We've Been Boozed!

Very excited to find this on my doorstep this morning. 

It's a pumpkin full of treats. The best treat is a bottle of cabernet sauvignon.

                 

We've Been Boozed! Who did it?!! I NEED to know! Is this not hilarious? 

                     

Even the wine is Halloween themed. Handsome Devil-ha! 

I've been BOOed before, but never BOOZED. I love it!! Love my neighbors!

Seriously, who was it?

Skull and Crossbones String Art

                     I really wish I could say this was all my idea, but of course it isn't. 

              

                  I'm sure you've seen string art all over Pinterest, but not this cute, right? 

         

I LOVE it! It was pretty easy, but it sure did take a long time to create. The best part? It cost six bucks!! I know, right?! String $3. Nails $3. The wood came from the construction site across the street. (The builder said I could have scraps.) I already had paint because my husband came home with a whole gallon of orange paint because "it was only $7." Now I know what to do with it. 

In case you haven't seen a tutorial, here is what I did to create this bad boy. First, I  searched skull and crossbones, found one that I liked, and resized it (right click) by trial and error until it fit my board. I printed each piece on a separate page to get it bigger. 

Then, I painted orange and white stripes with Frog Tape. I had absolutely no idea what to do with a whole gallon of orange oops paint until I realized it is the perfect pumpkin orange. (Oops paint is the paint people have mixed at the store and then leave it because they don't like it or got satin when they wanted flat, etc. So they sell it really cheap. They have pretty decent colors sometimes. Maybe I shouldn't give that secret away.) 

Next, lay the picture where you want it and nail all around it with small nails. Make sure to put a nail anywhere the edge changes direction. 

                      

That part takes awhile with a picture like this one. When you are done nailing, pull out the paper carefully. 

                        

Now you are ready for string-the fun part!

                           

Tie a knot around a nail and trim excess string. I went around my design first to define the edges then started zig zagging from nail to nail. The key is to keep your string taut! Seriously. Do not let go once you start. It doesn't end well. 

Totally worth the time and effort!

Linked up at chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com and tatertotsandjello.com and ourroseylife.com.

Halloween Teacher Gift

The teachers are getting small tokens of appreciation for Halloween. I was a teacher, so I know how unexpected gifts made my whole day and frankly, helped me survive. Anyone who talks smack about teachers should have to sub. That's all I'm saying. 

               

***OH. MY. GOODNESS. I just drove by a sign that says we are getting Hobby Lobby five minutes from my house!!! No, I am not blogging and driving. I am waiting on my daughter to get out of gymnastics class.****

Guest towels are a gift I would have liked. There are so many cute ones out there and I love letting my guests use paper towels instead of sharing a hand towel. Why, oh why didn't I buy myself a package of these?? I might have to go back and get some from Marshall's.

                 

I made the tags with leftover cardboard packaging. (No, I am not a hoarder. If it doesn't fit in the one drawer, I don't keep it. It's amazing how often I use this stuff. The thin cardboard is perfect for tags and embellishments.)

                 

I stamped the back instead of writing with pen, because the stripes were embossed and shiny, so ink would run.

                

Staz-on ink is perfect for surfaces where ink would run. It goes on dark and stays on. 

 I purchased this ink pad myself. I am recommending it because I truly do like it, but if you click the link and buy some, I do get paid a small amount.

                

The tiny alphabet stamps can be found in dollar bins at Michael's. Love these!!

If you give a Halloween gift to your teacher, she will love it. I promise!

Linked up at http://www.creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com/ and dolendiaries.com.

Halloween Home Tour

My ten year old daughter says yesterday, "It hurt so bad! It's like a ghost came up and tased me!" 

Hmmmm. I can totally relate. 

No, I can't. 

She was referring to...a paper cut.

Not even sure how she knows what a taser is. Probably listening in the car to the Walton and Johnson Taser Report with her Dad, which is probably not appropriate for kids.

But it is pretty funny.

Now on to the Home Tour. Where you won't find any ghosts. Or tasers. 

As much as I hate the TV above the fireplace, it just had to be placed there. I decided to opt for more seating, so the only blank wall has a chair and cobbler's bench. You can see the post for how to make the BOO banner here.

I got the old books from the FREE bins outside the new store in town called 2nd and Main and just tore off the covers. They are vampire books, which is cool for Halloween, but no one will ever notice. Mwah mwah. On the candlestick, I layered more copper scrubber from Dollar Tree over the black netting that was formerly packaging for mini skulls and added a silvery pumpkin on top.

                  

Here is a secret I learned from my days as a Display Designer for Stage Department Store. (Yea, I got to dress the mannequins, too. Pretty fun job. Except the part where you have to carry a REALLY tall ladder around the store without taking out any customers.) 

Your items should form a triangle. 

                                       

If your display seems a little blah, it may be that all of your objects are too similar in height and you can't place them in a triangle formation. It they are all tall, or all small, it just isn't as pleasing to the eye.

My daughter loves this witchy Halloween vignette on the cobbler's bench my husband's grandfather made. She read the potion book and added her own touches like the poison apple that she took a bite of , mummy dust in the vintage vials from my father-in-law's days as a Chemistry teacher, and old hag's cackle (aka red kool-aid.)  Of course, every good witch needs apothecary jars and drawers full of creepy things like skulls, scorpions, and centipedes (also from Dollar Tree). EEK!

