Skeleton papercraft project

I printed out and assembled this little skeleton-zombie guy just for kicks. At 2 1/2" tall, he's a very threatening presence. I believe he might enjoy hiding in the medicine cabinet or the cereal cupboard. To make him (he's part of the "Halloween Night" set), and other Halloween papercrafts, visit Canon's Halloween printables site.

Update for those having trouble finding the template: Click here. Scroll down to "Halloween Decoration" and find "Halloween Night." This printable document contains many characters (cat, pumpkin, etc.) and a house you can build. The skeleton is on one of the pages. Click A4 or Letter, depending on what your country's standard paper size is, to download the PDF. When the template is downloaded, print page 3, the instructions, and page 8, the skeleton body parts.

Last-minute Halloween paper crafts

It's not too late to make a last-minute Halloween paper toy! Get the fam printing and folding these free DIY projects tonight.
Retro pumpkin treat basket at My Paper Crane
Little desk dracula by Samantha Eynon (scroll down on the page to find him)
Cute Halloween menagerie from Happy Thought

Halloween printables: free invitations and papertoys

You and the kids can print and assemble cute (and free!) Halloween goodies, compliments of the generous people of the internet. Get a massive "Boo"-themed party set by Love Party Printables, featured at Catch My Party. Or make paper Frankensteins by Bob Canada. Find a Halloween treat box template from Draw! Pilgrim—the link is at the bottom of Pilgrim's post.

Printable Halloween paper dolls

I don't have kids, but this is too cute not to share. Download free, printable cone-shaped paper dolls with interchangeable Halloween costumes from Mr. Printables. You'll need the girl bodies from here, and the Halloween costumes from here. You can also make all the dress-up outfits below. Adorable.

I think my niece would really get into these. If you know some little girls, maybe they'd like to play with cone girls, too! Rumor has it cone boys are coming soon.

Ten free Halloween fonts

If you're planning to make any Halloween invitations or banners this month, a round-up of ten free Halloween fonts from Creative Pro might be just what you're looking for. I tried out Tango Macabre and Needleteeth above. (Thanks for the tip, Elizabeth!)

Make paper Halloween monsters

Happy Halloween! Doesn't your desk need a paper monster in a Halloween costume? You'd rather make these than get any work done, wouldn't you? Scout Creative has designed printable templates you can download for free.

Update: Scout Creative's website is no longer available.

Print your own Halloween mask

Need a last-minute, do-it-yourself Halloween costume? Freelance illustrator Sarah Clark has created free masks you can download, print, and assemble. There are three designs to choose from with one more coming soon. Get them here at Cut & Fold Costumes. (Access to the files requires setting up a free account at Scribd, the document sharing site.)

Have a fun weekend, everyone!

Happy Halloween!

If you like Halloween, I'm pretty sure you'll need to immediately download some wallpaper and get your computer looking festive. Pick from this big gallery at Smashing Magazine, or grab Eleanor Grosch's latest creations.

And then if you need a last minute card, download this freebie designed by Emily at Inside a Black Apple.

Make glow-in-the-dark Halloween art

I tried out some Glow-in-the-Dark Mod Podge for this Halloween DIY project. In daylight, prints look normal. In the dark, they glow! At least for a little while. The Mod Podge coating on these needs charging up in light. I was a bit disappointed to see that the glow fades in five minutes or so. But hey, it's a fun five minutes.

And I must confess that the photo above is fake. Sorry! It's like I've turned my blog into the National Enquirer. My auto-focusing camera refused to snap pictures at such low light, so I carefully Photoshopped a simulation. I considered adding an alien monkey boy to the image, but opted for realism. The glowing areas on the prints might look slightly more brush-strokey in real life, but this is pretty accurate.

If you want to try making your own glowing prints, you'll need white cardstock, a brush, Glow-in-the-Dark Mod Podge, and a printer or black Sharpie.

Brush a piece of light-weight cardstock with 5 or 6 coats of Mod Podge, letting each coat dry in between. The paper ends up glossy and sort of leathery feeling. It still looks white, but you can see brush strokes if you hold it in the light at the right angle.

Then print out black-and-white images on the treated paper. The areas covered by black toner won't glow since the Mod Podge is masked.

I used the vampire bat and spider from Clip Art Etc., a great resource for vintage clipart.

You could also try a black Sharpie, or glue on black paper cutouts. Or brush a canvas with Mod Podge and then paint a black design on top.

Create vampire and zombie photo effects

PicMonkey, the online image editor, has just released a variety Halloween effects you can apply to your photos. Wish you looked like a Twilight cast member? Here's your chance. Turn people into vampires, zombies, and monsters. Add moody backgrounds or dramatic lighting. Or create Halloween labels or invitations using frames, cutouts, and text. Test it right here!

