The Oogie Boogie Inspired Yard Decor

It’s that time of year again, when things get spooky and the weather gets cooler, well maybe for ya’ll but around here, in Florida, it’s still in the 90’s. Any way you take it though, Halloween is right around the corner! So, it’s time to make some Halloween yard decorations. My husband and I love the movie the Nightmare Before Christmas, and now our children are loving it as each Halloween comes, so over the last couple of years, I have made some of the characters from the movie. I started out with Jack, since he’s the main character, then Sally, Zero and his doghouse, and this year, it’s time for the Oogie Boogie Man!

So, I figured I would share my ideas with the world, because we can’t be the only people who love The Nightmare Before Christmas…and for us, here in Florida, everything I used is stuff we have laying around the house. (Those “hurricanes’ always leave us with extra plywood that needs to be used somehow!) This project is easy, fun to do, and overall cheap to make! Everything I used I had at home, and I bet a lot of you have all the supplies at home as well!

• Large piece of plywood
• A pencil
• Safety Goggles ·
• Primer (paint to keep the wood safe from the weather)
• Large paintbrush
• Burlap
• Tack Nails
• Permanent Marker
• Craft Paint (black, red/or white)
• Small paintbrush
• Clear Spray Paint
• A jigsaw
• A sander (or sandpaper works just fine!)

First you need to figure out what you want your Oogie Boogie

Man to look like. If you go online, you can find lots of different pictures of him. Decide which one you like. For this project, since I want everyone to be able to do it, I went on and found a picture of him that I liked, printed it out using Paint, (yes, that very old Paint program every computer has!) I printed him out using 5 sheets of paper by 5 sheets of paper, to get the size I wanted. If you are confident in your drawing skills, you don’t need to print it out, but everyone is different!

Trace out the design on the piece of plywood. You can use a pencil or marker.

Once the design is traced on the plywood, grab the power tool. The jigsaw! Safety first, of course, put on your safety goggles. Take your time and cut out the design.

Grab the next power tool, the sander (or sandpaper is fine!). Get to work on sanding the design’s edges. You don’t want any chances of splinters!

Now that the design is sanded, you will need to use the primer paint to paint the entire thing. Front and back. Make sure not to miss any spots, this primer will help keep the wood safe from the weather.

Next, grab the burlap. Begin fitting it to the design. I only had pieces of burlap, so I had to sew mine together as I made it fit. Make sure the burlap goes past the edges of the design, so you will have room to connect it to the plywood on the back. Make sure to not cover the parts that will be the dice. You will want to paint those later.

I took small scrap pieces of wood and went around the edges, I pulled the burlap tight, then used the small pieces of wood to press down on top of the burlap, which I then used tack nails to connect to the design.

You have a completed Oogie Boogie Man, now comes the fun part! Draw on the details of his face and body. I used a black permanent marker.

Get out your craft paint. You will need black to do all of his details, which keeps that pretty simple! Then do the mouth, you can just make it all black, or if you want, you can draw the worms in his mouth, like I did. I took mine a step further, I cut out a mouthpiece from a piece of the scrap wood, painted the worms in his mouth, and then took some scrap burlap and make his lips, for a 3d effect. I simply glued the burlap to the back of the piece of wood that is the mouth and then attached it to the body with some wood glue and 2 tack nails that I covered up with black paint. Then paint the dice, you can go simple and keep them like normal black and white dice, or you can look up Oogie Boogie Man’s dice and do their design, like I did. Depending on which way you decide to go, you will need your craft paint. You will either need red and black or white and black craft paint.

Now,

all you have to do is spray the whole finished Oogie Boogie Man with clear spray paint. Make sure to cover it well, to try to eliminate mildew from growing.

You can use a wooden stake or make a wooden stake to hold him up. You may want two, depending on how heavy he is. After putting it into the ground, you can use a nail or a screw to attach the stake to the back of the Oogie Boogie Man. Now comes the fun part! Enjoy your work by showing it off!