This is a very squee-worthy project indeed. Jessica of Running with Scissors created these adorable little dragon tails (or dinosaur tails if your kid is more down with Velociraptor than Smaug) with easy-on Velcro waist straps.

Her tutorial has detailed instructions and lots of photos, plus several suggestions for variations. They’re mostly made out of scrap fabric, so you may already have the required materials on hand. These would be a great addition to a dress-up closet, and you could run up several and keep them around for playdates. (Or, y’know, wear them yourself when you’re home alone.)

This is also a nice, simple design for any Halloween costume requiring a tail, and could also serve as the base for a last-minute costume: Just add similar spikes to a matching sweatshirt.

Cute! Easy! Yay!

Noted cephalopod enthusiast P.Z. Myers recently posted this cute little hair clip featuring a squid with ponytail tentacles.

Obviously, the only thing to do is make a similar one featuring Cthulhu.

A short, silly tutorial is here.

I’m rather taken with this “dripping blood” address marker from Speedcult. It’s powder-coated metal and is available in several colors.

I wonder, however, if it might be possible to DIY something a bit cheaper. Spooky fonts, either “dripping” or something more formally gothic, are widely available at places like Fontspace. The appropriate numbers could be printed and used as stencils, and the marker cut out of wood or acrylic. If you don’t have woodworking tools, you could also make an address plaque using a dremel tool. Paint as desired.

The same technique could also be used to create “messages” as interior decoration. I think “redrum” would be particularly entertaining hung in the bathroom.

p.s. – Be sure to check out some of the other stuff in Speedcult’s “gothic” category, like this cute bat key holder.

(via Midnight in the Garden of Evil)

Here’s a rich source of inspiration: The Portuguese site Vampyre Rag Dolls creates cute little dolls dressed up in a variety of gothic fashions. Each comes packed in a uniquely-decorated cardboard box with a coffin-shaped display window.

As nearly as I can tell the dolls are only sold locally, but if you don’t happen to be in Portugal it should be reasonably easy to DIY something similar. Googling “how to make a rag doll” turns up about a bazillion hits, so you can choose whatever method suits you (this one includes a pattern and easy instructions). Add the features (and fangs) with embroidery, fabric paint, or permanent markers.

Depending upon your skill and ambition, you can sew appropriate clothing or simply cut out simple shapes and glue them in place. Felt is good for the latter approach since it doesn’t ravel at the edges, but you can also fake-hem fabric with Fabri-Tac or other fabric adhesive. Embellish with ribbon, bits of lace, and beads as desired.

There are also free templates available for the boxes the vampires are, um, interred in. Search for “handle box template” to turn up lots of variations (the one about halfway down the page here is nice). Before assembling the box, cut a coffin-shaped window insert in the front with a craft knife. Decorate the rest of the box with paint, stickers, glitter, or whatever embellishments suit you. Cut a piece of transparent plastic (either from a craft store or cannibalized from commercial packaging) slightly larger than the window opening, place it over the hole (on the side that will face inward), and fasten in place with tape or glue. Put it together and introduce your vampire to its new home.

These would be fun to personalize as gifts, with the clothing and box decorations matching the recipient’s taste. It would also be neat to do a series of dolls, each depicting a different vampire from literature.

(via Geek Crafts)

Spring is fast approaching in this hemisphere, and if you’re anything like me you’re being inundated by seed catalogs in the mail. If you’ve got some extra room in your garden, you might want to try growing some jewelry gourds for projects like these cute little placecard holders.*

These would be adorable for a Halloween party, or as placecards/favors for a wedding. There are several steps involved but none of them are difficult, and you could set up an assembly line to turn out a lot of them fairly quickly.

The variation in gourds will make each one unique anyway, but if you aren’t making a whole bunch of them you could add more detail and/or personalization; I think the skeletons would be particularly cute painted up like sugar skulls.

Obviously, you could also use the basic idea to create creatures other than the skeleton and witch shown in the instructions: The gourd could be the head of a dragon or the body of an octopus. You could also use the long bit as the nose (like for the witch) but turn it into a Nosferatu-esque vampire instead. For a kids’ party, it might also be fun to provide pre-drilled gourds, pipe cleaners, and paint and let them design their own creation.

Apparently the gourds are very popular for making jewelry and other crafts, so if you have any left over just google “jewelry gourds” for other projects. Little skull earrings might be especially cute.

*Incidentally, after some research I discovered that jewelry gourds are actually called Tennesee Spinners. If you don’t want to grow them yourself, you can find them lots of places online, like here and here.

Made with a foam wreath form, some satin ribbon, and a piece of lacy fabric. Project cost: $3. Whoa.

