Halloween is just a few days away and you might think it’s too late for crafts and decorations, but I just had to share one more. Yesterday, I was looking through my box of assorted holiday decorations, trying to find my plastic cauldron to put my trick-or-treat candy in. Sitting right there next to some fake cobwebs was my stash of plastic Easter eggs. Suddenly, I realized those eggs would make great spider bodies, and I could use them for Halloween!

To start off, I painted the eggs with black paint. The best stuff to use here is a spray paint that’s formulated for plastic, but I didn’t have any around in black, so I ended up using some glossy black craft paint. I was surprised that it adhered to the plastic so well, but it did take two coats to get nice coverage.

Next, I took a piece of monofilament line and attached it so that I could hang the spider later. For the eggs that were attached by a hinge, I could just tie the line around the hinge, which gave me a great hanging point. For the eggs that came apart completely, I just taped the line to the inside of the egg.

Next I cut eight 2-inch pieces of black chenille stems (a.k.a. pipe cleaners), which would become the spider’s legs. Bend each piece in the middle to give it a nice shape.

What’s that? You don’t have black chenille stems on hand? Well, neither did I. I only had white. But with a little experimenting, I learned that I can paint them to whatever color I want!

I just took some of my black craft paint and dabbed it onto the white stem with a cloth. Then I rubbed it in really well until the entire thing was covered, taking care not to let the paint get gloppy. A few minutes later, and I had black chenille stems. Awesome!

So, back to the spiders. Using a hot glue gun, put a tiny dab of glue on the end of each spider leg and hold it in place on the egg body for a few seconds until it’s set.

Use some glossy white craft paint to put some happy faces on your spiders if you want, and you’re good to go!

Aren’t they adorable? I can’t wait to hang them all over my front porch and hopefully spook some of my trick-or-treaters!