5 DIY Halloween Decorations with Cricut
Halloween is quickly approaching and I am very excited. I love Halloween and everything that goes along with it, the dressing up, the spookiness, and obviously THE CANDY! No matter what Halloween looks like this year, we still love to decorate and celebrate. Here are a few simple Halloween decorations or gifts for you to make with your Cricut.
1. Double Sided Pumpkin Candy Dish
Who doesn’t love candy just sitting in a bowl for easy access?! I had this little adorable orange bucket and thought how perfect it would be for a candy dish. Now it is way too small for the home candy dish 😊 but it was just perfect for a candy dish sitting on my desk at work!
Materials:
Orange bucket
Cricut Machine
Black premium vinyl
Standard grip mat
Weeding tool kit
I first started over in Design Space. I found the “Show Me The Candy” image in the search option in Cricut Access. I thought this would be great for one side of my candy dish. I didn’t have to do much here other than measure my little bucket and figure out the sizing I would want.
For the other side I knew I wanted to make it a pumpkin face. When I searched pumpkin face I couldn’t find the plain black face I really wanted. However, I did find a pumpkin with a cute face I liked. I inserted the image onto my canvas. I selected the image and I hit contour. This allows me to get rid of all the extra lines and things that I don’t want. I hit ‘hide all contours’ and then picked the spots that I wanted to show. Once that was done, I again just sized it correctly to my bucket and was ready to go.
I then placed the black premium vinyl face up on my standard grip mat. Hit make it in Design Space. I use my Cricut Explore Air 2 but leave my dial on custom. This way I don’t ever forget to pick the correct material I am trying to cut. So for this project I picked the premium vinyl option. I loaded my mat and hit cut.
Once the Cricut was done cutting my images, I unloaded my mat and pulled off my vinyl. I weeded both images. The pumpkin image was pretty easy to weed but the Show Me The Candy one was a little bit more difficult. So, I really had to take my time and make sure that I wasn’t pulling up any of the stuff that I wanted to stay.
After weeding I used transfer tape and placed each image on the different sides of my bucket.
2. Happy Halloween Blocks
We just recently put up a fence in our backyard and have lot of extra 2x4 wood pieces laying around. I knew I wanted to do something with one of these scrap boards for a decoration for Halloween. So I came up with some Halloween Blocks. They don’t take up a lot of space but turned out so cute.
Materials:
3-3.5x3.5x1.5 wood block squares (you could really use any size that you see fit)
1-1.5x3.5x10.5 base (again, any size would work for your blocks)
White, orange, green, and black paint
Paint brush
Mod Podge
Cricut Machine
Standard grip mat
Weeding tools
Permanent premium vinyl
I started with the scrap 2x4 that I had. I knew I wanted my blocks to be square so I measured the width of the board {for those that don’t work with wood often 2x4 is not the actual size of the board, it is approximately 1.5x3.5}. I figured out that I wanted my blocks to be 3.5x3.5. I made my marks for three of those blocks and my very cooperative husband made those cuts for me. I then knew I wanted my blocks to sit on top of the rest of the board. I played around with them sitting on top and just guessed on a good size for the base -10.5.
Because I apparently am not trusted with power tools, my husband sanded all the sides and edges of the blocks and the base for me.
I painted the base black, and the blocks the 3 different colors (white, orange, and green).
And because I am not allowed to paint in my house without some “help” here is my son who grabbed more scrap wood to paint with me. I did two coats of paint on all 4 pieces but you could do just one if you liked more of the wood grain showing though.
I then jumped over to Design Space. I started with a new canvas. I hit shapes and inserted a square. I sized it to 3.5x3.5. I then duplicated the shape twice. Now I had three squares the same size as my wood blocks.
I started with my ghost. I clicked on shapes and then the circle. I unlocked the size and stretched it to the size I liked for an eye. I duplicated this shape for the other eye. I inserted another circle and made that the mouth. Now, I am wanting to use this as a stencil to paint the face on the block so I need to slice each part of the face into the square. To do this I selected one of the eyes and holding Control I selected the square. Then hit slice on the bottom right. This will give you a few “Slice Results” on the right. I hide (click on the little eyeball next to it) all slice results that are not the final image that I am looking for. Continue to do this with the other eye and the mouth. Bam! Ghost is done.
Next I went to the pumpkin. I wanted just a plain jack-o-lantern face so I selected a pumpkin in Cricut Access and contoured it to only show the face parts that I wanted. I sized it over my square so it fit nicely. I again sliced it so that the face was a negative space within the square. Pumpkin done!
I knew I wanted a Frankenstein face but wasn’t sure exactly how I wanted it to look. I searched Frankenstein in the image search and found the perfect Frankenstein face that was already a little square. When I inserted him onto my canvas he came with 3 different layers. I knew that I wanted the green layer as my stencil so I hid the black and white layers. I then selected my green layer and sized it to 3.5 for the width (don’t put the height to 3.5 because then you will lose the hair part). I deleted the original square that I created for this block since my little guy was already a square.
Then I just needed to do the part for the bottom base. I inserted a square shape onto my canvas. I unlocked the size and made it 2x11 (a little bigger than the actual size. I wanted to make sure I had enough space to use it as a stencil. I typed Happy Halloween and selected the font I wanted. I centered it within my rectangle and sliced the letters.
At this point I was ready to cut! I use permanent premium vinyl for stencils so I put that on my mat (face up). I clicked make it, selected my premium vinyl, loaded my mat, and hit cut.
