Anyone who has been reading this blog for any length of time knows I have an affinity for things that are strange and creepy. Not pretend creepy things like fake spiders. I mean genuinely creepy things like old medical textbooks and cheese that sprays out of a can.
This year's Halloween DIY is a reflection of that side of me. I've been preparing for this one particular Halloween craft for 2 years now. And when it was finally completed I texted a picture of it to my niece.
Unlike myself, my niece is not a fan of all things creepy.
Before we continue on, and I reveal what may be the creepiest Halloween decoration ever made, I would like to share with you the text message exchange between myself and my niece.
Curious as to what would prompt such a reaction?
I have been saving chicken and turkey bones from meals for the past 2 years.
I even enlisted the help of various turkey and chicken eating friends. To clean the bones, I just boiled them and scraped them clean. Then I let them air dry for a week or two. I've been keeping a box of bones in my basement for 2 years now. Any repairman who may have got snoopy down there would have been in for a bit of a shock.
My original idea was to make a wreath out of the bones, but I'm still so happy with my original Halloween wreath, that I wasn't ready to get rid of it.
So I changed direction slightly and turned the bones into a picture frame.
Being a lover of all things creepy, when I was a garage sale addict I scored a box of antique photographs and tin types. I went into my creepy basement to look for my creepy pictures and found the perfect one for this project.
I scanned the picture, enlarged it, and to increase the fright factor, I photoshopped her eyes out.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
Then it was just a matter of squishing the Dollar Store wreath into an oval shape and hot gluing the bones onto it in a pleasing, yet creepy manner. Oh! And adding the skull on top.
All of the supplies, aside from the bones, came from the Dollar Store. The wreath, the hot glue, and the skull topper.
The total cost:
$3.
The other thing that adds a sense of authenticity to the wreath are the cobwebs.
Which are in fact, actual cobwebs. From my house. Yes. I'm so proud. I gathered most of them from the dining room walls.
Extra bones got placed in a bowl beneath the frame.
Wondering how that text exchange between my niece and I ended?
margaret
Always knew my walls are a great place to store cobwebs for Halloween...
Karen
See? You aren't a poor housekeeper, you're just thinking ahead. ~karen!
Tiffany Marr
Pure awesome. I don't know you at all but I'm fairly certain we were friends in a different life :)
Ann Baldwin
Here's the other wreath. Again, not as cool as yours, but I'm happy.
Karen
Again, turned out great! ~ karen!
Ann Baldwin
I found you about a month ago, and love your blog. When I came across this project, I knew I wanted to make one, but didn't have the chicken bones. So, I went to the dollar store, grabbed some skeletons, a green wreath. I pulled the skeletons apart bone by bone and glue them on the wreath form, and used one of the heads for the top. I then used a holographic creepy picture I already had. I don't know that it's as awesome as yours, but I love how it turned out anyway. Thank you for the awesome wreath idea. Oh, I also did the black feather wreath for my back door with boa's skulls and creepy cloth from the dollar store. I black glittered the skulls myself since they didn't have any with glitter, but it turned out awesome. LOVE your ideas.
Karen
Thanks Ann! I actually just finished up Thanksgiving here in Canada so I got a whole bunch of new bones, lol. I'll be featuring some of them in my Haloween posts this year :) Feel free to upload a picture of your bones! ~ karen!
Ann Baldwin
Ok, I'm going to try to upload a couple of pictures of projects I made from your blog. They aren't as great as yours, but I love them all the same. Can't wait to see what you come up with using the new bones!
Karen
That looks great! I'm beginning to wonder about why I went to all the trouble of collecting real bones, lol. ~ karen!
Ann Baldwin
LOL, because it looks more awesome with the real bones, and I WILL have one with the real bones next year! :D Thanks again for posting all your awesome creations and ideas. You truly inspire me.
Laurie
Love. It! And the real cobwebs!
Karen
LOL, thanks. As I look around the house right now there should be plenty more for this Halloween. ;) ~ karen!
Julia - Vintage with Laces
I'm always in for a good repurposing or upcycling project :) . I love your wreath! It's fabulously creepy. Happy Halloween!
Ginna
Your blog is divine! Just discovered & love it! Especially the writing...witty, terse, magical. Because I make turkey soup every year after Thanksgiving, and HALLOWEEN (BWAH-HA-AH...!) is my favorite celebration, saving REAL bones (genius) will be my new soup mantra. Thank you for sharing your ideas.
Karen
You're very welcome Ginna. You can have friends and neighbours save bones for you as well to quicken the bone saving process. They'll forever be frightened of you after you ask, but that's O.K. ~ karen
Ru
Lol! I wish you were my aunt!
Kathy
Your focus on detail is to be envied. But of course you wanted real bones and went to some trouble to get them just right. Enjoyed the project. I was enjoying scanning the comments and laughing along with them until someone mentioned saving scabs, bothers me just to type about it. I had to swallow hard to get myself under control. I hope they are saved in dark basement corner. yikes
Lynne
I LOVE this it's creepy good, but then again I have two ventriloquist dolls on my sewing table in the cellar!
Time to stop buying boneless chicken.
Karen
O.K. ... ventriloquist dolls. Now THAT'S creepy. ;) ~ karen!
Stephanie Hobson
I'm definitely late to this party, but I want to know why the girls didn't get this on their coop. Maybe with a picture of a demonic rooster instead of the demonic lady.
Karen
LOL. That *would* have been good! ~ karen
Stephanie Hobson
You've got leftover bones; you could make them a small one and use a bird skull in place of the human one. Talk about creepy! I'm sure they would love it, since they probably have inherited your snarky sense of humor.
My family is well known for snarkiness, and my china cabinet is full of bones, skulls, teeth, turtle shells, dead bugs, etc that my grandkids have collected. I sent this article to my teenage granddaughter. She'll be jealous!
Katie @ Horrific Knits
I love it. It's perfect.
Karen
Thanks Katie. Clearly you have good taste. :) ~ karen!
heidi
Yes that's totally creepy. But it does look very cool. Great job.
KellyM
Great ... now to add to my 'batshit crazy' reputation, I'll be saving bones ......... bwa ha ha ha .......
Toronto Boy
This project was excellently done! If I may suggest, you should create a hand made out of bones peeping from and holding the side of the curtains! Heehehehe!
Karen
Funny you should mention that! I did make a hand (or a prototype at least) but because of the size of the bones it had to be so big it wasn't even scary. I may give it another go. I like the curtain idea! ~ karen
sky
Feeling a bit queezy right now..
Amy Lou
I. Love. This.
Thank you. You are awesome.
Karen
Well! Thank you! I'm fond of you too. ;) ~ karen
Feral Turtle
This is so freakin awesome!! You are one clever girl Karen!!!! Cheers
Susan Dulley
Wow, so many comments...I just do not know what to say. I like it, I think...but, and I almost hate to admit this, especially at this time of year, but, I just do not do Halloween, or Creepy or Scary...but, I love to see the creativity come out in you. It is a great idea, and I think many, many of your followers will use this idea and in many ways....I do, however, do "Fall". Just so you don't think I am weird. I love fall and all of the colors, the smells and the eminent arrival of Winter, which is my favorite and most magical time of the Seasons. Can't wait to see your ideas for this Holiday Season....