Boo-Regard and his Teeny Tiny Desktop Graveyard ⋆ Welcome to the Necro Nomnomnomicon

I’m not normally one for cute, but every once in a while, the planets align and cute…happens.

So for today, I’m gonna just have to suck it up and deal…because, as adverse to cute as I am, little Boo-Regard and his teeny tiny desktop graveyard are just too adorable not to share.

*I mean, really…just look at him. He’s adorable!*

Supplies you will need:

Unfinished wooden box in any size you want
Scrap wood (optional)
Wood glue
Miniature wooden picket fence
Rubber bands
Black spray paint
Peel and stick moss sheets
Twisty dead branch (or two)
Wire hanger
Wire cutters
Dremel with drill bit
Sculpey clay
Parchment paper lined cookie sheet
Miniature headstones
Miniature skulls
Cheese cloth or very thin gauzy fabric
Hot glue gun and glue
White glue/fabric stiffener/spray starch (your choice)
Ghost shaped item to drape your fabric over
Glow in the dark spray paint
Small LED light
3v lithium button battery
Tape
Polyfill stuffing
Black sticky back felt sheet
Scissors
Clear fishing line

This whole project started with an unfinished wooden jewelry box I picked up at the craft store.

The lid wasn’t very secure and I wasn’t happy with the giant knob, so I removed the whole thing. I also took out the dividers in the base so I can stash bigger things in the box (like the secret stash of Hostess chocolate mini-donuts I’m painfully addicted to. And FYI, in case you were wondering, this box holds three packages.)

So much room for donuts!

Time to make a new lid. I used the old one as a template and cut out the new lid from a piece of scrap wood.

*(Ignore the weird notch in the side…that’s just a little bit of cut that was left over from an earlier project and won’t affect the final look of the lid at all.)*

Because I wanted my lid to be level with the edge of the wooden box, I glued strips of wood along the inside edge to create a floating platform.

With the strips in place, the lid now sits exactly flush with the edge of my box.

To give my graveyard a little security, I thought it should have a fence. I picked up this one from the local hobby/craft shop for about $2. I trimmed it to size and then tilted a few of the pickets to give it a spooky look.

To attach the fence to my box, I first roughed up the back of the tiny fence with a bit of sandpaper. I then used wood glue and held the fence in place with some rubber bands while it dried. Once the glue was dry, I took the rubber bands off and my fence was where I wanted it.

(Ignore the hole in the back of the box. I initially was going to install some electronics, but after testing it, wasn’t happy with the results and removed them..so now I just run my phone charger cable through the hole and use the box to hold my phone when it’s charging...but only when it’s not full of donuts.

Now let’s paint!

A few passes with black spray paint and I was happy with how my graveyard was progressing. Time to start decorating! I started by adding a little piece of decorative wood and a tiny resin skull I had left over from another project to the front of my graveyard just for decoration. Then I moved on to landscaping.

Using my press and stick moss sheet, I gave my lid a little greenery.

I also decided to add a spooky dead tree. Luckily for me, we have an old rosebush in our back yard that had a dead branch that was perfect. I cut it down to the size I wanted and then removed the thorns.

I decided I liked how my ‘tree’ looked but that I wanted to give it a bit more ‘fullness.’ I drilled a tiny hole into the area where my branches started really sticking out, added a bit of wire hanger for strength, and then added on an additional “branch” to make my tree a little bit fuller. Hot glue kept the whole thing in place.

To keep the tree upright I knew I was going to need some roots. I trimmed off all the bark on my branch about an inch from the bottom of my tree and then used Sculpy to add in a wider base and some good strong roots to help hold it all up.

I baked the roots according to the directions on the package on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, spray painted it black, and then used hot glue to join it to the bottom of my branch. A few pieces of extra bark helped blend the clay with the branch, making it look more real.

Using a bit more hot glue, I added the tree to the upper corner of my graveyard. I also added in some headstones and a few skulls for atmosphere, making sure to leave the center clear for my future ghostly resident.

Speaking of, let’s make Mr. Boo. Start by taking your ghost fabric and soaking it in the stiffener of your choice. I used Stiffy from Mod Podge.

I the put my ghost shaped object (conveniently enough…a little plastic ghost) over an empty soda can and then draped my wet fabric over that. I held it in place with a few rubber bands, making sure they were below where I was going to eventually cut my excess fabric off.

Once Boo dried, I pulled him off the can and trimmed the excess fabric off the bottom of his sheet and then roughed up the bottom of his sheet using a bit of sandpaper to give it a more worn and tattered look. I also gave him a serious coat of glow in the dark spray paint.

Tip: When selecting glow in the dark paint for this project, try to find one that dries clear but glows in the color of your choice. The one I got glows green but goes on clear.

Once all of Boo’s paint was dry, I used my scissors to cut out two small “eyes” from my sticky back felt and stuck them on Boo’s face.

To give Boo a way to hang from the branch of my tree, I took a bit of my fishing line and tied a knot in one end. I then covered that with a tiny blob of hot glue. I pulled that through the top of Boo’s head at the very center.

At this point, it would be absolutely acceptable to declare Boo done…however, because I love being ‘extra’ and really have a strange fascination with things that glow and LED lights, I decided to give Boo a spooky boost.

Take a bit of your Polyfill stuffing and carefully tuck it into Boo’s head. It should stick there by itself but if it doesn’t a tiny drop of hot glue will help hold it where you need it.

Now we’re going to be making a tiny device affectionately called a “throwie.” Throwies were originally developed by the Graffiti Research Lab and are a simple and safe way to pop a little light into our friend here. At its core, a throwie is nothing more than a small lithium battery, an LED and a strong magnet all taped together. For our purposes, we’re going to skip the magnet and just go with the LED and the battery.

Simply take your LED and place it over your battery. Make sure the longer leg of your LED (the positive) is on the positive side of your battery. If you do it right, it should light up. If you don’t…just turn your LED around. Really, it’s that simple. Once your LED is lit up, tape it in place and then stuff it into Boo’s head.

A few additional pieces of Polyfill on either side help hold everything in place.

Now all that’s left to do is figure out where you want Boo to hang off of your tree. Adjust him until you’re happy and then apply a tiny dot of hot glue to hold his fishing line in place. A few bits of random moss here and there and some tiny pebbles from the yard help complete the look…and you’re done!

Boo’s throwie light should last about 12 hours or so before it starts to dim. Once it does, just pull it out, replace the battery, and he’ll keep glowing. You can also turn it ‘off’ and ‘on’ by pulling it out, removing the tape, and placing a scrap of paper between the battery and either leg of the LED.

To really kick up his glowing, I added a black light just in front of his display in addition to his LED…and wow! Look at little Boo glow!

Because we sprayed Boo with glow in the dark spray paint, he also glows without the LED and/or the black light. Just expose him to bright light for a few minutes and he should glow gently for about 30 minutes.