Flashabck -- Halloween's Past...

 Flashback...
Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Fall and Halloween...More?...Oh Yeah!

Halloween Bottles and a new front porch!!

The Hubs got the afternoon off unexpectedly and because I was so super excited, we made a trip to the Farmer's Market to pumpkin pick! One for me, one for the Hubs and one for the Pup. Transporting the cornstalk in my Mitsubishi was hilarious, but when I want something, I force it to happen! ;-) Here's our new front porch.

Earlier in the day, I stopped by Organize and Decorate Everything  and saw these stinkin' awesome Halloween poison bottles. I had.to.try. They would go so perfectly in the kitchen/dining area a.k.a zoned spooky area. And the best part about this project...totally free - weee!

I dug into my pile of bottles (which the Hubs says I hoard, but it's just one little shelf in our kitchen, I swear!). I came up with a few good ones and filled them with a little food coloring and water. It took a few tries to get the color right. My first looked similar to a bottle of...well...let's just say the yellow was a little much.

See, I keep the bottles for moments like this (honey!). Back to work! I've got the potions brewed and poison bottled, now I just need some labels. Oops, forget the lids (mostly on purpose). Craft paint to the rescue. Yup, I definitely painted the lids after I filled the bottles. Hey, I'll admit to my laziness. I want things done now, not ten minutes from now!

Okay, back to the labels. Leanne at OaDE suggested searching "Halloween Labels" for plenty of options and boy was she right. Seriously, just Google it. Tons of options. I allowed myself five whole minutes to make a final decision and printed! Any longer and I don't think I would have completed this project today. I pasted  the images into a Word.doc and resized them to fit my bottles.

I wiped the paper with used coffee grounds to create a little aging. Originally, I wanted to dip them in tea, but I thought it through and, yeah, that would take waaaaay too long. This way, the paper was pliable and still dry enough to adhere to the glass. I spritzed the paper with Elmer's Adhesive Spray and slapped it on. Perfect.

My center piece went from this:

To this:

Which do you like better?

Huge shout out to Organize and Decorate Everything for fueling my fire!

<3 dani

Fall Mantle

This year's fall mantle looks rather similar to last year's mantle. That's mostly because my brain is in pregnant mode and my creativity has been spent on the nursery. Nonetheless, I think it looks beautiful and it was inexpensive.

Most of the decor I had from years past, but I picked up a few things at Michael's with my 20% off coupon. Including the candles and flowers. The books were gifts from my sister-in-law. PS -- old books look great with any decor. Try it. I use the books my sis gave me in just about every room in the house. Obsessed!

Here are the dollar store pumpkins and garland I snagged last year. I should have bought all the pumpkins when I had the chance. I went back this year to get some for my momma and of course they didn't have them. We'll never see these cute little pumpkins again.

And the beautiful flower bundles i bought for 80% off.

There you have it. Simple, cheap, and purdy.

<3 dani

Plastic Pot Covers

This morning it was 34 degrees outside. Yesterday, it was colder. I guess that means it's time to take in my mums. I probably should have taken them in before Halloween (you'll agree when you see how pathetic they look), but they finished off the outside decor so nicely.

Bringing them inside created an issues because I have zero extra pots to put them in and turns out most stores stop selling planting pots when November hits. I can't have ugly black plastic pots inside my house! So, I came up with this:

See how sad those mums looks? In general, I don't have a green thumb. In fact, the way my plants die, it's like I don't have thumbs at all. I'm hoping that bringing these little guys inside will bring them back to life. As of this morning, they are looking better, but are still in plant ICU.

There wasn't much precision involved in this project (like usual) and I had to make sure not to cover the bottom drains.

I took some left over brown ribbon, some hot glue and brown packaging paper and went to town. Seriously, I just guessed how much paper I would need, cut it out and folded it down to make it fit perfectly (or as perfect as I get). Then glued it on, tied it off with ribbon and added a little piece of fall for decoration. It may not look as good as a new pot, but it definitely masks the unappealing black pots.

Now if only there was a craft to bring my plants back to life...sigh...any suggestions?

<3 dani

LINKIN' UP

Momma's Challenge: Cheap Ghost Wreath

The Momma bought some inexpensive ghost yard ornaments. They were inexpensive for a couple of reasons. Namely, when assembled they look like this:

Inexpensive or not, she couldn't put these up in her yard. She'd be laughed outta the neighborhood. So of course, she handed them off to me and said, "You want 'em? I mean, there's probably nothing you can do with them anyway. I'll just throw them out." Oh no she ditint! Reverse psychology definitely works on me. I took them and told her that comment was a challenge. I would definitely find something to do with these cheap ugly ghosts.

Here's what I came up with and what you'll need:

a few ghosts (you can use cheap ones from the store or make them from scratch)
black crepe paper
orange crepe paper
dollar store wreath
hot glue
black fabric scraps

I began by wrapping the DS wreath in black crepe paper. You could spray paint it black and skip this step, but I'm too cheap to buy more black spray paint.

