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I have one more fun Halloween project for the season (nothing like waiting until the last minute to post this!).  This DIY bat candle holder is a fun twist on lighting up your mantle, shelf, or walkway this Halloween.  It’s also the perfect project for glass jar hoarders and those that love a good upcycle!

My kids had finished yet another jar of peanut butter from Trader Joe’s I was rinsing it out so I could put in in the recycling pile when I noticed what a nice jar it was.  You guys, it was smooth with no weird decorative swirls or odd seams – it was such a nice simple jar!  I know this might sound weird, but I think it’s hard to find a glass jar that has a simple style.  Since I was clearly in love with this jar, I wanted to try and use it for a project.

I grabbed some extra adhesive vinyl I had and cut out small bats.  Now, it you have a Cricut or Silhouette, bravo to you because you can literally finish this project in like 10 minutes.  If you are like me and do not have one find a bat template from the good old internet, print out the image, trace it on top of your vinyl, and cut it out.

Once you have all of your bats cut, arrange them on your jar.  Then, hit the jar with black matte spray paint and let dry.  You’ll want to do two coats of paint.  After your paint has dried, slowly peel off the vinyl bats – you may need to use tweezers to get them off.  That’s it!  For extra detail, I wrapped the top of my jar with raffia.  Plop in a battery operated candle or a real one for a super cool and bat candle holder!

You can see the spooky bats shining through!

Halloween has always been a time for crafting.  Every year my mom would make costumes for my brother and I since she was about to drop cash on flimsy plastic costumes that we were going to use for just one night. She would take time to make us a costume usually made out of felt and 100% amazing!

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As I’ve gotten older I too have made all of my Halloween costumes.  I was really into coming up with unique creations in college.  While other girls were basically wearing a bra and underwear along with a hat and handcuffs for their police officer costumes, I was busy painting my face gray and adding stuffing to a gray sweatshirt for my manatee costume.  I mean, Halloween is typically cool – the more clothes the better, right?

Now that I have kids I knew I wanted to continue the DIY costume tradition.  I was super busy last year working full-time and running around like a maniac taking care of  Tommy and Evie that I just didn’t have the time to make their Halloween costumes.  So, I enlisted my mom’s help to create adorable little crayon costumes for them since she had made the same costume for my brother and I like 30+ years ago!  Man, they turned out so cute.

My life has calmed down a bit since last year now that my kids are older and I’m not working full-time.  So, I decided to get a head start on their costumes.  I was going to go the fruit route and make Evie a pineapple since I have a slight obsession with pineapples and Tommy a kiwi.  I ended up going in a different direction.  I had remember my mother-in-law showing me 6 month old twins dressed up as skunks.  At that age they looked more skunk-like since they were crawling, but I figured walking skunks would be just as cute! I found a skunk costume on Pottery Barn Kids for $59.99.  Umm…No!  I can’t image paying $120 for 2 Halloween costumes – INSANE!!!  I used the Pottery Barn version as my inspiration and was able to make my own version of the skunk costume for about $15.00 each.  Thank goodness for faux fur and hot glue guns!

Check out my full tutorial below! ***Sorry for all of the blurry pictures-my skunks are very active!***

Supplies:

• Black hooded sweatershirt
• Black leggings
• 2 Sheets of White Felt
• 1/4 Yard Black Fleece
• Hot Glue Gun and Glue
• Thick Floral Wire
• Poly-Fil
• Pink and White Polka Dot Felt (optional – this is for a girl skunk :D)
• White Faux Fur Trim
• Scissors
• Black Thread
• Needle

1. Cut a tail out of your fleece.  Make the tail about 4 inches wide and the length from the top of your sweatshirt to the bottom.  Round the end. Cut two tails.  You’ll also cut out two ears (four pieces total – 2 pieces for each ear). Cut two pieces of white felt with the same shape but smaller so they will fit inside of your ears.

2. Add fur to your sweatshirt.  My fur came in a large square. So, I cut it in half which was the perfect size. **NOTE** Make sure your fur is going down. Also make sure when you add another piece of fur it’s going in the same direction.  Add hot glue to the end of your fur and start by adding it to the front of your hood.  You’ll keep adding glue, working your way to the back of the hood.  You’ll then take another piece of trim (if yours is not long enough) and glue it so it is up against your last piece.  The fur from the first piece should cover the seam.

3. Add glue to the outer edge of your ears to glue them together. Flip them so the seam is on the inside.  Next, glue the white pieces of felt to the both ears. Then, fill each ear with Poly-Fil and sew the bottom together.

4. Sew (or glue) your two tail pieces together, leaving the bottom (non-curved side) open.  Turn the tail right side out and glue your fur trim to the top.  Trim the fur at the end of the tail so it’s rounded. Next, add Poly-Fil.  Cut a piece of floral wire the length of the tail and insert it inside.  Finally, sew the bottom of the tail shut.

5. Glue the tail to the back of the sweatshirt. You will start at the bottom adding glue and work your way up about half way.  Add glue to the bottom of your ears and secure them to the middle of the hood with one one each side of the fur trim. If you want a bow, make one out of the pink felt and glue it to one of the ears.

6. Cut a large oval out of your white felt.  Cut the oval in half and glue one half on each side of the zipper.

DONE!  Just pair the hoodie with a pair of black pants and add a black dot to your child’s nose and they are all set to be skunky!!!

I am super happy with how my little DIY  skunk costume turned out.  I think my version is a great alternative to my inspiration from Pottery Barn Kids.  So, if your running out of time to make your kiddos a costume for Halloween, this DIY skunk costume is perfect.  Gran your trusty glue gun, a glass of wine and get crafting!