When you set up house in a pumpkin like some of the fairies in Pixie Hollow do, it doesn't take much to get into the spirit of Halloween. All you need to do is round up a few ghostly guests to hover around the grounds. Using a foam craft pumpkin, you can make a tabletop replica of a phantom-filled fairy house to haunt your own home.
by Cindy Littlefield
What you'll need
- Foam craft pumpkin (sold in craft stores during Halloween season)
- Pencil
- Lightweight scrapbook paper (yellow for the window panes, white for the ghosts, and other colors of your choosing for the window trim, door, and door hinges and latch)
- Mod Podge (water base sealer)
- Paintbrush or small foam brush
- Silk leaves and/or ferns (sold in craft and department stores)
- Glue dots
- Thin flexible craft wire
- Black permanent marker
- Small stick
- Stones and floral moss (optional)
How to make it
1. Set the pumpkin on its side and lightly pencil the outline of a circular door around the stem (make the line about 1 1/4 inch from the outer edge of the stem). Cut a bunch of 1 1/2-inch squares from the scrapbook paper you've chosen for the door. Trim the squares so the bottoms are slightly convex and the tops concave, and taper the sides a bit, as shown. Use the Mod Podge to glue the trimmed squares onto the pumpkin around the stem, overlapping them a bit. Cut out a pair of small paper hinges and a latch and glue them in place. Then seal the finished door with a light coat of Mod Podge.
2. For each window, cut out a 2 1/2-inch square of yellow scrapbook paper and then round the top. Cut a matching shape from the window trim paper, and then cut it into the pieces shown.
3. Save the horizontal strip and the arch and discard the remaining piece. Next, cut a pair of 1/4-inch trim strips from another piece of window trim paper and glue them onto the window, as shown, before attaching the two reserved trim pieces.
4. One at a time, coat the back of each window with Mod Podge and then press it firmly onto the pumpkin to the side of the door. Use your fingers to smooth the paper and make sure all the edges are well adhered. Seal the windows as you did the door. Then top the pumpkin cottage with a roof of silk leaves and/or ferns, using glue dots to hold the ensemble in place.
5. Now it's time to haunt the cottage. For each ghost, cut two matching shapes out of white paper. Use a glue dot to stick the top of a short length of craft wire to one of the ghosts. Then draw eyes on the matching piece and press it down onto the first one, matching up all the edges.
6. Station the ghosts around the cottage by tucking the wire ends under a leaf or behind a windowpane. You can even attach one to a yard sign fashioned out of a short stick or strip of wood and a small square of paper.
7. For the finishing touches, you can set the haunted cottage atop a sheet of floral moss and stack a couple of stone steps below the door, if you like.
