This has been floating around the intartubes for a while now, but it’s worth a mention here anyway.

Ned Stark’s death and subsequent head-on-a-stake-ness was a big deal in Game of Thrones, and when Jennifer of Not Your Momma’s Cookie saw the teaser poster for Season 2, she thought, quote, “it kind of looks like a cake pop.” She is clearly our kind of person.

So she made some Ned Stark Cake Pops and they are just adorably macabre. Using wooden skewers as “stakes” is a great idea, and the red candy-melt blood around the base of the neck is a nice touch.

Even if you aren’t a GoT fan, the same idea could be used for other themes: Vlad Tepes wasn’t called “the Impaler” for nothing, and a field of staked heads would be a fine addition to a Transylvanian party. You could also do a voodoo theme with staked skulls (Bakerella has done skull pops for Halloween–about halfway down the page) and shrunken heads, or serve pretty blonde victims at a slasher-movie marathon.

Jennifer’s method uses Bakerella’s–who is pretty much the queen of cake pops–red velvet recipe. You can also find her base recipe here, and check out her site’s cake pops category for more decorating inspiration. (Come to think of it, a bunch of reindeer heads staked on candy canes would be an amusing “Santa Finally Snaps” Christmas party idea.)

(Hat tip to Sisifo)

I’m enormously taken with this splendidly simple cake-decorating idea from Dessert by Candy: A little bit of cookie-crumb “dirt” and some fingers made from marzipan turn a plain cake into something marvelously creepy.

She provides a recipe for the cake she made, but you could substitute your own favorite recipe. I quite like the smooth, shiny look of the dark-chocolate glaze, but regular frosting (or fondant, if you want a smooth surface but not a glaze) could be used instead.

Instead of marzipan, the fingers could be made of fondant or white modeling chocolate (which is what I initially thought they were), and could also be the “witch finger” cookies for which recipes abound: Some good-looking ones are here and here.

The ghostly-white color is nice, but you could also use food coloring to tint your marzipan/chocolate/fondant either a more natural flesh tone or a zombie-esque green. I do think that the sliced almonds would look a bit more natural pressed slightly into the backs of the fingers rather than perched on top.

In addition to being a fairly fast and easy way to spook up a cake, this has the advantage of looking rather elegant instead of going for the gross-out factor. It would be a fine dessert for a grown-up Halloween party.

I ran across this on Pinterest and originally thought it was a brooch. It’s not–it’s a painting by deviantART member reality-must-die–but there’s no reason why it couldn’t be.

Eyes for taxidermy and crafting are available in a huge variety of styles from places like Van Dyke’s, GlassEyes.com, and GlassEyesOnline. If you want to be particularly faithful to the painting you can find glass eyes complete with veining, but you could also choose reptile, cat, bird, or even fish eyes instead.

You can find spider-shaped bases for brooches, rings, and other items at jewelry-making supply shops, but it’d be just about as easy to find a cheap premade brooch like this one, pop off the existing “gem,” and substitute your eyeball of choice.

If you prefer to make the whole spider from scratch, google “beaded spider tutorial” to find a zillion ideas for making spider jewelry: Instructables, and Shawkl, and Reverie & Revival all have nice examples, and Beading Gem has a roundup.

You could make one large one as a “statement” accessory, or run a whole bunch of little ones along a hat brim or around your collar. The eyeball adds a whole ‘nother layer of creepiness.

(via Maven)

There are all kinds of Olympic-inspired arts and crafts buzzing around the Web right now, including these lemony Olympic Torch Cupcakes over at Stasy.com.

Even if you’re less-than-enthralled by the Olympics, the same general idea could easily be turned to darker ends.* The “torches” could be used as-is for a Game of Thrones viewing party or similar event. The sugar shards could also be used as flames around regular cupcakes to make “witch’s cauldrons:” Ice the sides with black and the tops with green, and decorate the tops with gummi worms or other “brew” ingredients.

It might also be fun to bake the cupcakes in an egg-shaped pan and then use the yellow icing and sugar flames to make Harry Potter-esque “phoenix eggs.”

(via CRAFT)

*Muwahahahahaha.

I’ve run into paperback-cover wallets elsewhere, but they’re always just the length of the cover and thus don’t have a lot of capacity. I came up with a different method which extends the wallet into a trifold with lots of storage space, plus it shows off more of the cover even when folded. Now you can turn your favorite spooky paperback cover into a functional wallet.

Full instructions are here.

It’s time to start thinking about pre-Halloween preparation! (Actually, I start thinking about pre-Halloween preparation on November 1, but that may just be me.)

Over at the Halloween Drinks blog, Scott believes he’s perfected the art of homemade pumpkin liqueur. I might question his use of canned pumpkin pie mix instead of plain canned pumpkin because the latter would give you more control over the spices, but it looks like he’s put a whoooole lot of experimentation into the project.

The liqueur takes three weeks to mature, so plan ahead. (If you’re really in a hurry, he’s also got a one-hour version which would be perfect as a last-minute hostess gift.)

There are plenty of other variations out there, including ones that use pumpkin juice* and roasted pumpkin, so there’s plenty of room for additional experimentation. Once you find a variation you like, google “pumpkin cocktail” to find plenty of drinks which feature the liqueur.

I really like Scott’s bottling idea, with custom-printed labels and novelty stoppers, but there are a zillion other packaging options. One nice presentation would be a recycled wine bottle decorated with a pumpkin bottle collar. You could also paint or etch a bottle with a motif of your choice, or glue ribbons on the outside.

*Life is too short to juice a pumpkin.

Metal folk-art nichos are a common part of Dia de Los Muertos shrines for the dead, and usually display either religious icons or photographs of the deceased person being honored.

