So . . . what does one do when they have some dowel rods laying around, they want to make a Halloween project AND they want to use Glow-in-the-Dark Mod Podge? Well, they make glow-in-the-dark skeleton decor, of course! This spooky plaque has a skeleton face made entirely of painted dowel rods, and as you can see, he glows in low light.
Here he is in the light. I love the interesting effect of the dowel rods as his face and am so happy with how it turned out. My friend Chris saw my idea as I was initially working on it and wasn't so sure - and I can't blame her - but it turned out just like I saw it in my head. Don't you love when that happens? Here's how to make a glow-in-the-dark dowel rod skeleton for yourself.
Gather These Supplies
Wood plaque
Mod Podge Matte Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark
FolkArt acrylic paint - Pure Black, Lime Green, Titanium White
Skull graphic - large enough to fit on your plaque
Dowel rods - an assortment of sizes from 1/16" to 1/4"
Scissors
Pencil
Paintbrush - large and small
Saw and miter box
Craft glue
Print out a skull graphic to fit your plaque (look for free clip art or design your own). Start cutting the dowel rods to fit the skeleton face. How do you do that, you ask?
Get a handy dandy miter box and saw and start . . . sawing. I got this for $15 at Home Depot. This is my first saw and I'm so proud of myself. My friend Sherrie attached it to a desk with some clamps so that I could saw with ease.
I used a pencil to mark where to saw, then alternated size of dowel rods as I worked. I sawed some pieces at an angle and some straight - I tried to follow the shape of the skeleton face as best I could.
Here's the entire thing covered.
Now paint all the dowel rods white. It doesn't matter if they shift left or right on the paper, as long as they stay in the same order vertically.
While the dowel rods are drying/you are in the midst of painting them, paint the top of the plaque with Lime Green. Let it dry.
This is how you will get the dowel rods in the right place. Slide them off of the skull design, making sure that they stay in the right order vertically. Then cut out the skull face from the paper and trace onto the center of the plaque with a pencil.
Then starting at the bottom, glue the dowel rods to fit the pencil template using craft glue. Having the template makes it very easy. Once you have glue all of the dowel rods down, coat all of the them with white again to touch them up.
Don't worry if the white paint goes onto the green a little bit - we're going to touch that up too.
I had no idea how to get the mouth, nose and eyes onto the dowel rods. Then I realized I could cut out those areas and use the skull face as a stencil. So that's what I did.
I used a smaller brush to paint in the black eyes, nose and mouth. It takes a little bit, but it's fun to do the detail work (at least for me). Let that dry.
Paint the edge and back of the plaque with black and let that dry.
Then turn the plaque over and touch up the green. After that, put at least 4 - 5 coats of Mod Podge Glow-in-the-Dark on the skeleton face, but ONLY on the white parts. Let dry. You need this many coats to get a decent glow.
Paint the rest of the plaque (not the skeleton) with Matte Mod Podge. Let that dry.
Supercharge your skeleton face by putting it under a light, then shut the lights out and let it glow! It wears off after a a few minutes, but it's totally worth it.
And of course I just like it sitting out on the table as regular Halloween decor, smiling.
If you are new to my blog then you should know one thing right away - I love Halloween. It is without a doubt my favorite holiday, and I believe in going all out for it. Who doesn't love candy and spooky decorating? I decided to decorate paper cones this year, and turn them into Halloween paper spider cones. I decorated a doily cone last year for Christmas, and I definitely needed a few Halloween ones. So how did I make them fancy? With some scrapbook paper and a pile of new EKSuccess tools that I got in the mail.
I'm a huge fan of paper crafting tools, and EKSuccess was nice enough to send me a set of theirs to use. I'm always using tools with paper and Mod Podge. Here's what I got - and these products are available at select Walmarts (FYI):
This is new packaging for EKSuccess and it looks fantabulous. There are project ideas on the packages and also QR codes. If you have a smart phone, you can scan the QR codes to go to educational videos about the product. Cool, huh?
If you are a fan of Halloween like I am, and you need some home decor, take a peek at my tutorial for these cones. These are so easy to make. Here's how it's done.
Gather These Supplies
EKSuccess Tools including the 1"scallop punch, retractable knife and titanium scissors
Paper mache cones - available from the craft store
Martha Stewart scrapbook paper - Halloween (I chose two themes)
Black scrapbook paper - 1 sheet
Embellishments - spider stickers and other stuff to put on/top the paper cones
Mod Podge Gloss
Acrylic paint - orange and black
Dowel rod - 1/16"
Paintbrush
Craft glue
Optional: spider stencil and black glitter paint
If you were wondering what the paper cones look like when you are shopping, here they are. Very paper. Very cone-like.
Your first step is to paint the bottom of your cones. You don't HAVE to do this, but I like in case a little bit of cone ends up peaking out. Let the paint dry.
This tool is going to be your best friend in this project, and is actually one of my favorite tools in the whole world. This isn't the first project I've done with the 1" scallop punch. I love this thing.
