• Home
  • about emily
  • before + after
  • HGTV + DIY Network
  • good press
  • contact
  • Let’s Organize These Posts:

    • Art Attack
    • Backyard
    • Barn
    • Basement
    • Bathroom
    • Beach
    • Bedrooms
    • Being Thrifty
    • Business-y
    • Buying and Renting and Selling
    • Casual Celebrations
    • Closets
    • Curb Appeal
    • Dainty Details
    • Deck
    • Decor
    • Dining Room
    • DIY
    • Dog-Related
    • Entryway
    • Flooring
    • For the Kids
    • Garage
    • Gardening
    • Helping The Economy
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects
    • Holiday-Related Projects
    • Home Safety
    • Kitchen
    • Lighting
    • Living Room
    • Merry Travels
    • Office Space
    • Organized
    • Other Pads
    • Outdoor Living
    • Scooter Fun
    • Stairwell
    • Sunroom
    • Supporting Sponsors
    • The Art Room
    • Tools
    • Uncategorizable
    • Wedding
    • Windows
    • Work-pads
  • Search

  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

    You can find me writing for HGTV and DIY Network, follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

  • BROWSE POSTS BY CATEGORY:

    • Art Attack (7)
    • Backyard (92)
    • Barn (8)
    • Basement (27)
    • Bathroom (43)
    • Beach (13)
    • Bedrooms (73)
    • Being Thrifty (53)
    • Business-y (12)
    • Buying and Renting and Selling (23)
    • Casual Celebrations (36)
    • Closets (17)
    • Curb Appeal (44)
    • Dainty Details (8)
    • Deck (23)
    • Decor (286)
    • Dining Room (37)
    • DIY (577)
    • Dog-Related (24)
    • Entryway (59)
    • Flooring (58)
    • For the Kids (32)
    • Garage (17)
    • Gardening (70)
    • Helping The Economy (30)
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects (283)
    • Holiday-Related Projects (80)
    • Home Safety (12)
    • Kitchen (83)
    • Lighting (31)
    • Living Room (77)
    • Merry Travels (21)
    • Office Space (21)
    • Organized (41)
    • Other Pads (14)
    • Outdoor Living (12)
    • Scooter Fun (8)
    • Stairwell (20)
    • Sunroom (22)
    • Supporting Sponsors (43)
    • The Art Room (3)
    • Tools (43)
    • Uncategorizable (1)
    • Wedding (28)
    • Windows (14)
    • Work-pads (10)
  • Search

  • Pages

    • blog
    • Good Press: Special Features, Freelance Projects, and Long-Term Clients
    • Privacy Policy
    • about emily
    • before + after
      • before + after – transforming my first home
      • before + after, our current home
    • contact me
    • choose a badge and share the merrypad.com love
  • Home
  • about emily
  • before + after
  • HGTV + DIY Network
  • good press
  • contact

Halloween How to: DIY Tombstones

April 24, 2016

This post was originally published on DIY Network’s blog Made + Remade in September 2014.

Put plywood and stucco to new use when you make these creative (and very authentic looking) tombstones for your outdoor Halloween decorations!

Use plywood covered in stucco to create faux tombstones to adorn your yard for the Halloween holiday.

Pair them with a spiderweb door decoration and DIY ghosts like those shown above (wrap a styrofoam ball in white fabric!) and your whole neighborhood will enjoy your creative curb appeal.

See the full do-it-yourself tutorial below, and be sure to check out other fun Halloween-inspired ideas from DIY Network.

Step 1 

Thin underlayment plywood traditionally used for flooring is an inexpensive and durable base for your DIY tombstones. They are sold in 4′x8′ sheets, and for convenience, have the sheet cut lengthwise in-store so that you arrive home with two 2′x8′ sections.

Use plywood covered in stucco to create faux tombstones to adorn your yard for the Halloween holiday.

Step 2

I found that each 2′x8′ sheet is long enough to create three tombstones (each approx. 2-3′ in height). Sketch the shape of your tombstones end-to-end on the board, and use a jigsaw to cut them out.

Use plywood covered in stucco to create faux tombstones to adorn your yard for the Halloween holiday.

Step 3

To seal the wood and create a surface for the stucco to lock onto, I painted both sides and the edges with a white primer.

Use plywood covered in stucco to create faux tombstones to adorn your yard for the Halloween holiday.