Crafting for Cheapskates has a dynamite tutorial for making “tin” nichos out of disposable aluminum baking pans. The instructions are super-easy, with lots of suggestions for optional embellishment, plus work-arounds for those of a less-artistic bent.

Nichos are often on the colorful-shading-into-garish side, so in addition to the paint/nail polish the tutorial suggests you could also glue on sequins, fake jewels, or bits of metallic fabric trim.

These are cheap and easy enough that you could experiment with a range of shapes and decorations, and they’d make an interesting group craft too: Invite some friends over for dinner and altar-making. It’d also be a good project for kids; you could cut the basic shapes in advance and let them etch lines and dots with something blunt-ish like a ballpoint pen. (Particularly with kids, the intent doesn’t have to be “honoring a dead thing” so much as “paying homage to something you love.”)

Set them up in a shrine, hang them on your wall, or mass them on an end table. You could even make small ones and use them as holiday ornaments.

Minico has a tutorial (which is almost too easy to deserve the name) for weaving paper strips into pixellated “Space Invaders.” They’re cute and certainly simple–and cheap!–to make.

Something else that translates well into pixels are cross-stitch patterns, with the single caveat being that this paper-weaving method only allows one color per line. Simple designs like skulls and spiders are readily adaptable, and you could either weave with a single color of paper or alternate colors on each line for an interesting striped effect.

These would add a decorative touch to all kinds of things; they’d be nice as a gift topper or homemade greeting card, or just frame a bunch for a quick and interesting accent. You could also use ribbon instead of paper strips, carefully iron the result onto a bit of fusible webbing, and use it for everything from decorating clothing to covering the lid on a jar of preserves. Varying the width of the strips will change the size of the finished piece, so you can make something as large or small as desired: You could, for example, use wide fabric strips to decorate the side of a tote bag and then do the same design with much narrower strips to make a matching wallet.

Making these would be a fun group activity, especially for kids, since the only real skill required is the ability to count.

(via Geek Crafts)

Homemade bath beads are a super-easy project that are nice as a gift or simply to indulge yourself. They’re also a good way to use a favorite scented herb.

Here are two recipes, one for a milk-based bath and one for a diffusing oil. Everything for the first one (with the exception of the essential oil) should be available at your local grocery store. The citric acid and oils for the second recipe can be found at health food stores or online. Essential and fragrance oils are widely available at craft stores and online.

Milk Bath Beads

Ingredients
1 C powdered milk; you can use powdered goat’s milk if you’re feeling indulgent, but plain dry milk powder works fine.
1/4 C borax powder
1/4 C cornstarch
2-4 T strong herb tea (see below)
10-20 drops essential oil or fragrance oil of your choice (see below)
2-3 drops food coloring (optional)

To make the herb tea, cover about 1/4 C of dried herbs with 1/2 C boiling water, let steep for 10 minutes, then strain and cool. Strongly-scented herbs such as lavender or peppermint will provide the most fragrance, but you can use any herb that appeals to you, from dried rose petals to green tea. (Make sure that whatever plant material you choose isn’t a skin irritant, and if you collect it from your garden ensure that it hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals.)

Choose an essential or fragrance oil in a complementary scent, and ensure that it’s also skin-safe; some “fragrance” oils are formulated for household rather than personal use, and some essential oils can irritate skin or eyes.

Mix the milk powder, borax, and cornstarch in a bowl. In a separate small bowl mix 2 T of herb tea with about 10 drops of fragrance oil (don’t be surprised if the smell is rather strong; it will be muted quite a bit in the finished product). Mix in a few drops of food coloring if desired–using too much will throw the liquid ratio off and could potentially stain the tub, so if you want a really deep color use a little soap pigment instead. Thoroughly blend this liquid into the dry ingredients, adding small amounts of additional tea if necessary, until it reaches a claylike consistency. Be careful not to add too much liquid or the mixture will turn to sludge. Add a few more drops of fragrance if the scent isn’t strong enough to suit you.

To form balls, roll the dough into pieces about the size of a golf ball; if you’re making a lot of them you might want to wear latex gloves to prevent skin irritation. You can also shape the balls using something like a fillable plastic ornament as a mold; rub the inside with a bit of vegetable oil to help the dough release. Dry the balls on waxed paper for 24-48 hours depending on size, until firm to the touch. Store in an airtight container. To use, simply toss in warm bath water and let it dissolve.

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The fabulous JoAsakura pointed me to these splendid “bloody rose” cupcakes inspired by the “painting the roses red” bit from Alice in Wonderland. There’s another photo at the artist’s deviantART page, where she notes in a comment that the roses were made of buttercream piped with a #104 tip.

Even though icing roses look complicated, they’re actually fairly straightforward to make. Wilton (which also sells the tip) has tutorials for two separate methods: Roses, made of individual petals, and Ribbon Roses, which use one long ribbon of icing. You can also find dozens of other tutorials with different techniques and different finished shapes by googling “how to make frosting roses:” This one creates a fairly detailed rose and this one results in a more impressionistic, freeform shape.

The roses in most examples are a bit more upright than the ones in the photo, so to cover an entire cupcake you’d either need to make a lot more rows of petals and thus use a lot more icing (a cupcake with more icing? The horror!) or ease the petals outward so they lie more flatly against the surface. Most tutorials also suggest the use of a rose nail, but I expect you could make ’em right on the cupcake instead.

The “blood” appears to simply be red food coloring, although it might be red with a drop or two of black mixed in to darken it a touch. (The scarlet baking cups are a nice detail, too.)

These would be a lovely addition to a party table. Instead of cupcakes you could also do a rose-covered cake, such as the one in the tutorial mentioned above, or one like Wilton’s Row of Roses.

(Thanks, JoAsakura!)