Reserve a spot at your Halloween party table with these frightfully fun haunted house place cards! We used acrylic paints and a simple marbling technique to transform Unfinished Wood Haunted House Stand-Ups into positively faboolous Halloween place cards, and we're going to show you how you can, too! Be sure to check out our "Happy Birthday, Boo" Halloween Birthday Party to see these cuties in action, and get some wicked cool Halloween party inspiration while you're there!
To create the marbling mixture, you'll need to make a liquid mixture thick enough for the paint to "float" on. Begin by combining cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl and stirring until it's completely smooth. We used 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of cold water per batch. The number of batches that you'll need will depend on the number of houses that you'll be dipping. One batch will last for about six houses.
Next, bring three cups of water to a boil in a pan on the stove top. Once the water is boiling, stir in the cornstarch mixture and reduce the heat. Continue stirring until the mixture begins to thicken a bit, about two minutes or so. Pour the mixture into an aluminum cake pan and let cool completely.
While you're waiting for the base mixture to cool, thin the paints that you'll be using for marbling. We used acrylic paint in white, black and purple. Add a bit of each paint color to a disposable cup or bowl. The goal is to use water to thin each color so that it's light enough to float on top of the cornstarch mixture. Use a syringe (I got medicine syringes from the local pharmacy) to add small amounts of water to each paint color, a tiny bit at a time, until each paint is the consistency of milk. Mix well.
Once the cornstarch mixture is completely cool, test your paint consistency to make sure that it floats on top of the base liquid. Use a syringe to place a tiny drop of paint in the corner of the aluminum pan. If it sinks at all, add more water a drop or two at a time, until your paint floats on the mixture. Once it floats, add drops of paint all around the pan. Use a toothpick to slowly swirl the paints together.
This next part is so cool! One house at a time, gently and evenly touch the house to the surface of the paint, being careful not to submerge it into the base mixture. Slowly lift the house from the paint and place it in an empty aluminum pan to dry. Repeat with the remaining houses, adding more paint and swirling between houses as necessary. After about six houses the mixture will be too muddied to use. Repeat the above steps to create a new batch to finish your marbling. Let dry overnight.
While the houses are drying, paint the base stand with black acrylic paint. Let dry.
When the marbling is dry, paint the back and the edges of the house black. Let dry.
Now it's time to personalize your wicked cool place cards. Adhere American Crafts™ Thickers™ 3D Sprinkles Black Glitter Alphabet Stickers to white card stock to spell out each guest's name. These stickers are fairly large so if you have any long names, you may want to use some smaller stickers so the longer names will fit. Use scissors to cut around each name, leaving a thin white border around the letters.
Use hot glue to adhere the names to the houses.
Secure the houses in the stands. If your houses swelled a bit during the painting process, they may be a bit too fat to fit into the stand slot. If that's the case, just add some hot glue to the stand and hold the house in place for a minute until the glue dries.
Display your haunted house place cards on your party table! They look absolutely bootiful paired with My Mind's Eye™ Black Solid Scalloped Paper Dinner Plates, Basic Boo Paper Dessert Plates and Basic Boo Paper Straws with Cutouts.
See the entire Happy Birthday, Boo! Halloween Birthday Party as well as tutorials for a DIY Halloween Cupcake Stand and a Ghost Bag Toss Party Game.