Another Halloween Yard Sign

With just about two weeks left until Halloween I have been taking every opportunity to work on projects.  The candy wrappers and tea light holders are finished and will be posted tomorrow (hopefully).  The Boo sign is almost finished and ready to put out and the something wicked sign is in progress.

Boo sign just needs the stake and it's finished!

I thought this little skeleton was so cute and envisioned her as a sign.  All of my svg files are from the Silhouette Design Store but may be available directly from the designers to the owners' of other cutting machines:  Ghoulie Girl (Boo) is a Michele Renee Cloud 9 Design, Spider Web Flourish is a Silhouette Design and the bat came from Happy Halloween by Jennifer Wambach.  All pieces of the this design were cut from Orcal vinyl (available from My Direct Vinyl).


Directions for Boo:

Silhouette SVG cutting files: Happy Halloween by Jennifer Wambach, Ghoulie Girl by Michele Rene and Spider Web Flourish by Silhouette.

Orcal Vinyl for electronic cutting machines- black, orange, dark purple, grey and white.  Available at My Vinyl Direct, limited colors are available at Michaels

Americana Craft paint- Dolphin Grey- available at Michaels

DecoArt DuraCoat Varnish

Small purple button

Small yellow crystals for the bat's eyes

Wood available at Home Depot and cut to 24 inches long by 10 inches wide

Wooden stake available at Home Depot

Small Nails

Hammer


1.  Cut the wood to 24 x 10 inches and seal with water based craft varnish and let it dry.  Varnish again and let it dry. Paint the sign with the grey paint, let it dry and repeat.  Varnish with the DuraCoat and let it dry.

2.  Size the entire Ghoulie Girl to 9.75 inches on the Silhouette mat on the computer screen. Some pieces of the file won't be on the mat but that's fine.  Ungroup the file.  Move the body, the eyes, nose and hands on Mat 1 and open a new mat.  Group the bones and skull together on Mat 2.  Open Mat 3 and move the bottom of the skull (jaw) to this mat.  Open Mat 4 and place the bow, the center circle for the bow and the smaller BOO on it.  Finally place the BOO outline on Mat 5.

3.  Place the black vinyl on the cutting mat, select vinyl on the machine, adjust the blade and cut the images from Mat 1.  Cut the images on Mat 2 in white vinyl, images from Mat 3 in grey vinyl, images from Mat 4 in orange vinyl and the image from Mat 5 in purple vinyl.

4.  Center the body on the sign, approximately 2 inches from the lower edge of the sign.  Add the Skull, jaw and the bones to the body, center the purple Boo outline on the body and overlay the orange Boo before adding the hands.  Add the eyes, nose and bow.  Smooth out any wrinkles or air bubbles with your finger tips.

5.   Open the Spider Web Flourish onto the Silhouette mat on screen and resize to approximately 5.5 inches.  Click Copy and then paste to make three more webs.  Next open the Halloween title and ungroup the title and the bat. Move Halloween from the mat and delete it.  Group the pieces of the bat together and resize to 1.75 inches. Ungroup the bat and move the eyes from the image and delete them.  Click on the bat, copy and paste 7 more bats on the screen (8 total).  Arrange the Spider Web Flourishes on the mat so that on flourish is in each corner.  Place two bats is each of the open areas of the flourish.  Select cut, load the black vinyl on the cutting mat and send to Silhouette.

6.  Carefully weed the pieces of vinyl from around the spider web flourish, remove from the mat and place one flourish in the upper right corner of the sign, smoothing out any air bubbles. Place another flourish in the lower right corner of the sign.  The ends of the upper and lower flourishes will overlap at the middle of the sign.  Repeat this procedure on the left side of the sign.

7.  Arrange the Bats around the open area in the middle of the sign.  I used a grouping of three because odd numbers are more visually pleasing.  Glue the small crystals to the bat's face for eyes.

8.  Center the wooden stake on the sign so that the top of the stake is even with the top of the sign.  Nail the stake to the back of the sign at the top and the bottom of the sign.

Halloween Yard Signs

It's been a while since I have posted a craft project, but I have been working on Halloween decorations.  The kids are just getting ready to go back to school and the stores are displaying Halloween candy and decorations.  While I'm holding on to what is left of the summer and not ready to embrace fall or it's holidays just yet, it does make sense to start working on Halloween craft projects now.

