Halloween Front Porch Fix-Up: Magic a Mum Into a Monster

Directions

1. Apply one to two coats of russet-orange acrylic paint to the pot, letting it dry completely between coats if needed.
2. Fold a purple foam sheet in half, draw a bat wing shape, and cut it out. Use that cutout as a template to trace and cut a second wing from another purple sheet, giving you two identical wing halves. Peel off the paper backing from both pieces and stick them together, but leave a small strip of backing along the inner edge—that strip will be removed later to attach the wings to the pot.
3. Paint both 36-inch wood dowels with orange paint and let them dry. After drying, sharpen one end of each dowel—a pencil sharpener works great—to make pushing them into the soil easier.
4. Fold a purple foam sheet in half, draw a webbed foot shape on the backing, then cut it out to produce two matching feet.
5. Fold green foam in half and cut a long narrow pupil shape. Fold red foam in half, draw an open mouth on the backing, and cut it out. On white foam, sketch a few triangles for teeth and cut them out.
6. Peel off the remaining backing strips on the wings and press one wing onto each side of the pot. Next, stick the white teeth onto the red mouth, then remove the mouth’s backing and attach it to the front of the planter. Lift the pot slightly and slide the webbed feet underneath—no need to peel their backing.
7. Firmly push the painted dowels into the soil of the planter. Position the foam balls at the top of the dowels for eyes and trim the dowels if they’re too long. Slide a foam ball onto each dowel, then peel the backing from the green slit pupils and attach them to the foam balls in any orientation you like—horizontal, vertical, or slanted.