Recently I’ve been seeing cute understated Halloween art for the more minimalist aesthetic. So I had to try making my own last-minute ghost art to decorate for Halloween.

I’ve never been a big decorator for any holiday, but having a three-year-old has changed that. My little ghoul didn’t really get Halloween last year, but this year she is VERY into it. On one recent weekend we went to two different Spirit Halloween stores in one day. The first time to find something for her costume (she very sweetly wants to be “our cat, Delicious”), and the second time just because she was begging to go back to tour the display of animated yard decorations. (I was worried that it might give her nightmares, so I reassured her that none of it was real, and got a very exasperated “I KNOW, Mommy!” They don’t call them threenagers for nothing.)

So I put up my Halloween wreaths, my Halloween skull planters, and some other random decorations, and those got such rave reviews that I wanted to add more.

One simple way to decorate is with Halloween art. Etsy has tons of it, both digital and print versions. I’m not sure who to credit for the original idea of these ghost landscapes, but there are many versions out there.

Clockwise from top left: Gallery130, gatheredprintshop, EastofCentralPark, JanderJane

If you want the fastest possible version of this art for last-minute decorating, then you should totally buy a digital version. But, if you have a little time and the right supplies, you can make a quick little version of your own Halloween art.

This idea was in the back of my mind after seeing some of the above Halloween art, but I didn’t have any concrete plans to actually make my own until I came across the perfect piece of art for the project. It was 1) a landscape, 2) in a free pile, and 3) already framed. So I brought it home, without any real idea of how to execute this project.

If you don’t already have a framed landscape laying around, you can get digital versions, for free. This is actually what some of the Etsy ghost art creators have done. “The Outskirts of a Village,” in this image from the above digital art that you can buy (and some others I came across), is in the public domain, so you can download it and use it for whatever you want. Here’s a curated public domain print shop, with a lot of info on finding, downloading, and printing your own free public domain art. You could even add your own digital ghosts to yours.

But since my art wasn’t digital, I needed a different solution. And for that, I turned to google. “DIY window clings” brought me to this page, about making window clings from nothing but craft paint and gloss Mod Podge. (You can also use a Cricut machine to cut them from vinyl, but I don’t have one of those.)

All you really do is mix together some craft paint and Mod Podge on a non-stick surface, spread it out into a thin layer, and let it dry. I left mine overnight.

There was a comment on the Mod Podge Rocks blog about doing this with just acrylic paint, and no Mod Podge, but I tried it, and the paint was too brittle and difficult to peel without breaking.

I tested it on a plastic bag, a piece of parchment paper, and a piece of wax paper, and the plastic bag worked the best. The others wrinkled up. You can also use a plastic page protector.

Once the mixture was dry, I cut out a few little ghosts, and Sharpie-d on some eyes.

If you have trouble sticking them to the ghosts, clean the glass, then fog a little moisture onto the glass and the clings with your breath.

So easy, right? You could do other simple shapes, like bats or pumpkins, and older kids could definitely help draw and cut out the shapes. It also opens a ton of possibilities for window clings for other holidays.

Happy Halloween!