DIY Halloween Decor ideas; Haunted Mansion Inspired Lanterns

I’m a huge fan of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney World. So for me, Halloween is the perfect time to deck my house out in Haunted Mansion inspired decor! Last year I made this “Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts” over the door sign, and this year I’ve created these fun lanterns. Keep reading to find out how to make them yourself, and how to grab a free Cricut cut file for the designs. (This post contains affiliate links)

Today I’m going to share with you a craft inspired by the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney World. My kids like to tease me that I like the Haunted Mansion ride a little “too much”.  It’s true, I love it. I love the creepy caretaker and the silly singing ghosts. I love the wallpaper with the eyes staring back at you. I dream of a dinner party as fun as the one with the dancing ghosts in the ride.

I’m going to show you how to very simply turn some plain black lanterns into Haunted Mansion lanterns.  You’ll need an “e” cutting machine for this. I’ve provided 2 free cut files for you to download. The best part about this project is after Halloween you just peel the images off of the lantern and you can reuse it for other occasions.

Supplies:

Cricut machine – I used the Maker machine. You can also use the Explore Series Machines

Cricut Adhesive Foil. Which is kinda like really thick aluminum foil. It gives the lanterns a great texture and I love how the light bounces off of the foil.

Cricut Transfer Tape

Lanterns- Mine are from Pottery Barn. – I checked they are still for sale.  You can also find similar ones HERE. 

Recommended: Cricut BrightPad

Begin by downloading the two svg cut files from my site by clicking HERE. There is the “WELCOME FOOLISH MORTALS” text and the Hitchhiking Ghosts silhouette available for you to grab.

After you download your images pull them into your machine software and size them to the same size as your lantern. There are 2 additional images that I used in my project that are available in the Cricut design space, so I can’t offer those for download.

Here is the link in Design Space for the Image:

Bat Scroll Image is from the BOO file – just “hide” the parts of the image you don’t want to use

Skeletons on a Fence

They are just simple bat and scroll shapes so you should be able to grab something very similar in the Cricut design easily if you don’t like the ones I used. Just add them to your design before you cut it out if you like. I think they would be cute either way.

After you “design” your image the way you want it, make sure you click on all of your layers and click “Attach” in the Design Space so they all cut as one cohesive image.

I made 2 lanterns. The Foolish Mortals version and Hitchhiking Ghosts.

I divided up the hitchhiking ghosts and put one on each side of my smaller lantern.

(note: after I made my this cut out I realized that the text was not big enough, so I changed it to the larger text you see on the lanterns above, the free cut file on my site is for the larger letters)

After you have your design set up the way you like, cut out your image with your machine onto your adhesive foil. I used the strong grip mat to cut out my image.

Here’s a tip, when you’re peeling off your cut, instead of peeling the cutting material, peel the mat. That way your cut material will not wrinkle or curl.

I then used my BrightPad to help me weed the extra vinyl. When you’re working with dark colors like this, it’s especially helpful!

Remove the excess from around your image and apply a piece of transfer tape to the front.

Then apply the image onto the lantern. Use a credit card or plastic scraper to get it to stick well then peel away the transfer tape.

That’s it!

Easy peasy!!