Halloween decorating projects: glittered skull & make-your-own tombstones

I have been thinking about buying a few Halloween decoration items in stores but wanted to try and find a way to make them for a fraction of the store's prices. One item was a skull and the second were the lawn tombstones, both items requested by the three boys who reside here.
I went to the craft store and found a paper mache skull for 99 cents and set out to make my own. With a little black paint, Mod Podge, foam paint brush and black glitter- all of which I already had- it was a success! I saved about $6.00 on this project and about an hour of my time! I had glittered quite a few pumpkins last year, so I decided a glittered skull would be neat.

To glitter the skull, I just added a coat of Mod Podge and sprinkled the black glitter; continuing to move around the entire skull until it was coated. (You can paint it black, first. I just decided to glitter it as is and paint the inside black so you couldn't see the newspaper.

After the entire skull is covered with glitter, I use a super-inexpensive aerosol hairspray to keep the glitter from getting all over.

Next, were the tombstones the boys had been asking us to buy for the front yard. I looked at the ones in the stores and they were made of thin foam. I had been shipped some things in the mail and hadn't yet tossed the foam packing; I was in luck!!! Plus, the foam we used was about 1.5 to 2" thick. I simply sketched 5 different tombstones on the foam and cut them out with a saw. As you can see, it is far from perfect.

Next, I painted them grey using acrylic paints (the really inexpensive kind from craft stores). I bought 4 bottles of grey paint at 2 for $1.00. I already had black and various other colors. I coated them well with the grey paint and allowed them to dry. Next, I added some faux cracks, mossy looking stuff, black outline, etc. It was very rough looking....!

Lastly, I took a dry brush and added a lot of distressing with various colors and here is the final product! I will also use a spray protectant to protect them from rain or snow (gasp!). It has been raining so once it dries up, and I get them sprayed with the weather protector, we will put them in the yard & use stakes to secure them. We now have 5 tombstones for $2.00 that were priced in the stores between $6.00-$8.00 EACH! That means we saved $30.00-$40.00 by spending a few hours painting and we even recycled the foam that would have otherwise been tossed out!

Some of our tombstones have empitaphs instead of just the "RIP". We have "Ben Dismembered", "I. Emma Ghost", "Abby Normal" and "M.T. Tomb". Do a search on the web for halloween tombstone epitaphs and you will get a huge list! Have a fun, safe, and Happy Halloween!!

(digital pumpkin: Summertime Designs)