The Crafter's Workshop BlogHalloween Fun

Image of the Halloween fun scene completed on 10" round watercolor paper, featuring a giant jackolantern and costumed friends. — “Halloween Fun” measuring 10″ diameter on round watercolor paper

It’s coming! Halloween is fast approaching. Have you started your preparations yet? Don’t panic, I’ve got you covered, on how to make a really fun Jack-o-Lantern background that you can use in any Halloween-y way you like! I used mine to create a fun little Halloween scene, read on…

The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. The opinions I share are solely my own.

Close up image showing Grass Slimline Stencil TCW2309 on the left, with the hand colored and cut grass paper strips on the right. — TCW2309 Grass Slimline stencil was used to create grass strips.

First, I created some grass using hand made paper, sprayed with green acrylic ink containing mica powder. I used our Grass Slimline Stencil TCW2309 to create the grass strips for the giant Jack-o-Lantern to sit on. I laid the stencil down the middle of the paper which allowed me to outline and hand cut two paper grass strips at the same time! Gotta love efficiency hacks that make things go faster, right?

For this project, I’m using a new to me resource: Round watercolor paper, which I never knew existed until my dear friend Peppina from Finland shared it online, and I was instantly shopping! (How often do we all do that?!). This watercolor paper is 10″ in diameter, and 140 lb weight, which is the perfect size to fit our Jack-o-Lantern stencil on! To create a watery gloomy sky effect, I sprayed acrylic inks and water and let it sit to dry.

This image shows the 10" round watercolored sky background with the two grass strips laying over the front at the bottom of the circle page. — Close up image showing the grass strips laid over the 10″ watercolored background.

Now it was time to create the Jack-o-Lantern using our TCW878 stencil. Using the same paper that I had used for the grass, I spray painted it with orange acrylic inks containing copper mica powder. Once it was dry, I used a black uni-ball Signo acrylic paint gel pen to outline the TCW940 X Trail stencil over the entire pumpkin area. (By the way, when it comes to pens, I’m pretty sure I’ve tried and ruined most of them available on the market. I am yet to have a bad experience with one of these pens, I love them). I then used the Jack-o-Lantern TCW878 stencil to outline the pumpkin shape over the X Trail stenciling.

A black uni-ball Signo UM-153 pen lays upon Stencil TCW940 Xtrail. The stencil lays upon the hand-made, orange-sprayed paper with black stenciling over the page (using the Xtrail stencil). — Black uni-ball Signo UM-153 was used to outline stencil TCW940 Xtrail.

To add some depth and dimension, I used my Stayz-on Ink pad in black with a distress ink applicator. This gives the ink a super soft effect and is brilliant for shading when applied lightly in a circular motion over the edges on the stencil cut outs. I also used some left over green sprayed paper to create the stem for the Jack-o-Lantern.

A black Stayz-On ink pad and distress ink applicator lay on top of the Xtrail stenciled paper and the TCW878 Jack-o-Lantern stencil. The green stem has been outlined and cut out of the same green paper that was used to create the grass. — Close up image showing stencil TCW878 Jack-o-Lantern with the hand stenciled paper.

Of course it wouldn’t be a proper Jack-o-Lantern without a carved face. For the face, I wanted a matte finish, so I chose to use my black Posca pen to trace and fill it in.

Stencil TCW878 Jack-o-Lantern face is shown laying diagonally upon the finished stenciled pumpkin with the 'face' showing. A black posca pen lays just above the pumpkin. — Close up image showing the completed Jack-o-Lantern face using stencil TCW878.

I hand cut the pumpkin out and used our TCW0911 Matte Gel Medium to attach it to the background. (I find it’s a stronger hold when dry and easier to apply than glue). And voila! One creepy, yet fantastic Jack-o-Lantern background for you to use!

And voila! One finished, Jack-o-Lantern giant pumpkin attached to the background, sitting on the grass! — Image showing the completed Jack-o-Lantern pumpkin sitting on the grass.

I die cut a host of creepy creatures to form my fun Halloween scene using dies from Tim Holtz and Sizzix. I used vellum for the ghosts, some transparent wings, and a combination of commercial and hand-made papers and fibers for the crazy cast of characters. I imagine if we could hear them, they’d be telling us “We’re just here for the candy!” Here’s some close up images so you can see them better.

The left ghouly ghost is wearing a green and yellow witches hat. His 3D bulging eye floats above his moaning mouth. He's carrying a lit candlestick. I can't decide if he's trying to catch the candy corn in his mouth while he's flying around. What do you think? — Close up image of the left moaning ghost wearing a witches hat and carrying a lit candlestick holder.

The right moaning and flying ghouly ghost is wearing dragonfly wings at an odd angle, a yellow ripped t-shirt with a black skull on it, and an orange toupee that looks remarkably like the shape of an upside down jack-o-lantern's cut out mouth shape. Huh.... He's brandishing a broomstick and a bone, in the shape of a cross. I wonder why....? Weird. — Close up image of the right moaning ghost carrying a broomstick and a bone.

A yellow spider dangles by a web thread out of the mouth of the giant jack-o-lantern next to the black fuzzy feline cat with yellow glowing eyes. — Close up image of the furry feline black cat wearing a bone collar.

To complete the rainy scene, I thought it would be really fun to create Candy Corn rain using our TCW2316 Sunflower Seeds stencil. I filled the candy corn in using my fine line posca pens. And here’s the completed scene for you to enjoy!

The fabulous crazy Halloween Fun scene in all it's glory, featuring a sky raining candy corn kernels for all. Enjoy! — Image of the fully completed Halloween Fun scene and all of the ghastly creatures!

If you’d like to watch a super quick fly-by video (54 seconds) of this process, please hop on over to my YouTube Channel @TealHareCreations.

Michaela Butterworth
The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member

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