Before taking my family to Beetle Juice, the Musical, I wasn’t sure what our yard haunt would be this year. But after seeing the musical and remembering how much we loved the original movie, there was no question about it.
I’ve always taken certain scenes and characters from movies/shows and tried to replicate them in my own creative way. Here’s my version of the hunter, the shrunken-head man in the waiting room from the original version of Beetle Juice, and a quick tutorial of how I made him. I belong to several Halloween groups, and some call this character Bob, where others insist on his name Harry the Hunter. Creating their heads are basically the same, except for one being brown, the other blue, with little to no hair.
When I first mulled around the idea of making a Sandworm from the Beetle Juice movie, I knew how I was going to make the double-headed section, but how I was going to achieve his body sections, was another story.
I looked at other ideas – some more pricier than others – but just didn’t feel it. My creations come from my intuition/forces within, rather than any art class. I made two sections that jumped out of the ground two different ways, because the first one I created wasn’t exactly making me happy. Here’s how I made them: Continue reading →
We decided at the last minute, to zombie out for a Halloween paint class, with the help of an Instructable’s tutorial. Debbie Morrow, Copyright 2023, All Rights Reserved.
Sometimes, time and life gets away from us. Maybe you’re a procrastinator. Or maybe you just didn’t feel like dressing into a costume, and then changed your mind, at the very last minute. No worries – we’ve all been there, and I’ve got you covered. Here are some fast costumes, to whip up within 15 minutes or less.
Cereal Killer: Take a cereal box (without the contents),near the top sides, make a hole on each side. Pull a string through the holes, tying off the piece so the box can hang at your chest level. Lay the box back down on a table. If you don’t have a plastic knife from a previous costume or prop, cut a piece of cardboard into the shape of a knife, cover the handle with black duct tape. Cover the blade section with a piece of aluminum foil. Make a slit (as wide as your blade) into the front of the cereal box. Push the knife into slit, and add some red paint, or red hot glue, for blood. Then hang the box back around your neck. See image below for instruction clarity.
An illustration of how easy a cereal killer costume is made.
Stick Figure: You’ll need a white shirt, pants, and shoes. Add a straight, Black line of duct tape, going down from the neck to the crotch. Make duct tape lines for arms, legs. A white paper plate can be used as a mask. Make holes for your eyes, draw a black circle around plate, use string or elastic at ear level, to secure mask. See Money Wise Moms for a great example.
Crazy Cat Lady: If you have several small stuffed cat toys, this is simple. Tease or mess your hair to look unkept. With safety pins, pin cats all over your clothes.
Little Dead Riding Hood: Wear a red skirt with a white top, or a Red dress. Add a red hoodie. Use fake blood to make your neck look bitten. Splatter blood on your pale face, if you want. Carry a wicker basket with you.
Carrie: You’ll need a white dress, you don’t mind possibly not reusing. Make a quick prom queen sash, with wide ribbon or fabric, and if you have a tiara, that’s a plus, but not needed. Make a lot of fake blood, if you don’t have any on hand. Standing in the shower, with your entire outfit on, pour blood over your head. * If you don’t have time for the blood to dry, and need to leave, drape a moving pad, or an old blanket, over your car interior, to protect it.
Zombie (See top image): If you have white school glue, facial tissue or toilet paper, and face paints, you’re in luck! Put on some shabby or paint clothes( I think most people have at least one set), then use this technique from Instructables, to make your skin look like it is falling off.
A Fork in the Road: Find a plain, black or grey t-shirt. With either white or yellow duct tape, make the white or yellow road lines, across the front of your shirt. If you have a plastic fork on hand, use a dab of hot glue to attach it across the road lines. If you need to use a regular fork, try finding the lightest one you have, and either hot glue it, use Velcro, or you can even sew it tightly against your shirt.
An easy Fork in the Road Halloween costume, anyone can make. Image courtesy of Mysterious Gal on Instructables.
Chick Magnet: If you have a bunch of fridge magnets, take them off the fridge, and attach them to a plain-colored shirt. You can use a dab of hot glue, Velcro, or whatever you have on hand, to attach. OR you can cut out a large “U” shaped piece of cardboard, paint or duct tape it to look like a magnet, and hang around your neck.
Beach Butler: You can go shirtless, or wear a tight tank and short, shorts. Put a tool belt on, or a folded up grill apron(with pockets), tied around waist. Add suntan lotion, Aloe vera, and a wine cooler or two, in your pockets. Wear a black bow tie, and white gloves, to really get your point across.
Richard Simmons: If you have curly short hair, or have a curly wig handy, this is an easy costume. Wear a red tank, striped shorts, white calf socks, and sneakers. A wrist or a head sweat band, would work well, too!
