Three Creepy Crafts for Halloween

Add a dash of ‘haunted’ to your house
By Rue Reynold

Place a few spiders inside the tights and stuff the tights with cotton, creating a slightly malformed ball. The spiders should be pressed in so they’re visible from outside of the tights.
Insert and spread out more spiders into the cotton, pressing them into the tights until the “sack” appears full and ready to burst.
Cut the tights and use a portion to tie off the sack.
Glue a few spiders on the outside of the sack. Pull the spider web thin and wrap around the egg sack to lend more authenticity. Hang the sack where visitors will be sure to see it!

Replace the frame photos with black and white images, preferably ones with a vintage or eerie look.
Dip the tip of your brush into the paint and remove excess.
Lightly dust the brush over the frame with random strokes and deep presses. Repeat steps around the frame until you’ve achieved an “old” or “distressed” effect.
Drizzle fake blood around the edges of the frame or onto the photo pane itself. Let it drip naturally for a more realistic look.

Cover your work area with an old cloth or parchment paper. Take everything out of the frame.
Fill your spray bottle with water and adjust to the mist setting.
Clean the glass with alcohol. Wear gloves to protect your hands.
With glass lying flat on the working area, lightly spray a fine mist of water on the glass.
Spray a very fine dusting of the silver paint evenly on the same side of glass. Repeat 2–3 times, alternating between spraying water and paint, pausing briefly in between sprays to allow paint to dry.
Check the opposite side of the glass after a few layers to check on progress and repeat watering and painting as many times as needed to create your desired effect.
See “Petrifying Portraits” for instructions on how to age your frame to better match your old mirror.
Once the frame is dry, place the glass back into the frame with the painted side facing the backing of the frame.