Halloween Owl Treat Box - DIY Edit & Print PDF Pattern

Make a Quick and Easy Halloween Owl Treat Box with my Printable PDF Pattern

I've re-visited my fun Halloween Owl Treat Box, so you'll see how to make quick and easy they are to make with my new assembly video.

Halloween Ghost Treat Box - Free Printable Pattern

Make a Quick and Easy Halloween Ghost Treat Box with my Free Printable PDF Pattern

I've re-visited my popular Halloween Ghost Treat Box, so you'll see how to make quick and easy they are to make with my new assembly video.

Jack O' Lantern Pumpkin Party Favor Box

Who has their carving tools ready? It's still a bit early to start digging in for Halloween, but this Jack O' Lantern doesn't need any gutting.

His perky stem comes with spiralling vines for extra fun.

There are three friendly faces to choose from, and when cut from yellow paper, appear to have an inner candlelit glow.

The pumpkin itself offers a decent size for ghoulish treats. It's easily cut from just two sheets of 8.5"x11" in green and orange, attached simply by two orange brads. So fun to assemble with little ones. It's now available in my shop.

Halloween Carving 2013

This year I decided to carve a Volkswagon (I didn't know about Fillmore until someone told me). To make such perfect circles for eyes I used an apple corer. As the pumpkin dried, his mouth started to compress, making the funniest pursing of his lips.

If you like the Jack Skellington window display in the background, you can see it better in this past post: http://paperzen.blogspot.com/2011/10/happy-halloween.html

To make Totoro's tummy, I used a melon baller which makes it look a bit like fur. Then I scraped from the inside to thin the wall so his tummy could glow.

I can't believe hubby used a chef knife to carve this eyeball! Then he used linoleum carving tools to define the pupil lines. Creepy!

Some years ago I bought this kit at half price from Walmart. When I brought it to a carving party last year, they were so excited to use something safer than a paring knife.

Off they went to buy a kit of their own, but this year they told me it didn't compare. Their kit was orange and the blades were thinner which meant they bent and broke easily. The "Goop Scoop" wide scraper was also better because it has such an easy grip vs theirs which had a handle. To copy the patterns inside, mine has an easy to wipe marker where theirs had a perforating wheel - they assured it was not worth the effort.

I had no idea my plastic purchase was such a good investment, so imagine how happy I was to find my familiar green tools at the Spirit Halloween store. I hope you had a craft-filled Halloween!

Halloween Owl Box (printable and editable PDF)

I've been thrilled with the feedback on my various Halloween party favor boxes and wondered how my owl would fare as a gift box for fright-night.

 

I found some fun tricks (glow in the dark bat, tattoos, erasers, and springing toy) at Walmart and it wouldn't all fit in my other boxes, but they fit just fine in this one with room to spare.

Just like my previous owl box, you can type whatever you like on the back of this editable PDF. It's now available in my Etsy store - thanks so much for looking!

I created this owl box for readers who don't have a digital cutter because I had requests for it after my first ATC card. However the tiny cuts are quite challenging to do by hand, so this box is a compromise. Happy haunting, everyone!

Printable Halloween Skeleton Coffin Party Favor Box

  

Two years ago I designed a coffin that folded together without glue (an homage to origami). I wanted it to be strong and am proud of how the friction fit lid will stay snug even when full of candy. However, the intricate design benefited from a digital die cutting machine's precision because I gave allowance for thick card stock.

Since then I've had requests for a hand cuttable version and I'm finally happy with this version. I really wanted to make a hinged lid so you'll only need to print 1 sheet per box. The coffin bottom has 3 sides with doubled over paper for rigidity. The lid has 2 tabs that lock into the bottom to prevent horrifying spillage.

It's fun to print it on different color stock and in this case I roughed up the toner to make it look worn and old on kraft card stock, but it also looks great on metallic silver.

This pattern is now available in my Etsy store. Wishing you a boo-tyful night!

Halloween Ghost - Party Favor Treat Gift Box

My favorite party favor of all time is this shape because it's quick & easy to make, has an unusual surface area for design, and holds a surprising amount of treats.

4 ghosts fill up a sheet of 8.5x11 inch paper efficiently, so there's very little waste. Remember to print "Fit to Page" so it maximizes the printing area.

Watch my updated video tutorial or read the assembly instructions below.

1) You will need also need scissors, 1/8" hole punch, double-sided tape, and about 6 inches of 1/8" width ribbon.

