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?
Mickey
Freakin' awesome!!
Ella
Kinda scared to ask, but: Where did you get the skull? I know the heads of chickens and turkeys are not that big!
Linda J Howes
Does that phone work? I have one just like it from my Grandmother's house, that we used for many years. Very heavy to hold. Oh, the frame is great too, you should try saving some scabs and adding them to it or maybe as a side dish to the bones.
Sally A
I think that phone is the one she re-wired herself. You can find the project under her Workshop items.
Marti
Brilliant! I might want to add a little "dirt chic" to a few of the chicken and turkey bones so they looked a bit more matched with that skull. Not all, because I like the "bleached bones" look of it, but a few.
Any tips on that?
jainegayer
Karen, you would love the Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic. There's a chandelier made out of bones and a family crest, 40,000 bones in all. I was there last week and it was seriously creepy.
Lush
I think the original wreath is way more creepy!!
Lush x
karol
I bow to you, and your awesome wreath! More than "love" it, whatever that would be, especially the genuine spider webs. You rock!
Jackie MacDougall
I want one. You could make a necklace with the bowl of bones....
Anna Starner
Karen, I love the chicken bone wreath, But I'm not so sure about the photo. I think I would prefer mine without the lovely lady.
Vicki
Something even Norman Bate's would be proud to own!
Su
you are twisted sister! :)
Helana
Oh my god. That's great. I must have one. We're gonna have to switch from boneless chicken to "real" ones. Or I'll have to befriend a butcher.
Barb
Still slightly horrified. Too bad I read that one at the end of breakfast! My stomach is a bit iffy now. EEEEWWWWWWWW!!!!!!! A very successful halloween DIY! ICK.
Kate from Detroit
The hubby and I were married on Halloween half a million years ago. This is EXACTLY what I should be doing with our wedding photos. You're a genius.
cred
that would be perfect! You could edit the photo YHL style- John & Sherry used Photoshop to turn their faces into skulls on their wedding photo for Halloween.
Lisa M
I love it! And I would make one although I don't think that I am capable of hoarding chicken bones for 2 years
Tigersmom
She's simply awesome. Both you and someone's creepy grandma.
She looks like she could have murdered an entire string of husbands and found a new and creative way to off each one. I must say that your incarnation of this as a frame is a million times better than it's original one as a wreath. Now THAT gives me the creeps. I would have missed the opportunity to strip it and make it into something else because I wouldn't have been able to let my gaze rest upon it long enough for inspiration to fire off an idea.
I loved your glitter skull wreath so much, I made one of my own. I couldn't find feather boas at our sorry, non-Canadian dollar stores though and used a bunch of the black and grey gauzy cloth instead. It turned out great! I also did your string spider web on my wall. Thanks for all the great ideas.
I am wondering where the doll head is though.....didn't see it in the favorites post.
ericmiami
Great, Karen.
Once I made a life-sized dummy to sit close to the front door in an antique wheel chair and rigged a cord to raise one of the dummies arms toward the ceiling as the front door opened. It's hand held a large kitchen knife covered with ketchup. That scared the kids but not the parents.
The next year I wore the dummies clothes and sat in the wheelchair. The kids remembered and would say, "Oh, that's just a dummy." I would spring out of the chair and some parents didn't bother using the stairs to get off the porch. They flew off into the shrubs.
Mary
My son did that and the next year a lot of kids wouldn't come to our house. We had leftover candy so that was a bonus, lol.
Mondo | I bake he shoots
awesome.
marilyn
knock a buzzARD OFF A SHIT WAGON...now that is funny...i hate that wreath
Maryanne
You just brought back a childhood memory. Years ago, I made a dinosaur out of chicken bones for a school project. though I believe my dad did most of it.
A+ on the Creep Factor. Love it! Gonna make the Eyes in the Book today for my October book club.
It will be on my side table with the skull under glass, creepy old phone and cackling crow in a cage. Perfect addition Karen, Thanks for the ideas! Creepy Genius!
Elsje
I LOVE it SOOOOOOOOO much!
I want it next to my bed so I can wake up with creepy halloween spirit every day...
Waaaaaaaaaaaaant! :-)
~wishes I had boiled and saved chicken bones~