Mom can't help right now...She's working on her graveyard.

Have I told you that I LOVE Halloween!

Fortunately, my kids do too and they understand that mom won't cook dinner when she's working on something like this...

And with a cheap looking Dollar Store pumpkin!

Do you want to make one too?!!

 

To make your own graveyard scene all you'll need is:

• Dollar Store carvable pumpkin
• Dollar Store moss sheet or loose moss
• Dollar Store hanging skeletons
• Black craft paint
• Black spray paint
• Glue of choice
• Black Glitter (my favorite is Martha's)
• Sharpie Pen
• Flat rocks & Twigs (send the kids on a Halloween scavenger hunt!)
• And your trusty glue gun

First things first...prepare your pumpkin!

You'll notice that it's filled with ugly white styrofoam. 

This problem is solvable!

1.  Prepare your pumpkin for spray painting by covering the outside with painters tape.

2.  Spray paint the inside of the pumpkin (craft paint will not work)

3.  QUICK! BEFORE the paint dries, shake some glitter inside and roll it all around

4.  Dump excess glitter.

Lay a mossy foundation for your graveyard!

(I don't know why, but I didn't take pics for this)

Paint your moss sheet with black paint to spookify it a bit, cut into a circle about the size of your pumpkin base, glue into place.  Don't worry that it's not perfect~you can cover that up with rocks and twigs later.

Now it's time to make some graves

Get those rocks and your Sharpie out and start writing on the "tombstones".  I even turned one into a vampire vault.  Make sure the rocks aren't perfectly straight...this is an old, haunted graveyard.  I think a personalized graveyard for a friend would make an awesome gift!

Time to haunt the grounds...

Start from the back and glue in your twig trees, tombstones, crypts, and any other spooky embellishments you may have.

Neaten up your opening edges...

Carefully apply glue to any white edges on the opening to your graveyard pumpkin and glitter!

Be sure to get rid of that ugly ridge & poorly painted stem on the Dollar Store pumpkin outside...

Now  go spook-up your house for Halloween!

If you're going for a less spooky look this year check out That Artist Woman's Halloween Dioramas

Here's a more whimsical scene I did last year

I'll be linking to...

Halloween Party at Polish the Stars
Weekend Wrapup party at Tatertots & Jello
Halloween Link Party at Eighteen25
6 Weeks to Spook on Bella before and after
Everything but the Kitchen Sink at A Little Knick Knack
CraftoManiac Mondays
Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming
Get Your Halloween On at Sawdust and Paper Scraps