hair and point of your image. To achieve a 3D effect, I took the time to cut around every part of each character's silhouette, so that once it sits on the patterned paper, it will stand out more.

Step 8: Glue your cut-out image to your chosen craft paper, and cut it to match the size of your frame. I just used striped scrapbook paper from a Halloween-themed paper pack I already had, but you can visit Michael's or a scrapbook store to find tons of designs.

Step 9: Spray paint your frames, if desired. I also think using Rub' n' Buff product would look amazing as well. Let dry.

Step 10: Add your portrait(s) to your new spooky frame(s) and hang!

MID-CENTURY MODERN HAUNTED MANOR DIY

Barbie gets a spooky makeover! Well, this definitely isn't for Barbie anymore, but it started as her hot pink, three-storey pad. I picked up this playhouse from my local thrift store for $11.99, and I was thrilled when I saw it. The spooky house ideas were flooding!

Not only was this going to be a super fun craft project for me, but it was also a great way to utilize all my random bits and bobs I had in my Halloween craft bin. Leftover skulls, pumpkins, mini hay bales, and more that I didn't have any use for finally had a place and a purpose.

I am a sucker for Mid-Century Modern design, so I wanted to incorporate that style into this haunted manor as well. I created faux rugs that resemble shag carpets, hung disco balls, and plants around the house. I think it's adorable!

Along with thrifting this house, I also visited my local "Dollar Tree" store and picked up some tiny dollhouse furniture packs and battery-powered string lights for only $1.25 each. I previously picked up a pack of miniature disco balls for free at the local recycling shop, and everything else, I already had!

WHAT YOU NEED TO DIY A HAUNTED MANOR PLAYHOUSE

• Toy playhouse of your choice. Thrifted is great!

• Black spray paint or paint of choice

• Fabric of choice for carpet and/or rugs

• Playhouse mini furniture of choice

• Mini-sized Halloween craft items of choice

• Battery-powered mini string lights

• Paint of choice and paint brushes

• Gilding wax or Rub'N'Buff

• Halloween spider webs

• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

• Scissors

• Whatever else you want to incorporate!

HOW TO GET STARTED

I can't really say there's a right or wrong way to do this fun DIY, as it will be customized to your needs! Everyone will want their own style, will find their own type of props, etc. However, this was my general how-to step-by-step, and the materials I used.

Step 1: Remove anything from your playhouse that will get in the way of your spooky plans, such as stickers of backgrounds or floors.

Step 2: Clean the plastic surfaces well with soap and water to ensure the paint will adhere nicely.

Step 3: Spray paint the entire house in your chosen colour. I went with 100% black. Let dry.

I also spray-painted all my mini furniture pieces gold to make them stand out from the black of the house.

Step 4: I glued a bunch of plastic bones from Dollar Tree to the exterior columns of the house as a spooky accent, as well as to most of the furniture pieces.

Step 4: To incorporate the gold of the mini furniture pieces, I used gold gilding wax with a small brush to graze over all the details of the house, such as window openings, the roof shingles, and the newly added bone features. This helped bring back the details since painting everything black can make it look flat and non-dimensional.

Step 5: After everything had settled, I began creating carpet, rugs, and accents for my furniture pieces, including pillows/cushions. I painted some wood cut-out pumpkins orange to use as wall hangings, added some gilding wax to the pumpkins and other furniture items to give them more dimension as well.

Tip: To make the carpet and rugs, I simply grabbed different types of material scraps I already had, including a gold crushed velvet and a chartreuse green low velvet that worked perfectly as carpet. I simply did the same with the rugs, but I picked patterned material and cut it out in circles or rectangles to resemble the shape of an area rug.

Step 6: First, I glued down all my carpet pieces with hot glue. After if cooled, I started sorting my furniture out in each room until I was happy with the layout, then I began to hot glue each piece down in its scene. Wherever I had a rug, I would glue that down first, of course.

Step 7: Adding accessories! I added pumpkins, skulls, bones, a cauldron, hay bales, fake moss to the roof, a starburst pattern to the front door, and vines growing up the outside of the manor. I just had fun placing everything where I thought it would be best.

Tip: To keep the moss in place, I used a very sticky hairspray and doused it until it became stiff.

Step 8: Final touches. I added three mini disco balls to the roof, where the cutout for the handle is located. I used clear string wire from the Dollar Tree (meant for making bracelets), hung them at different heights, tied a few knots to hold the wire in place, and added a touch of hot glue to secure them. I followed up by adding some moss to cover the ties. I hot-glued a rubber bat to the roof peak, and added whatever else I saw fit. I haven't added my twinkle lights or cobwebs yet, but I will soon.

2-Step Spooky Flower Vase

SO EASY!!

A spooky DIY you can achieve in less than 20 minutes, and with minimal supplies. This spooky flower vase is a quick and easy addition to a witchy-themed space, a gothic-themed space, or any Halloween-themed decor.

I found this vase for free at my local recycling shop, where everything is free, always. I visited my local Dollartree store to pick up these Halloween and fall faux flowers, and the other supplies needed, I already had in my collection. I knew this could be a simple DIY decor piece to add to my witch's cottage-themed entrance last year, and it certainly was!

WHAT YOU NEED TO DIY A SPOOKY FLOWER VASE

• Plant/flower vase of your choice

• Faux flowers/foilage of choicefoliage

• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

• Spray paint of choice

• Flower foam block to stick flower stems into, rocks would work too

HOW TO DIY A SPOOKY FLOWER VASE

Step 1: Source your flower/plant vase. You can buy a new one, or thrift one, or maybe you have an old one in your basement or shed!

Step 2: BEWARE OF HOT GLUE DRIPPING! DON'T BURN YOURSELF!

Use your hot glue gun to draw out a design on your vase. Anything you want to pop off your vase, whether it be spiderwebs like mine, or perhaps tree branches, or tombstones!

Step 3: Once your glue design has dried, simply take it outside on some cardboard or foam, and spray paint over the entire vase. I also sprayed the inside of my vase.

Step 4: Add your flowers or foliage, and that's it! So stinkin' easy!

I hope these quick, spooky, and affordable Halloween DIYs inspired you to get a head start on your own Halloween decorating plans! Spooky season is approaching fast!

-Ol' Bettie DIY