Today I will show you how I made my arduino garden gnome creature for halloween this year. I created a cup with eyes that fade in and out for that perfect touch on halloween.

Step 1: Materials

All the materials you will need are as follows--
   -High brightness led of your color choice, I tried with Blue, Yellow, and White. they all work well
   -Styrofoam cup
   -Arduino board
   -Computer with programming cable
   -Paper

Step 2: Prepare the Styrofoam Cup

in this step, we will make the eyes and power connector.
1) cut or drill the two holes about 3/4 of the way to the top if the cup is up-side-down.
2) we will cut the rectangular hole in the back opposite the eyes and at the very bottom.

Step 3: OPTIONAL: Cover the Cup

If you want, you can cover the cup with a paper "jacket". To make this jacket, cut a sheet of paper to the hight of your cup. Next, wrap this around the cup and tape it in place and cut out the hole for power just like on the cup.

Step 4: The Arduino and Code

To prep the board for code, insert your led with the anode on pin 9 and the cathode on the ground rail.

this part is the code. it is fairly simple to understand and is as follows or can be found under the examples in the arduino software.

int ledPin = 9;

void setup() {

}

void loop() {

for(int fadeValue = 0 ; fadeValue <= 255; fadeValue +=5) {

analogWrite(ledPin, fadeValue);

delay(30);
}

for(int fadeValue = 255 ; fadeValue >= 0; fadeValue -=5) {

analogWrite(ledPin, fadeValue);

delay(30);
}
}

Step 5: Closing It All Up

The final part- closing the bot up. the cup goes over the arduino. The led creates an awesome effect.

Step 6: Final Preparations

play with the jacket or move the led to fine tune and fire up the little creature.

have fun this year on halloween and please vote for me in the decorations and props halloween contests as this is my first instructables.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!