Several years ago I purchased some cute signs to decorate my walkway.  Over time the signs faded and fell apart.  Unable to find replacements I decided to make my own.  The supply list for the project is simple- wood and stakes from Home Depot, craft vinyl, paint and an electronic cutting machine.  The total cost one sign was about $5.

Finished Sign- Stake nailed to sign at top and bottom.

Finally finished and ready to attach stake.

Just need to finish the phrase!

Sign in progress.

 

After sealing the wood with craft varnish and painting it with Gesso, it was painted with two coats of acrylic craft paint.  The bat is a Treasure Box Designs file (available from the Silhouette Design Store). The phrase was also purchased from Silhouette.  The sign is slightly larger than 12 x 12 inches.  The bat was resized and printed on a laser printer using the landscape option to fit on  8 1/2 x 11 inch paper.  The image was hand cut because the wing extended past the registration marks for the Silhouette.  I did try to print the image on printable vinyl but my HP 5700 ink jet printer would not feed the vinyl through.  The bat will be applied to the sign with Mod Podge.






Directions For Yard Sign:

Orcal Black and Purple Vinyl (available from My Vinyl Direct, Cricut or Silhouette)
Batty Print and Cut file and Once Upon a Midnight Dreary quote- available from Silhouette Design Store
Piece of Wood cut slightly larger than 12x12 inches
White paper
Mod Podge-Hard Coat
Vinyl Transfer Tape- I used Cricut
Grey Craft Paint- I used two bottles of Americana
Foam Brush
Craft Varnish- I used DecoArt DuraClear
Wooden Stakes (available at Home Depot in the lumber section)
1.  Open the Batty file and place on the Silhouette mat, then open the Once Upon a Midnight Dreary file and place on the same mat.  Resize the files so that most of the Batty image fits on the lower left portion of the mat and the quote fits across the top right portion of the mat. Once you are happy with the layout, save the file.

2.  Open another mat and copy and paste the resized Batty file onto the new mat.  Add the registration marks for the Silhouette and use the Trace Outer edge and Cut options. Load plain white paper in a laser printer and print the Batty file. Place Batty on a Silhouette mat and load into the machine and cut the design.

3.  Seal the wood with the craft varnish and let it dry.

4.  Paint both sides of the wood with the grey paint.  Let it dry and then add a second coat of paint.  Set aside to dry.

5.  Open a third Silhouette mat and copy and paste the quote onto this mat.  Place the black vinyl on the Silhouette mat. I use painter's tape around the edges of the mat to keep the vinyl from slipping while it's being cut.  Load the vinyl into the machine and cut out the quote.  Carefully weed the excess vinyl from the design.  Apply transfer tape over the quote while it is still on the mat.  Position the quote on the upper right part of the sign, but don't press it in place yet.

6.  Liberally apply Hard Coat Mod Podge to the back of the Batty design and place Batty on the lower left portion of the sign.  Press in place and smooth out any air bubbles with your finger tips.  Re adjust the quote if needed.  Press the quote in place and use a brayer to secure it.

7.  Apply two more coats of Mod Podge to Batty, letting the Mod Podge dry between coats.

8.  Cut small triangles out of purple vinyl to fit around the edges of the sign.  I cut a 1/2 wide strip of vinyl and then cut the triangles from the strip, making each cut at an angle to form the triangles.  Place the triangles around the edges of the sign to make a border.

9.  Center the sign on stake making sure that the top of the stake is even with the top of the sign. Nail a wooden stake to back of the sign at the top and bottom.  I put a small nail through the purple border and then covered it with a small piece of purple vinyl.

Happy Haunting Pumpkin

This is the last of the decoupaged pumpkin posts. I had a large ivory pumpkin sitting around my studio for a couple of weeks waiting to become a project. Frankenstein is as much a part of Halloween as vampires, mummies and witches, so why not do a Frankenstein themed pumpkin? I chose the image from my "go to" Halloween cartridge (Happy Hauntings) and loaded it into the Cricut machine. This project went together very quickly- about an hour.  This pumpkin is not intended for long term outdoor use. I do intend to display the finished pumpkin on my porch on Halloween night but am using it as an indoor display until then.

