Here on the farm, we are really into holidays and we have a special love of Halloween. We are fans of the Original Classic Universal Monster movies and love decorating to those themes. There are some cool, Gothic, Steampunk ways to put a spin on Halloween decor. We are not into the gorry stuff but if we can put a twist on a traditional Halloween theme, we will.

This may seem like a bit of an obvious one or a lazy cheat but it is a great project for the kids. It does not take but a few materials and a little time. We bought several Dollar Tree decorations, the ones that they offer for Halloween. We wanted to make our decorations to be a bit more unique than just the store-bought look.

We started with some of the paper boxes from the Dollar Tree. With some paint and a few brass picture hangers, we were set.

First, you need to decide on the theme you are going for. Pick paint colors that you feel match your theme. In our case, we wanted a nice, antique, metal look, so we went with black and brass to match the brass hangers.

To cover up the store-bought inside look, paint the inside with your chosen color, ours was black. We painted the inside of the box and the inside of the lid. We also painted the bottom of the box black. It does take a couple of hours for the paint to dry so be patient. It also may take more than one coat to get the darker color you want. Do not get in a rush and try to paint the rest before the first part is dry or you will have fingerprints. Although, fingerprints may make a cool design if that is what you are after.

We took a pair of pliers and mashed the hangers down to make coffin handles. We used a hot glue gun to fix the handles to the sides of the coffin box. Be careful with the glue gun, it is very hot, we have hot glued ourselves more than once, it is not fun. Make sure you get the hangers placed as not to hinder the lid when you go to put it on.

With a small paintbrush, we added some black accents on the sides and matched the black accents on the box to the lid. It was not a very organized painting, just some whispy flicks of the wrist and we had a cool, oozy look. The box was already gray and green with spider webs so it did not take many accents to get the right look. We did not want to do too much and make it took gaudy.

We painted our coffin lid brass in the shape of a coffin to make it look like a brass plate.

We then added a plastic bat that we “liberated” from a necklace to be our coffin nameplate. As I said, we are fans of the classic Universal Monsters movies, so we did not write a name on it, as the bat should give you all the info you need.

And there you have it, an up-scaled box with your own theme twist.

We also did a book box from Dollar Tree the same way. It was a Halloween box with orange colors that we did not want. So we used black and silver paint to make it to our liking.

We painted the 3 sides of the outside black. The pages of the book were cream so we did not paint those. The inside of the book was already black with cream trim so we did not change that. When the painting was done, it still looks like a black book with cream pages.

Then we added just a bit of silver trim to the spine of the book.

We had a sparkly, plastic bat pendant that we had also “liberated” from a different necklace to use as the front accent. The bat was sparkly, silver so it matched the silver accent on the spine of the book.

Just like that, another store-bought box, re-made to your personal theme desire.

Our next decoration up-scale was one of the plastic, Dollar Tree, crow skeletons. I am sorry that we do not have any in-process pics of this fellow, we only have the finished dapper steampunk crow gentleman.

We took some black felt and made a little vest for our crow. We then accented his vest with a metal key as if it was in his key pocket. We added a watch face with a chain for his pocket watch.

We gave him a monocle in his other hand, complete with chain.

We then went to work on his top hat. We used black felt to make the top hat. We then added as many steampunk metal cogs, sprockets, nuts, bolt, and chain as the hat would hold. All the metal accents did make the top hat a bit heavy but crow gent is way cool.

Another up-scale we did was a foam, Dollar Tree pumpkin. It is lightweight and very easy to make to your own liking.

We found a neat thing with this project, spray paint melts foam. We did not know this when we started but the spray paint we used made the foam melt and bubble up. The paint did not eat the foam exactly but it did make for a weird and cool texture. We just put the pumpkin on an outside table and sprayed painted it. In the process, the pumpkin started to melt in places and bubbled in other places. It left us with a metallic black pumpkin with a cool bumpy texture. We only had one kind of spray paint but we assume this will happen with most if not all spray paints. Use whatever color you are going for and expect a unique outcome. You can then add any kind of accents you want, glitter, sequins, stickers, spikes, cog, and sprockets, again use your imagination. This is another quick up-scale that will give you a one of a kind, not a store-bought decoration for just a few dollars and a little time.

Again, these decorations were quick and simple to up-scale. But they were great small projects for the kids. We got some cool, unique Halloween decorations, each with our own theme twist, using things we already had around the house. With these kinds of projects, you can do several in a short time. You can make them as unique as you want with any colors and accents you like. You can get as simple or far out as you want, as with all DIY projects, just use your imagination.  For some of us, nature is our inspiration, others it is tech or vintage. Whatever your interest, you can make your DIY to your exact liking. Or if you are going for a unique gift for someone, hand made and one of a kind gifts are always a great idea.

The last project we will talk about today is the gargoyle cat. Again, we missed pics for the different stages of this project, we only have the finished product.

We took a paper mache bunny rabbit, added a paper nose to make it look like a cat, not a rabbit. We had to add a few pieces to her to get the cat not rabbit look but overall she is a nice looking cat. We used a pair of pet Halloween wings from PetSmart to hot glue to the cat’s back. We added a piece of weave to make a neckband. We used the stone spray paint to give her the rock look.

This is the pic of gargoyle cat up to this point.

We then started adding accent pieces and colors to our cat gargoyle. We painted the neckband gold. We added some brass accent spots here and there to give the weather-worn look. Black sparkly, glitter glue traced the wings for a nice detailed wing pattern. We used metallic, sequins down the back and along the tail. We gave her black marble eyes with a black sparkly finish. We then added cogs here and there at the joint points to give her a steampunk mechanical look. We decided to use several different metallic colors for accents on the cogs for a more realistic look, yes I know it is a gargoyle cat, not very realistic in the first place.

By the time we were done adding pieces and accents, it took several months, we were low on inspiration at that time, but she came out very well. Being made of paper mache, the cat is light weight but looks like stone. She is very eye-catching, and as we were going for, she is a unique cat gargoyle-like no one else has. That is one of the joys of DIY, you are only limited by your imagination and your likes.

We hope you have enjoyed these quick DIY projects with us. Maybe, this will give you some ideas to make your own, unique decorations.

Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.