Make your own "Not-So-Haunted" stretching portrait!

Our "not-so-haunted" house designs are well on their way and I am so excited to share the progress!!

In my last blog post I shared all our big plans for our big Halloween fundraising event, and if you haven't seen our first update reel on Instagram, check it out here:

Our first project to tackle was the stretching portrait. Most of these projects are going to be progressing simultaneously, and the stretching portrait is no exception, but I needed to at least get the design of the wallpaper and the portrait completely finished last week... and I did! Ta-da!!

(By the way, I put a watermark over the picture on the left - it won't actually have SaveDamian.com on it over and over for real when it's printed!)

Featuring classic Disney characters in this Not-So-Haunted House was an obvious choice for me simply because they are Damian's favorite! And also - I wanted to make sure this walkthrough is definitely Halloween but NOT scary - so super familiar characters seems like the way to go. In the classic Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland, the stretching portraits tell some pretty morbid (or at least dangerous) stories, so I wanted to tone down the threat level a little bit by making the "dire situation" the fact that Donald is about to slip on a banana peel! I still left some references to the Haunted Mansion in the painting though - can you spot them all??

I'm super excited to see this in physical form but I already love how it looks digitally! I'm hoping to get some help from some friends who are experts on making things move, so stay tuned - this is going to be SO COOL when it's done!!!

Also...

I've been teasing a surprise for people on Instagram and I'm finally ready to reveal it to you now:

Make Your Own Stretching Portrait!

You can make a miniature version of our exact stretching portrait at home... or even design your own!

How to make your own stretching portrait:

1. Print your choice of coloring pages here:

Click below for the Daisy & Donald portrait

Coloring Page - Daisy & Donald

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Download • 3.33MB

Click below for a blank portrait (to draw your own!)

Coloring Page - Blank Portrait

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Download PDF • 3.15MB

Special thanks to my nieces for testing this out!

2. Color both pages

3. Cut out along the dotted lines (TIP: it's easiest to cut the "lower wall" page if you lightly fold it first!)

4. Stick the portrait wall through the lower wall from behind, then pull it up and down to make the stretching effect!

That's all there is to it! And just an idea in case your kids are learning in school about writing stories: the make-your-own (blank) portrait is a really good writing exercise - as you stretch out the portrait you have the opportunity to add another beat to the story. In the version I made, for example, the story has 3 beats: (1) Daisy is posing for a picture, (2) surprise! Donald is carrying her, (3) oh no, Donald is going to slip and fall!

One last surprise in this craft - I put a few hidden Mickeys in the coloring pages (of course)! Can you find them?

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If you make this craft at home, I would LOVE to see it!! Please share your photos or a video online and tag me @PleaseSaveDamian so I can see your works of art (and so others know where to print their own if they are interested!)

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Happy coloring!! As for us, we are getting back to work!!