I See You

I’m pretty sure that I’ve forever frightened the toddler away from the entryway with this one.

I did a bunch of projects for DIY Network earlier this month, pumpkin-intensive missions that have made our front yard super wonderful (nothing horrific about a fun carved pumpkin totem pole, or spider web pumpkins), and then spent some time last weekend reinstating a few displays that we’ve used and enjoyed for the last several years (stucco-covered DIY tombstones and hanging ghosts).

But then, when I thought I was done, these peering monster eyes came to life:

Lighting and my camera settings and such makes them appear a little more clear/orange than they are in real life (see the red glow on the ceiling and siding in the above photo?). It’s an easy project, and adds a cool effect to our front entryway.

Because my sidelights are narrow, I was able to trim a length of kraft paper twice as wide as the window, and then folded and creased it. I sketched eyeballs onto one side of the paper, creating random and varying sets all along the length. An X-Acto knife allowed for easy trimming along all of the pencil lines, cutting more smoothly and evenly than my sketch lines in most cases – and for symmetry and evenness, I cut through both layers of kraft paper at the same time.

Red gift wrap or shrink wrapping plastic is perfect for this project, because it generally comes as a roll. I spread it out on the floor, and then measured a piece for each window length.

I used tape to secure the red shrink wrap to the cut kraft paper, sandwiching it and insuring that it wouldn’t slide down when hung up.

A mounting tape made it easy to hang the paper in each sidelight pane. The glass itself is wavy, so I installed the paper on the outside of the window. If your windows are transparent, plain glass, you’ll be able to install yours inside.

And when we leave the interior entry light on but the front porch light off, the nighttime effect is muy bueno.