Haunt Your Home This Season with These Easy DIY Crafts (2024)

The amber glass vessels evoke the colors of the season, while the old-school labels on the squash (think “cyanide”) serve up an “evil lab” kind of spooky.

To make the squash version: Remove the stem from a Honeynut squash and use a pumpkin carving tool to hollow out a hole and insert a cork. Use Mod Podge to attach apothecary labels.

Super sweet, these ready-in-no-time pumpkins just require two materials to make—fern leaves and glue. Voila, almost instant crafts!

To make: Clip an assortment of fern fronds. Coat backs of fronds with adhesive spray, and attach to white or light-colored pumpkins as desired.

These DIY shimmering leaves look great on blue-hued or green pumpkins such as Jarrahdale, Blue Doll, Blue Moon, and Fairytale.

To make: Attach silver leaf with sizing to one side of fake or real leaves (alternatively, you can spray paint leaves silver). Once dry, spray adhesive spray on the back of the leaves and attach to pumpkins.

Lightly sketch a faux-bois pattern on a pumpkin using a pencil. (“Faux bois” refers to the artistic interpretation of wood and wood grain.) Use a linoleum carving tool to etch out the pattern.

Once complete, paint the unetched part of the pumpkin with black acrylic paint, which will allow the intricate pattern to pop. Tip: Should you accidentally get any paint in the etched grain, you can remove it with the carving tool once dry.

Set a sweet scene with a trio of night sky themed pumpkins

To make:

Harvest Moon: Cut a hole in the bottom of a medium heirloom pumpkin; scoop out the pulp and seeds. Cut a round opening in the front of the pumpkin. Cut a piece of white vellum paper that is just larger than the hole and draw the craters of the moon on it with a gray paint pen. Center the vellum to the inside of the pumpkin and attach it with straight pins. Attach a few lengths of twine around the opening with hot glue. Wrap a bundle of dry wheat or grass with twine and attach to the pumpkin with hot glue.

Crescent Corn Moon: Cut out a crescent moon shape from a piece of cardboard. Remove the kernels from a few ears of flint corn and attach to cardboard with hot glue. Glue a piece of colorful twine around the edge of the moon to cover up the cardboard. Glue a loop of twine to the back of the cardboard and loop around the stem of a pumpkin to hang.

Stars and Constellations: Cut a hole in the bottom of a medium heirloom pumpkin; scoop out the pulp and seeds. Lightly draw constellation shapes with a pencil. Using an electric drill with a small drill bit or awl drill main points along the constellations. Thread orange waxed twine between the points with a large eye sewing needle. Use a large and medium drill bit to create single stars and a linoleum carving tool to create start bursts.

Believe it or not, all you need to make these creative candy pumpkins is a bit of Mod Podge and a few printed vintage wrappers. They're just the thing to decorate your front porch and delight trick-or-treaters with.

Make the Pumpkins: Print copies of candy labels from Pinterest; cut into 1-inch strips. Attach to pumpkins using Mod Podge, working to line up the design as best as possible.

The icons of fall, leaves and pumpkins, come together in these projects that are sure to delight trick-or-treaters and guests this holiday season.

To make:

Stained Glass Leaf: Cut a hole in bottom of a pumpkin; scoop out pulp and seeds. Draw a leaf; etch veining, and cut out between veins using a pumpkin-carving knife. Attach glassine paper inside with push pins. Add a battery-operated candle.

Oversize Leaf: Draw an oversize leaf and cut out. Scoop out pulp and seeds. Place a pillar candle in opening.

Cascading Leaves: Attach leaves, in a cascading pattern from top to bottom, with spray adhesive.

Morgue drawers or front doors? Here's an idea that's nearly as creepy as your post-trick-or-treating movie marathon.

Craft the Doors: Attach three precut 20- by 30-inch pieces of foam core together with spray adhesive. Attach a piece of black paper, cut to size, to the top piece of foam core using spray adhesive. Insert the rectangular piece of two 6-inch stainless steel T-hinges between the first and second pieces of foam core on one of the short sides; “screw” in place. Place a 6 1/2-inch handle on the opposite side; “screw” in place. Cover exposed edges of the foam core with silver duct tape, folding any excess to the back. Make two more doors. Adhere to house door with heavy-duty self-adhesive Velcro. Cut five coffin shapes from black and gray kraft paper. Paint letters on gray coffins with red acrylic paint to spell “morgue” and attach to black coffins with double-sided tape. Hang a plastic chain above the door and attach coffin cutouts with hot-glue.

Pages from spooky books make spooky pumpkins!

Make the Pumpkins: Copy or tear pages from spooky books (we used Nancy Drew novels). Tear into 1-inch strips. Attach strips to pumpkins with Mod Podge; allow to dry completely.

Witchy and welcoming all at once, this all-black wreath will be a hit at your annual Halloween party. And is there anything more sophisticated than monochrome accent?

Make the Wreath: Cut 150 6-inch-long strips of 2-inch-wide black grosgrain ribbon. Fold the strips in half and attach them to a 16-inch foam wreath form with straight pins, layering them on top of each other to create a ruffle effect. Cut out a silhouette of a witch from black kraft paper. Attach it to the center of a 16-inch round clear piece of acrylic with double-sided tape. Hot-glue the edges of the acrylic round to the back of the wreath form. Finish with a bow with long tails.

If you're a bookworm, you'll love this fun craft that doubles as a decor idea. Using construction paper, emblazon your front door with all the most haunting book jackets (think: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow). It's a great way to get kids excited about reading books, too.

Make the Books: Cut long, thin rectangular pieces of differing colored kraft paper or construction paper (we used red, gray, and black). Draw titles of books on the paper. Outline letters with gold paint pens. Fill in outline with paint pen or gold acrylic paint. Attach to door with double-sided tape.

Weave an adorable web with this easy DIY that only takes some basic sewing skills and a little hot glue.

Get the tutorial at See Vanessa Craft.

Just because it's Halloween doesn't mean your crafting adventures need to be scary! This throwback mask wreath is anything but, and yet it's still perfectly on theme for any Halloween event.

Make the Wreath: Source colorful vintage paper masks from websites like Etsy and eBay—you'll need 10 to 15 total. Attach to an 18-inch craft ring with a dab of hot glue, layering and overlapping them as you go.

We love the idea of using pumpkins as game pieces in a classic game of checkers. What better way to kick off a new family game night tradition?

Make the Game: Paint 32 squares on a large (roughly 30-inch) wood board with burnt orange craft paint. Use mini white and orange pumpkins as game pieces.