Well, the example is a zombie, but I think it just screams “voodoo doll.”

Art Threads has a nicely detailed tutorial for making three different pincushions from felt, including a ragged zombie with rudely-stitched wounds. Felt is great for making small items like this because you don’t have to worry about trying to turn it right-side-out after sewing; since the edges don’t fray, you can just top-stitch the whole thing and leave it right-side-out to begin with.

The tutorial has lots of cute (“cute” being a relatively term where zombies are concerned) suggestions for adding a little character to your creation; I love his itty-bitty turned-down collar and leaking brains.

You could use the basic pattern and instructions and turn out a range of creatures by changing the surface details. It would also be fun to stitch a loop of ribbon to their heads and use them as Christmas ornaments.

(via CRAFT)

Last year bumblev of Tried and True made this attractive “zombie invasion” cardigan (with downloadable pattern), and this year she decided to repurpose it into a stenciled T-shirt (I love the picture of her little boy wearing the shirt).

The tutorial is appealingly easy (little more than paper and spray paint), and if zombies aren’t your thing the same technique would work well with any image that fits nicely along the bottom of a shirt. A line of spooky trees with the occasional flitting bat might be nice, as would a row of dancing skeletons.

If you’re careful with the stencils you should be able to re-use them, so you could make similar shirts for the whole family. Cheap! Easy! My favorite kind of project.

Colleen of The Magic Bean has a wicked Christmas habit which she occasionally excuses by sharing tutorials for making wonderful things like these silhouette ornaments. My head is about to explode from the cuteness.

These striking little ornaments are made of bits of felt and trim, and are one of those marvelous projects where the result looks like you spent way more time and effort than you actually did. Once you get the hang of it, turning out lots of these with various hat colors and decorative elements should be fairly easy.

If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you could personalize the silhouettes by using photos of family members (here’s a tutorial for making silhouettes), and you could go beyond the Regency idea and experiment with other headgear and accessories. A clown hat and red pom-pom clown nose might be cute, not to mention witch hats or pioneer bonnets or whatever else appeals to you.

In addition to tree ornaments, a series of these would be attractive hung garland-style across a mantle. They’d also make wonderful gift tags, and might even be fun place cards for a dinner party. Lovely!

(via CRAFT)

Every time I almost convince myself that I have enough damn hobbies and don’t need to try my hand at polymer clay, I run into something like this.

Tala of Corvus tristis is a “multifaceted nerd” whose many hobbies do include working with polymer clay, and she has put together some lovely tutorials on making “canes” that look like skulls, eyeballs (that hair clip makes me squirm), and a suspiciously Cthulhoid octopus. Her instructions and photos are so clear that even a clueless n00b such as myself should have a shot at making something that looks reasonably decent.

If you’re able to successfully resist taking up clay as a hobby, she also sells some of her creations on Etsy.

Be sure to nose around the rest of her site as well; she’s got all kinds of interesting stuff.

(via The Zombie Crafter)

It’s stuff like this that really makes me wish I were better at crochet. Crafty Lady Abby makes scarves with spiders, skulls, bats, orange-and-black stripes, and all manner of other loveliness. I really like the subtlety of the spooky patterns; they just look like straightforward scarves until you spot the design.

The post doesn’t offer tutorials, but she points to a pattern for one design and her photos are clear enough that someone familiar with crochet could probably figure out how to do something similar.

It’s definitely scarf weather (at least, in this hemisphere), so this should be excellent inspiration to run up an eerie accessory for yourself or as a gift.

Bonus: Be sure to check out the tutorials she did for Skull-A-Day. I especially love this fan.

(via Creepy Cupcakes)

There’s not a whole lot of time left to make Halloween decorations, but this gorgeous wreath by booturtle is so easy (and cheap!) that you can probably still pull it off.

This is brilliantly simple, consisting of a styrofoam wreath wrapped in black tulle, some glittery black leaves, and a whole load of bouncy eyeballs. The decorations are secured to the styrofoam using pins, so there isn’t even any gluing.

Check out the whole how-to here, and be sure to browse the rest of the blog for lots of other great decorating ideas. I particularly love these painted glass luminaries.