Free printables for Halloween packaging

Some of my favorite Halloween freebies this year are in the packaging category:
Download an iron-on graphic for treat bags at Used Everywhere
Get a set of four awesome, retro wine bottle labels from Elegance & Enchantment
Print out adorable ghost gift wrap by Design is Yay

Stitched Halloween wall decorations

Hey, while we're on the subject of cross stitch, have you seen the stitched Halloween wall art at Decor Hacks? Find the tutorial right here.
(Via Curbly.)

In other news, I just attempted to fold this origami spider. The video tutorial is good... except I used regular printer paper which is too thick. Use origami paper, or there will be too much bulk to deal with and the spider's rear will stick straight up in the air. My spider now lives in my trash can where he will be joined by other garbage and hauled off to the recycler. Origami fail.

Halloween kitty desktop wallpaper

Happy Halloween! In honor of the day, I amused myself making cats when I'm supposed to be working. If you want either of these kitties as desktops, grab them here:

Download dark cats (1680x1050 px)
Download light cats (1680x1050 px)

Artwork for personal use only, as always! Have a fun evening, and may you eat lots of chocolate.

A bonanza of Halloween printable labels

Want to thrill the kids with creepy Halloween treats? Hostess with the Mostess is offering a huge array of well-designed labels for gross party food. (Well, gross, but not as gross as this. Shudder.) Get jar and candy labels here and drink labels and flags here.

Cheap trash bag Halloween decorating

In a burst of festivity, I decided we should have some Halloween decorations in the house. Something 1) dramatic, 2) super cheap, and 3) didn't require me to go to the store. Behold: trash bag spiderwebs.

To make these, lay a trash bag out flat. Trim off the side and bottom seams so you're left with two big rectangles of plastic. Cut each piece into an approximate square (eyeballing it is fine.) Each square will make one spider web.

Fold one of the squares in half diagonally to form a triangle. Fold that triangle in half two more times to narrow it. This is slippery stuff, so use a few pieces of tape to fasten the layers together where the loose folded edges come together. It will help hold the shape together when you're cutting. (If any of the tape turns out to be on the web itself after you've cut it out, remove the pieces before unfolding or the web won't be able to open up.)

Use a black Sharpie to sketch some guides on the plastic: draw a "stem" from the folded point out to the end of your triangle. Then sketch some scallops that come off the stem, like in the diagram below. With a scissors, cut out the negative shapes and unfold your web. Tape several webs together and add extra strips of plastic to connect them if you like.

Halloween photo fun

Happy Halloween! For your enjoyment, some delightfully creepy images:

This photo is from the Barbie Murders series by etsy seller Wildemoon. Buy a print here or see the other tragic Barbie victims.

Here's an entry in the "Deadly Cute" Photoshop contest at Worth1000, where innocent little animals are retouched into nasty creatures. Via Boing Boing.

DIY geometric stenciled tote

ModernMom.com asked me for a little tutorial for their "crafternoon" series. I don't have any kids, but I know some moms, so maybe that qualified me? I sent over an easy stenciled tote bag project. Head over there for the instructions. P.S. Happy Halloween!

Free papercutting templates

If you've got nothing to do on All-Hallows'-Eve Eve, try out these Halloween papercutting templates from Cindy Ferguson's Scherenschnitte blog. Get the wolf here and the witch here. Cindy does amazing work and generously offers plenty of free templates to download. Some samples are below. Go get some Band-Aids and have fun.

Origami jack-o-lantern

Heh. I made a pumpkin. Follow along with this origami tutorial by TCGames to learn how. It has turned into Halloween origami week at How About Orange.

Easy origami bat for Halloween

Bats lend themselves to paper folding since their bodies can be easily reduced to flat planes. Here's a very simple version by Nick Robinson that you can fold in a minute or two. I followed this good video tutorial.

Picture this: you make a couple bats along with the video to memorize the steps. Then put on your favorite Halloweenish movie and fold an entire colony of bats. You could crank out dozens, hundreds! (Depending on how engrossed you get in the movie. Beetlejuice yields 65 bats. Batman Begins yields 2 bats.) Then tape strings of bats to fishing line or invisible thread and hang garlands from the ceiling. Or stick them to the wall in a huge group with a little ball of poster putty or loop of painter's tape at the bottom point of each bat.

Tips: If you end up with a little edge of white showing around the bat's head, color it black with a marker. Find packs of black origami paper for a few bucks at Amazon.