• 0 items$0.00
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Hands Occupied

Contemporary yarn crafts by Heidi Gustad. Knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame.

  • BLOG
    • Knitting
    • Crochet
    • Latch Hook
    • Macramé
  • ABOUT
  • Shop
  • Studio
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland

September 26, 2013 5 Comments

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

How much fun is this garland, you guys?! I had originally planned to make an eyeball garland with painted ping pong balls for Halloween this year. Then I was perusing the seasonal section at the party store last week, and they totally had plastic eyeball favors for sale! What luck! The premade eyeballs are super cute on this garland, and the colorful beads, which I happened to have on hand, smack just a little bit of Dia de los Muertos. I just love projects that come together so adorably and serendipitously like this!

Supplies

plastic eyeballs (or painted ping pong balls)
shiny beads
heavy duty thread
small nail
mallet/hammer
pliers
scissors
needles in several sizes, including one longer than the widest part of your eyeballs

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

Directions

The vast majority of the time that goes into this project is converting your eyeballs basically into giant beads. Working from the thickest to the thinnest nail/needle, pound two holes into each eyeball straight across from each other. I eyeballed the second hole’s location on each, and all but a couple miraculously became successful beads on the first try.

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

If your needle or nails get stuck in the eye, use a pair of pliers to pull them out. In the course of pounding two holes into 80 eyeballs, only two of them split in half, and not a single one cracked. You can be pretty aggressive when pounding holes into these.

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

After you hammer the two holes, use the needle that’s longer than your eyeball to ensure the holes are aligned. Keep hammering until all of the eyeballs you’ll need are beadified.

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

Using the long needle, alternate threading an eyeball and several beads onto a long piece of heavy duty thread to form the garland. Secure both ends with good knots, hang and enjoy!

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

On a tangential note…

For fun I decided to take some photobooth style pics with my crazy garland and the two eyeballs I managed to pop in half when I was turning the rest of them into beads. I hadn’t intended to do more than text the shots to my husband when he was in meetings, but they’re super glorious (if a bit out of focus). Full disclosure, the only people home when I took these were me and my dogs.

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

This post was not actually brought to you by any party store. 

—

PS:

You know what I just realized? (I promise I’m not making this up for the sake of internet!) I’m pretty sure these eyeballs exist to mostly be used for spoOOo-ooh-ky beer pong. This is JUST LIKE the time I thought the dudes at the midnight showing of Pink Floyd’s The Wall were drinking pop. “Why would they bring Jones Soda to the movies? The glass bottles are so loud!” True story.

Filed Under: Halloween, How-to, Parties Tagged With: beads, beer pong, decor, eyeball garland, festive, garland, halloween craft, halloween crafts, parties, ping pong balls

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

Previous Post: « Best Balloon Ideas
Next Post: Weekly Reader »

Reader Interactions

DID YOU LIKE THIS POST?
Visit similar articles...

  • How-to: Bat Place CardsHow-to: Bat Place Cards
  • Halloween 2013 Project RoundupHalloween 2013 Project Roundup
  • How-to: Make a Perfect Paper PinwheelHow-to: Make a Perfect Paper Pinwheel
  • Picks of the WeekPicks of the Week

DON’T MISS ANOTHER UPDATE

Comments

  1. thezenofmaking

    September 26, 2013 at 11:03 am

    So, next time we’re in the same place, you’re bringing these for a game of crafty beer pong, right? (Also a true story: Despite having attended a Big 10 school, I’ve still never played beer pong.)

    Reply
    • Heidi

      September 26, 2013 at 3:48 pm

      Totally! What would be the craft equivalent of a red Solo cup for shooting into?

      PS: I played beer pong like once at MSU. It was fine, but I was bad at it. Like awful bad.

      Reply
  2. Charlene

    October 5, 2013 at 9:06 pm

    Hey! I type in “eyeball garland” into a google image search and here I am. Love the colorful beads. Thanks for the link to the pre-made eyeballs and your great idea. I think I will try a small drill for the holes.

    Reply
  3. doro von Hand zu Hand

    October 18, 2013 at 3:51 am

    a really cool garland!

    I linked to your tutorial on my blog – thanks for sharing!

    ♥, doro von Hand zu Hand

    Reply
    • Heidi

      October 18, 2013 at 2:47 pm

      Thanks for sharing it on your blog!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi, an author, yarn craft designer and content creator specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. My work unapologetically features primary colors and vintage-meets-modern style. My first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is now available!

Professionally I’m most known for: advanced intarsia knitting design & modern latch hook design.

work with heidi

UPDATES BY EMAIL

Get a free pattern + biweekly updates sent to your inbox.

