Tombstone

Our tombstones last year (made out of one inch thick pink insulation - you can buy it at Home Depot) were great, but a little flimsy for year after year use. After seeing the great hit our Haunted Christmas Theme was, we decided to make things a little more permanent.

We started by heading out to Home Depot to pick up 2 inch thick insulation. You get a huge sheet for about $15, and we also picked up yet another utility knife, since we just weren't sure we had enough ;). Si is a master at cutting various shapes, while I'm more into the decoration factor, so he went to town on cutting various shapes. You'll get about 5-6 tombstones that are pretty good size from this. Here are a few that we cut:

 

Following cutting, I carved one to fit our Santa theme specifically, and then painted it with gray acrylic paint. While the paint is still wet - add drops of black paint, and blend with the paintbrush used to paint the stone gray. It blends well, and helps the "stone" look aged.

Following that, I painted my carvings with bright red paint to simulate blood. Remember that it's kind of like stage makeup. What might look garish up close, will look perfect when dimly lit and viewed from a distance. Here's what the finished product will look like:

In order to try to make the process a little faster, we had purchased some gray spray paint at Walmart to do an initial covering. We decided Si should do the painting this year, as last year, I has used the second room to do the painting (I put down a drop cloth!) but soon found that spray painting indoors is not a good idea. We spent the rest of the night shampooing the carpet! We took the spray paint outdoors, and did an initial coating. Much to our surprise, the spray paint began eating away at the insulation. Once we trained where we wanted it to eat away, we came out with some amazing looking stones. 

After they dried, it was my turn to step in. I put a final coat on the tombstones, and while wet, mixed in that black to help it look aged. With the tombstone on top, I wet a sponge brush and then dipped in black paint squeezing over the top and sides to get a weathered look. With the bottom tombstone, I carried the aging further, and wrote Mrs. Claws to keep with our Haunted Christmas theme. You could write anything, but the key in our minds is to make it look weathered. 

Based on experience last year, use straight stakes (no hooks on the ends), stick them into the ground, and then push the tombstones onto those. And there you have it. Five creepy tombstones for less than $20 total, with paint, brushes, and insulation included. When even low cost stores are selling then for $10 a piece, this is a steal! Bonus: Nothing beats making your stones as tailored as you want.