Halloween: Elegant and Inexpensive...Glam Up A Dollar Tree Skull

 

When life gives you lemons you make lemonade right? An early retirement plus a pandemic has meant I've had more time to focus on creating and I don't know about you, but for me, the more I create the more ideas I come up with. 

I've seen this trend in "Glam Skulls" or "Jeweled Skulls" for the past couple of Halloween seasons and decided that I could come up with a version for far less than the price of them. So here we go! 

Supplies:

• Plastic Skulls (Dollar Tree)
• White Tissue Paper (Dollar Tree)
• Mod Podge  
• Acrylic Paints
• Glue Gun and Glue
• Embellishments

Step 1: 

If you've been in a Dollar Tree around Halloween, you recognize these skulls. These I already had in my Halloween decorations and have used them as is before but this year I decided I wanted to glam them up. The easiest thing would have been spray paint but I have asthma and fumes are not my friend. Several years ago I tried this technique on Easter Eggs and it's been my go to ever since for projects where I don't need a smooth finish and which need something for the paint to grip. 

It's so simple and works so well! Use any white tissue paper, scrunch into a ball, crunch your ball and then tear your tissue into smaller pieces.

Step 2: 

Once you have your tissue paper pieces, start covering the skull with Mod Podge then start placing your tissue paper. Doesn't matter where you start, you just keep going until covered. I prefer to use a bristle vs foam brush for this. You can push into the eyes and small spaces to make sure you get good adhesion. As needed tear pieces smaller to fit where needed. It's a totally random process.

This is what your skull will look like once covered. It would work just like this for Halloween but let's keep going! 

Step 3:

After your Mod Podge is dry , it's time to paint! I chose the same color palette as the Upcycled Candleholders I shared earlier. I used a dark grey basecoat as my first coat: 

"But did she stop there?" Of course not. I went over the grey paint with Martha Stewart Metallic Titanium, and then wiped on and wiped off a black glaze of watered down black paint. 

I didn't wipe out the glaze from the eye sockets and only lightly wiped it out of the nose. Now it's time for the real fun! 

Step 4:

Now it's time to embellish! 

I pulled out miscellaneous embellishments from my stash. Sequins, flat back rhinestones, seed beads, and faceted crystal beads for the eyes. I went with embellishing only one eye per skull, starting by gluing a large crystal bead in the eye socket. From there, it's wherever your imagination takes you! I spread some hot glue in the eye socket, sprinkled on a seed bead mix and while the glue was still setting stuck in some mirror sequins. Then working up and down from the eye, laid down more hot glue, sprinkled more seed beads, added rhinestones and other beads randomly. 

I had some skull beads so I added those too. Skulls on skulls on skulls! 

I love that with a little paint and imagination, you can create high end looking and elegant Halloween decor for very little. Shown here: Glam Skull on top of Dollar Tree candleholder ; my Mackenzie Childs Inspired Pumpkin from Target's impulse buy section ; Goodwill Candleholder Makeover; Painted and Mod Podged Wood Coffin (bought the plain box at Michaels years ago but they still have variations of them). 

I hope you found some inspiration. Until next time,