After cutting, I reverse weeded my stencil I used transfer tape to apply it to my blocks and base. I Made sure that it was on nice and straight with no bubbles with my scraper tool.
Now, if we went and painted right away you would have an issue with bleeding. This is when some of the paint sneaks under the stencil and causes the lines to not be crisp. Because wood is such an uneven surface the vinyl can not adhere to it completely causing the bleeding. To fix this we do our first coat with Mod Podge. Use a paint brush to paint on the Mod Podge, be sure to paint it in all different directions (up, down, and side to side). Allow the Mod Podge to dry completely; usually within an hour or two (sometimes less-I get very impatient).
Okay, NOW we can paint. Using a thinker paint brush use the pounce method to apply your paint. The pounce method of painting is when you have your paint brush perpendicular to your surface and dab up and down. Don’t brush the paint on left and right like you did with the Mod podge. This method really helps get those nice crisp lines. Because you are using a paint brush with and uneven surface it can leave little dots from the end of the bristles. To fix this you can use a small cosmetic sponge and just dab it very lightly over the paint, leaving a smooth look.
Depending on the look you are wanting you can do multiple coats. Allow the paint to dry for an hour or two. Again, I get very impatient and always pull my vinyl off too early. Try and wait for it to be dry and then you can take the vinyl off.
If you wanted to display these outside you could seal it with a sealant but I knew I was going to display them inside so I just left them as is.
3. Halloween Candy Gift Bags
These are great to hand out to all the kids on Halloween. These are perfect, whether it’s for trick-or-treating or any other fun candy giving reason {do you have to have a reason? 😊}
Materials:
Cardstock
Ziplock bags
Hot Glue gun with glue sticks
Scissors
Cricut Machine
Standard grip mat
Cricut tools
I started in Design Space and picked a couple Halloween images. I picked a pumpkin, a ghost, and a spider. I decided on how big I wanted them. I duplicated each image and in one of each of the shapes I put a circle in the middle of the “belly” part. I sliced the circle into the shape so there was a hole cut out of the middle. I hid all the layers I didn’t need.
And Cut!
Using a hot glue gun I glued the full image onto the back of a ziplock baggie (Be sure to only put the glue on the outer rim of the image).
Then I put the candy into the bag.
I put the image with the circle cut out in the middle of it on top and again, using the hot glue gun, I glued that one on top. Make sure to only glue the edges and do so that the candy wont fall out.
I then trimmed off the excess of baggie around the glued edges.
Voila! Cute, adorable little candy gift bags.
4. Grandma's Pumpkin Patch
I found this pumpkin at Walmart and I didn’t know what I was going to do with it but I liked enough to buy it. After it stared at me for awhile I finally decided what I wanted to do. I wanted a white pumpkin that I could gift to my mom. She has 3 adorable (if I do say so myself) grandkids. I went out and found 3 smaller orange and black pumpkins that would sit well with my bigger pumpkin.
Materials:
Pumpkins
Paint
Paintbrush
Permanent premium vinyl
Cricut Machine
Standard grip mat
Cricut tools
I knew I wanted a white pumpkin so I started there. I used just an acrylic white paint to make it white. As I was painting it my son told me I could have just bought a white pumpkin. Yes, yes I could have but I had the orange one already there so here we are. It took three coats for it to be the perfect white color I was looking for.
In Design Space, I created my design saying “Grandma’s Pumpkin Patch” and then the 3 names of the grandkids.
I put my black and orange premium vinyl on my mat, face up. I moved my images onto one mat and separated them by color. I hit make it, selected the correct materials, loaded my mat, and cut.
I then weeded my design and used transfer tape to carefully put it on the pumpkin. It was a little difficult because of the bumps on the pumpkin but I just took my time. I gently folded it in half and started laying it down from the middle outwards. Then did the same with the names on the little pumpkins.
5. Halloween Shirts
The best decoration of all? The one you can wear all around town! These are just some fun shirts I made for my friends and family for this Halloween.
Materials:
Shirt
Iron-on Vinyl
Cricut Machine
Weeding tools
Easy Press
Easy Press Mat
I created all my designs in Design Space or bought the SVG file on Etsy and uploaded it from there.
If you do not know how to upload and SVG file here is an awesome post about it: How to use SVG files
Have your machine cut your vinyl. Be sure to place the shiny side (or the liner side) down on your mat. REMEMBER to mirror your image before cutting {I have wasted way too much vinyl forgetting this step}. If you are doing a multi layer shirt you will need to mirror each mat during the cutting process.
Weed your vinyl. I tend to leave my vinyl right on the mat to weed, everyone is different but you will find the best way for you.
Follow the Cricut Heat guide for the Easy Press.
Turn the Easy press on and set it to the right temperature and time.
Place your shirt on the Easy Press mat. I like to do this on a sturdy table about waste high. You will need to put pressure so make sure it isn't an unstable surface.
Warm the shirt with the Easy Press. Place your design onto your shirt with the liner now facing up. Put the Easy Press onto the design and hit the timer button. Apply pressure while it is heating.
Once it beeps flip your shirt over and heat the back side of the shirt as well. Then double check the heat guide to know if your material is a warm or cool peel.
If you notice areas of your shirt are not staying down while trying to peel just place the liner back down and reheat the shirt applying more pressure.
Always wait 24-36 hours after making a shirt before washing it
There are so many fun ways that you can use your Cricut to decorate for the Fall season and Halloween. What is your favorite part of Halloween and what do you like to make for decorations?
*Creative people do not have a mess. They have ideas lying around everywhere.
~Beth
DIY Outdoor Fall Decor with Cricut Vinyl
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