craftgrrl | festive Halloween luminaries tutorial

Every year I get depressed that I haven't started my Halloween crafting sooner because fall just seems to fly by! This year I'm getting a head start. Several years ago I found a photo of Halloween luminaries that someone made that of course I can't find now, so I've made my own tutorial. They are adorable, easy, and (my favorite) super cheap to make! I got a lot of the supplies at the dollar store and Christmas Tree Shops.

The tutorial is under the cut and crossposted at my journal.

You will need:
crepe paper in different colors (I used black, orange, and purple)
black construction paper
Modge Podge
foam brush
glassware (jars or even drinking glasses in any shape you'd like)
tea lights
pencil
scissors
X-Acto knife
newspaper

1. Make sure your work area is covered in newspaper. Modge Podge can be a bit messy and I don't want anyone to ruin their furniture!
2. Begin by drawing ghosts, bats, cats, graveyard scenes, or anything else Halloween-related that you can think of on your black construction paper with a pencil.
3. Carefully cut out your drawings using scissors or an X-Acto knife. I was able to use scissors for most of my drawings, apart from the ghosts, for which I had to use an X-Acto knife because their little eyes and mouths were too small and round for me to cut cleanly with scissors.
4. Rip up bits of your crepe paper as big or as small as you'd like. You'll be layering them onto the glassware, so the size of your crepe pieces depends on your own preferences. I did most of mine about an inch and a half long and three-quarters to an inch wide, with some a bit smaller to fill in the holes between the larger pieces.
5. Using your foam brush, cover the outside of your glassware with Modge Podge.
6. Layer your crepe paper all over the outside of the glassware. I found that bits of darker colored crepe (purple and especially black) should barely overlap, otherwise they'll be too dark to see your lovely Halloween cutouts. The lighter colors (such as orange) can withstand much more overlapping because the color is so light, and then you'll get a lovely constrast of lighter and darker orange, plus your dark cutout shapes.
7. Generously apply a layer of Modge Podge (or two, depending on your needs) on top of your crepe paper.
8. Next position your cute little Halloween cutouts on the glassware. Add some more Modge Podge on top of them (your hands may get a little sticky for this part because you'll have to hold them in place as you apply the Modge Podge. Thankfully, Modge Podge is easy to remove from skin). The type of construction paper I used was really thick, so it took a bit of Modge Podge to saturate it enough so that it got soft and conformed to the curve in the jar.
9. Take a look at your work! Make any changes you see fit. For example, I held my purple crepe jar up to the light and found that I layered way too much crepe and it was too dark to see my tree cutout handiwork, so I took a few crepe pieces off.
10. Once you're happy with your work, let it dry. Insert a tea light and enjoy! I'll add here that Modge Podge is non-flammable, so don't worry about the thing bursting into flame. As with all candles, (commence motherly advice) use your common sense and never leave a candle unattended. If you're still concerned, use a battery-operated LED tea light instead. Pier1 sells some flameless tea lights that I've had really good luck with and that have a long battery life.

The black one looks so dark in the photo, so I had to take it with another one to lighten it a bit. I was wary about using black crepe but I love the way it came out. It was way too dark to include any cutouts on it but it looks really pretty lit with the others.