Sugar Skull Halloween Mantle

I don’t normally go all out decorating the mantle for Halloween, but this year I was inspired by Día de Muertos, a Mexican day of the dead celebration, and wanted to do a sugar skull theme. A few weeks ago, I gave you a sneak peek at my Halloween mantle in my Lighted Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Wall Art tutorial.

When I first showed off the sneak peek, the mantle looked pretty dark and was giving off a scary sort of vibe…not what I a was going for. I wanted a brighter and more cheerful vibe seen in many Día de Muertos decorations.  It took me a few days of staring at the mantle to figure out what else I wanted to add and I’m finally ready for the full “Sugar Skull Halloween Mantle” reveal!

Sugar Skull Halloween MantleHalloween mantle before & after

As you can see, with just a few added touches of color, the mantle went from dark and scary to a more bright and fun look.

Left side of mantle collage

One of the first things I did was to add giant tissue flowers in red, aqua, and purple to the top of the display. These flowers are super easy to make and gave the mantle a burst of color that it was missing. Next, I added gem stones to the spiders mounted on the wall.

To bring in more color, I also replaced the silver roses with a red roses, added an aqua pom-pom flower, and some small pink pom-pom flowers.  We’re on a roll now!

**Tip – 1. Reuse old bottles to make vases. The black and silver vases are made with glass spaghetti sauce bottles. 2. Cut trash bags to make black curtains.**

right side of mantle collage

On the right side of the mantle, I added bejeweled dollar store skulls and brought in some purple color. The first skull was added to the wall and is used as a hanging hook for the faux fencing wire. Below this, I added a fully bejeweled skull and a purple glitter candle for some much needed sparkle. I even reused some pink flowers that I used in my Spring Wreath.

**Tip – 3. hot glue a flat head thumb-tack to the back of the skull for an easy way to hang the skull on the wall with very minimal damage. Otherwise, use some type of semi-permanent 3M strips.**

Sugar Skull Halloween Mantle Collage

Do you like the changes? I do! I think the added color and bling really brightens up the display. I’m really happy with the way the mantle turned out and plan on adding more flowers over the entire top of the mantle.

Want to make your own Día de Muertos mantle? Here is list of supplies used to create this mantle:

  • (2) dollar store black netting
  • (3) dollar store black crows
  • red, aqua, and purple tissue paper
  • dollar store red roses
  • dollar store black glitter roses
  • (2) dollar store glitter branches
  • (2) purple glitter candles
  • (2) small dollar store skulls
  • 1 large dollar store skull mounted on a candle holder
  • various glue on gems – use to jewel skulls and spiders
  • (3) dollar store black glitter tea lights
  • dollar store small silver glitter skulls
  • black trash bags
  • reused pink pom-pom flowers from my Spring Wreath
  • Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Wall Art
  • recycled painted glass bottles

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23 Comments

  1. I absolutely love this! The colorful flowers are the perfect touch! Every year I mean to paint/ rhinestone my own sugar skulls and every year I get too lazy and end up buying already decorated ones. One of these years I’m going to do it though, haha!

  2. It looks amazing! Hubby and I are dressing as sugar skulls for Halloween this year and now I wish I had a mantle to decorate too. I may just steal an idea or two from you this year!

  3. We were actually in Mexico once on during the Day of the Dead celebration. It was interesting to see how others celebrate. I think you nailed it on your mantle! Great job!