Halloween Skeleton Banner

Large Halloween decorations with fun graphic appeal are perfect for decorating indoors or out, but they can also be costly, especially if you need a lot of them to fill a big space. This Skeleton Banner has the look of a fancy department store decoration but you can make it yourself for about 3 dollars. The one pictured here is approximately 24 inches long and 16 across at its widest point but you could make yours larger or make mini-skeletons and string them together on a length of black twine for an awesome Halloween garland.

What you need

1 sheet craft foam board
Brown craft paper (or a paper bag cut open)
1 yard white felt
1 sheet black felt (with or without sparkles)
Black glitter glue
White craft glue
2 paper clips
Black twine or cord

Instructions

Use the same basic method to make a witch face, a jack-o-lantern, Frankenstein’s monster, a ghost or a vampire. Simply choose foam poster board and felt in the appropriate colors – such as orange poster board and orange felt for a jack-o-lantern.

To increase the longevity of this project bring it indoors at night or during rain showers to keep it dry. Hang it indoors for a day or two to make sure it’s completely dry before storing. Wrap in white tissue paper to protect the foam board from damage and wrap the whole thing up in a plastic bag to keep moisture out.

Draw a skeleton shape on craft paper, and cut it out. Your drawing doesn’t need to be perfect, in fact, something a little crooked and quirky has more appeal. Trace the shape onto the foam board and use a utility knife and/or scissors to cut it out. Cutting round shapes in foam board can be a challenge. Go slowly and smooth any rough edges with fine sandpaper when you’re all done.

Fold the felt in half and pin the paper pattern onto it. Trace the same pattern onto the felt and remove the pattern. Secure the two layers of fabric together with a few pins. Draw another line approximately ¼-inch in from the tracing. Cut on the inner line.

Spread a thin, even layer of white glue over the foam board leaving about ¼ inch on the edge clean. Use a scrap of cardstock to scrape the glue over the large space quickly and evenly. Check to make sure the felt matches the shape of the glued side of the foam board (since you won’t a have a perfectly symmetric design there’s a right and wrong side to each felt piece). Lay the corresponding felt piece into the glue and smooth it out.

Repeat the process on the second side but this time glue a paper clip onto the foam board under the felt on each side of the skeleton’s head.

Cut 4 large ovals and 2 triangles for the eyes and nose. Glue them in place.

Draw the skeleton’s mouth with glitter glue. Allow the glue to dry approximately 24 hours before turning it over to draw the mouth on the other side.

Attach a length of twine to each paper clip and knot a small loop in the center for hanging the banner.

All done!