Man oh man, I have spiders on the brain…When creating my “Along Came a Spider” gift tag, I became a bit obsessed and the result was this super-simple Halloween spider specimen art that’s now hanging in my entryway.

I am now working on a “friendly” spider theme for the space 🙂

I love how the artwork turned out and I’ve been asked about it by a few friends and neighbors, so I thought I would whip up a quick tutorial to share.

Halloween Spider Specimen Art

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Halloween Spider Specimen Art Supplies: 
Shadow Box (mine is a $14.99 20×20 Ribba frame from Ikea)
Scrapbook Paper (mine is 12×12 paper foiled with the Heidi Swapp Minc – on sale right now!)
Halloween Scrapbook Embellishments (mine are from a Teresa Collins Halloween paper pack)
Baker’s Twine
Spider
Hot Glue Gun 
Glitter

Each and every time I go to Ikea I pick up a few white frames. I use them all over the house and while inexpensive, I think they always look great.

A few weeks ago I grabbed a Ribba 20×20 shadow box frame. The mat takes the opening down to just under 12×12 and while I didn’t have a project in mind at the time, I knew it would work well with a scrapbook paper backing.

Fast forward to a trip to the dollar store, where I found giant spiders for…$1! I thought a specimen project for Halloween would be just thing thing for my frame. I grabbed the large spider and a couple of it’s smaller brothers, who are now crawling all over the entry table.

I came home and started looking through my paper “stash” for the perfect paper. Since the entry way is black, white and gray, I was initially looking for a simple black and white graphic print. However, I came across my Heidi Swapp 5th Avenue Paper Pad for use with the Minc and found the PERFECT print.

It looks like a spider web! I selected a copper colored foil and immediately ran the paper through my Minc for a really stunning look that makes my specimen art look a bit more finished and expensive.

Here’s where I tell you the truth. I have created so many projects with the Minc and I’ve never used one of the toner papers that you can purchase. The difference in quality between the professionally printed papers and the projects that come out of my home printer make my heart all aflutter. Love. 

The spider I purchased is lightweight, but it’s also fairly large so I mounted it to the foiled paper with some hot glue. I have a fantastic glue gun that’s been going strong for over 12 years, but the best part is it has changeable tips that allow more control over the amount and placement of the glue. It’s one of my best “tool” purchases.

I dusted the spider with a bit of glue and copper glitter to tie in the sparkle a bit more. Again, just another little detail that makes the project look a bit more finished.

Once I was done foiling the paper and mounting the spider, into the frame it went. Of course, I couldn’t leave well enough alone, so I added a little Halloween banner made from scrapbook paper embellishments and baker’s twine.

It’s a bit difficult to get a shot of the pretty foiled paper while the specimen art is on my wall so I took it down and snapped a shot of the shine.

So, that’s it! The entire project took less than 10 minutes and that’s my kind of crafting!!!