2) Flip over the ghost. Place double-sided tape along the left edge and along the top right as shown by the arrows. Remove a small portion of the wax along the left and fold it down (do not remove all the wax yet).

3) Keeping your fingers on the waxed portion, roll the ghost into a tube, overlapping the gray diagonal lines. When it's aligned and straight, press the exposed adhesive. Gently pull more wax off, then press to adhere. Repeat until you have a completed tube.

4) Remove all the wax from the end of the tube.

5) Guided by the small gray line, pinch the top end closed.

6) Guided by the two small gray lines at the bottom end, pinch closed, then fold the end over toward the back. Unfold and fill with treats.

7) Punch a hole in the bottom middle. Fold your ribbon in half and thread it through partway. Take the ribbon ends and thread it through the folded ribbon, then pull until taut.

8) You're ready for a boo-tyful night of tricks and treats!

If you'd like to make your own for a wedding or other occasion, I have a template and examples in a previous DIY post: http://paperzen.blogspot.ca/2011/01/diy-party-favor.html

If you enjoyed making this pattern and would like to make more, I have 4 more patterns (witch, mummy, candy corn, and frankenstein) in my shop.

Happy Halloween

Jack Skellington window decorations for halloween this year - low tech but easy to pack away. Jack was mainly cut with my Silhouette but since the size was limited I had to glue his hand and legs to make it large enough to fit our window. The rest was hand cut.

  

Not too shabby for teeth on a cavity-inducing night. We used a grapefruit spoon with its serrated edges to scrape in between the teeth, then the handle to smooth the surface. We also happen to have linoleum cutters to help remove the white layer so the candle can be seen better at night. The perfect "O" for the little pumpkin snack was made with an apple corer.

Here's where we got our inspiration:

http://www.collthings.co.uk/2008/10/halloween-pumpkin-designs.html

And lastly our bat cave, thanks to Dana-Made-It.
The witch brooms were signature Martha, Martha, Martha.

Tricked your Treat!

Who won the "What's inside the coffin contest?" No body. The answer is fish skeleton! Make no bones about it - I even put the answer in my Etsy listing! Please, no booing! Thank you all for playing! I had a screech :)

One more if you dare? Why couldn't Dracula's wife get to sleep?  Because of his coffin.

Crouching Spider, Hidden Candy

OK so it wasn't hard to guess what was coming, but I hope you've enjoyed the unveiling of my die cut Halloween coffin boxes. This one has a spider web made of black vinyl hidden on the inside of the coffin's lid. A small length of fishing wire is attached to the spider so kids will get an extra hidden surprise as they reach for the goodies inside. I have always loved shiny black on matte, a subtle and entrancing effect.

Here are some of my prototypes. Can anyone guess what's inside? I'll give you a hint - it's white and emaciated. Please be very specific - only FULLY correct guesses will qualify.

I will email a free SVG or DXF spider file to anyone who guesses correctly by next Monday, Oct 10, 2011.

Knuckles

Pale knuckles grip the coffin's edge... 

my latest trailer for an upcoming die cut bundle for Etsy.

Die cut spider

Scary movies know thrills are intensified by allowing your imagination go wild before they reveal the ending. Here's my teaser - stay tuned for more. Happy 1st of October!

Gigi Cat Halloween Card in Vinyl

I loved the animation Kiki’s Delivery Service which featured a cat who had to pretend it was toy, and stay still even though a dog was nearby. In this scene only his eyes are warily moving which only made it funnier. I imagined it would make a great Halloween card with the inside greeting “Watch out! Halloween is coming!” Some readers have asked to see what the process is like to cut vinyl and assemble. In this case, since I made more than a few, it is best to cut many of the same shapes at the same time to save time and material (even though it’s reclaimed scraps of vinyl).
The 110 lb weight of black card stock was purchased at Opus, an art supply store and cut down to 10×7, then folded to 5×7. The paper came with the deckled edge, which I thought was appropriate for a spooky feeling.
Red Bow: Small shapes like the circle in the middle of the bow get plucked up while removing unwanted areas.
White Eyes/Ears: I flipped them upside down and amongst each other to again save material.
Body: The plus signs you see all over the place are registration marks. They help me align all these elements, which can be difficult to see through when using transfer tape. Transfer tape is like masking tape – less tacky, but tackier than the vinyl. After placing this tape on each element at a time, rub to pick up all elements, then put into position on the body, then remove transfer tape. The shiny black vinyl on matte black card stock is a wonderful effect, kind of like the Black Magic box of chocolates.