Friday, September 28, 2012

Spooky halloween decoration on a dime...

Follow Me on Pinterest

or less! I actually didn't have to buy a thing :)

My theory on seasonal decorating is - If I'm going to take the time to put it up, it's going to be out for at least a month! So I like to get my Halloween decor going the end of September. Most of what I have in storage was bought on the post-Halloween clearance rack years ago. I wanted something fresh to add to my spread but don't want to spend the dough (hey, I'm already looking towards Christmas :) I saw a picture of a similar project and thought I could do it on the cheap... Turned out, I had everything on hand, so it essentially cost me nothing except for my time!
Supplies
  • Cardboard boxes
  • Pumpkin carving tool
  • Paint
  • Paintbrush
  • Tissue paper
  • Black construction paper
  • Hooks
  • Tape
  • Glue
  • String of white lights
To Do
  1. Sketch/trace spooky eye designs onto the sides of the boxes. If your display will be viewed from multiple angles, you might want to carve out more than one side. 
  2. Using a pumpkin carving tool, cut out the traced areas. I was surprised at how well it worked!
  3. Paint the outside of the boxes. I used some blue paint leftover from our family room. 1 coat was enough for the brown boxes but the glossy box needed 2 or 3.
  4. Cut out blocks of tissue paper large enough to cover each set of eyes, then taped them to the inside of the box. Repeat for each set of eyes. My boxes used only a half sheet of tissue paper. Also, I only had white tissue paper, so I colored it with a yellow highlighter - thought it was a bit more eery, wahahahah!
  5. Cut out pupils from black construction paper. I just winged it - no stencil, no drawing, just cut. The pupils were glue directly onto the front side of the tissue paper taped in place.
  6. Tape hooks (I used 3M removables) to the front, inside of the box to hang lights from. I taped (1) hook in the 2 smaller boxes and (2) hooks in the large box. 
  7. Stack the boxes... this was the trickiest part. I wanted all 3 boxes to be one unit, but also needed a way to get the lights into the upper 2 boxes. I cut (2) 2" circles using the pumpkin carver on the top of the large bottom box where each box would sit above.
  8. Feed lights through the bottom box and hang from hooks. Test the string of lights.
  9. Now, feed lights through the bottom box and hang from hooks. Then thread portions of the light string up through the holes and into the top boxes, also hanging lights from hooks. 
  10. Tape/Glue top boxes to bottom box to secure.
  11.  Plug lights in and enjoy your glowing accomplishment :) 
Have a crafty Halloween... This won't be the last post for the season - you can be sure of that




No comments:

Post a Comment