(via CRAFT)

It’s the time of year when upscale retail sites rather self-consciously trot out their Halloween collections. I generally don’t give them much thought, since I figure if you want to spend 300 bucks on a wall hanging that’s your own business.

Occasionally, though, I’ll run across something where the the price is so outrageous, where a DIY version would be so simple, that it just makes me wince. The Beaded Pumpkins from Horchow are such an item. These are resin pumpkins with beads glued on. They are $195 + shipping. Apparently P.T. Barnum was misquoted because it is clear that what he actually said was, “There’s a sucker born every minute, and then they go buy pumpkins at Horchow.” Ye gods.

If you’d like to have something similar a whole hell of a lot cheaper, do this:

1. Get yourself a Funkin or other craft pumpkin. (If you can wait until after Halloween to do this project, craft stores often have them on clearance.)
2. If desired, paint the pumpkin–use something that won’t melt foam–and let dry.
3. Use a pencil to very lightly sketch your desired design onto the pumpkin; you should be able to erase mistakes without much trouble.
4. Glue rhinestones, crystals, or other flat-backed beads over the pencil lines. You can often find self-stick rhinestones that already have adhesive, but you can also use a hot glue gun or a good-quality glue like Gorilla Glue. Let dry.
5. Lie to visitors about how much your gorgeous pumpkin decorations cost.

You can google around for appealing designs; here are some nice ones from Better Homes and Gardens:

Black Rhinestone Spirals
Rhinestone Spiderweb
Silver Swirls
Sequins

Attractive, easy, and at a tiny fraction of the cost of the commercial ones.

Okay, technically you could do this with any image, but c’mon…skulls!

Designer Mark Montano has written the Big-Ass Book of Crafts, and is sharing some of the projects on his blog. He includes this easy tutorial for making fantastic-looking glass plates with a skull motif.

The instructions are extremely straightforward, and the result is just stunning. With a selection of clipart and some paint, you could make an entire set of gorgeous themed dinnerware very inexpensively.

I’d love to see this done with some old woodcuts or vintage anatomical illustrations.

(via CRAFT)

Here’s a brilliant use for a bunch of thrift-store belts: a fantastic Edward Scissorhands-style cincher.

craftygoths member hkcreations riveted them together using leather strips that she cut and dyed herself. If you want to use the same technique you’ll need a few specialized tools: CRAFT has a great article on making a dog collar which discusses the same kind of leather-working equipment you would need for this project, and the accompanying photos will give you a pretty clear idea of how to attach the strips to the belts. (As a bonus, you can use the same equipment and technique to make your own studded collars and bracelets.)

If you don’t want to invest in a lot of tools, you could hand-rivet or sew the belts together (use pieces of an extra belt for the leather strips): This post has a short overview of different ways to join leather, but the basic idea is to punch a hole with an awl and then stitch or rivet through it. (If you’re brand-new to working with leather, get an extra belt or two at the thrift store and use them for practice.)

This is a wonderful project: Inexpensive, fairly easy, and a really striking result. Lovely!

This is one of those simple, brilliant ideas where you smack yourself in the forehead and wonder why you’d never thought of it before. Over at Kootoyoo, Kirsty has a super-easy tutorial for making pretty “lanterns” out of jars, a recycled lace tablecloth, and some LED tea lights.

These would be great as centerpieces for an evening wedding reception, or just to add a little ambience to a room.

The tea lights she mentions seem a little on the pricey side ($10 AU = about $9 US), which may just be the brand she’s using; these appear to be about the same price. If they’re really long-lasting the price might be worth it if you plan to use the lanterns often, but for a one-off event like a reception you could probably get away with the much-cheaper (around $1 apiece) flickering tea lights often sold at craft stores. (If you don’t like flickering, there are also these, which are slightly more expensive but have the advantage of being submersible.) I really do love the idea of using electric lights rather than something that gets hot; it definitely expands the number of ways you could display the lanterns.

Kirsty’s tutorial also involves sewing the lace into a tube and slipping it over the jar. If you’re really hopeless with sewing (or if you use an oddly-shaped jar), you could also hot-glue the lace in position. Glue a pretty piece of ribbon or other decoration over the seam to conceal it.

A whole bunch of these massed together would be a very striking decorative focal point, particularly if you varied the jar size and the lace pattern.

(via CRAFT)