Decorating for Halloween is almost as fun as trick-or-treating, so why not enhance the fun by creating your own Halloween decorations?

About this project

Get in the mood for a festive and spooky Halloween by adding clip art to your decorations around the house. This project shows you how easy it is to design and print your own magnets on specialty magnetic paper that will adhere to any metallic surface.

Get started

First, gather your supplies:

• Clip art from the Clip Art and Media site on Microsoft Office Online
• Microsoft Office Word
• Color printer
• Magnetic paper purchased from a craft store
• Scissors

To create your decorations

1. Try to set up a workstation near your computer so that you can have all of the supplies handy.
2. Choose Halloween clip art from the Office Clip Art and Media site.
3. Open a new document in Word, and place the clips on the page.

   Tip To arrange the clips on the page, format each one with a text wrap. This allows you to move the clips freely around the page. For the steps to set a text wrap, see the topic Wrap text, (click here for Office 2003) in Word Help. Also, to conserve the magnetic paper, place as many clips on the page as you can.

4. Load the paper into the printer.

    Note   Loading options vary with printer models; see the magnetic paper package for instructions.

5. When you choose your print options, select normal to high quality. Then, print.
6. Remove the paper from the printer, making sure the ink is dry.
7. Cut out each piece of clip art in any shape you like.
8. Place the shapes on a metallic surface, such as a refrigerator.

Other magnet ideas

Here are some additional magnet ideas and projects.

Create a scene

Instead of randomly placing individual clips on the paper, you can create a Halloween scene by arranging the clips into a mural. Try making a haunted house scene with lots of ghosts!

Put your magnets everywhere

Your clip art magnets will stick to any metallic surface, so try placing your magnets in different spots around the house.

Print anything on your magnets

Try printing your favorite family photo or a picture of your hamster onto the magnetic paper.