I found something similar to this made out of wood that some store was selling for about $40, and thought I bet I could make the same thing with cardboard with for no cost at all… and I did! I needed a fun door decoration for my sons pirate themed birthday party and thought this was just perfect for what I needed. I made this cardboard pirate door sign with just stuff I had around my house.
Need:
1 large cardboard box
4 feet of black yarn
Black and white craft paint
1. Draw on your skull and crossbones template with a pencil. Don’t worry about making it perfect. If you mess up to badly you can just erase it and re draw it. Make sure the bottom jaw is separate to give it a fun effect when the project is finished.
2. Your going to use about two coats of white craft paint to fill in the skull and cross bones template.
3. You can finish your design by outlining the template with black craft paint and adding the details of the face.
4. Cut out your skull and cross bones using strong scissors or even a kitchen knife will do the job. I left a bit of cardboard showing to outline the skull and crossbones because I liked the look of it and it added some color.
5. Make wholes with the end of scissors into the four corners of the jaw parts to thread the yarn through and and tie the yarn end together so the bottom jaw can now swing.
6. If you would like to add the “Pirates Only” sign to the bottom just cut out your wood shaped sign and paint on the desired letters. Then go ahead and put a whole into the bottom of the lower bones and the edges of the wood shaped sign. Tie together with yarn so that the sign can swing freely.
I hope you have a lot of fun with this craft and that it will add some charm to your next pirate themed party!