Halloween Tableaux

It's Halloween season! Because I can never have too much Halloween decor, or do too much Halloween crafting, I had a blast making these tableaux to celebrate my favorite spooky holiday. Large Spiderweb Mirrors with Frames are the perfect backdrop for each scene. All they need is a little stand; easy to make with some foam core and tissue paper. I'll show you how at the end of this post.

The first tableau is a little on the spooky side. There's a witchy woman, a graveyard, pumpkins, a skull, and a black cat. A crescent moon shines down on the scene as a bat flies into the night. The gravestones are cardboard shapes; there's a tutorial on how to paint them at the end of this post. The cat is a cupcake pick. If you leave a little of the pick attached when you cut it off, it's easy to stick down into the foam core to make the cat secure. I gave this one some funny eye stickers. He looks scared! 

Side view, so you can see some of the 3D elements. The large pumpkin in the back was too fat to fit on the base, so I cut it in half with a box cutter. That made it easy to glue it onto the background. Another alteration I made is in the image of the woman. She was originally wearing a very cool bat hat, but it was a little hard to see on the background, so I gave her a new witch's hat with a bright orange band. The "boo" sign and the little pumpkin girl were attached with foam tape, and the cat banner was glued only at the ends so it pops out a bit.

What's Halloween without candy and costumes? You're invited to a Spook Party! I layered a cat head image on top of a black medallion and a gold medallion, and then could not help but add an extra paper medallion (tutorial on making the paper medallion can be found here). I wanted this scene to be busy and fun, so it features some happy kids, lots of candy, a couple of jack o'lanterns, and a colorful witch's hat.

Side view. The cat head is attached with foam tape, and the paper medallion is attached to the back of the scene for extra depth. The little clown with the pointy hat is also glued to the back of the scene, and his other clown and the witch are attached with foam tape, as are the paper pumpkins. In order to display the witch's hat at a jaunty angle, I glued a toothpick to its back and stuck it into the foam core. A little dab of glue at the bottom of the hat helps keep it secure. The red cape of the little witch flared out on both sides of her, but I trimmed it back on the side where she's holding the cat so it doesn't cover too much of the ghost. Don't be afraid to alter those collage sheet images to fit!

Of course I didn't manage take any photos while these were in progress, so here's a dramatic re-creation of how the stands were made. The backgrounds on the art above are 5" tall. The one I'm using for this tutorial is smaller, around 3 1/2" tall, but the technique is the same. Cut your foam core to the size and shape you want. Mine is just enough to allow for some 3D decorations in the front of the scene. Cut a piece of tissue paper to the right size to wrap your base. I adhered mine with Mod Podge. Tuck the ends in like you're wrapping a present.   

Once the base is wrapped, position your background where you want it, and holding it steady, trace around the bottom with a pencil. *Hint: cover and/or paint your background and frame before you do this step, as adding extra paper and paint will make the stand a little thicker.*

 

Use an x-acto blade to cut out the slot. See the two red arrows in the photo below? That bottom part of the frame will fit into the slot you have just cut.

Set your background in your stand. If you've cut the slot a little too wide, insert a slip of cardboard to help secure the background. Now you're ready to decorate! For a complete list of supplies, click here.

 Happy Halloween!

 

Welcome to the Nut House

Hello, and welcome to the Nut House. A squirrel lives here! This whimsical mushroom house kit from Alpha Stamps almost made me forget how effed up 2020 is. Almost. At least it was a fun distraction.  

The house comes with a niche, so it's easy to make a front room. A little sugar glider has moved in, and he brought a large acorn along with him.

The squirrel is very happy in his new home. The staircase is designed with two steps; I added a little landing at the doorway. 

This squirrel appreciates a nice garden. The yard is made with a combo of Field Grass, Green Turf Grass, Leafy Green Underbrush, and Clump Foliage, which makes for beautiful red flowers along the path. The path is composed of Miniature Brown Path Pebbles and "stones" made from egg cartons (click here for a tutorial on making egg carton stones).  Oh look, there's some mail!  

The mailbox pretty easy to make. The bottom of the box was made from a rectangular shutter that was included in the door and window set made especially for the mushroom house. I painted it black and then glued a strip of black card stock to each side to make the rounded top. Once the top was in place, I put a thin bead of glue on the back of the box and set it on the card stock. Once that glue was dry, I carefully cut around the edge to make the back of the box. In the photo on the right, you can see how the door was made: a piece of the card stock is trimmed to fit the opening, with extra paper to go up under the bottom. This will allow the door to open and close. The flag was attached with a tiny brad.

The mailbox stands on a painted wooden spindle. The enclosed letter is written with a .05 pen on typing paper, and the envelope was made with the same. The "postcard" is a label from a collage sheet, mounted on thin cardboard and trimmed. That's a teeny tiny letter! It's pictured below on a 1" grid.

A little bit about how the house was made: once it was decorated front and back, and the niche was in place, I cut strips of paper to finish the sides. All it takes is a thin line of glue on the sides of the cardboard to attach those pieces. It's best to do a little bit at a time, so you can hold the paper in place while the glue dries. My house isn't exactly uniform, and some parts were wider than others, so I cut the strip a little wider than necessary and lined it up with the front of the house. After the glue was dry, I carefully trimmed the excess paper in the back with an x-acto knife.

Here's the house in position on the base. It's easy to put the mailbox in place, as the spindle it stands on has little pegs at each end. I punched a little hole in the base to insert the peg. A dab of glue holds it tightly in place. This is the time to draw the sidewalk in, so you know where to put down your stones. I made the sidewalk before gluing the mushroom down. Once the sidewalk was done, I glued on the mushroom and  the yard was "planted" using white glue.

I hope you enjoyed looking at the Nut House. Need supplies? Click here!