Step 4

At this point, before you add stucco, you’ll want to consider how you’re going to be anchoring these tombstones in the earth for your outdoor Halloween display. I chose to use a piece of rebar, which feeds through the pipe fitting (also known as a pipe fitting or tube strap) screwed into the back of the tombstone.

Use plywood covered in stucco to create faux tombstones to adorn your yard for the Halloween holiday.

Step 5

Attach the fitting onto the center of the backside of the tombstone.

Use plywood covered in stucco to create faux tombstones to adorn your yard for the Halloween holiday.

Step 6 

Mix your stucco according to directions. You’ll want to do small batches (because it hardens quickly). Each batch should be the consistency of peanut butter, so that you can trowel it onto the surface of your tombstone. It should be tacky enough so that, if positioned upright, you can “butter” the tombstone without the stucco sliding off.

Use plywood covered in stucco to create faux tombstones to adorn your yard for the Halloween holiday.

Step 7

Apply the stucco to one side of each of your tombstones. It should be a thin layer (1/8″ – 1/4″) but it will have some raised texture, since it’s stucco and can’t be evenly smoothed as easily as a product like portland cement. The variegated texture lends to some of the appeal of the finished product!

Use plywood covered in stucco to create faux tombstones to adorn your yard for the Halloween holiday.

Step 8

Once you complete one side of each tombstone flat, you should find that you can apply the stucco to the other side of the tombstone if it is leaning upright. The stucco has already begun to harden, and by nature, if it was mixed thick enough, should not have the tendency to crumble away from its surface, so lean it up against a tree, add stucco to the backside of the tombstone, and allow it to dry completely (minimum: overnight). Note: Don’t worry about trying to stucco the sides of the tombstone – we’ll disguise the visible white primer in the future step.

Use plywood covered in stucco to create faux tombstones to adorn your yard for the Halloween holiday.

Step 9

If you weren’t already having fun and being creative, here’s where you can get really clever. Make up funny/scary/terrifying names for your hand-crafted tombstones. You can download many “punny” grave markers in this photo gallery, or come up with some of your own (we also have a “Terry Bulldeth,” “Frankie Stein,” and “Barry DeLive” in our collection). If you’re making your own names, you can create Word art in Microsoft PowerPoint.

Once your names are chosen, create a stencil, or project the name onto the surface of the dried stucco, and trace the lettering by hand using a sharp pencil.

Use plywood covered in stucco to create faux tombstones to adorn your yard for the Halloween holiday.

Step 10

Use a thin craft paintbrush and black paint to carefully fill in the names on your tombstones.

Step 11

Finish off your design by “aging” the tombstone a little bit. A mossy green spray paint does just the trick, and also completely covers up the white edge. You won’t need to add a lot of spray paint, just add enough to cast a nice shadow, as if it were a real tombstone gathering moss under a shady tree in a cemetery.

Use plywood covered in stucco to create faux tombstones to adorn your yard for the Halloween holiday.

Step 12

Stake the finished tombstone into the ground by securing the 4′ rebar vertically, and sliding the pipe fitting on the back of the tombstone over it.

Step 13

Undeniably fun and creepy Halloween decor! Pair them with a doorway spiderweb for instantly creepy curb appeal.

Use plywood covered in stucco to create faux tombstones to adorn your yard for the Halloween holiday.

Share

Curb Appeal  / Decor  / DIY  / For the Kids  / HGTV + DIY Network Projects  / Holiday-Related Projects

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

Leave A Reply


Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

  • Instagram

    merrypad

    Merrypad by Emily Fazio
    Instagram post 17902304861708711 Instagram post 17902304861708711
    Highly recco mining those #herkimerdiamonds ✌️ Highly recco mining those #herkimerdiamonds ✌️
    Pt. 2: Well before Halloween, the last of the garl Pt. 2: Well before Halloween, the last of the garlic went into the home garden: 10 rows [L>R] 6 whole Nootka Rose as an experiment, 3x8 Mennonite-grown cloves from Aman’s, and 6x8 (and, I think, total 112? notes are cryptic) “normal.”
#gardennotes #growinggarlic #garden2023 #whatisnormal #merrypadathome
    Out of sight but [documented so it’s] not out of Out of sight but [documented so it’s] not out of mind! #garden2024 kicks off with my favorite biennial: elephant garlic! 15 cloves planted from small, to medium, to enormous. #gardennotes
    Annual garlic notes for #garden2023, pt. 1: this i Annual garlic notes for #garden2023, pt. 1: this is getting ooc, and I love it. 👩‍🌾🧑‍🌾