I made up a few ugly ghosts and glued them on.

Wrapped it in scraps of black fabric.

Made and glued on some orange crepe paper flowers.

Better than the yard ornaments, yeah? High Five?!

So booyah, Momma! Challenge accepted! and won!

LINKIN' UP

Fall Is Taking Over My Life

The Hubs got the afternoon off unexpectedly and because I was so super excited, we made a trip to the Farmer's Market to pumpkin pick! One for me, one for the Hubs and one for the Pup. Transporting the cornstalk in my Mitsubishi was hilarious, but when I want something, I force it to happen! ;-) Here's our new front porch.

Earlier in the day, I stopped by Organize and Decorate Everything  and saw these stinkin' awesome Halloween poison bottles. I had.to.try. They would go so perfectly in the kitchen/dining area a.k.a zoned spooky area. And the best part about this project...totally free - weee!

I dug into my pile of bottles (which the Hubs says I hoard, but it's just one little shelf in our kitchen, I swear!). I came up with a few good ones and filled them with a little food coloring and water. It took a few tries to get the color right. My first looked similar to a bottle of...well...let's just say the yellow was a little much.

See, I keep the bottles for moments like this (honey!). Back to work! I've got the potions brewed and poison bottled, now I just need some labels. Oops, forget the lids (mostly on purpose). Craft paint to the rescue. Yup, I definitely painted the lids after I filled the bottles. Hey, I'll admit to my laziness. I want things done now, not ten minutes from now!

Okay, back to the labels. Leanne at OaDE suggested searching "Halloween Labels" for plenty of options and boy was she right. Seriously, just Google it. Tons of options. I allowed myself five whole minutes to make a final decision and printed! Any longer and I don't think I would have completed this project today. I pasted  the images into a Word.doc and resized them to fit my bottles.

I wiped the paper with used coffee grounds to create a little aging. Originally, I wanted to dip them in tea, but I thought it through and, yeah, that would take waaaaay too long. This way, the paper was pliable and still dry enough to adhere to the glass. I spritzed the paper with Elmer's Adhesive Spray and slapped it on. Perfect.

My center piece went from this:

To this:

Which do you like better?

Huge shout out to Organize and Decorate Everything for fueling my fire!

<3 dani

LINKIN UP

Fall is in the air...and all over our house

Even though it was 84 degrees outside today, it is still, most certainly, October 11th and well into the fall decorating season. I started decorating the very first day of October, but I haven't really stopped since. Considering we're hosting the Halloween Partay this year, I probably won't stop adding to it until Thanksgiving!

I went all autumn colors in the living room and all black and spooky in the kitchen/dining room. Right after the Halloween Partay, the autumn colors will take over until after Thanksgiving. 

Here's how I usually start a decorating project. Yeah, it may appear to be a pile of stuff, but it's so much more. We all have that shelf (or several, hell we might even have an entire storage room) full of extra decorating stuff. Before I got out and buy anything, I compile everything I have with the style I need. Color doesn't matter of course, cue the spray paint.

I don't necessarily use everything, nor do I limit myself from pulling from all over the house.  

before #1

before #2

annnd After

The foliage, ceramic pumpkins, and ribbon are all dollar store finds. The large candlestick and paper pumpkin are Goodwill treasures. The rest I had! [doin' the cheap-o dance right now!] The little candlestick used to live in my bedroom and in it's past life was bright blue. The candles are clearly recycled from my 'I got sick of that scent' candle bin. The big wooden vase thingy was a Pier 1 going out-of-business find. In total, I'd guess the entire mantle was under $20. Considering most of this stuff I already had and used, which obviously cancels it's cost, I spent $8! So sweet.

An old grapevine wreath, covered with black crepe paper and ribbon and a dollar store black bird. $1.

**Here's the updated and way cooler display.**

Craft scraps and a few Christmas decorations, along with a dollar store sparkle skull and a black charger and, Vuala! The candelabra was a half off find at Michael's a few years back. Not my best work, but I had to come up with something creepy to fill the space for now at least.

The beads, ribbon and balls in the bambo vase thingy are all Christmas decorations. I know, right? Black christmas stuff!? Totally. My hubby and I found it at the Hob Lob our very first Christmas in our house and we loaded up on it. It may seem odd, but I promise, it's be-u-ta-ful. The skull was a Michael's half off find and the skeleton jumped into my cart at the dollar store. 

I feel like the kitchen/dining room is sparse, but that stuff only has to last through the partaay, so I didn't spend too much time (or moola). 

I heart fall decor and have spent, maybe, $15 updating and adding on this year. When I make the change in the spooky room, I'll post more, babushkas!

<3 dani

LINKIN UP