Halloween Paper Piecing Ideas

I can’t believe that Halloween is just two days away! Over the past couple of months I’ve been having a blast creating several Halloween inspired projects. Like the other designers here I’ve really enjoyed making some of my own Halloween Décor and cards.

One of my favorite paper crafting techniques is paper piecing. I love coming up with my own embellishments ideas using punches and shape templates. I’ve found that I can do so many things with even the most basic shapes like circles and ovals. Today, I want to share with you two projects I’ve made doing just this.

This first piece is a card with an owl that is made using several circle punches. Almost every feature on his cute little self is from a circle punch including his body, wings, eyes and feet.

Title: Halloween HOOT Card
Designer: Patti Milazzo

Supply List:

Eerie - Freak & Beware by Basic Grey

Trick or Treat – Monstrer Mash and RIP by Fancy Pants

Haunted – Ominous by Cosmo Cricket

Anna Sophia – Worn Stripes by Bo Bunny

Tools: Halloween Fun Clear Stamps by Cloud 9 Design/Fiskars Americas

Fiskars Americas - Ultra ShapeXpress Tool; Woodland Tree; Super Size Circle Template; Circle Pop Up Punch; Mint Condition and Round ‘n Round Squeeze Punches; Scallop Paper Edgers; 1/8” and 1/16” Circle Hand Punches; Stamp Blocks

Other: PermaTack Adhesive by Glue Arts; Machine stitching; black twill ribbon

Computer fonts: Lucida Handwriting

Instructions:

1. Cut 5” x 8” card front from purple patterned paper; ink edges.
2. Cut 6” circle from yellow patterned paper; ink edges; adhere part over upper left side of card front; trim off excess and machine stitch around twice.
3. Cut curved hill from brown patterned paper; ink edges; adhere to bottom card; trim off any excess and machine stitch along curve twice.
4. Cut tree silhouette from black cardstock; adhere part over left side of card; trim off excess and machine stitch trunk and branches several times.
5. Punch circles to create the body; wings; feet and eyes for the owl. *The body is a 1.5” circle which I then punched again with the circle punch to remove the portion forming the top of his head. The wings are from a single circle cut in half. The eyes include white circles with smaller black circles (with tiny circles punched out) for the pupils and half circles to give the eyes a hooded appearance. His feet are a small circle trimmed with scallop scissors. Use adhesive foam dots to pop up the eyes as well as the body of the owl from the card.
   
   
6. Stamp bat silhouettes on the moon in the background.
   
7. Punch leaves; ink and adhere at tips of branches and at bottom of tree trunk.
8. Print sentiment on cardstock; ink and adhere to card.

Other suggestions: Instead of a card, create this as wall art or home décor. Simply change or omit the sentiment; enlarge the scale of the project if needed; add a few more leaves, then matte or frame for display.

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For this next project, a mini tri-fold screen, I used ovals to create the pumpkins and a variety of basic geometric shape punches and shape templates to make the jack-o-lanterns' features.

Title of Project: Jack-o-Lantern Trio Home Decor
Designer: Patti Milazzo

Supply List:
Trick or Treat – RIP and Candy Corn by Fancy Pants Designs; Rough & Tough – All Stars by Fancy Pants Designs; Black Cardstock;PermaTack Adhesive by Glue Arts; Chalk Ink- Olive Pastel, Burnt Sienna, Charcoal and Chestnut Roan by Clearsnap
Tools: Fiskars Americas – Ultra ShapeXpress Tool; Oval Shape Template; ¼” Circle and Rectangle Hand Punches; Circle Pop Up Punch; Brick, Nice Tri and Round ‘n Round Squeeze Punches.
Spooky FrightfulClear Stamps by Li’l Davis/Fiskars Americas
Other: PermaTack Adhesive by Glue Arts; Machine stitching

Instructions:

1. Cut 6 – 5” squares of black cardstock.
2. Cut 6 – 5” chipboard squares and ink edges in black.
3. Cut 4 – 3” x 5/8” pieces of black twill ribbon and adhere to back of chipboard squares. 2 strips between each square with chipboard squares spaced ¼” apart. Be sure to keep the ribbon lined up evenly across.
4. Adhere 3 – 5” black cardstock squares to chipboard covering the ribbon strips.
5. Adhere remaining 3 – 5” black cardstock squares to cover front of each piece of chipboard. The body of the mini tri-fold screen is complete. Set aside.
6. Cut 3 – 4.5” squares from kraft cardstock; ink edges ; and stamp Halloween background images. I used spiderwebs and flourishes for this project.
7. With a stiff bristle paint brush, splatter black acrylic paint on surface of each squ are; let dry and set aside.
8. To create each jack-o-lantern, cut 3 ovals for each pumpkin; ink edges and layer 2 side by side (slightly overlapping) and the last on centered on top.
9. Use punches, die cuts or shape templates to create facial features. I like mine goofy and happy but you could certainly go for scary and creepy, too!
   
   
   
10. Cut or punch leaves and stems. I free handed mine with a swivel craft knife after lightly sketching the shapes I wanted.
    
11. Once the jack-o-lanterns are complete adhere them to the center of each kraft cardstock square and the project complete!

Tips and other suggestions:

--Ink edges by applying 2 or more colors. On the pumpkin ovals, I inked Burnt Sienna, then brown, and then black. I like the depth effect it gives to the pumpkins. They almost seem to glow! On the kraft cardstock squares I used black and brown to give the pieces and aged look that goes well with the stamping and splatter effect.

--Display the project as a screen or fold it into a triangle and place a small floral arrangement in the middle to create a unique centerpiece. Enlarge the scale of the project to make it really stand out on your table if needed.

--Have your project be two in one. Create another trio of embellished squares for the backside of this project – maybe scary jack-o-lantern faces, other Halloween images (ghosts, bats, etc) or simply pumpkins and gourds to celebrate fall.

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There’s still a couple of days left to put together a few more crafty Halloween projects so I hope I’ve offered you a little inspiration in making your own fun embellishments. And I hope you have a Spook-tacular Halloween!