🧄 65% of the planting is in a new plot in the country. 🧄 Seeing if NR grows bigger with more sunlight. 🧄 Big @chasefarms cloves from 2021 were really productive in our home garden; can’t wait to see how they can show up next year in the new space. 🧄

Hand-turned a small bed, but big thanks to my sister, who rolled into town just in time to help me double its size (and did not complain once).
    One straggler from #garlic2021 debuted with 7 stal One straggler from #garlic2021 debuted with 7 stalks and 7 scapes, and I can’t wait to see this mammoth looks like when it’s pulled next month. #garlic2022 

Also, fierce springtime performance by parsley, chamomile, and self-seeded cilantro.
    Annual garlic notes #garden2022 ~315 cloves total Annual garlic notes #garden2022
~315 cloves total
50 in new, unfenced garden
Still need thick mulch on everything
Did a terrible job tracking varieties when I harvested, so it’s all a mix of hardneck now 😒
Added some big cloves from @chasefarms and look forward to adding some @fruition_seeds in #garden2023 when @porterfarmscsa delivers.
    Load More... follow emily: @merrypad



  • Like Us On Facebook

    Facebook Pagelike Widget



  • Popular Posts

    • How to fix an IKEA drawer. The Easy Fix For Broken IKEA Drawers 66.9k views
    • DIY sideboard rehab. 7 Steps for Restoring an Old Midcentury Sideboard Buffet 56.8k views
    • How to design and make a barn quilt. How to Make Your Own Barn Quilt 50k views
    • How to hang art on brick surfaces using specialty clips. The Easy Way to Hang Art on Brick or Stone 40.1k views
    • DIY driveway removal. How to Remove an Old Asphalt Driveway 35.1k views
    • Our DIY flagstone patio. Building a Flagstone Patio in One Day 32.8k views
    • Tips for dying pasta different colors, and a Halloween Recipe for the kids. How to Dye Pasta Different Colors (Halloween Recipe) 32.5k views
    • Fix an ikea dresser drawer. Life Support For An IKEA Dresser 29.7k views
    • Goodbye, gold fireplace covering. Less Is More: How to Remove a Fireplace Surround 29.5k views
    • After: Custom wooden garden fence. Designing a Durable Wooden Fence For Our Beautiful Backyard Garden 23k views



  • BROWSE POSTS BY CATEGORY:

    • Art Attack (7)
    • Backyard (92)
    • Barn (8)
    • Basement (27)
    • Bathroom (43)
    • Beach (13)
    • Bedrooms (73)
    • Being Thrifty (53)
    • Business-y (12)
    • Buying and Renting and Selling (23)
    • Casual Celebrations (36)
    • Closets (17)
    • Curb Appeal (44)
    • Dainty Details (8)
    • Deck (23)
    • Decor (286)
    • Dining Room (37)
    • DIY (577)
    • Dog-Related (24)
    • Entryway (59)
    • Flooring (58)
    • For the Kids (32)
    • Garage (17)
    • Gardening (70)
    • Helping The Economy (30)
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects (283)
    • Holiday-Related Projects (80)
    • Home Safety (12)
    • Kitchen (83)
    • Lighting (31)
    • Living Room (77)
    • Merry Travels (21)
    • Office Space (21)
    • Organized (41)
    • Other Pads (14)
    • Outdoor Living (12)
    • Scooter Fun (8)
    • Stairwell (20)
    • Sunroom (22)
    • Supporting Sponsors (43)
    • The Art Room (3)
    • Tools (43)
    • Uncategorizable (1)
    • Wedding (28)
    • Windows (14)
    • Work-pads (10)





  • a little bit of everything, friends, DIY, and inspiration

    • Dadand.com < My husband and his BFF
    • HGTV
  • Some Legal

    Merrypad incorporates the occasional affiliate link to Amazon.com and Minted; we link to many other websites and products, but if it is in context of a paid sponsorship, it is always noted as such. Please review the privacy policy and contact me if you have any additional questions.

    Theme customized by Pete Fazio Creative, the guy from dadand.com.


© Copyright Merrypad