Oppenheimer: Raid your grandfather’s, or senior friend’s closet. They will likely have everything you need, including the hat.
Smartie Pants: Wear a plain shirt, and attach Smartie candies, to a pair of plain-colored pants. If you have one, wear a graduation cap.
One Smart Cookie: Cut 2 large circles out of cardboard,(See illustration below). With a marker, draw random choc. chips, on both pieces. Use string or duct tape, and attach the cardboard cookies together, at the shoulders and waist. Make sure you leave a big enough gap for your body to be in between the pieces, so the cookie can easily be taken off and on. Wear a graduation cap.
Illustration of strap or string placement. Although only one side shown, make a waist strap on both sides of cookie.
Barbie and Ken: If you have lots of stylish, form-fitting, pink clothing, Barbie is an easy choice for you. Ken can wear beachwear.
A Spice Girl: Attach your kitchen spices, to a plain t-shirt, or on the front of a plain dress.
A Social Butterfly: Print/cut out several icons of social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. Glue or pin the icons to a solid-colored shirt. Add a pair of Dollar Tree fairy wings.
Social Butterfly costume. Image courtesy of Instagram user Ellegrrrl.
Send me your pics of your fast and easy costumes, and I’ll highlight them in a post. Happy Halloween!
Believe it or not, from all the props made this year, making Billy’s tombstone was probably the most frustrating. In hindsight, since it was my first-ever tombstone made from foam ( I know, can you believe it?), I probably should have watched a few videos from the more seasoned creators, that have. Yet, I overcame the mishaps, and learned along the way. I’ll share what I did, and what I’d change, for the next one I make.
Cracks in the earth, under Vecna from Stranger Things yard.
After seeing the last season’s episodes of Stranger Things, I knew I wanted to recreate Vecna, the lava cracks in the earth, Billy, and Max. I watched a few other creative tutorials, but as usual, I decided to make mine a little differently. The differences in my version of lava cracks vs. others I found online:
Hopper’s beard, mustache, and eye brows were all made with real dyed hair. But you’ll be surprised on what kind of hair was used.
Are you having problems finding a decent beard from your local stores or online vendors? You’re not the only one. After scouring Amazon, and other places, I felt a little desperate. I was making Hopper, from Stranger Things to go into my Halloween yard. I thought, how hard can it be to find a normal beard, that didn’t break the bank? Continue reading →
One large crack has already been fixed. The smaller one, closest to the front, still needs a quick swiping. Copyright 2021, All Rights Reserved.
So, you’ve worked hard to follow a cheesecake recipe, and maybe you even did a water bath. But as you pulled the cake out of the oven, you noticed a big crack in the center of your cheesecake? Don’t fret. You don’t have to cover it up with fruit topping, or a ganache.
If your goal is to have an aesthetically pleasing cheesecake, you’ll appreciate this quick tutorial on how to fix even several inch-wide gaps.
One of four types of vines, created for The Upside Down World. Copyright 2021, All Rights Reserved, Debbie Morrow.
After creating a Mind Flayer for my roof (tutorials Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3), I knew the creature needed something more: Vines. The Upside Down World was filled with vines that hung everywhere, and vines that attacked. They were a part of the hive mind, associated with the monsters of Stranger Things.
After scouring the web for prices on vines, it was clear: My budget couldn’t afford the 100 or more feet needed. Continue reading →
Cast a spell with the Sanderson Sisters’ Hocus Pocus cake. Image courtesy of Debbie Morrow, All Rights Reserved.
After years of watching my aunt make some amazing fondant cakes, my daughter and I thought we’d give it a try. But, instead of store bought fondant, we decided to make our own. It was less expensive, tasty, and easy to make.
This Hocus Pocus Spell Book, is the second fondant cake we’ve ever made. The first was a five-layer Pusheen Cake, that took 9 hours to make, because of so many trials and errors. But that conversation is for another post.
The baby vamp from Nightmare B4 Christmas. Copyrights reserved, Debbie Morrow
My previous post gave a tutorial on the duck that appears in the same scene as the baby vampires in The Nightmare Before Christmas (NBC) movie. Although in the movie the vampire didn’t ride inside the duck, I couldn’t help myself by making it so. It seemed like a fun and almost “Burton-ish” thing to do.
At first I looked at what others had done in their tutorials for making the vampire. They were either foam or stuffed and that just wasn’t what I was looking for. Since I was already creating more doll zombies and clowns, I sat there one night and thought, “why not turn a doll into a baby vampire?” So here is the quick tutorial to transform a plastic baby doll into a NBC vampire. Continue reading →
