DIY Smoke Filled Crystal Ball- Halloween How-To

In my quest to make a crystal ball with swirling mist/smoke I ended up making 4 styles of crystal balls. (Check out the DIY for the mist filled one here)

Not all of them had smoke or mist I just happened to have new ideas while working on my original idea.

This one is relatively simple. The smoke is from an incense cone.

The smoke does not work as well as the diffuser. It is very subtle.

I'm not sure if it simply isn't vented enough or if my incense cones are old and damp from sitting in my basement, but they did not want to stay lit.

Perhaps you'll have better luck.

I'm going to purchase new incense and see if they work better.

What You'll Need:

6 inch glass globe from Menards or other home improvement store (Available in frosted or clear. I chose clear so I could put an image inside. They are available in the lighting department.)

Incense cones

Color changing tea light

Metal base (so the cone doesn't melt anything). A tuna can is perfect. I used an old metal butter tin. My grandma had a stack saved in the basement.

A small drill or an ice pick or something else pointy to poke holes in the can.

Drill and small drill bit made for glass 

Skulls or jewels to adorn your base. I had clay skulls that I had previously made with molds.

Hot glue gun and glue stick to attach your skulls or jewels to base.

Spray paint in your color choice. I used black because it is what I had on hand.

After everything dried I brushed white and gray acrylic paint over everything to give it an aged look.

Optional- Transparency paper and printer to create a skull or other image to put inside your globe. (Download a 6 inch globe ready version here.)

Instructions:

First you'll need to gather your materials.

Be sure to find a metal base for the globe. A tuna can is perfect.

Drill holes in the sides of the tuna can to vent the incense. Without proper venting the incense will not stay lit.

Carefully drill a tiny hole in the top of your globe, this is also for venting. Be sure to use a drill bit for glass and follow instructions.

Paint your base, take the can outside and spray the outside of it with spray paint. Let it dry completely.

Once dry decorate your base with skulls, jewels, or whatever you want.

Optional- Print out your skull, skeleton or other image on transparency paper. Let the ink dry for awhile before grabbing it from the tray or it will smear. 

Cut out the circle, roll it up then place inside the globe. It'll open into the circle. Adjust as needed.

Add your tea light.

Light your incense

Place your globe on the base

Turn out the lights and voila...color changing crystal ball with smoke

Halloween How To: DIY Crystal Ball with Swirling Mist

I had this vision of a crystal ball filled with swirling smoke and a ghostly image appearing inside it. 

So I started looking up DIY tutorials. 

I did not find what was I was looking for. Everything was either very complicated and featured Madame Leota from The Haunted Mansion or was a ball full of swirling liquid that would have to be shook up to get it to swirl, kinda like a snow globe.

I started brainstorming. I'm not very techie so the design had to be simple. I knew dry ice was out because if you put it in an enclosed space you get a bomb. I didn't want to shatter a glass globe.

Fog machines would require too much tubing to direct the fog into the globe. I suppose it could work but I really didn't want to go there unless it was a last resort.

My first idea was a fountain mister. So I found a cheap one on Amazon, got it and was super disappointed. The cheap thing was so light it would not stay in the water, it fell over and tried to float. 

So I returned it and found a fountain mister from a pond supply store.

The idea kinda worked. The mister had lights so I got changing light and mist all in one. Sort of.

I hooked everything up, turned it on and got a lot of water and droplets but the mist all pooled in the box under the globe. My husband even drilled a small hole in the top of the globe to get more air flow hoping the mist would rise into the globe.

Nope. Didn't work as I had hoped. 

See video below.

Back to brainstorming and then I had a light bulb moment.

A diffuser!

I had a couple small essential oil diffusers which put out a light mist. Much lighter and foggier and less watery than the fountain mister.

Bingo, ding ding ding we have a winner!!!

The photos don't do it justice but if you watch the video you can see the steamy mist swirling in the globe.

During my design and creation process I ended up making 4 styles of crystal balls. 3 are grouped in the photo below. 

This one is by far the hardest so it is the first I'll give you instructions for.

