Decorating is my thing. I especially enjoy decorating for the holidays. It gives me a chance to embellish even more….that's a valid reason….right?!
Today I put together an adorable and inexpensive, Halloween inspired, door swag. It uses several items found at the Dollar Tree store (I am sandwiched between two of them. Almost as dangerous as being 3 minutes away from my local Hobby Lobby…..but I digress). I also used a few leftover pieces of ribbon, pallet wood and fabric.
Supply List
Pallet Wood (approx 18" long, sanded on all sides and edges)
Eek pressed cardboard sign (Dollar Tree)
Black Acrylic Paint and brush, plate, water
Scrapbook paper, scraps will do
ModgePodge and brush
Various ribbon, scraps that coordinate with paper (some from the Dollar Tree)
Fabric strips, torn or cut
Spiderweb tulle (Dollar Tree)
Glitter polka dot pumpkins (Dollar Tree, 4 pk)
Sparkly Spiders (Dollar Tree, 6 pk)
Jute or twine
Scissors
Hot glue gun, plenty of glue sticks
Sticks from my yard
Fingernail file
So let's get started.....
Decide what colors you are going to go with based on your decor. I decided to go with black and white with a splash of oranges and a touch of purple.
- First begin by painting the edges around the "Eek" sign. No need to be super neat on this part because you will be covering up any of your mistakes. Also, with the pressed cardboard, I found that dipping my brush in water then into the paint made it go on smoother, farther and quicker....I mean who doesn't love quick? It also made drying time less so another win!
- Grab your scrapbook paper and determine which piece will go where. Because I wanted my middle letter "e" to look like it was on top of the others, I traced around it then cut out. With the other letters, I just got a basic shape to cover the surface. We will trim the extra away once it dries. Adhere the paper to the cardboard using ModgePodge and a brush. I was careful not to get too much glue down the sides but wanted to cover completely to the edges. Apply the paper as you planned it and smooth over with your hand.
- Once the glue is dry (I waited about 2 hours....I finished up a pillow project and ate lunch). Flip over the sign and cut into the corners of the letters
- Flip it back over, using your finger, press the paper along the edge to show where to file. Take the fingernail file and begin scrapping it downward. (I use a file from the salon where I get my nails done). This will cut the paper at the edge and give a worn look. If you got too much glue on the edge you can use the file to scrap away the excess. Don't worry if you scrap off some of the black. We are going for a worn, rustic look. I alternate between the rough and smoother side of the file. I normally use the rough side to get the main cut then the smoother side to finish off the edge or get into the smaller areas. I did use my scissors to pull the little pieces in the corners of a few spots.
- Now it is time to put everything all together. Let the creativity begin :-) I played around with placement before I started gluing. Be sure you have sanded down the pallet wood before you begin.
- I used broad buffalo check ribbon and a wide strip of remnant fabric. I knotted both pieces of fabric at the ends and secured to the pallet wood. I then laid the "Eek" sign in the middle and tacked it down with hot glue.
- I cut the spider tulle into six 8" strips, three 4" strips then tie each in a knot, orange polka dot ribbon was folded into a figure eight and tied with jute. Black polka dot ribbon cut into strips and tied in a knot.
- The glitter pumpkins got new stems. I took out the plastic stems and glued in sticks from my yard. I then put the plastic stem on the bottom to help when I glue them in place on the sign. I also tied jute and strips of white fabric then glued to top of each pumpkin near the stem.
- Again, I played around with placement of the ribbon embellishments and pumpkins. I decided to put three groupings of embellishments. Because the sign says "Eek" I just had to add an element of scary....sort of scary.....so I added in three purple glitter spiders. Not scary at all - Just Cute! Add a loop of jute to the back and DONE!
Thanks for joining me. Enjoy the coming holidays!