Halloween Foam Tombstone with Plaque

     I got the idea for this stone from Dave Lowe's excellent blog post.  (If you love Halloween props and haven't seen his Halloween posts, you should definitely give them a look.)  Originally I was planning on doing something that more closely approximates his design, but halfway through I decided that I didn't like the way mine was coming out and switched things up.  Unfortunately, this means that I don't have photos for all steps of the process, but I've included pictures when possible.  For other Halloween tombstone ideas from yours truly, check out these posts.

Materials:
*Thin sheet of craft foam
*Pencil
*2' x 2' sheet of insulation foam
*Hand saw or similar implement (I used a bread knife)
*Sandpaper
*Protective goggles
*Ventilation mask
*X-acto knife
*Pen
*Gray paint
*Black paint
*Granite spray paint (optional)
*Bronze colored paint
*Wood glue
*Paintbrush
*Toothpick

Directions:
*Print out or sketch the design you would like your plaque to have.
*Place the design on top of the craft foam and trace to imprint your design onto the foam.  This step was actually trickier than I anticipated.  The craft foam is very soft, so I found that the pencil kept breaking through the paper.

*Trace over the imprint of the design in pencil.

*Carefully cut out your design using your X-acto knife.  As you're cutting, aim your X-acto knife at about a 45 degree angle toward the inside of the letter.  This will ideally make it so that when you cut the opposite side of the letter at a 45 degree angle, the two cuts will meet in a triangular shape and the excess foam will pop right out.  In practice, however, you may have to scrape at the foam a little to get it to come out completely.

*Carefully paint the insides of the lettering and designs black.  I used a toothpick for most of this to make sure I got the paint into the crevices of the foam.  Set aside to dry.
*Paint the raised portion of the plaque with bronze colored paint (I mixed gold, black, and brown paint to achieve the bronze color of my plaque).  Set aside to dry.  If you get some of the bronze colored paint inside the letters, then cover it up with some black once the bronze paint has finished drying.
*Using a pencil or pen, sketch out your desired tombstone shape onto the insulation foam, making sure that your stone design is wide enough to fit your plaque.
*Cut out your tombstone to size using a saw or a similar implement.  I found that a bread knife worked better than the hand saw I'd been planning on using.
*Sand down any rough edges of the stone.
*Paint the stone with gray paint.  Additionally, you can add some granite spray paint to give it a more stonelike appearance.  Set aside to dry.
*Once both the stone and the plaque are dry, glue the plaque to the stone.  I used wood glue for this because that was what I had on hand that would provide a strong bond, but I'm sure there are more appropriate glues out there you could use.  Do not use a glue with acetone in it, as the acetone will eat the foam.
*Once the glue has dried, your headstone is ready!