The blogger used some lace from a damaged jacket, but stretchy lace is easy to find at fabric stores (if you’re like me, you’ve probably got some scraps left over from other projects lurking in your sewing room).

She doesn’t provide a lot of detail about adding the lace covering, but her description, “I cut a circle out of the lace jacket a few inches larger than the wreath and snipped and stretched and maneuvered it to cover the front and sides,” sounds overly complicated. I think it would be easier to sew the lace into a tube, place the seam at the back, and hide the open ends under the ribbon tie at the top.

Her instructions for making the outer petals of the flower are pretty straightforward, and if you aren’t sure how to make a ribbon rose for the center, this video makes it easy.

This is a gorgeous decoration for a door, and a bunch of them laid flat would make interesting table centerpieces at a wedding reception.

(via Creepy Cupcakes)

Just look at these beauties.

The amusingly-monikered AngryRedhead put up a wonderful tutorial on Instructables, describing how to “hack” a pair of inexpensive pumps using spray paint and a substance called Sugru. I’d never heard of the latter, but a quick search tells me that Sugru is a type of silicone that can be used like modeling clay. It’s waterproof, self-adhesive to lots of materials (including metal, glass, ceramic, and plastic), self-curing, and dishwasher-safe. Suddenly I can think of a lot of uses for this stuff beyond adding horns to shoes.

Regardless, I just adore the shoes, particularly given the relative simplicity of the technique. I’d never considered using spray paint to decorate shoes, and I love the idea of customizing a boring pair of pumps so easily.

The Sugru appears to be fairly lightweight and won’t crack like polymer clay, so you could probably use it all over the shoe to create something like trailing vines (or tentacles).

I like the idea of pumps decorated with stenciled spiderwebs and a couple of Sugru spiders. You could also use primary colors and trick your shoes out to look like Dia de los Muertos sugar skulls.

Incidentally, the end of the tutorial also includes a brief look at adding horns to a pair of men’s sneakers, so guys can have fun with the concept as well. (Some matching his-and-hers shoes would be fun to wear out clubbing.)

(via CRAFT)

Etsy sller marywibis sells these elegantly spooky cloth napkins,* and though they might seem rather expensive at $50 for 6, given the cost of a basic silkscreening kit (Amazon | DIY) the price is more or less a wash.

I do like the look of custom napkins, and it might be possible to do simple designs using a stencil and fabric paint rather than silkscreening them. This would make it easier to do several designs in the same set, although given how frequently napkins tend to be laundered I do wonder how long the paint would hold up.

I’d never really considered the notion of silkscreening napkins; if you’re considering silkscreening as a hobby, a reasonably simple project like this might be a good introduction. (Or, y’know, just buy ’em pre-made.)

*Bonus link: Check out this lovely Black Widow Decanter and matching glasses from the same vendor.

Yes, yes, I realize Christmas is over. This is for next year.

I have made no secret of my esteem for Dave Lowe’s imagination and creativity. He builds all sorts of marvelously whimsical props, decorative objects, and random tchotchkes which frequently include little inside jokes involving pop culture (like the Bumble Tooth he did last year).

For Christmas this year he gave members of his family various “relics,” all of which were based on stories or movies they liked as kids. There’s a keepsake box with some yellow brick wrapped in blue gingham, a telegram alerting General Mann that the Martians have landed, a unicorn horn, a London Times newspaper clipping advertising for a nanny, and several more. They’re all just lovely.

This would be a splendid project to do for one’s own family, particularly since it’s the sort of thing that can be worked on whenever you have a little spare time. Depending upon your particular crafting skills, a representative gift might be as simple as an aged piece of paper in a frame (a page, say, from Jonathan Harker’s diary) or a full-fledged prop with many pieces (a vampire-hunting kit containing appropriately-aged stakes, mallet, holy water, Latin prayer book, etc.).

I’ve definitely got a few ideas for my own relatives, particularly my dad, who is seriously hung up on A Christmas Carol. A page from Scrooge and Marley’s accounts ledger and a brass lion doorknocker, and I’m in business.

I’m a huge fan of unusual book covers, whether they’re sprucing up a functional book or simply serving as a prop. Bascombe Mania has a great tutorial for making a book covered in “dragon hide,” which looks great and is both fairly inexpensive and fairly easy (two things I usually look for in a project).

This particular cover probably wouldn’t stand up to extensive handling, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for something like a journal. However, it would work great as the cover for a wedding guest book or other lightly-handled item. It would also look wonderful simply displayed on a shelf, perhaps with other faux books or various curiosities.

(via Lost in Schlock)