Wednesday, October 14, 2009

DIY Dollar Store SKULL CENTERPIECES

My 'Calavera Centerpiece' write up was also posted at: www.dollarstorecrafts.com



‘Day of the dead’ skull centerpiece How To:


What you’ll need:

Spray paint (wal-mart has paint for .96 cents a can)
Ceramic Skulls (dollar tree, craft stores, ebay)
Acetone (optional, but will help clean the surface so the paint will stick better)
Foam Florist Squares (or circles, if the kind you get is too thin, just place some crumpled newspaper under it to raise it up)
Glitter
White Glue
Paint (to paint details on the skull)
Felt Cut Outs (optional)
Faux flowers (or handmade flowers)
Newspaper (to spray paint on)
Gloves
Mask (optional)

I originally made these last year for my wedding party (our 1 year anniversary is this Halloween) but I recently went to the Dollar Store and they still have plently of these white ceramic skulls in stock, all it takes is a little bit of imagination (and a bit of glue, paint and glitter!)

1. I purchased the white ceramic skulls at dollar tree.



2. I prepped the surface first by cleaning off the skulls with acetone to help the spray paint stick better. Apply one coat of gloss color, allow to dry, apply another coat if necessary.





3. Once the paint dried I brought them inside for the fun part...decorating! I had my favorite bold colored glitters on hand and some ‘glossies’ brand paint (adheres well to most surfaces, including glossy ones), and went downtown on embellishing the eyes, mouth, nose and adding details. Tip: apply white glue to the eyes, mouth and nose sockets and then shake in some glitter (do each color separate and carefully over a paper towel or wax paper so you can salvage the remaining glitter and put it back in it’s proper container) then when slightly dry you can paint around the eyes and nose, no problem!





4. Next, when everything dried (well mostly, I have no patience) I placed a florist foam square (the cushy green stuff, also sold at most dollar tree stores) into the skull container and stuck some faux flowers in it. The black roses are from the .99 cent store but you can also make some colorful crepe/tissue paper flowers on your own for super cheap, you just need some tissue paper or crepe paper, pipe cleaners and some imagination! www.craftychica.com has a great tutorial on that, just look under her ‘projects’ page, you’ll find other inspiring stuff too!



5. I placed some super cute, bright colored felt cut-outs under the skull for cheeriness (Day of the dead is a celebration!), these were also found at dollar tree.

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