Search Results for: halloween

September 24

Spooky Halloween Crafts

Designer Blair Stocker (who you might know from her fun and colorful blog, Wise Craft) has just posted a fantastic series of free craft project tutorials for Value Village — yes, that Value Village. Her projects take regular old thrift-store finds and upcycle them into striking, spooky Halloween decorations for your house, or for throwing a party!

Blair says: I wanted to use items that could be found any time of year at Value Village or other thrift store, not just during the Halloween season, so I resisted buying Halloween things, that just seemed too easy. The other thing I really wanted to do was to create projects that were “low sew” or even “no sew”, the idea being that anybody should be able to jump in and do these projects with materials they find for very little money.

The most effortlessly geeky project of the whole collection has to be these Dolls of the Living Dead. I’ve seen so many neglected Barbies at thrift stores and yard sales and this is a brilliant — and super-easy — zombie makeover to the rescue!

Blair mentioned that her personal favorite was the Sinister Ceramics — tchotkes painted black with sparkly rhinestone eyes glowing red. I love the grouping as a table centerpiece, very Edgar Allen Poe!

There are a dozen more projects to download from the site, from Peculiar Picture Frames (goth-inspired silhouettes) to Perfect Pumpkin Ornaments (which have a charming Nightmare Before Christmas feel to me). And of course you could put a very geeky spin on any of Blair’s ideas!

What are you thinking of making for Halloween parties this year?

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September 10

Lego Halloween Costume

Two years ago, CRAFT: did a fun round-up of quick and easy Halloween costumes to make for kids, and Diana Eng made a fantastic Lego costume out of a cardboard box!

You could easily adapt this to an adult size, or make a whole flock of them in different colors for you and your friends — and how cute would a toddler be Lego-ized?

For more Halloween costume ideas for kids, check out CRAFT:’s other tutorials for pirate, bee, sushi, and monkey costumes. I made the monkey one with my nephew in mind, and it’s one of my favorite projects ever!

August 25

Kill Bill Halloween Costume

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In honor of my movie-geekness (and love of all things Tarantino) I am featuring this amazing Kill Bill Halloween Costume I found on Flickr because it’s awesome and a little too soon for any good Inglourious Basterds costumes. FlemingBonaparte made this GoGo Yubari costume a couple years ago for Halloween. It appears doable with some decent thrift store finds, some tinfoil and enough creativity to get a wooden plank to stick to the side of your head. I love it!

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October 23

Quickie Halloween Costumes: T-shirts

Chewbacca T-shirt

Ok, not really a craft, but if you’re lazy and a procrastinator, or just like to laugh, take a look at the Top 20 Halloween Costume T Shirts – for those times when you must dress up but just feel line wearing a tee. Many are quite geeky like the Chewbacca tee above.

Maybe these will give you some ideas on some to make yourself. (Do share!)

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March 7

Batman’s Original Utility Belt Was Made Out of Sponges

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Who didn’t want to own a Batman utility belt as a kid? In the 1960s, the Ideal Toy Company manufactured one for purchase, complete with Bat-Cuffs and “Bat-A-Rang.” It was fun but looked nothing like its TV counterpart. The bright yellow, pouch covered belt hanging around Adam West’s waist was an iconic part of his Batman outfit.

Let’s peek into the Batcave closet and take a closer look at the secrets of the belt. There were several versions and add-ons during the production of Batman.

Believe it or not, one of the utility belts was made of kitchen sponges. When the show was first broadcast, such source material would never have been noticed. However, with our HD broadcasts, the detail is right there on screen. You can see the dishwashing-ready accessory up top.

Thankfully, the absorbent “pouches” were later replaced with wood blocks, sometimes covered in leather, which were then painted with yellow latex gloss paint.

The pouches were, in some cases, interchangeable to add the deep triangular pouch used to holster the Batarang on the belt. As for the tubes that are seen on the belt, those were simply wooden dowels painted and added to break up the belt a bit from the rectangular pouches.

With a little time and effort, you might be able to make yourself. So get ready, chums. Be it for cosplay, Halloween or for fun, you can make “those wonderful toys” for yourself.

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