If you are looking for a cheap and easy way to make your home or yard spooky for Halloween, why not make your own cardboard gravestones? These are fast to construct, and are a great addition to any haunted house. To learn how to make cardboard tombstones, just read through the steps in this guide.
These tombstones are inexpensive to make, and can be an excellent project for the whole family. Just be sure to watch young children around the sharp tools. If you want to save money and be more "green," use old moving boxes instead of going out and purchasing new cardboard.
Alternative Idea: How to Make Foam Gravestones
if you need something more durable than thin, relatively flimsy cardboard, you may want to consider making your tombstones out of styrofoam. These are preferable if you will be placing them outdoors in windy or rainy environments. This video will demonstrate step-by-step how to design and cut foam gravestones.
Step 1: What You Need to Make the Tombstones
- Newspaper
- Large sheets of cardboard (2 per tombstone)
- A pencil
- A straight edge or ruler
- Scissors
- Box cutter
- Thin garden stakes (2 per tombstone)
- Glue gun
- Grey spray paint
- Black acrylic paint
- Spackle http://familycrafts.about.com/od/hauntedhouse/a/cardboardtombstones.htmhttp://www.ehow.com/how_4863315_make-cardboard-tombstones.html
Step 2: Making the Tombstones
- Use the straight edge and pencil to draw the shape of your tombstone onto newspaper
- Cut out with scissors
- Place the cutout onto a sheet of cardboard
- Trace the pattern onto the cardboard
- Cut out with box cutter
- Repeat with second piece of cardboard
- Glue garden stakes to one of the cardboard pieces, so that they hang about 6 inches below the bottom edge
- Glue the two pieces of cardboard together
- Spackle the sides to fill in the crack
- Spray paint both sides
- Splatter and brush on black paint to give an aged look
- Paint on an epitaph and any other desired designs http://www.ehow.com/how_4863315_make-cardboard-tombstones.html
Step 3: Setting Up the Tombstones
To set up your tombstones in a yard, find a soft patch of soil and stick the garden stakes into the ground. To make them look older (and spookier), set them at angles so that it looks as though they have tipped with age.
- If you are using the tombstones to decorate your house, try inserting the stakes into a large potted plant or tree. If you do not have one, you may want to consider omitting the stakes, and instead leave an extra flap of cardboard that can fold back and support the tombstones. If they tip over, place a heavy object on top of the flap.
