VHS Tapes Make Wonderful Creepy Halloween Streamers

The year we decorated our porch with strips of Dollar Store plastic tablecloths 

I loved the way the streamers draped and flounced and flared in the wind. 

The trick or treaters loved walking through the "curtains" too, 

except for one little girl who refused to even step into our yard. lol

I made the floating flying bats out of painted foam meat trays and curly wire.

So this year when we decorated the back deck with lights we wanted to add 

streamers but didn't want to fiddle around with cutting plastic tablecloths into strips.

Then we remembered that we'd used old VHS tapes 

to make a huge spider web in the yard. 

Off we go to the thrift store where we picked up this tape for a quarter. 

So, faster than you can say, "You're a streamer, Harry!" 

we had totally awesome, easy and thrifty Halloween decor

 that looks creepy and cool!

It was so EASY. 

We tied random lengths of tape to the strung lights around our deck 

and we LOVE the way it came out. A cloudy sky and little breeze 

made the shiny tape streamers look crazy spooky!

The tapes looked so cool that now we're discussing using them

 for some creepy costume ideas.Think how awesome a witch outfit would look 

with dozens of these tape streamers flowing around it?

Or a Dementor from the Harry Potter movies?

Or a Nazgul from Lord of the Rings?

Just picture this with MUCH MORE tattered streamer action!

This could be so much fun!

Grab yourself some old VHS tapes and 

go wild with your Halloween decorating!

Making a Grungy Prim Pumpkin from a Styrofoam Ball

I sold one of my primitive witch dolls on Etsy and found, when I went to pack her up, that she was missing a prim pumpkin in her basket. Vanished! I make almost all the accessories for my witch and Santa dolls so I just decided to  make another one... and for once took enough photos to capture the process. 

Yup, he's not a cute and pretty Jack like you see everywhere at Halloween. My pumpkins have character!

So here we go.....

I have a stash of styrofoam balls and grabbed one in the right size. This process will work for any size foam ball. I flattened the top and bottom with a saucer to make it less round and more pumpkiny. Then I scored it with a small paint brush handle.

Using my clay tools I carved out a face. You can also use the tip of a steak knife, an X-acto blade or anything that will give you the holes you want. Crumpled up tissue torn into small pieces will cover the curves of the ball and Mod Podge sticks it on. Use a soft paintbrush and just smooth the tissue on gently. This takes the styrofoam look away from the ball and makes it look more pumpkiny and gourdy. You know what I mean!

 Here I've used pumpkin orange and red to paint the whole pumpkin. You can let this dry naturally or, if you want a bit of warty skin texture, use your heat gun to dry the paint. Hold the heat close to the pumpkin surface and you will get a bubbly, bumpy effect in no time! Go slowly and steadily so the warts form but your styrofoam ball does not melt. Soon your paint will be dry and textured.

Next, add a bit of burnt umber paint to your pumpkin then blot it off with a rag while it is still wet. Use a damp q-tip to clean up the details. If you take off too much just put more paint on and blot, q-tip it again until you get the contrast you want.

                             

I wanted my Jack to have some grungy teeth and I used the tip of a butter knife to press them into the mouth seam. Then I added black paint deep inside the eyes and nose holes and along the mouth. Use a damp q-tip again to clean up your details but not too much. Don't worry, you can keep adding and taking away paint until you get just the right grungy prim look you are happy with!

I have a jar o' twigs in my stash and found one just for this guy. What, you don't have twigs in your stash? A stick from the yard will do or even a small  cinnamon stick. I added two silk leaves (which I grunged with a little burnt umber paint since they were too bright) and a bit of curly rusty wire to my Jack and voila!

My prim Jack looks happy in his new home and tomorrow he'll be travelling with his witchy mistress to a far city.

This process works for any size styrofoam ball and you don't have to carve them like jack o' lanterns at all. You can make some grungy primitive pumpkins for your Halloween and Thanksgiving decor. I guarantee no one will have pumpkins just like yours!