Make A DIY Framed Faux Bat Collection

To make your own framed bat collection, you’ll need:

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How to Make Framed Faux Bat Halloween Decor – DIY Instructions:

Use our easy tutorial to make your own spooky set of framed faux bats – a process art activity perfect for Halloween!

Sketch a simple picture frame or download & print our frame templates.

I loved how these hand-inked frames looked so much, I decided to scan them in and make them a printable set that you can use if you’re running short on time or supplies! I even added a few tea-dyed labels, perfectly sized to fit as ours did, that you can use for your own nameplates!

Print out the desired template pages onto copy paper (to cut a template) or directly onto watercolor paper that has been trimmed to fit your printer (you may want to run a test print through first to make sure your printer can handle the thickness of the paper).

If you’d rather not use our printables, you can sketch your own simple frames, bats, and labels onto sheets of watercolor paper or heavy cardstock.

Cut out your paper picture frame.

Use scissors to cut around your picture frame.

Add some spooky splatters to your frame.

This is an optional step, but it adds the perfect amount of vintage mystery!

Using a brush or eyedropper, make a series of ink splatters and blots on your picture frame.

You can use any color ink, but if you’re going for classic Halloween creeps, red ink splatters pair perfectly with a blood-sucking vampire bat! Working with younger kids or worried about a mess? Trade the ink (which can wreak havoc in little hands and is very permanent) for watercolors – they’ll work just as well!

Glue a ribbon hanger to your frame.

Use a glue gun to attach a strip of ribbon to the top of your picture frame. Ours was about 12 inches long, and we cut small “V”-shapes out of the ends for a more finished, spooky style.

Add your bat and a name label to the picture frame.

This freaky frame needs a bat! Using the DIY bendable bats from our tutorial, a simpler cut-out version of our template, or your own sketched bat silhouettes, glue them to the center of your frame.

But of course, it wouldn’t be a curiosity shop classic without an antique, aged name label. You can make your own distinct kind of label or try dyeing paper with tea as we did! Want to speed things up?

Our printable includes the very same tea-stained labels we used (sized to fit the frames). Just use your imagination to come up with batty names for your nocturnal nightmares!

10 Creative Bat Art Prompts for Kids Halloween Project Inspiration

Let imagination takes flight, and nocturnal creatures come alive with a touch of Halloween magic...

We’ve conjured up ten whimsical bat species, each uniquely adapted to enchant and captivate the minds of young scientific illustrators.

From the luminous Glowbeard Fruit Bat (Luminobarba Fructus) to the shimmering Glittering Gem Bat (Scintillans Gemma), these fictional creatures offer an exciting springboard for Halloween creativity...

1. Glowbeard Fruit Bat (Luminobarba Fructus) – This enchanting bat’s luminous beard shines brightly in the darkness, leading the way through the darkest caves and attracting ripe, juicy fruits for its meals.
2. Tatterwing Stardust Bat (Pannus Ala Stardustus) – Living high up in the celestial sky, this unique bat is made entirely of stardust and leaves a sprinkle of twinkling dust as it glides through the night.
3. Frosted Velvet Bat (Pruina Velutinus) – With fur as soft as velvet and wings shimmering like frost in moonlight, this bat is a stunning, majestic sight in the chill of autumn nights.
4. Pumpkin Pygmy Bat (Cucurbita Pygmaeus) – An adorably small bat with an orange hue that roosts in pumpkin patches, making it a Halloween staple in the imagination of kids.
5. Candy Cane Striped Bat (Canditiae Vittatus) – This whimsical bat comes with vibrant, alternating red and white stripes, resembling a flying candy cane in the dark night sky.
6. Emerald Echo Bat (Smaragdus Echo) – With its magnificent emerald green fur, this bat has the unique ability to create sound waves that resemble melodic echoes, filling the night with a symphony of sounds.
7. Rainbow Ripple Bat (Iris Unda) – This radiant bat has an iridescent sheen on its wings, creating a wave of dazzling rainbow colors as it soars through the night sky.
8. Mystic Smoke Bat (Mysticus Fumus) – Known for its cloud-like, wispy wings, this bat moves silently through the night, giving the impression of being a mysterious, smoky apparition.
9. Spooky Specter Bat (Spissatus Spectrum) – An eerie, translucent bat that’s said to only appear on Halloween night, gliding around hauntingly under the full moon’s light.
10. Glittering Gem Bat (Scintillans Gemma) – This rare bat is encrusted with tiny, sparkling gems all over its body, making it shimmer and shine like a moving constellation against the dark night.

More DIY Curiosity Shop Crafts

Try your hand at some artful spell-casting with a mystical potion lab that’s one part process art and one part experimental discovery for budding mad scientists.

Combined with a positively dreadful DIY Wednesday Addams doll, a (possessed!) Halloween magic trick, a poseable paper skeleton you can dress to the nines, and our DIY Dracula puppet, we have everything we need for our own little shop of horrors!

More Halloween Kids Craft Ideas

Here for the boos? We have Halloween covered with this adorable free printable Halloween doodle book, some super hip upcycled costume ideas, a roundup of our fav modern no-carve pumpkins, and even a recipe (and ghost stickers!) for healthy homemade Ecto-Cooler!