Halloween Party Time!

We're having a party! Last year we covered the food, this year as the host of the party, I have to make sure my house is decorated for the occassion! Since I have little babes in the house I wasn't too eager for gory decorations, and I'm on a budget, so no expensive store-bought decorations. My challenge is set: make homemade decorations worthy of a smokin' Halloween party.

This first decoration was a no brainer. A Halloween banner was top on my list.

These banners are so easy to make. I used Amber Autumn Fall Paper to make the flags, lined them up with some ribbon and sewed across. You don't even need to sew, you can glue the paper on the ribbon. I glued the letters on the flags. I originally was going to put all the letters in circles so I'd only have to cut circles, but I was feeling ambitious. We'll call it a Halloween labor of love (cutting by hand). All the fonts I used are in the Hairy Scary Super Bundle. For specific fonts, look here.

I decided I needed another big decoration.

So I stole the biggest Christmas decoration and made it Halloween--on a budget. This was a branch in the yard waste pile in my backyard. Seriously. It works perfectly. I spray-painted it black, stuck it in a terra cotta pot I already had, and stabilized it with small rocks (again from my backyard). Then I made the ornaments.

I started by printing off a bunch of DoodleBat images I liked in 2" circles on yellow paper. If you want the specific DoodleBats I used, look here. I glued that onto black cardstock and cut out each circle. On the backside, I brushed glue and sprinkled glitter. *Smile* Sparkles make me happy.

If I have more time before my party, I'm absolutely making more ornaments. I think this project will look better and better with more ornaments.

Even though I'm not cooking awesome treats this year, I still want to decorate the food. Hello candy bowl gravestones.

Again, these are totally easy. I printed spooky names on spooky paper, folded the paper above the names and cut out gravestones on the fold. (Paper is from Basic Grey Green at Heart, fonts are LD Rococo, LD Potter and LD Blackbeard.) To stand them up, I folded little tabs at the bottom.

Easy. But it really spices up a candy bowl and sets the mood. I love it.

Lastly, we need some mood lighting inside (the jack-o-lanterns will be outside). Solution: spooky vellum paper lanterns.

You like? Here's how I made them. I started out by outlining a lantern pattern I made onto black paper. Unfortunately I couldn't quite fit all four sides on one 12"x12" paper, so I needed two papers. I don't worry about too many scraps--I'll just make more ornaments for my tree. Come on, it's Halloween. There's always something to make with black paper :)

Cut.

Fold.

I went back to the computer and made some "window" silhouettes to fit in the lantern windows. I used DB Fright Night. I love that DoodleBat. I printed my windows on vellum paper so the light would shine through.

Cut.

Tape. (I was in do-it-quick mode. Glue would work just as well. Maybe better.)

Finally I taped (but glue would be better) the lantern together and put a light inside. It turned out so nice! I wish you could see it in person, it's even better than the picture. And it's just paper! Talk about Halloween coolness on a budget.

If you would like to make a lantern like this, I will share my pattern with you! Click here for a zipped PDF file.

Let me know if you make any of these crafts. I'd love to hear how they turn out! If you use any scrapNfonts products, post your project in the idea gallery so everyone can see!

Happy Halloween Crafting!

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