Insulation Foam Halloween Tombstone

     I love making Halloween crafts.  One of my favorite Halloween decorations is the Halloween graveyard and this year I've decided to work on improving my own one (see this post for a picture of my cemetery from last year).  A couple of years ago I wrote up a blog post on how to make Styrofoam headstones.  I recently found out that there is a better material for making Halloween tombstones: insulation foam.

Materials:
*2' x 2' sheet of insulation foam
*Hand saw (I used a box cutter, but the blade was too short to cut all the way through well)
*Sandpaper
*Protective goggles
*Ventilation mask
*X-acto knife
*Pen
*Dark gray paint
*Lighter gray paint
*Paintbrush

Directions:
*Decide what shape and size tombstone you would like.  If you do a quick search, you can find tons of templates and design ideas online.  I based mine off of a photo I had of one of my ancestor's headstones.
*Using your saw, cut your foam to size.  If you're going for a narrower stone, you might be able to get two stones out of this one sheet of foam.
*Sketch or trace on the design you would like to use for the top of the headstone and cut it out using the saw.
*Sand down any rough edges with sandpaper.  I used very fine grit sandpaper because that was what I had on hand, but I've read that you can use up to medium grit without trouble.  You may also want to sand down any sharp corners to make the stone look aged, if that's the style you're going for.
*Print out your design and center it on the foam and then trace over it with a pen, pressing down hard enough to indent the foam.
*Trace over your indentation with a pen.
*Cut out your design using an X-acto knife.  This Lowes tutorial suggests using a cross hatching technique.  I tried doing that a little, but I mostly just scraped out the excess foam.  If you have a dremel, you may be able to use that instead and it should give you a smoother look than what I ended up with.
*Paint the stone using the darker gray color, making sure to fill in all of the crevices to the best of your ability.  I had to do two coats to get all the nooks and crannies.  If you have fine details, you can use the end of a needle to squeeze paint into the crevices.
*Combine the two shades of gray until you get a color that is a shade or two lighter than the dark gray.  Paint the surface of the stone, but skip the inscription.  This will enhance the visibility of the inscription.