You’ve been toiling away on your costume (or pumpkin, prop, spooky art, whatever the case may be) to freak out the impending trick-or-treaters. Your creation can win you a handful of treats, too! Some of these contests are frightfully simple to enter, while the rest require varying degrees of participation. Whether you only have a moment to join a mailing list, or have set aside months to create a fantastic costume or prop, you’ll find a contest perfect for you.

MAKE/CRAFT DIY Halloween Contest: Submit images of your homemade Halloween creations to the flickr pool. Categories include pumpkins, costumes, decorations or gadgets, and food.
Prizes: A trip to Maker Faire San Francisco and a bunch of other TBA prizes
Deadline: November 4, 2007

Curbly Candy Corn Challenge: To enter, transform these syrupy wedges into something seasonally superior for your home. Or, take …

Imagine if you dedicated an entire day to creating a Halloween project. What couldn’t you make with 20-30 hours and a vision? Norma Jean spends that much time on each one of her handmade horror dolls, giving attention to the smallest details. They are totally one of a kind, and she even sculpts the heads, hands and feet herself. All that handmade TLC is going to cost you, but sometimes you have to splurge for art. (Plus, supporting spooky artists is a always a good thing.) There are such gory categories as dolls with head injuries, mad scientists, and perhaps my favorite, the skeletons convicts.

If you’ve got a barren chamber door, she also has super detailed, ornate …

Okay my little dark decorators, we have a new Halloween Decor tutorial for you, courtesy of Jill King from Spokane, WA*. You know those little bricks of modeling clay that are available at every craft store? With a just little bit of artistry- not too much, this craft is still suitable for beginners- you can transform those into little pumpkin picture holders. Use them to display creepy old ephemera, Halloween cards, or even your emo photography. Here’s an easy Halloween decorating idea: for a simple Halloween display, line up a handful of these along a windowsill or mantle and your decor is done. No matter what you’ve got going on with your Halloween decorations, these will make a creepy cool addition.

New Tutorial: Pumpkin Wire Picture Holder

*Thanks, Jill!

Halloween craft tutorial: How to make a pumpkin picture holder from Fimo clay and craft wire.

Halloween is a time for creativity; letting your imagination wander into the unexplored corners of your mind, the birth of new monsters, unleashing of ideas long since bottled… Sometimes the end result is reward enough, but you know what makes it even sweeter? Recognition. When you finally get to wear the costume that took you 8 weeks to make, the cries of “What an amazing costume!” make it so worth it. And when your neighbors do a double take and have to peer closer at your handmade yard prop: that’s one satisfying moment.

So if you haven’t already started, now’s the time to get cracking on your Halloween creations. When you’ve finally finished, enter them into the MAKE/CRAFT DIY Halloween Contest. Just upload your pictures to their DIY HALLOWEEN photo pool at Flickr by November 4th and your …

There are many milestones that usher in the Halloween season, and depending on your interests, some will be decidedly more exciting than others. The changing colors of the leaves and new flavors of candy corn are nice, but one sure sign that October 31st is nigh is the X-Entertainment Halloween Countdown. Its kickoff means a near daily dose of the unadulterated celebration of our beloved holiday. Every weekday Matt, the Man Behind the Curtain at X-E, writes about “new-for-2007 Halloween stuff and tons of ghoulish goodies from yesteryear.” Some highlights from last year include a review of the new Jones Soda Halloween flavors, The 3D effects of Friday the 13th: Part 3, the tale of his best Halloween costume ever, and a 3 part series on the best new candy of the season. Matt is …