Frankenstein Pumpkin

Directions for Frankenstein Pumpkin:

Modge Podge
Foam brush
Modge Podge sealant
Cricut Happy Hauntings cartridge
Black, dark green (a shade darker than the light green), light green, orange and white card stock
Recollections small gold crystal for the eyes and buttons
K&Company Tim Coffey Halloween Paper stack- for the two pumpkins
K&Company Tim Coffey Halloween Bone and Bats Layered Accents-for the bats

1.  Using the Happy Hauntings cartridge cut Frankenstein at 6 inches. Assemble Frankenstein.  Cut the cat at 3 inches. Cut the cat's bow out of a scrap of purple, green or orange card stock. Assemble the cat. Cut Happy Hauntings at 1 1/2 inches out of orange card stock (press Phrase and Frame 9), then cut the word base out of black card stock (press Phrase, Shift and Frame 9). Assemble the phrase.

2.  Apply Modge Podge liberally to the back of Frankenstein and the cat with a foam brush. Place Frankenstein on the pumpkin and the cat to his left. Press the images in place, making sure that the edges of the image are glued to the pumpkin.  Apply Happy Hauntings at the top of the pumpkin, over Frankenstein's head.

3.  Cut two pumpkins from the Tim Coffey pumpkin patterned paper. Apply Modge Podge to the back of the pumpkins and place to the right of Frankenstein's foot.

4.  Coat all of the images on the pumpkin with Modge Podge as set aside to dry. After the images are completely dry, attach the gold crystals to Frankenstein's coat and the cat's eyes.

5.  Using three bats from the Tim Coffey Layered Accents, carefully scrape the foam dots off of the back of the bats. Apply Modge Podge to the back of the bats and glue them to each side of the phrase and below the phrase, slightly to the right of Frankenstein's head.

6.  Apply a coat of Modge Podge to all of the images. Be careful not to dislodge the crystals. Set aside to dry. When the Modge Podge is completely dry, spray the front of the pumpkin with Modge Podge sealant.

Decoupaged Pumpkin

 Halloween is always a fun holiday. I love answering the door and seeing the neighborhood kids in their costumes and having the chance to talk with neighbors that I only see a couple of times a year. It's also a busy holiday for me-baking and shipping Bat Cookies to Brittany and Michelle, decorating and sprucing up the front of the house. Today was warm and sunny so I spent the afternoon painting the trim around the door and windows. For a brief moment I thought about covering the areas that needed painting with craft store spider web material for a true haunted house look and going off into my studio to work on my decorations. I grabbed the paint and paint brush and headed out doors to paint. C'est la vie!

I'm really glad that I did the painting because it only took about 2 hours and I had the rest of the afternoon to work on my decorations (guilt-free). I really like the idea of craft pumpkins. They can be decorated and then stored away and re-used in the future. Rather than carve a real pumpkin to sit out on my porch, I decided to decorate craft pumpkins instead. I am working on the first of three decorated pumpkins, using Cricut and Modge Podge  I am posting this as I am working on it (the Modge Podge hasn't completely dried). As with all decoupage projects this will take several coats of Modge Podge over several days.

Directions for Decoupaged Craft Pumpkin:

Medium size Craft Pumpkin- available at Michaels
Cricut Happy Hauntings cartridge
Black, brown, orange, yellow and white card stock
K&Company Kelly Panacci Halloween Paper Pad- purple dotted card stock
EK Success circle cutter
Sizzix Sizzlets Bat die
Sizzix Big Kick or similar die cut machine
Modge Podge Clear Gloss
Colored pencils
Googly eyes
Modge Podge spray sealant
foam brush for applying Modge Podge

1.  Using the Cricut Happy Hauntings cartridge cut the Owl at 4 inches out of black card stock. Press the Owl and Shift keys to cut the branch out of brown card stock. Press the Layer 1 key to cut the eyes out of white card stock. Press Layer 1 and Shift to cut the feet and beak out of orange card stock. Finally, press Layer 2 to cut the stomach and upper part of the head out of purple dotted card stock. Assemble the owl. Accent the branch, feet, beak and stomach with colored pencils. Glue two small googly eyes to the Owl's face.

2.  Cut two sets of Bats (out black card stock) using the Sizzix.

3.  Use the circle cutter to cut a yellow circle for the moon.

4.  Glue the Owl to the front of the pumpkin with Modge Podge. Glue the moon slightly above the Owl's head on the upper right side. Glue a small Bat to the left edge of the moon. Randomly glue the rest of the Bats to the upper portion of the pumpkin.

5.  Apply a light coat of Modge Podge to the pumpkin and set aside to dry. Repeat the process until you have applied four coats. After the final coat of Modge Podge is dry spray the pumpkin with Modge Podge sealant.

