Spooky Glowing Eyes: Halloween Day Craft

Okay, okay, so I wanted to make one last Halloween decoration to share with you as a simple project that will put the perfect finishing touches on your home's Halloween appearance tomorrow night (the 31st).  Because you are using glow sticks that are sealed off in the tubes, you only will use these on Halloween night; aka, they only get one use, so pick your night to accordingly.  (You could, technically, unseal them and add a new glow stick each night.)



Materials Needed:
Cardboard tubes (from toilet paper, paper towels, or wrapping paper)
Glow sticks
Duct tape
X-acto knife (or small cutting razor blade)

I apologize that I didn't post this earlier so that you knew to save your toilet paper and paper towel tubes...but hopefully you have something readily available enough that fills the same purpose.

First, I cut out some "spooky eyes" that I found online (free clip-art).  I saved the image to my computer, opened it in Silhouette studio, and using the "Trace and Detach" function, was able to get the outlines of each of the eye-shapes.  I deleted the ones I did not want, then selected each of the ones I did.  Once they were selected, I used the "Cut" window, and selected "Cut outer edge" so that they would be cut.

Use the "Trace and Detach" function in Silhouette Studio to convert images you get off-line into cut-able images in your Silhouette.

Once you have your "eyes" for cutting, cut them on regular thin paper.  Then, use the outline of the eyes as a stencil to trace the eye onto your cardboard tube.

Use the outline as a a stencil to trace your spooky eyes onto the tube.

Once your eyes are traced, cut them out using your X-acto knife.  (This can be easy or difficult, depending on the thickness of the tube, and the sharpness of your knife.)  Please be careful working with such a small space.

When you are ready to use them, tie a string to your tube so that it will be ready for hanging.  Break a glow stick (bend it so that it glows) and put it into your tube.  Seal the ends of the tube with duct tape so that the light can only escape through the cut-out eyes.  Hang in your window, and watch with delight as children and parents a like wonder at the cool, glowing, creepy eyes peering out at them from the window (or in the dark bush, etc.).  Just be sure that wherever you hang or hide these lil' guys, it is dark.  That way you get the full effect. :)

Happy Halloween!

Glowing eyes hanging in a window, made using a cardboard tube and a glow stick.