One of the things that I love about Fall is decorating for Halloween. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in looking for decorations as the magazines have featured picture-perfect vignettes and the seasonal aisles are chock full of exciting wares. I personally like to grab a few small things if I’m working on something specific and if there’s a big ticket item, I may pick it up post season. I’m learning to make my own decorations. They are a lot of fun and often times, allow me to achieve a custom look for less. You know, amazing decorations can be made simply from paper?
Whenever I’m looking to decorate for the season, I start brainstorming on how I can spruce things up with paper, whether by grabbing a printable or getting creative with some glue and scissors. This year, I made some garland for Jayden’s doorway, including some that glow in the dark for a festive vignette in our hallway. I also created a glow in the dark moon and used some bats to finish the scene. Let me show you how it all came together.
Materials
All materials can be found at Walmart.
3 sheets black construction paper
3 sheets orange construction paper
1 sheet cardstock
Glue stick
Stencils or cookie cutters
Glow in the dark spray paint
X-acto knife
Scissors
String and/or twine
Scotch tape
Instructions
Bats & Pumpkins
For the bats, I printed out a stencil, cut it out and traced the bats on to a sheet of black construction paper. I lightly glued the sheet I traced on to the 2nd sheet so that I could cut both sheets of bats out at the same time. Elmer’s glue sticks are gentle, so the paper pulls apart without ripping. For the pumpkins, I did the same, only I used a cookie cutter as a stencil.
I set some bats aside to be taped on the wall. The rest I threaded with string (to make a 3-bat mobile for the vignette) and twine, adding a few of the pumpkins for Jayden’s garland above his door.
Glow In The Dark Ghost Garland
For the glow in the dark ghost garland, I created a page full of ghosts using a template that I found online. I printed them on to a sheet of cardstock and spray painted the sheet with glow in the dark spray paint. I’ve been holding on to this glow in the dark spray paint that I found on clearance for years. I was excited to finally use it! I attached the sheet to cardboard and propped it up in front of a fan to speed up the drying process. I did the same when creating the glow layer in the owl on the moon below.
Once the ghosts were dry, I cut them out with scissors. I actually found it easier to use a standard-sized hole puncher to cut out the eyes versus using an x-acto knife. Whatever works best! After all of the cutting, I threaded the ghosts with twine and taped the garland to my vignette scene.
Owl On The Moon
For the owl on the moon, I printed out a stencil on an orange sheet of construction paper. I cut the paper to fit the printer as it was a tad too wide. I cut the owl and the moon out using an x-acto knife. I lightly glued the orange sheet of construction paper (with the owl/moon cut out) on top of a sheet of black construction paper before realizing that I wanted to use some glow in the dark paint on it. So after I cut out the round portion, I detached the black paper, coated it in glow in the dark paint, then glued it back under the orange cut out and taped it on the wall.
PHEW!
I’m so happy with the way everything turned out. Jayden is so excited about our new Halloween decor upstairs. He has his own personal garland above his door and a festive vignette right in front of his room… wait for it… above Jaxon’s dresser. Hey, when creativity calls, I make things happen. In the next few days I will be sharing more fall and Halloween decorating ideas. If you’re working on something, I’d love to hear more about them!
Template/Printables Credit: Owl Moon / Bats / Ghosts / Got Candy?
As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.