Halloween is such a fun time of year – perfect for crafts! Morag Cutts got into the spirit of the holiday by making some adorably spooky decorations for her home...
Halloween is one of those occasions when there’s a huge variety of decorations and paraphernalia about. Morag Cutts' cute house and pumpkin projects are the perfect way to conjour up a little Halloween magic for your home! Here she talks us through her creations. "Using different techniques to make your own ornaments really gets the creative juices flowing, and I find projects such as these particularly useful if I have a creative block..."
I’ve made small paper houses in the past using a template I downloaded from the internet, but this time I wanted to decorate the house with stamped images for a more sophisticated look. The gorgeous Chandelier stamps from Inkadoo include several suitable designs and lend themselves well to embossing. After cutting the house shapes from cardstock, I stamped the images with Versamark ink. I then sprinkled the ink generously with black embossing powder and used a heat gun to set it. I added a few rhinestones and black studs to highlight parts of the image.
I used shaped scissors to cut strips of patterned paper, which I then layered onto the roof. I distressed and curled the strips to emphasise the shape of the ‘tiles’. The base is made from an old CD, which I covered with patterned paper and glued to a ribbon spool decorated with velvet ribbon. I stamped the sign onto paper and glued it to a coffee stirrer, which I coloured with ink. I pushed the sign into some modelling clay, which I glued to the base. I used flowers and buttons to hide the clay. I used hot glue to stick the pieces together. I pulled the glue gun away from the project to create ‘cobwebs’, which I hung over the sign.
The pumpkin box is made from a polystyrene craft ball. To make the shape more realistic, I carved lines down the sides using a pencil. I also sliced the bottom off the ball so it was easier to glue to the base. I applied two or three coats of Gesso primer to the ball to provide a good base. I then mixed orange paint with a little brown and applied two generous coats, leaving it to dry thoroughly between each one. I sprinkled the last coat with glitter before allowing it to dry.
I made the ruffle by gathering some black net and securing the ends together. I used hot glue to stick this and the pumpkin to the base. Once the glue had set I added ribbon, a pointed hat and other decorations.