Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Bubble Bubble Toil & Trouble


Apparently we are obsessed with character cutouts… We did them for Will’s 2nd Birthday Party, I made more for the lady that bought the ones from Will’s party, and then my mom texted me this picture:

with a little note of “Can you make these for me?” Sure Mom! Of course! We’re pros at making cutouts…now. We all love Halloween, and since Hubby & I don’t have a yard, it was even better that we got to spookify my parents’ yard.

Off we went to Home Depot. We varied our supplies a bit this time.

DSC00958Instead of buying plywood, we bought MDF. Why in the Holy Cheese did we not do this the times before?! It’s a tad more expensive, but its easier for Hubby to cut, and it also means no splinters and barely any sanding. Buh Bye extra work! Genius.

Next is the usual… I draw out the shapes on the MDF:
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Hubby cuts them with the jigsaw:
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in his Ghost Hunters shirt, no less… HA!

And I paint them. I bought 2 of the tester paint pots in “Mouse Ears” and used about 1.5 of them. I did close to 3 coats on each cutout just to make sure everything was covered. The MDF doesn’t soak the paint up like plywood, but it’s a smoother finish. Tit for tat, as they say.
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I know…Hubby is a lucky man. How does he handle ALL this whiteness?!

The little nugget came over to check on our progress:
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He’s a great project manager.

After lots of cutting and painting and a little assembling of the black L-bracket on the backs of each cutout, we took them out front and set them up:
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How witchn’ are those witches?! As usual, Martha provides great inspiration, but we have to add our own little twist and tweaks. Witches are like onions…they’ve got layers. Or maybe they’re more like butts… no two are exactly alike. Some are perky, some are flat, and some are smelly. The one on the left is smelly.

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Trouble had to come check it out. I really don’t know what happened to his shirt. He was fully clothed when we got to Nana & Poppa’s house. But I love his little body and it made me giggle every time he popped around the corner. After an excruciating inspection, the witches met his approval. Phew!

But of course we couldn’t stop there… so on our way home from Home Depot, we stopped at Target and got a little more awesomeness:
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That’s right… there’s a fog machine behind the cauldron! Halloween really can’t be Halloween without a fog machine. I cannot believe it’s taken us this long to buy one.

And as if that wasn’t the cat’s pajamas, we also added some illumination:
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I know! It blows my mind. I was so excited. My mom and I did our freaky weirdo dance in front of the house because it’s just SO flippin’ cool! One of the neighbors was out walking her dog when we were mid-setup and she said “Oh wow. Those are awesome! I’ll have to come back later to see the finished product!”. You bet your sweet sticky buns you need to come back! Check this OUT!

One last gaze at the awesomeness:
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Dare I say it’s better than my inspiration pic?!
Yeah. I dare.

14 comments:

  1. I love it!!! I've been wanting to do these for years. The lights and fog are PERFECT with them!

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  2. That is brilliant! I love them! You will have to check out my witch in my window! I love your light and smoke! So cute!

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  3. Just stopped by from Thrifty Decor Chick. Your halloween set-up is AH.mazing. And your commentary about it all was hilarious. :)

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  4. Awesome can you make me one? haha great idea is it okay to keep mdf outside? I may try this myself 'thanks Frances

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  5. This looks AWESOME!!! Gotta love a yard decked out for Halloween! Especially one with special effects!!! ;)

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  6. You're drawings are darling! I can't believe you free handed that!

    How did they hold up? Do you live somewhere warm that doesn't rain or snow in October? We did reindeer cut outs for Christmas and used plywood with exterior grade paint because ANY extended moisture with MDF will warp and separate the heck out of it. But we live in CO. How did yours hold up?

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  7. Hi Brandi! Thanks for checking them out!
    They held up pretty well, but we are in SoCal. It rained a couple days, but we brought then inside for that. I have a feeling reindeer cutouts are in my future. ;)

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  8. Thank you for putting a tag on the photo, as I found the image on Pinterest, BUT NO LINK ! ARG! But I <3 these. Typically we do the inside of the house for Halloween, including a maze once you get into the front door, but I think this is a great way to start our outside decor. Thanks! =)

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  9. I love these! What did you use to illuminate it?

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    1. Hi Amanda,

      I used one of these work lights from Home Depot, or you can get it at pretty much any hardware store:
      http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100354520/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=work+light&storeId=10051
      And we just used a green light bulb in it to make it extra cool. :)

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  10. Diapers and Divas: do you have the template for the witches to share? I would love to make ones similar...

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    Replies
    1. Sorry. I don't have a template. I just kind of eyeballed it as I drew directly on the piece of mdf. I looked at the Martha picture for some guidance, but otherwise it was just freehand.

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