Fortune Teller Booth Halloween Craft!

Esmerelda will tell you your fortune. Come closer.

Look into her eyes.

But don't stare.

She'll read your cards.

Or your palm.

The carny life is rough. But a girl has to earn a living. She puts on her makeup every night and performs.

That's her assistant. Don't stare at him, either. So do you guys want to know how easy this was to make? Sooo easy.

Two big moving boxes. These are 24" x 18" x 18" and cost about $1.50 each at Lowes.

Stack them. Cut out the opening. Tape up all the seams with masking tape (easier to paint than clear plastic tape).

Use the cardboard you cut out to make a body form. Tape it to a dowel. I stuck it into a bucket of rocks to hold it up. Then I draped some clothes over it. Didn't even have to add batting or anything because I wanted her to look skinny.

This is what I made the head out of. It's a styrofoam wig head. The creepy thing is that I actually already had one lying around the house. They're only about 5 bucks or so. It has a hole in the bottom so it sits on top of the dowel without any glue or anything.

To age her, I brushed Mod Podge onto the styrofoam, laid a strip of toilet paper on it, then brushed more Mod Podge on top. Sort of wrinkled it up with the paint brush. This is WAY easy. Then you can add makeup, err, acrylic craft paint. As I painted on her face, that's when I started developing empathy for her. I initially wanted her to be really creepy, but then I started feeling sorry for her. This is where we're all headed. If we're lucky. Oh god, that's depressing. So I slopped on tons of makeup. She draws those eyes and lips on every night and gets in that booth and puts on a show. Then it's onto the next town. See how weird I'm getting?

Here is the mystery of her crystal ball revealed. A balloon, a strip of posterboard painted with dimensional paint (can't get enough of the stuff), and a battery powered LED tap light.

I used electrical tape to tape the lights in place. It's just a string of patio lights from Target. My assistant helped me feed the cord down to the bottom and out the back. That's pretty much it. Then you can go to town decorating. Fabric scraps, bangles, various cheap Halloween decorations. I bought some plastic pirate coins and strung them up. And the little buzzard. I was able to cover the whole box with 2 bottles of navy blue craft paint. So fun! I really could've gone overboard with this one. Seriously. I mean, I guess I already have. I've written Esmerelda's life story in my head.

Happy Halloween!!!!

PS I downloaded the palmistry hand picture from here and the tarot cards from here.