I have to say that Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. The days and nights are cooler and I get to break out my fluffy boots and fluffy sweaters! I also love the month of October. There is something magical and childlike about October not only trick or treating and costumes but there is something about hay rides, haunted houses, apple cider and pumpkin pie that just creates a sense of joy and wonder. The whole month sparks my fun loving free spirit! My wedding anniversary and my husbands birthday are also in October so we usually take a trip and do a little exploring to celebrate and I think this just adds to the joy.

This childlike wonder inspired the project I am going to share. This twisted little house drippy jewel tone colors and a spooky clown all come together to create a little pre-october fun. Check out the project below for a tutorial on making your own little spooky houses!

Collecting supplies before I start helps me plan my colors and mediums.

Supply List:
Stencil: TCW639 Brazen Star
Acrylic Paint: Mix of Blick paints and High Flow Acrylic by Golden
White Gesso: TCW9001
Black Gesso: TCW9002
Light & Fluffy Modeling Paste: TCW9004
Brushes in various sizes: Flat and Round
Chunk of styrofoam: (Mine came from a light bulb box)
Antique Skeleton Illustration Paper Cuts from Retro Art Cafe
PITT Artist Pen XS (extra small)
Glue Stick
Metal Palette Knife

The first step to creating your house is to cut a house shape out of the styrofoam. I cut my house a little off center to give it a more spooky whimsical look. Since my styrofoam came from a light bulb box and the pieces came apart my first task was to glue the pieces together to create a solid shape. I used Yes Glue for this task and once it was dry I put 4 layers of gesso onto the styrofoam letting each layer dry before adding the next. These layers got rid of the styrofoam surface and gave me a nice flat surface to add my paint to.

Styrofoam before and after

You can see in the image above I also used a layer of Blick acrylic golden yellow paint and a paper towel to create texture on the first layer of my house. Next was a layer of yellow green deep put on with a brush.

Blick green paint for the next layer of color.

I then switched over to Golden high flow acrylic paints for the next few colors (seen below). The high flow acrylics were dripped on and then water was added to the paint to get it to flow down the house in an organic fashion. I also used my fingers to smear on a bit of the color as well. Golden paints have a real color intensity and I selected them because I knew the color would still show up under the black gesso I was going to add later.

Golden High Flow Acrylic Magenta

Golden High Flow Acrylic Turquois

After all of the other colors dried I used a wet brush to add a layer of back gesso. This layer adds visual interest and contrast to the piece. I like to water down the gesso to make a transparent layer so that you are able to see color and texture through it. This process also helps to build depth and a strong foreground and background.

Black Gesso Layer

Next up was selecting which part of the stencil I wanted to use. I decided on the small stars from Stencil TCW639 Brazen Star. I offset them a bit to leave room for the skeleton paper cut I was going to add and to help with the overall composition. I used a metal palette knife to apply the Light & Fluffy Modeling Paste ( TCW9004 ) and then let it dry completely before I moved on to the final embellishment step.

Light and Fluffy Modeling Paste Layer

Once everything was dry and the Light & Fluffy Modeling Paste ( TCW9004 ) was firm to the touch I used a bit of violet watercolor to add a purple wash to the stenciled stars. I then glued on the skeleton paper cut and added another layer of watered down black gesso around the paper cut to give it the appearance of popping off of the background. Finally I used a XS black PITT artist pen to add some doodles into some of the colored spaces on the house. These small details really help bring the fished piece together. I have included a few additional shots below so you can see a top down view and a closer detail shot.

Finished spooky House with embellishments added.

Finished spooky house angled shot.

Finished spooky house close up.

This was such a fun project and I am in the process of creating a little village of spooky houses! I would love to see your spooky houses so be sure to share your creations on The Crafter’s Workshop Facebook page or by tagging The Crafter’s Workshop on Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest! Also tag me @Drawriot if you share on Instagram! Until next time, keep creating! ?

The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. This post also contains affiliate links. The opinions I share are solely my own.

Tori Weyers
The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member