Grinch Christmas Cutout

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With the Holiday season upon arriving I know a lot of people began Christmas decorating the day after Thanksgiving.  I tend to take more of a more subtle (procrastinating) approach.’

This year I decided to go really simple and make a Grinch cutout lawn display that appears to be pulling down Christmas lights.

Total Project Cost: $70ish  Template Available in the Store

Supplies Needed:

Jigsaw

Spray Adhesive

Plywood

Paint

Lawn Stake or U-Post

Optional Supplies:

Landscaping Spotlight

Black Silicon Sealant

 

I began this project by using a light coat of spray adhesive to my printed out template, and adhering it to a piece of left over plywood.  I used 1/2 plywood for this but 3/4 wood be more robust in the long run.

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Before removing the template I used an X-Acto knifee to score all the black lines. This enabled me to go over the entire grinch with a Sharpie marker to ensure I would still have accurate details.

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The arm gets attached to a space block before final assembly which gives it some depth.

With the details now traced in Sharpie I painted the whole thing with a white matte spray paint in order to get the best base coat for my colors to go over.

I painted the arm first since it had the least amount of details need.  I chose Valspar “Sassy Green” and “Quite Red” paint from the local big box store.  While matching paint samples I felt these names called out “Grinch”

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In between coats of colored paint I went over the detail lines with black acrylic to ensure I didn’t lose any detail.  I ended up doing three coats of color to ensure I got the saturation I wanted.  

After it was fully dried I used a gloss clear coat to seal the front and back.

Optional Step:  I was a bit paranoid about moisture creeping in the edge of the plywood and causing de-lamination so I applied black silicon sealant all around the edges.  I feel this also helps the cartoon look of the cutout really pop.

I then attached a 36″ landscaping U-Post in order to stake it to the ground.

My face at work all day waiting to go home and decorate.
My face at work all day waiting to go home and decorate.

 

With the cutout complete I just had to decorate.  I hung a single strand of lights from halfway over the garage and draped it through the Grinch’s hand.  I then positioned a 20 lumen solar powered landscaping spotlight pointed at the Grinch to ensure the display is easily seen by all my neighbors with their massive blowup snow globes and enormous December Electric bills. 

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