You are going to need a television or radio for this part - you need to punch out quite a few scalloped circles from your paper. You'll be covering both cones with them.
This is the best I could organize - I sorted my little scalloped punched papers into piles, so that I could make sure to know what I have (and get even numbers of each).
You can start wherever you want to on the cone - you just need to paint some Mod Podge down, smooth a circle down and then Mod Podge over the top. You'll want to overlap your circles. You'll probably also want to bend the circles a little bit before Mod Podging them down if the paper is thicker. I did this and it really helped.
Cover both cones and let dry - then paint a layer of Mod Podge over the top. Let that dry.
Use the retractable knife to trim the paper that overlaps the bottom.
At some point I decided I would add toppers to my paper cones. I used the scissors to cut off the ends.
I then painted small pieces of dowel rods with black paint, inserted them into the ends and glued them in. Then I glued embellishments on either side of the dowel rod.
One of the embellishments was a bat that I traced on the black paper with a stencil and cut out - then added black paint.
To finish off my cones, I added spiders. I used these spider stickers and some larger spiders that I glued to the sides.
Here's a bit of detail . . .
And the cones one more time. I'm sure by now you are convinced that you need paper cones, a scallop punch and of course, Mod Podge.
Did you like the tools? Don't forget to visit EKSuccess on Facebook, or their project site Spotted Canary for more ideas to make with them. You can also get an idea of what they have to offer with the video below. Enjoy!
Sometimes we must honor that which we love. In this case, I am honoring Instagram with a DIY necklace. If you've never heard of Instagram, it's a cute little photography app for your smartphone. I LOVE Instagram for all of it's wonderful filters that make my photos look decent . . . and for the ability to share pictures of silly things like fake hands at the nail salon or getting my morning coffee. If you want to share in my adventures, I'm modpodgerocks on Instagram. Otherwise, here's the tutorial for my DIY Instagram necklace.
Gather These Supplies
Wood pendant - got mine at the craft store
Mod Podge Dimensional Magic Mod Podge Podgeables basic shapes - small circle
Acrylic paint - I used FolkArt brand in Coffee Bean, Daffodil Yellow, Apple Red and Pure Black, and Apple Barrel brand in Parakeet and Bright Blue
Stencil tape in two sizes - 3/4" and 1/4"
Paintbrush - you'll need a small one too
Jewelry findings - jump ring and necklace
Craft glue
If you haven't seen the Instagram logo, this is what it looks like. I wanted mine to be a more simplified version.
Start with a wood pendant. Get as close to a square as possible. I was lucky to find this one for $1 at my local craft store. If you can't find one at your craft store, check Etsy.
Use stencil tape to mask off the top of the pendant.
Paint the top of the pendant with your brown paint - give it several coats and let dry.
Section off a square on the top right. Paint it black and peel off the tape. Let dry.
Paint the stripes. Use the thinner stencil tape and smaller paintbrush. I just eyeballed the size of the stripes and started at the left edge. Start with red and let that dry . . .
Then do yellow, green and blue letting dry between colors.
When all the paint is dry, add Dimensional Magic to the surface of the pendant and let that dry.
I realized somewhere during the necklace making process that one of the Mod Podge acrylic shapes was the perfect size to be the lens of my Instagram camera. I painted the back black, let that dry and then glued it in place.
Add the jump ring and necklace chain and you are ready to show your Instagram love to the world.
I have one of the most satisfying crafts I've ever done for you - and probably the easiest. My friends, if you can wrap twine, then you can do this project. Beginning Mod Podgers take note, because this is the perfect way to get started with the magic glue. You can re-dress an old container (glass works, but you can probably use any container) by simply wrapping. Here's another jar I decorated and then the fun little tutorial. You are going to love this!
Gather These Supplies
Baker's twine from The Twinery
Colors used:
Rainbow votive - Maraschino, Mandarin, Marigold, Peapod, Midnight Blue
Jar with lid - Cantaloupe, Stone, Carribean
Mod Podge Gloss
Glass jars - any kind, any style, but I recommend not too curvy
Embellishments of your choice (optional)
Craft glue (need if you use embellishments)
Start by attaching one end of the baker's twine to the surface you are going to cover using the Mod Podge. Glue down about 1 - 2" so that you have enough tacked down to start winding.
Apply Mod Podge to the surface of the container and wind your baker's twine around. I kept pushing it down so it was snug. Start a new color at the seam.
I just eyeballed where to start a new color. When I got to the top, I clipped off the baker's twine and gave all of it a good coat of Mod Podge. It will be milky but dry clear (as the pros know).
I felt incredibly motivated to do two - one rainbow and one in a color palette I like. As you can see, on the rainbow votive I added a white button with craft glue. You can glue any embellishments you want to the top.
That's all there is to it! This could be the easiest Mod Podge tutorial I've ever done. Enjoy.