What You'll Need:

6 inch glass globe from Menards or other home improvement store (Available in frosted or clear. I chose clear so I could put an image inside. They are available in the lighting department.)

Small diffuser. Some are color changing. If yours is you may not need another light. If not add a small color changing light. I used a small submersible LED tealight.

Wood to create a box over your diffuser.  

Paint in your color choice. I used black because it is what I had on hand.

Transparency paper and printer to create a skull or other image to put inside your globe. (Like the skull in the photo? Download a 6 inch globe ready version here.)

Instructions:

First you'll need to gather your materials.

Then you'll need a base for the globe, something large enough to cover the diffuser.

My husband made a simple wood box just large enough to put over the diffuser. 

Cut a round hole in the center of the top to place the globe inside. 

If you have a sturdy cardboard or plastic box that is the right size you could use that instead. The cardboard might get damp so it is not the best choice but you can paint it to make it a little more waterproof.

Print out your image on transparency paper. Let the ink dry for awhile before grabbing it from the tray or it will smear. 

Cut out the circle, roll it up then place inside the globe. It'll open into the circle. Adjust as needed.

Fill your diffuser with water and place on a water proof surface. Turn it on.

Add your tea light.

Place your globe base box over everything.

Place your globe on top, turn out the lights and voila...color changing crystal ball with swirling mist.

Halloween How To- DIY Skeleton and Coffin Shaped Light Box

I spotted this skeleton lightbox/lantern from Michael's on some one's feed and decided to make a DIY version.  

I had all the materials I needed in my craft stash so I gave it a try and I am pretty happy with the results. Mine isn't translucent on all sides like the Michael's version, just the front, but that's OK with me.

To make it you need:

7.5 inch wood coffin tray 

(I bought these in bulk on Michaels.com before they added all the Halloween stuff, now they no longer have them. But you can find them on Amazon or ConsumerCrafts.com- FYI they are way cheaper on ConsumerCrafts.com)

Paint in your color choice (I used Glidden Premium Latex Paint and Primer from Home Depot)

Minwax Polycrylic Clear Coat

Strand of wire fairy lights. The wire is important so they bend and stay in place.

Vellum paper for your printer

Small cordless drill

Small Finishing Nails

Hammer (I use the child size hammer from Lowe's Build and Grow kid's classes- perfect size for my small hands and it is small and lightweight so I can get into spots a big hammer can't. A large hammer would not have worked for this tiny coffin and tiny nails)

Tacky Glue

Skeleton to print on vellum

Sticky backed Velcro 

Instructions:

First paint the coffin tray in your color choice, let it dry and clear coat it, then let that dry.

Select a skeleton image with a translucent background and adjust the size as needed. The skeleton linked here is sized correctly for the 7.5 inch coffin.

I made one with the coffin shape but I was afraid the coffin would not match the tray so I took the outline away and just printed the skeleton, selected my tray and used a white colored pencil to trace the outline of the coffin around the skeleton. Click the links and you can download the skeleton and the coffin from google drive.

Once the tray was dry I cut the vellum to fit the front of the tray as exact as I could.

I turned the tray over and drilled a hole in the bottom corner large enough for the strand of fairy lights to fit through.

I then fed the fairy lights through the hole and lined the inside of the coffin tray with them, going round and round until the strand ended. 

They popped out some and touched the vellum when I tested it so I hammered tiny finishing nails inside to hold the fairy lights in place.

I placed a piece of Velcro on the back of the coffin and one on the battery pack for the fairy lights so it would stick to the back of the tray and not hang out loose. But if I need to change batteries I can just pull it apart.

Make sure your vellum is trimmed to fit the front of the coffin tray as exact as possible. Brush glue onto the edges of the tray. 

I used a small paint brush and tacky glue to get a good and even coat of glue on the edge.

Then I carefully lay the vellum on the tray and made sure the edges lined up. I put a board over the top for about an hour to let the glue and vellum dry flat. Vellum has a tendency to curl.

Once it is dry turn on your light and enjoy. 

I think I might add some kind of border to cover the vellum edges, I don't like seeing the glued area and the wrinkles in the vellum.  If I fix that, I'll post an update.

