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.

Alice in Wonderland Costume Ideas

     Whether you're throwing an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party or looking for a Halloween costume, here are some easy and inexpensive costume ideas.

Alice

     The black bow I wore was a remnant of my high school days, but you could easily make your own with a black headband, some black ribbon, and all purpose adhesive (or hot glue).  When I was browsing online for costume ideas, just about all of them involved a blue dress.  Since I'm not one for dresses, I looked for a blue top that I could wear instead.  This one, which I found on Target's website (sadly it's no longer available) just screamed Alice to me for some reason.  The black trim on the ruffles then inspired me to match it with black pants.  Also, I just threw on those flip flops for the purpose of not being barefoot for the photo shoot, but I wore flats with hearts on them for the party.

Mad Hatter

     The Mad Hatter's signature garment is his hat, so that was what I concentrated on.  I used these tutorials, but also added a top to the hat.  To do that, I made a circle the same size as the hat brim and then cut slits along the sides to create tabs which I could then stick to the inside of the hat.  However, an easier method would be to cut slits along the cylindrical part of the hat, fold them over, and then glue a circle to them.

Cheshire Cat Ears

Materials:

*Purple headband

*Purple felt

*Pink felt

*All purpose adhesive

Directions:

*Cut out two diamonds from pink felt and two, slightly larger diamonds from purple felt.  Center the pink diamonds on the purple ones and glue down.  (As you can see from the picture, I actually made felt triangles and glued them on at the end, but this method might be a little easier and then there is no "right side" to the ears.)

*Fold the diamonds over the headband, aligning the edges of the two sides, and glue together.

Alice in Wonderland Photo Wall

     In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, when Alice falls down the rabbit hole, she sees photos and maps lining the walls of the tunnel.  The book doesn't specify what these are photos of, so you could use any images you would like, but here are the ideas that I came up with.

Flowers with Faces

     Take photos of flowers and add some googly eyes to make some flowers with faces photos.  You could also add other features, like mouths, but I stuck to photos where the flowers already had a mouth-like structure.

Scrapbooking Paper and Old Maps

     Find sheets of scrapbooking paper that remind you of Wonderland or old maps and cut them to fit the frames.

Quotes

     Choose a quote from the book that you like and type up or hand write it.  Find some corresponding scrapbooking paper or stickers to decorate it.

Keys

     Using the key bookmark template, create a key and select some cardstock for the backing that you think corresponds well.

Silhouettes

     Create silhouettes following the procedure outlined in the Silhouette Cake Topper post and cut out shapes to make a scene with them.  If you have a die cutting machine that allows you to import your own designs, such as the Silhouette Cameo, you can create a scene in a program such as Paint and have the machine cut it out for you.

Wonderland Photo Shoot

     Have some of your friends dress up as Wonderland characters and take pictures.

Scrap flower

     I made this picture using the scraps from the paper teapot vases that my Cameo left behind and the petals from the red roses (since I printed the white rose template on red cardstock and so the leaves did not turn out green).

Party Activity: Paper Fans

     Here is a fun, easy way to keep your party guests entertained.  They're more aesthetic than functional, but they're enjoyable nonetheless.

Materials:
*Fan template
*Pencil
*Cardstock in various colors and patterns
*Scissors
*Brads
*Hole punch
*Optional: stickers, rhinestones, or other embellishments

Directions:
*Print out a template for your fan blades.  I used this template I found online.
*Trace the fan blade shape onto the backs of the sheets of cardstock.
*Depending on the age of your partygoers, you can either cut out the blades in advance or have them cut them out on their own.  Each guest should choose about five blades.
*Once the blades are cut out and arranged as desired, line up the blades and punch a hole through all five at once.
*Slide a brad through the hole to hold the fan together.
*Decorate with rhinestones, stickers, and other embellishments.

Katie with the paper fan she designed.

Party Activity: Decorating Paper "Teacups"

     Here is a fun party activity and a great way to make sure no one gets their drinks mixed up.

Materials:
*Paper cups
*Scissors
*Glue
*Cardstock
*Tape
*Crayons

Directions:
*Cut off the top and bottom of one paper cup and split it along the seam.  You should end up with a band that looks something like this (ignore the handles for now; they will come into play later):

Note: if you're using Hannaford paper cups, you might be able to skip this step and use my above template, but since there is no standardized shape for paper cups, it will not work for all brands.
*Trace it onto cardstock.  You can either trace it onto as many sheets as you want or you can trace it onto one and photocopy the rest.  Cut out the shapes.
*Create handles.  You can either print and cut out my handle design (see above) or create your own.
*Fold over the flaps on the handles.  Glue together the remaining portion of the handles, not including the flaps.
*Once the handles are dry, glue them to the paper cups to make them look more like teacups.  The handles are not necessarily durable enough to be used to drink and are there for aesthetics, so make sure the partygoers are aware of this.
*When the day of the party arrives, give each partygoer one of the strips of paper and some crayons or markers to decorate.  Once they are finished with their design, tape the paper to one of the teacups.

Paper Clock

Materials:
*Patterned cardstock
*Gold cardstock
*Pencil
*Brad
*Scissors
*Glue
*X-acto knife
*Protractor (optional)
*Hole punch
*Gold number stickers (optional)

Directions:
*In a program such as Paint, create two circles, one as large as you would like your clock to be and the other about 1/2" less in diameter than the first.
*Print the circles and cut them out.
*Trace the bigger circle onto the back of each sheet of cardstock.
*On the gold sheet, center the smaller circle inside the big circle you have traced and cut out.
*Cut out your circles.  The patterned cardstock will give you the background for your clock and the gold one will give you its frame.
*Either print out numerals, trace them onto the gold paper, and cut them out (I went this route and it was rather time consuming) or get some gold number stickers.
*Using your protractor (or by eyeballing it), mark out at the edge of the background clock piece in pencil every 30 degrees.
*Adhere your numbers to the clock at the 30 degree intervals, making sure to place them about 1/2" away from the edge.
*Glue on the frame.
*Print out two copies of the key template from my Key Bookmarks and Centerpiece post, with one key larger than the other.
*Cut out the keys, using an X-acto knife when necessary.  Instead of cutting out the diamond shape at the top, however, fit the two keys together diamond to diamond and punch a hole through them.
*Slide a brad through the keys.  Find the center of the clock and push the brad through it.  Adjust the key shaped hands until they reach the desired positions on the clock.

Key Bookmarks and Centerpiece

     These key bookmarks make lovely party favors.

Materials:
*Gold cardstock
*Ribbon
*Pen
*Scissors
*X-acto knife
*Ribbon
*Vase
*Marbles
*Branch

Directions:
*Print out a copy of the key template below.  Alternately, if you have a Silhouette CAMEO or some other sort of die cutting machine that allows you to import designs, you can import the template and let the machine do all the work.

*Cut out the key shape and trace it onto the back of the sheet of gold cardstock as many times as you would like bookmarks.
*Cut out the keys, using an X-acto knife for the fine details.  If you're doing this by hand, as I did, it could take quite a while, depending on the number of keys you want.
*Cut off lengths of ribbon and tie them through the tops of your keys.
*Place the branch inside the vase and fill the vase with marbles or accent gems heavy enough to hold it in place.
*Hang the bookmarks from the branches to make a centerpiece for your party.