So we wanted to level up our DIY Halloween decorations without spending a fortune. Luckily for us, we made the best of a chaotic situation, using these vinyl window silhouettes to turn a friend’s window into a spooky scene in minutes. The best part? They’re Cricut-friendly, renter-safe, and easy to remove after the big night.
About the chaos…a hurricane blew through Utah several weeks ago and it uprooted thousands of trees throughout the area.
The 75-year-old ash tree that fell on my friend Christi’s house during the storm completely crushed the front of her house. The bay window was destroyed; the awning atop the front door became decrepit; the Japanese maple tree looked like it survived a massacre; and the house suited the set of a horror film. So, essentially, it was perfect for Halloween!
With one exception – there was nothing in the window!
This project is perfect if you want Halloween window décor that looks custom but takes very little time—ideal for last-minute DIY Halloween decorations (or after random windstorms). Here’s what I did if you want to follow along…
What you’ll need:
- Cricut machine (I used my Cricut Maker®)
- StandardGrip machine mat, 12″ x 24″ size
- Removable Vinyl (this way your DIY Halloween decorations peel away cleanly after the season)
- Weeder tool
- Transfer tape
- Measuring tape (to measure your window or surface area)
Designing the window
Be sure to measure the window before you start designing your window scene. I added images from our Design Space library to fill the entire space. I liked the idea of a witches hat floating over a cauldron, so Christi could “step into” the hat whenever she walked across her living room. Then I found a ghost cat image in the Design Space library– I knew it had to go into the window too.
Size your designs accordingly on the Canvas
If you’re sizing designs for large panes, duplicate shapes in Design Space to build a full scene—an easy way to scale these DIY Halloween decorations.
After you slice, delete the extraneous layers from the slice and continue to Make It! If you prefer to save a little of your precious vinyl material, attach like colors and rotate each piece to fit the maximum cut area in the most efficient manner. I like doing this to keep from producing too much waste, but it’s certainly a time suck.
A few bloody handprints as an embellishment
What’s a haunted house without a few creepy handprints?
In addition to the window silhouettes, I cut out a few handprints in blood-haunting red to put all over the face of the house. You can easily find these images in the Design Space library by searching “hand print” or “hands.” Pro tip: bold shapes like these read best from the street for high-impact Halloween window décor.
Make it with your Cricut machine
When you have all the elements for your window ready, hit Make It to cut them with your machine. Feel free to use my ready-to-go community Design Space project if you prefer not to start from scratch.
After the paint is dry, weed the design or, pluck the simple shapes from the backer to manually stick onto your window.
Make a scene!
Clean all the surfaces– wipe off any dirt and particles to get better adhesion. Weed the negative space from your design, then apply transfer tape. Burnish well and lift the transfer tape slowly— clean application is the secret to professional-looking DIY Halloween decorations.
Next, apply your design to the window. Layer any additional, smaller silhouettes (bats, stars, or even spiders) to finish your Halloween window decorations. We placed the witch hat as far up on the window as possible so that we could get a more realistic silhouette when Christi was inside her home.
For an extra spooky effect, layer silhouettes with LED candles or a small lamp to backlight your scene. The glow turns simple vinyl into dramatic DIY Halloween decorations that pop after sunset. Want more dimension? Mix solid silhouettes with a few frosted-vinyl accents for “moonlit” details.
For the handprints, we splattered them onto the stairs and porch. We also added a pair of handprints to the broken bay window (as if someone was trying to get in, ya’ know).
So, what do you think?
We hung out for quite a while in the window, each of us giving it our best practical magic over the cauldron. So, tell me! Who wore it better?
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