Quoth The Raven Nevermore!

This is the last Halloween project for a while. I have ideas for a few more projects but I will save those for later. The inspiration for this project came while browsing the Halloween aisle at Michaels. I found these resin books and just had to find a way to use them  in a project.

Side View

Front View

I scooped up the books and then walked around Michaels gathering items to use in my project (I still had no clear vision of the finished product).  By the time that I arrived at the check out counter I had collected a large Raven, some feathers, a black foam pumpkin, purple flowers and a purple glittered branch and of course-my books. Finally around 2 a.m. the inspiration hit me. I really like Edgar Allen Poe's line "Quoth the Raven Nevermore" and decided to use it as the theme for my project. After all is there anyone who epitomizes Halloween more than Poe?

Front View

This project goes together very quickly. Beware the branches shed glitter! The mat on my work table was covered with purple glitter despite the fact that I had sprayed the branches with sealant. Since this decoration sheds glitter I don't intend to use it near food.

Side View

Directions for Quoth The Raven:

Large Raven-available at Michaels
Branch of purple flowers-the flowers should be medium size with stems so they can be tucked in the branches
Set of resin books-available at Michaels
2 black and dark green feather picks-available in the floral department at Michaels
1 medium black foam pumpkin
1 large purple glitter branch
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Raven
Parchment paper
Tim Holtz distress ink
Ranger Walnut Ink-Eucalyptus color
Distressing tool or sand paper
Hot glue gun
Wire cutters


1.  Cut the flower stems from the main branch, using the wire cutters.

2. Spray the bird with the Raven color Glimmer Mist and set aside to dry.

3.  Using the wire cutters, cut the purple branch into 2 pieces. Make the pieces long enough so that they will drape down the sides of the pumpkin. Glue the end of one branch to the left of the pumpkin stem and drape the branch down the left side of the pumpkin and glue in place. Repeat, gluing the second branch to the right side of the pumpkin.

4.  Trim the stems of the flowers if necessary and place the flowers along the top of the pumpkin and along the sides of the pumpkin. The flowers should be glued on top of the branches.

5.  Tuck the feather picks in between the flowers. Position the feathers on the right and left sides of the arrangement and glue in place.

6.  Glue the Raven on top of the pumpkin so that he is nestled in the flowers.

7.  Print Quoth the Raven Nevermore on parchment paper using the font of your choice at 22 pt. Cut out the quote and apply distress ink to the parchment. Lightly spray the quote with Ranger Walnut Ink-Eucalyptus color. Use sand paper or the distress tool rough up the edges of the parchment. Glue the quote just below the flowers.

8.  Glue the decorated pumpkin on top of the resin books.

Bat Garland

In my Halloween decorating the hallway leading to the front door usually gets overlooked because there is no foyer area (the hallway leads directly to the front door). This year I decided to decorate the banister with garland. I bought a garland of black leaves and some sheer glittered purple ribbon at my local craft store. Then I made bats with the Cricut Happy Hauntings cartridge and attached them to the leaves. Next I added some Cobb webs and some battery operated flame-less tea lights.

The pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.



Bat Garland Directions:

Cricut Happy Hauntings cartridge
Black, dark purple and a scrap of golden yellow card stock
Cobb web material
Purple ribbon (I used purple glittered ribbon)
Black leaf garland
Glimmer mist
Purple ink or chalk to highlight bats
Foam dots
Glimmer Mist Pearl by Tattered Angels
Craft wire
Flame-less battery operated tea lights


1. Set the size dial on the Cricut to 3 1/2 inches. Cut 4 bats out of black card stock using the Bat 1 key. Press the Layer 1 key and cut 4 bats out of dark purple card stock. Snip of a small rectangle from the golden yellow card stock and glue it behind the purple bat's eyes. Assemble the bats.

2. Apply a little purple ink to the bat to highlight it. Spray the bats lightly with Glimmer Mist and let them dry.

3. Attach the garland to the banister poles using craft wire. For safety reasons leave the top handle rail free.

4. Tie 5 bows and attach along the top and the front pole of the banister using craft wire.

5. Apply one small foam dot on the back of the bat's wing tips. Attach the bats to the leaves spacing them several inches apart.

6. Cover the entire garland with Cobb webbing material.

7. Place the flame-less tea lights at the base of the banister between each banister post.