Let’s be friends!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Latch Hook by Heidi Gustad

Footer

INSTAGRAM

handsoccupied

Craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. / #latchhookbook out now!
.
knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
Happy Wrestlemania weekend, folks!!! 🎊 It’s c Happy Wrestlemania weekend, folks!!! 🎊 It’s coincidentally International Punch Needle Rug Hooking Day today, so I’d be remiss not to share a first look at this project finished JUST in time to wear while I watch some rasslin’ on a pirate ship in a football stadium in Tampa! 💪🏻 I’m excited to watch tonight’s women’s matches the most. Eee!
.
.
Pictured: A blond woman in a denim dress and glasses wearing a giant belt made with punch needle. The belt is made with wool in primary colors and was inspired by the WWE Universal Championship title belt. 
.
This is just a preview - after jab 2.0 tomorrow (feeling grateful 🙏🏼), I’ll be editing together a vlog about the design process for this wooly waist cover. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to make some of your wilder craft ideas come to life. Stuff you’ll never find a pattern for, you know? I’ll finish editing that ASAP, but I might take a few days to edit if I feel like trash from 💉 and only want to watch wrestling and wrestling YouTube for a day or two. 😂
.
.
#ipnrhd #punchneedle #wwe #wrestling #championshipbelt #wool #yarn #handmade #universalchampionship #universalchampion #rugmaking #wrestlingfan #wrestlemania37 #wrestlemania
A look at the halo on the back of my wrestling-ins A look at the halo on the back of my wrestling-inspired punch needle project! It’s interesting to see how fuzzy the handspun beige yarn is compared with the primary color sections of @knit_picks Wool of the Andes Bulky. ❤️💛💙🤎 
.
Pictured: The back of an in-progress punch needle project. A wooden punch needle tool sits on the work.
.
#punchneedle #woolrug #rugmaking  #kpambassadorsapr21 #sponsored #griefproject #handsoccupied #wrestlingfan #universalchampion #yarn #yarncraft #wool #needlepunch
Happy Easter / One week til Wrestlemania! Finishin Happy Easter / One week til Wrestlemania! Finishing up the punch needling part of this crazy @wwe inspired project by tonight. 💪🏻🧶 Anybody else have crafty plans for this fine spring day? 
.
Pictured: A blond woman sits, smiling and holding an in-progress punch needle project inspired by the Universal Championship belt. Houseplants are in the background and there’s lots of sun. 
.
#punchneedle #griefproject #handsoccupied #heidigustad #wrestlingcrafts #wwe #universalchampion #universalchampionship #wool #wooloftheandes #primarycolors #oxfordpunchneedle
I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back from the past few weeks, and as I dip my toe back into production mode, the long-promised seamed sweater knitting YouTube series is at the top of my list. I've got FOUR versions of a simple sweater I've been playing with since last JULY to feature as a free pattern for folks who want to knit along during the series. Pictured is the first prototype for the series, knit in 2 colors of @knit_picks Mighty Stitch yarn. I imagine this soon-to-be short sleeved number will come in handy as an emergency Waldo costume or Christmas sweater. 🌲 
.
I've got my own list of topics I think folks would like to see in a series like this: things like tips for construction, working with vintage patterns, how to seam as invisibly as possible, and more, but as always, I'd love to hear from you: What scares you about knitting seamed sweaters? What would be helpful to cover, especially since we'll be doing more long form video content. I get so much positive feedback on my series of 20 minute+ intarsia tutorials, so I'm using those as a starting point as I produce this series. Seamed sweaters using vintage or self-improvised patterns are one of my favorite things on the planet, so I'm eager to share some seamed sweater skills with y'all super sweet folks. 😉 
.
.
Pictured: A red and white striped, short sleeved sweater knit in pieces that have yet to be seamed. They are laid out on a yellow and orange colorblock background and one sleeve is yet to be bound off. 
.
#handsoccupied #seamedsweater #kpambassadorsmar21 #sponsored #knitpicks #waldo #waldosweater #wip #yarncraft #yarn #knitting #knittersofinstagram #heidigustad #vintageknitting #sweaterknitting
Work continues this evening on my absurd punch nee Work continues this evening on my absurd punch needle pro wrestling inspired championship belt project. I’ve finished most of the front pretty quickly thanks to the @knit_picks Wool of the Andes Bulky yarn I’m using. For now, I’ve got a couple more weeks until Wrestlemania, & I’m on track to finish this in time! 
.
The biggest question I have is what to do with the “plates” - the open circles in the picture. Should I try to closely replicate the Universal Championship belt or go rogue and make it wool themed? Please advise in the comments. ☺️🧶🙏🏻🐑 
.
Pictured: The front of an in-progress punch needle project. A wooden punch needle tool with navy yarn running through it rests on top of the work. 
.
#kpambassadorsmar21 #sponsored #knitpicks #punchneedle #rugmaking #primarycolors #punchneedlerughooking #punchneedlelove #wool #wip #yarncraft #yarn #yarnaddict
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2021 / Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework / Branding by Ink + Mortar
All Site & Shop Policies / Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy