DIY Halloween Project: Make a Spooky Welcome Mat

DIY Halloween Project: Make a Spooky Welcome Mat

The spookiest of seasons finally upon us, it’s time to take a serious look at how our front doors will greet trick-or-treaters this year. Whether you will be home on Halloween our celebrating with some kiddos, or not, the humble doormat is such a ridiculously easy (and cheap!) way to convey a haunted message on your behalf. That said, I’ve never had a seasonal doormat before, but this year, it was finally time. Vampire teeth and Halloween go hand-in-hand, and since they can easily “velcome” you in, I thought a set of fanged chompers would be the ideal place to start with a custom doormat.

Here’s what you need to make your own:

DIY Halloween Project: Make a Spooky Welcome Mat

– Jute doormat with rubber skid on the bottom (10$ at Home Depot)
– Pencil
– Box cutter or cutting blade
– Cutting mat
– Sharpie in pink, yellow or any other medium-light color. (Also, don’t use a fine-tip like the one shown!)
– Acrylic paint in white or unbleached titanium, black, and red
– Medium and small sized paint brushes
– Small paper plate

DIY Halloween Project: Make a Spooky Welcome Mat

Grab the two short ends of your rectangular doormat and fold them together like you are closing a book. With your pencil, sketch a line from one corner of the doormat to the middle of the opposite side. Turn the doormat “book” over and mirror the same sloping line so that when your doormat is open (and right side down) you have something resembling a half circle.

Note that buying a doormat that is round on one side is a perfectly acceptable way to skip this step. I had planned on buying a half-round doormat at my local hardware store but they were $40 and the rectangular ones (made from almost the same material) cost $10.

DIY Halloween Project: Make a Spooky Welcome Mat

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With your cutting mat under the doormat, and the doormat right side down, begin cutting along your pencil line until you have a half-round doormat.

DIY Halloween Project: Make a Spooky Welcome Mat

Use your Sharpie (I discarded my black marker for a more forgiving color) and sketch out four middle teeth (rectangles with slightly rounded edges) and two fangs.

DIY Halloween Project: Make a Spooky Welcome Mat

Squirt out a healthy amount of white paint onto your paper plate, and begin painting within your drawn marks. You will use a LOT of paint if you fill your doormat with teeth like I did. I used nearly two 6.75oz tubes of white acrylic paint.

DIY Halloween Project: Make a Spooky Welcome Mat

Stipple the paint with your brush to really work it into the nooks and crannies of the doormat fibers.

DIY Halloween Project: Make a Spooky Welcome Mat

Let the white paint dry. You may find that some areas of paint absorbed into the jute fibers and need a bit of touch-up once the white paint has completely dried. You can stop here, or grab your Sharpie again to write out the greeting of your choice.

DIY Halloween Project: Make a Spooky Welcome Mat

With your small paintbrush and black paint, carefully paint over your Sharpied greeting.

DIY Halloween Project: Make a Spooky Welcome Mat

As the black paint dries, add a little red paint at the base of the fangs for some added terror. Blood always equals terror, right? Obviously it does in doormat scenarios.

DIY Halloween Project: Make a Spooky Welcome Mat

Place the doormat outside and wait for Halloween.

Compliments will begin to roll in from trick-or-treaters and vampires alike. You know what? If you are not super friendly, maybe you shouldn’t make this doormat at all. It could attract too much attention (unless you go the “bite me” route, I suppose?) and force you to answer the door to field all that pesky praise. You’ve been warned! Happy Halloween!

Looking for more family-friendly Halloween crafts? Be sure to check out Marie LeBaron’s Halloween Crafts and Party Ideas!

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Megan Andersen FOLLOW >

Known in craft circles as “Radmegan,” Megan O. Andersen has been crafting, baking, cooking, drawing, sculpting and gardening since she could hold a crayon. Follow along with her crafty adventures at www.radmegan.com.