Last year, I made a series of decorative tombstones for a mini album. It all worked out fine enough, but I found myself longing for a smaller scale, dimensional version to sit under my spooky tree, once I unearth it from the cavernous closet of doom. I can’t use the exact same decorations year after year, because that would break with the tradition of changing it. So I spent a little time with my graveyard of fun and came up with this.

Here’s the print and cut template. I printed mine on regular letter sized paper, but do whatever your heart desires.

Each one is two to three inches wide, so not very big. But there’s just enough room on there to play. Here’s how I made mine:

Using the template, cut out one on patterned paper, one on black paper, one out of cardboard. I stacked all three together and cut one, because as you know, I am a lazy crafter. Glue them down as a with the cardboard in the center, black on the back.

Now you are ready to get busy with some decorating! Ink the edges for extra dimension. Funny how something so simple can add depth to a piece of paper. OK, maybe I’m easily amused.

Because you have too much free time, go ahead and ink the edges of of cardboard. Even though you won’t need to.

Because you are a restless soul, go ahead and cover the cardboard with rick rack, even though you just inked it. Why not?

For the stand, cut a strip of paper 1/2 inch thick and 4″ long. Fold in half. Then fold back 1/2″ tabs. These tabs will get glued down against the back of the tombstone.

See? Make sure you don’t put it flush with the bottom of the tombstone or that puppy will just fall over. The positioning takes a little experimenting but have no fear.

Finally, you get to decorate.  This is the fun part. I added rubons, glitter, bling, stickers, diecuts, charms…you get the picture.

Enjoy.