Update- I made a few more lightboxes and added glitter and sequins to the edge as a border.

I also used a smaller set of fairy lights.

These images are from my first event of the season, the Mid-Michigan Paranormal Convention. It was great. Met some awesome people and I have a stack of new reading material.

The one on the end is edged in giant Halloween glitter. 

The other two have strands of black sequins borders.

These are for sale $10 each plus shipping.

Halloween How-To: Halloween Spell Book with Laura Bickle

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I love making decorations for this time of year. 

I looked around at the materials I had rattling around my craft room and thought I’d try to create a fancier journal than the kind I usually use.

For this project, I used:

• A plain journal

• Black spray paint

• Gold hobby paint

• A couple plastic spider rings 

• Brushes

• Alphabet pasta

• Glue

I already had these items at hand. So I’ve invested pretty much nothing in this project. I won’t too feel bad if it doesn’t turn out! 

I used a blank book for this project, but if you wanted to create a purely decorative book, you could use any book at hand. Just make sure that the cover doesn’t have raised lettering or a texture that you wouldn’t want to see later in the project. I also suggest using a hardcover book for stability.

First thing I did was pour the alphabet pasta out on a plate and fish out some letters. I picked enough letters to create a label for the book: SPELLS.

I glued the letters onto the book. I didn’t worry about making them too even or anything. I wanted them to look pretty whimsical. I did try to be mindful not to use very much glue on each letter and used the end of a paintbrush to position them (to avoid burned fingers). Looking back, I should have used even less! But the idea is that the letters will be raised and will be highlighted with gold paint. 

Using my glue gun, I drizzled the outline of a spider web on the cover of the book. Looking back, I could have used this to write “Spells” on the cover. 

I cut off the ring parts of two spider rings and also glued them on the cover. If you have other plastic creepy-crawlies around, like snakes or insects, you could also use those.

Next, I spray painted the book black. If you’re wanting to make a spell book that you can continue to use, it might make sense to use making tape on the pages to protect them. This is what it looked like when I was done:

I used a little bit of the gold paint and dry-brushed it on the lettering and around the spider web design. The gold paint highlights the letters and raised portion of the design you’ve created. If you have a gold marker pen, you could do some more doodling and flourishes on the cover, too. 

And here’s my finished book! It was a lot of fun to make. I might try other designs with glue in the future and experiment with glue lettering or maybe stickers. But for now, the spell book will contain lists of all my Halloween plans! 

~ Laura Bickle grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to her favorite Wonder Woman doll. When she grew up, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs, writing contemporary fantasy and horror. Find the latest updates on her projects at www.laurabickle.com

Halloween How To- Dress Up Your Halloween Party with DIY Wine Glass Charms

Wine glass charms are one of the absolute easiest crafty things you can do. You can really dress things up with little effort.

No beading or jewelry skills required. The hardest part is opening and closing the jump rings to add your charms.

Items Needed to Make 6 Wine Glass Charms:

Small beads with openings large enough to go over the wire. I use 4 beads per charm (6 charms = 24 beads, 2 colors so 12 of each color. I use glass seed beads size 6e from Michaels.

6 Focal charms- you can use a general Halloween theme or use charms specific to a unique theme. I made both a general Halloween theme set and a vampire themed set. Each wine glass with have a different charm- Haunted House, Fangs, Bite Me, Zombie, Witch Hat, Mask, Bat, etc.

6 metal hoops/wine glass charm rings that will fit around the bottom of a wine glass

2 pair of small needle nose pliers

6 small jump rings- you want the ring large enough to go over the wire but small enough that it will not go over the bead. You want the charms to stay between the beads and not move around.

Directions:

Put jump rings on each of your focal charms. I do this by holding the jump ring with pliers in each hand and gently spreading the ring open. I put the charm in the ring then grip the ring with both sets of pliers and close it.

Determine the order you want your bead colors and charm then put your put two beads on the wire hoop

Add your charm

Add the second two beads

Close the hoop

Voila, your first charm is complete

Now repeat for the remaining 5 charms

See? Super easy.