Hello! I’m sharing this super easy and fun project with you that was a complete copy from what I found on Pinterest. What’s different is the material I used, the pictures inside, as well as some of the candle holders that I 3D printed. These turned out way cooler than I expected and are an awesome addition to my halloween decorations.

Supplies Needed

• 3″ Bulbs (I used plastic because that’s all I could find, but realistically it’s safer and easier to get the smokey look with glass. You can use any size, but if you use my files, that’s what I used)
• Transparency Paper
• Ink Jet printer
• Moss (optional)
• Candle Holders
  • I used regular candle holders I already had
  • I 3D printed some moons for the bats and a large candle holder for the skulls
  • I made my own using some pumpkin stands from the Dollar Tree
• Scissors
• Glue
• Images to print (mine are included below)
• Dinner Candle

How to Make the Smokey Bulbs

I found a video on Pinterest that best describes how to do this. In case the video goes away, or you would rather read it, you basically light a candle and hold the ornament over it until the inside gets a smokey look. I used plastic bulbs because that’s all I could find and it still worked. You will notice though that the bottom of my ornaments and in some cases even a little on the top melted. You have to be SUPER careful using the plastic.I also did it in my garage with the door open to reduce the amount of fumes from the burning plastic. Again, glass would be safer and easier but it is kind of nice not to have to worry about them breaking when I drop them (because I’ve definitely dropped them a few times).

While they were cooling, I found the images and printed them on the transparency paper. If you use my file and 3″ bulbs, they should be good to go.

If you want your own images, I found it was easiest to resize them and move them around if I put them into a powerpoint. I tested sizes on regular paper to make sure I got the size I wanted before printing on the transparency paper. This paper also has a front and a back. It’s labeled on the package but not on the paper so make sure you pay attention to it because It may not dry correctly if you print on the wrong side. I cut it out in a circle with a tab at the bottom (like the video). It was an estimate when cutting the circle. You can always cut it down so estimate a little on the bigger side. Then you just roll up the image and pop it into the ornament! If you want put it in candle holders, you are done!

I don’t have that many candle holders laying around my house and it was surprisingly difficult to find cheap ones. There were none at dollar tree, thrift stores, clearance sales, etc. So I started looking and found some awesome ones on Thingiverse. I printed the moon candle holder at 125% to fit the ornament and it fits perfectly. You even have to screw it in a little bit to get it to fit, but it’s stuck and you don’t need to glue it.

I also printed some candle holders for the skull bulbs and used the normal size. The bulb didn’t fit into the candle hole but I just hot glued it on and put some black moss around it to hide the bulb opening.

I was going to print some candle holders for the poison apple, but then I thought about it and Dollar Tree accidentally sent me a case of these pumpkin stands. I would’ve sent them back but most of them were broken anyway so I figured it didn’t matter. I decided to use the green ones since it matched the Evil Queen theme that I was going for and glued the bulbs to the middle. I then covered it in different colored moss around the edges. I didn’t glue the moss or anything, it just kind of stayed put. I thought it turned out so cool!

There are so many different things you can do with these bulbs and so many ways to add to your halloween decorations. I look forward to seeing what you create!