Antique Mirror: Mirror Spray and Crackle Paint

Sometimes you need a nice antique mirror to finish off your mantelpiece or over your bed. For us, it's haunted parties. Whatever. With one specialized product (and a bunch of common household items) you can make your own tarnished silver antique mirror with a crackle-paint frame. Clear your afternoon, we're making antiques!

You'll Need:

• Picture frame with glass
• Krylon Looking Glass Mirror-Like Spray
• Spray Bottle
• White Vinegar
• Paper Towels
• Acrylic Paint
• White Glue
• Brushes, water, palette, etc.

Lighting (Your Pumpkin) wth Arduino

Earlier this week, we showed you how to make your own eternal jack-o-lantern. You could toss some LED candles in there or you could jack that thing up to 11...

This will be the first of (hopefully) multiple posts on using the Arduino logic control platform for various home uses. I'm not a brilliant programmer, and that's kind of the point: I'm learning the system by looking at the world, deciding what I need to happen, and figure out how to get there. As I go along, I'll discuss my thought process in here. Feel free to jump in if there's something glaringly obvious that I'm missing.

What You'll Need:

• Arduino board (I use an Uno)
• LEDs, preferably high intensity
• Assorted resistors
• Wires, soldering iron, electronics tools, etc.

Papier Mache Pumpkin

We're all about saving a buck on home décor, especially seasonal stuff where you only have it out for all of October and part of September. Or, uh, a week or two for other holidays.

But one thing you don't want to skimp on is jack-o-lanterns. These are a Halloween decorating classic, but it can get frustrating to find just the right pumpkins every year and painstakingly craft a new spooky face or pop culture reference. So why not make a permanent one? Yes, you could go nab one of those foam carver's pumpkins at a hobby store, but what if I told you that you can get awesome permanent pumpkins for almost nothing? It takes a little creativity, a little time, and a lot of getting your hands messy. Let's get started.

You'll Need:

• Empty plastic bags (lots of them)
• Masking tape
• A permanent marker
• Flour
• White glue
• Liquid starch
• Newspaper
• Thin cardboard
• Hot glue gun
• (Optional) Cellulose fiber insulation
• (Optional) Drywall joint compound, pre-mixed
• (Optional) Dedicated craft blender

Side Table Graveyard

Halloween season, folks. Some will say that there's only a month until Halloween, but purists know that it's 13 months until next Halloween, so plan early. If you aren't on the "But next year..." schedule like we are, now's as good a time as any to get started. For the next month, we'll be providing photos of projects, décor ideas, and DIY costume inspiration.

First up is a bit about upgrading dollar store finds to make a classy centerpiece or end table display, the Side Table Graveyard. Making use of those little novelty grave stones so popular in craft stores and dollar joints this time of year, why not have a group of them be something spookier than the sum of its parts? It might even make a good companion to some full-size gravestones in your collection.

You'll Need:

• Little gravestones. Cheap and ugly is fine.
• Acrylic paint. The tubes at a craft store will work great.
• Some brushes, particularly one biggish one you don't like.
• String of lights (blue or purple are ideal)
• Bag of fake spider webs

Budget Superhero Cowl

A few years ago, I was invited to a themed costume party, "Favorite Fictional Character." I was out of town, living out of a suitcase for three months, and the expectation was I would arrive to the party as Batman. This would have been impossible if I held to any reasonable standard of construction, so I built the entire outfit from a store-bought black t-shirt, a roll of black duct tape, electrical tape, and the cardboard from a Diet Coke box. The only tools used were a Sharpie and my Leatherman. The night before the party.

To make your own superhero/luchador cowl on the cheap, you'll need:

• Trash bag
• Duct tape: Cheapest silver you can find and the main color or colors of your character
• Electrical tape for details (Optional)
• Shoelaces, at least 45"
• Pair of scissors
• Permanent marker
• A trustworthy assistant

Budget Robot Costume

"The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day..."

You may have heard that I (J) was out of town for a few weeks. One highlight from that adventure was my brother asking me if I was interested in serving as a robot back-up dancer for a show he was doing while I was in town. "Sure!" says I, because it sounds like fun. "Cool! You won't mind building the robot suits while I'm at work, will you?" "Sure..." says I, because a show with robots > show without robots. Who am I to deny him that happiness? With a budget of under $30, here's how you make two or three robots of your own.

You'll Need:

• Cardboard boxes, two per robot. Our heads were about a foot square on the ends, and around 16" wide. Bodies were bigger, but make sure that it fits over your torso.
• Roll of aluminum foil. We used the 12" kind, but if you want to drop hella coin on the 18" stuff, you could probably get away from seams.
• Scotch tape
• Duct tape (silver, natch)
• Dryer vent hose
• Zip ties, 6 per robot. We used white, they blend in pretty well.
• Bike helmets, one per robot. You can substitute dollar store helmets here, but my hosts had bike helmets, and the chin strap is vital to having a working robot head.
• Assorted tools: Cutting implements, measuring stuff, wire cutters. I did these without rulers or measurements of any kind, and my main cutting tool was a bread knife. Feel free to substitute better implements, but necessity is the mother of invention.