Dollar Tree Decorated Skull Lights Tutorial

I made these super fun decorated skull lights using supplies from the Dollar Tree, so for about $8.00 I have a set of one of a kind skull lights.

I was excited to find these skull lights at the Dollar Tree for, you guessed it, a dollar!

They are battery powered and have flashing red and yellow LED lights inside them, I should have bought a dozen!!!  They also had purple and orange, I’m sure those would work too.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Skull lights from the Dollar Tree

white spray paint

black acrylic craft paint and fine brush

sharpie markers, fine tip and regular

acrylic sealer (optional)

Start by spraying your skulls white, these were kind of transparent and they looked cheap, adding the with paint made them look nicer and allowed the lights to still be seen flashing.

I then re-colored the eye sockets, nasal cavity, and mouth using the black acrylic paint and fine brush.  It took about three coats to get a nice flat black finish.

Next I used the fine tipped sharpie marker to draw designs onto the skulls.  It was a little tricky, these skulls are very angular and there is not a lot of flat surface for elaborate designs, so keep it simple and use geometric shapes.  After I had the outline drawn I went back with the regular tipped sharpie and filled in some of the areas.  The good news is if you mess up or don’t like the design you can always repaint it white!

Once you have finished your designs you can seal the skulls with a light spray of acrylic sealant, I did not, but I don’t expect these to get a lot of wear or to be handled a lot.  As you can see, you can get a variety of different looks, my favorite is the one on the far right.

This project was inspired by this project from the Crafty Chica.  Sadly I have not been able to find them in the last couple of years.  This year target did have some similar ones, but they were to cartoonish and silly for my tastes.