House of Spooks...

Last Christmas I made a whole bunch of these tall boxes to hold Christmas ornaments for our kids' teachers. I think the teachers liked the boxes as much as the ornaments and they were really fun and easy to make! I wanted to make something similar for Halloween to contain some treats and had a vision of a spooky house. After lots of computer paper and gnashing of teeth, I finally designed a roof for the "house" rather than the flat top the box pattern came with and was ready to decorate my spooky house.

I used a black Copic multiliner to draw the clapboard lines on the sides of the roof and punched 3/4" x 3" strips of Basic Grey paper with a scalloped edge punch to make the shingles. Everything was sponged with black ink to give it a worn, spooky feel. Now for the house details: The fence was made using a strip of Halloween night DP punched with a MS edge punch. The front door was black card stock folded in half punched with the wide oval punch with an aged copper brad for a door knob and a monster from the "Booglie Eyes" set inside (love the way he's peeking out the door!).  The windows were made by stamping ghosts from the "Twick or Tweet" set, punching out in 1" squares and layering on black 1-1/4" punched squares, with slivers of black cardstock for window panes.

Count Dracula is tip-toeing through the grave stones (wide oval punch trimmed up to make headstones) in the side yard- he cracks me up! I added Black Diamond Stickles to the headstones to make the R.I.P. stand out a bit.

No spooky house is complete without a black cat and my "creative consultants" at home (i.e. mom and kids) decided a half-moon window would be a nice twist! The background for all the windows and doors were sponged with Daffodil Delight for a soft yellow glow.

The other side yard is occupied by a bewitched pumpkin and some bats glittery bats. It's hard to see in the picture, but the hat and the bats are covered in Black Diamond Stickles and are so glittery!

The best part is that the roof comes off to reveal the treats, leaving the lovely box to cherish (it better be after all this work-lol!). Although this was pretty time consuming, it was really fun to make and I'm sure the subsequent ones will go together faster- definitely going to be the cool mom in my kids' classes this Halloween :)

Until I figure out how to post the roof pattern correctly, leave me a comment if you want a copy and I'll email it to you. Have a great weekend!

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Booglie Eyes, Twick or Tweet, Halloween Frights

Paper: Basic Grey, Basic Black, Whisper White, Halloween Nights (retired)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Daffodil Delight, Copic markers

Accessories: Stampin' Up: 1" and 1-1/4" square punches, Wide Oval punch, Scallop Edge punch, aged copper brads, Stampin' Sponges; Lattice punch (MS), Black Diamond Stickles