How to Make a Graveyard With Styrofoam

Ghostly graveyard decorations are a traditional theme for enhancing the spirit of Halloween, and help to make for a memorable season. This season, you can take on the role of crafty undertaker by creating a graveyard of your very own design. It would fit in well indoors in a haunted house, or out in your yard. Follow the steps below to learn how to create a hauntingly spook-tacular graveyard as a part of your holiday décor.

Things You'll Need

• 2 sheets of 2"x12"x36" foam
• Serrated kitchen knife ( floral knife works also)
• Candle
• Wood burning tool
• Stencils and tape or straight pins (optional)
• Acrylic spray paint - silver, black, light green, flat white)
• Paint brush
• Low heat glue gun
• Square edge floral picks
• Spanish moss
• Dried flowers
• Branches and twigs

Instructions

1. Wax the knife you are using by rubbing along the knife blade with the candle, rubbing both sides of the blade. Use the waxed knife to cut one of the 2-inch by 12-inch by 36-inch foam sheets in half to get two 2-inch by 12-inch by 36-inch sheets.

2. Rub the candle along the blade again to wax it. Cut out a tombstone shape from each half of the foam. The shape of the tombstone you create is entirely up to you.

3. Use the wood burning tool to add an epitaph of your choice to the face of the tombstone. You can write it free hand, or use stencils pinned or taped to the tombstone. Once written, you may choose to embellish the epitaph with patterns of your choice, such as scrollwork, borders, or cracks, also using the wood burning tool.

4. Spray paint the tombstone with a thick coat of black paint, taking care to completely cover the entire surface, including the letters and patterns. Tilt the tombstone to an extreme angle and then mist silver paint over the entire thing. Touch up the letters and details with the paintbrush and some black paint.

5. Cut the base of each tombstone at an angle, enabling it to lean and tilt. Attach the tombstones to the last sheet of Styrofoam with hot glue. Push the flower picks into the underside of the base and up slightly into the tombstones for added stability.

6. Position your tombstone display at the location where you want to create your graveyard. Push the display firmly into the ground, securing it by pushing some floral picks through the base and into the dirt or grass.

7. Camouflage the foam base using spanish moss and twigs, dried flowers and branches around the base of the tombstones. Push the branches into the ground at an angle to hang over the tombstones.

Tips & Warnings

• While using the woodburning tool, never touch the melted styrofoam with your bare hands because it will burn you.