Outdoor Witch Decor for the Front Yard

Welcome to our first blog post. Our household just loves halloween, and this spooktacular season is on our minds just about every day of the year! The biggest allure to this holiday is the anticipation of setting up interior and exterior decorations.

A few years ago, my wife stumbled upon plans for DIY outdoor halloween wooden yard accents courtesy of martha steward living. The options for outdoor decorations included patterns for witches and numerous options for cats; the plans can be found here.

Needless to say, I put this project into motion one Sunday afternoon and feel inclined to add a little more to this display each year. These yard accents are really easy to make and can be accomplished in as little as a few hours, especially if you have a helper to sand or paint. The most time consuming part of this project appeared to be sawing through the conduit  (which anchors display into ground)

The lawn ornament patterns are downloaded from Martha Stewart website and print on 8 x 11 1/2 sheets of paper that are adhered to 3/4 inch plywood using a spray adhesive. The cutting process is performed with a jigsaw. When I did this project, I actually made two witches and used the first witch cutout to serve as a template for my second witch.

I would guesstimate the cost of this project (for one witch) to be between $40 and $50. Cost depends on items that you may or may not already have like spray adhesive, black paint, extra conduit, paint brushes, etc. The props (consisting or lantern and broom) can be found at most craft stores (e.g. Michaels, Hobby Lobby, JoAnn Fabric). I would also recommend going to thrift stores such as Goodwill or Salvation army to look for the lantern. Just don't skimp on the thickness of the plywood. The thicker plywood is justified as the display will be much stronger to withstand tight jigsaw cuts and windy days.

I am in the process of adding a few cats to this display for 2014 and will be adding some halloween toned lighting. I strongly recommend this project for those that like traditional halloween accents that are not too frightening for the younger trick or treaters.