DIY Neutral Halloween Decor

It’s day four of HalloWeek 2020 and since I’ve done three days of more “classic” Halloween decor, I thought I’d tackle a few neutral DIYs.

Neutral holiday decor has been incredible popular in 2020, it seems everyone is opting for natural tones and lots of textures, especially in fall decor (though I predict it also being popular this Christmas too).

So to tone down the spooky this week, I’m sharing three simple neutral Halloween DIYs.

DIY Macrame Skull Hanging Planter

Supplies

• Plastic skull

• Macrame cord

• Textured yarn

• Cream colored paint (I used a latex home paint sample)

• Baking soda

• Utility knife

• Candle or lighter

• Scissors

• Sandpaper

1)  I’m starting with a plastic skull, mine is from Dollar Tree. I then heated my utility blade with a candle and cut off the top of the skull. Make sure to do this in a well-ventilated area because you are melting plastic... and of course be careful with the blade and candle.

2)  After that, I gave the entire skull a good sand to rough up the plastic for paint and smooth the cut edges.

3)  Next I’m using the home paint sample in Navajo white and mixing it up with baking soda. I loved the baking soda technique in my Halloween thrift flip video, so I wanted to use it again. I just painted it onto the skull, making sure to completely cover it.

4)  I let the first coat of paint completely dry, then added a second coat and let that dry.

5)  While the skull dries, I’m going to make the macrame hanger using 8 pieces of macrame cord and 8 pieces of this chunky, textured yarn.

6)  I took a small piece of macrame cord and tied it in a gathering knot at the top. I’ll link to a tutorial that better explains this knot.

7)  I wanted to keep this macrame super simple, so first I separated all the strands into groups of 2 macrame pieces and two yarn pieces…. and as I’ve done like a dozen times on this channel already, I’m making square knots. I’ll again link a video that explains this better.

Keeping the yarn pieces in the center, I used the macrame cord to make the square knots. I made a total of 6 square knots a couple inches from the top of the plant hanger. And repeated that the remaining 3 groups of strands.

8)  Several inches down, I made two more square knots on each strand.

9)  After that, It’s time to join the groups together, I separated two groups so I had 2 yarn pieces on the outside and 2 macrame pieces on the inside. Then I made two more square knots using the yarn that join the strings together. I repeated that all the way around the plant hanger until the pieces joined together in a circle.

10)  Finally, I joined all the pieces together at the end using another gathering knot… trimmed off the excess string, and frayed the pieces of macrame cord.

DIY ‘Boo’ Bunting

Supplies

• Canvas fabric

• Black paint

• White cotton fabric

• Jute twine

• Wood beads

• Scissors

• Paint brushes

1)  Next up, I’m making a cute and simple Halloween banner or bunting. I cut out 3 pieces on canvas fabric that I had in my stash into the shape of a little banner. I left the raw edges of the fabric because I like the rustic look of it.

2)  After I cut out the buntings, I used black acrylic paint with a bit of white mixed in to paint “Boo” on the pieces. I drew each of the letters on with pencil first to help with spacing. I used a ¼” flat angle brush to paint and left the fabric show through in spots because, again, I want this to be a bit rustic and handmade looking.

3)  While the paint was drying, I wanted to make two little ghosts to act as “tassels” on the ends of my banner. I just used some scrap white fabric, cut out two squares, balled up a little scrap of the white fabric and then wrapped the square around it and secured it with a piece of jute twine. Basically making these like when you were a kid and would cover a lollipop with a tissue to make ghosts. I used the end of my paint brush to make two eyes and a mouth on the ghosts.

4)  Once all the paint is dry, it’s time to assemble the banner. First, I tied a knot on one end and added a small wood bead, then tied another knot to hold the bead in place. Next I added the first bunting. I lost this clip, but I snipped tiny holes in the corner of each bunting in order to string it onto the jute twine. I then added another knot, another bead, another knot, and then repeated all that until all the buntings and beads were on the banner. A little tip is to put tape on the end of the jute twine so it doesn’t fray.

5)  I attached the ghosts by just putting a little hot glue on their heads and sticking them to the ends of the jute twine.

DIY Textured Stack of Pumpkins

Supplies

• 3 pumpkins in different sizes

• White acrylic paint

• Dollar Tree spackling

• Latex paint

• Baking soda

• Chalk paint

• Terra cotta colored acrylic paint

• Hot glue

1)  First you’re going to need 3 different sized pumpkins. I’m starting with the middle one, which is just a Dollar Tree foam pumpkin.

2)  Next, I’m going to cover the pumpkin with Dollar Tree lightweight spackling. I found the easiest way to do this was by first rubbing the spackling into the foam pumpkin to create a thin layer and letting that dry completely. Then I could easily build onto that layer with more spackling each time. I made sure to let the spackle dry completely between each layer. It took three layers for the pumpkin to have the texture I wanted.

3)  To complete this pumpkin, I painted it with what I had leftover of the baking soda mixture I used to paint the skull at the beginning of the video.

4)  For the smallest pumpkin, I gave it three coats of regular white acrylic paint. That’s just how long it took to completely cover the orange. I did most of the painting off cam for this one, since it’s pretty self-explanatory.

5)  And for the largest pumpkin, I first gave it a base coat of white chalk paint, and let that completely dry. Then I gave it a second coat of chalk paint, this time going in with a lot of paint to add texture. I also used a dry bristle brush to add some texture to the paint.

6)  After the chalk paint dried, I mixed up a terra cotta color and painted one thick coat of paint on top.

7)  Finally, once the pumpkins were complete, I just used some hot glue to attach them all together to create a stack of pumpkins. I then reattached the stem to the top of the smallest pumpkin.

Now that does it for today! There’s just one day left to complete HalloWeek 2020. Tomorrow I will show you how I completely transformed my apartment for Halloween!

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