It’s Too Early, But I Can’t Help Myself: Halloween!!

My favorite time of year is coming! Nope, not summer. Or spring. Okay, I’ve got lots of favorite times of year. I mean HALLOWEEN!! I know it’s a bit early but when you DIY you need time to make things. So I started now! (You can tell I love talking about Halloween from the over-abundance of exclamation marks. Just count them).

I started with a list of Halloween crafts and domestic pursuits:

1. Costume: If you love Halloween, you need one. We figured ours out last year, and they are already made so this part was easy. All I needed was to buy face-painting makeup. I usually have to spend about 3 weeks gathering clothing and making props, etc.

2. Decorations: Always adding more! This year I have tons of ideas, and will probably do at least one more post about decorations. Check out below for what I’m working on!

3. Party: Time and date set, need to send invitations. And figure out food!

4. Get in the mood: Halloween-themed playlist made! It’s too early to watch scary movies, but October is almost here…

On to DIY decorations!! This year I’m big on Dia de los Muertos, since our party will be themed after this holiday and it’s super fun. I decided to make the traditional Catrina y Catrin figurines which seem to be part of the typical setup of decorations. On my trip to Michaels, I told myself I’d spend less than $20 and basically wandered through the store taking pictures of things, picking them up, cradling them like a baby and then returning them (negative shopping is so hard). I did finally settle on these little plastic skulls, $1.99 for a pack. They would be the head of my Catrin y Catrina.

I painted my skulls white and added flowers and other fun embellishments. Then I used a wire and a Barbie stand as the body, securing them together with bread bag ties.

See the bread bag plastic ties?

Even though they are skeletons, I wanted them to have some shape, so I wrapped the structure with plastic bags. Reusing bags yay!

It is important to note the lip-balm in the background. Never do crafts while dry-lipped! It messes with your concentration.

I found small flowers for the bouquet and for the veil, and more plastic ties for the skeleton hands.

I used white fabric scraps and lace scraps to make the dress. Added a veil, a necklace (made of beads strung on thread), and a ribbon belt. Beautiful dead bride!

I then made the Catrin the same way, sewing a suit for him and making a top hat. The top hat I made with cardboard. I cut out a circle for the brim and a rectangle which I glued into a tube for the top. I covered both with black felt, adding a felt circle on top of the tube to finish the hat. Finally I added flowers and sequins for embellishment.