I found an old book with an orange cover and black spine at Goodwill to make the witch's potion book. Tim Holtz distress ink was used to make it look old after spray gluing the printed spell pages over the book pages. This idea came from g*rated with a printable.

It's not Halloween without pumpkins and big ole spiders. Especially glittery and gold leaf pumpkins.

These metal spiders look like the ones in the Pottery Barn catalog, except I only had to pay $4 for these because I found them at Ross. Preeeetttty excited about that.

Here is where the chalkboard lives from an earlier post and even earlier post. And you can see the tutorial for the skull centerpiece here.

This display is a little bit of lagniappe (a little something extra.) I had a small brass tray that I found at Goodwill for $3, another pewter goblet from Goodwill stuffed with old dictionary crinkle paper topped with a Dollar Tree pumpkin, a raven also from Dollar Tree, and miniature flags that I made years ago.

Don't tase me, Bro!!

Linked up at snapcreativity.com and 3boysandadog.com and knickoftime.com and www.wecallitjunkin.com.

Outdoor Halloween Decor

Have you decorated for Halloween yet?

I saw a post here about a chair decorated for Halloween and remembered that a) I have a chair and b) I like Halloween. It's kismet.

Several chairs are living in my attic and garage right now, actually. And they are already black which is a good start for Halloween. My original plan was to build a new bench to go in my entry alcove, but that didn't happen, which is OK because now I have a Halloween chair! The seat was recovered in a nicer fabric that happened to be in my mom's leftovers stash and a sharpie took care of a few scratches in the paint.

Before, the chair had previously been reupholstered in thin fabric not good for seat cushions. The original fabric hiding under that was a yellow damask that was even uglier if that is possible.

For now, it lives in my entryway and I love it! Not bad for a free chair from my mother-in-law and free fabric from my mom. Another got refashioned for my office, but you will have to keep coming back to see it.

What says Fall better than burlap? And pine cones?  The burlap is leftover from a wedding I helped plan which you can see here. I bought the letters that spell "EEK" from the craft store and stenciled them at the Birthday Craft Party I threw for a friend and thought they might be cute layered in my metal basket.





The door arrangements my sister Jordan made got a little update as well.

I added fall leaves and bats from Dollar Tree to make them more coordinated with the rest of the Halloween vignette. Let's see if she approves of the change to her design. I originally planned to make coffee filter wreaths.

Got about halfway finished and decided this was much too springy because I used white filters instead of natural. I thought I could spritz it with Glimmer Mist, but I didn't have anymore brown and I needed two because I have two doors now and I would not have nearly enough time or filters. SO. Not sure what I will do with this now.

Walking up to the front door, you pass by the cemetery sign. Maybe I should get some fake gravestones, but for now, I like it just like this. But I can't promise that I won't keep moving the other stuff around.

Stick around to see my indoor decor!

Linked up at missmustardseed.com.

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Halloween Chalkboard

You may remember the history behind this repurposed chalkboard from here and here . I am so glad I left the frame gold. I love it in my dining room. My walls are not khaki, btw. It's amazing how paint colors change in different light and on the computer screen.

I'm so so ready for Halloween! I cannot wait to trick-or-treat in my new neighborhood. And my daughter has the cutest costume this year. 

So I can't help but want to copy all of the cute chalkboard art that comes out at this time of year.  You can purchase the original on etsy.com. It is much, much smaller than this one, so it would be super cute on a fireplace mantel or wherever you have your Halloween vignette set up. A dining room buffet, maybe?

The flies came from Dollar Tree! I love them! They are so cute and glittery.

Now to finish my outdoor display and mantel...

Halloween Skull Centerpiece

Remember those Dollar Tree Halloween Finds I showed you last week? Here is the first project I made using the glitter skull.

Mypinterventures.com is having a Fall Dollar Store Craft Contest and I decided to try my hand at it.

So I made another trip to the Dollar Tree.

Can you believe all of these items were close to a dollar each? 

The items you will need are:

Glitter Skull-Dollar Tree

Craft Foam Sheets-Dollar Tree

Copper Scrubbers-Dollar Tree or Fred's Dollar Store

Black Crepe Paper Streamers-Dollar Tree or Fred's Dollar Store

Orange Cupcake Liners- Fred's Dollar Store

Dictionary or book-Dollar Tree or Fred's Dollar Store

Paper Doilies-Dollar Tree

Black Glitter Ribbon-Michael's dollar ribbon bins

Spider Web Place Mat- Ross for $1.99 (They have great decor right now!)

Candlestick-Goodwill for $1 (I looked for them at three dollar stores and they were all out. Dollar Tree normally has glass ones that would work as a pedestal for this. I spray painted this one. You can see it in its former life here.)

I started by making the top hat using a sheet of orange craft foam. I didn't have any black because I used it all on a different project. I cut a strip 2 inches wide.

Next, I traced a circle onto the craft foam with a ribbon spool and cut it out. This will be the base of the top hat.

Then, I rolled the strip of craft foam into a 1 1/4 cylinder and glued it closed. Let that dry and glue the cylinder onto the base circle. Cut a circle to fit the top of the cylinder. I used a 1 1/4 inch circle punch but, you could use something to trace if you don't have a punch.

Glue the top circle onto the hat and trim with ribbon. Set aside to dry.

While the hat is drying, work on the other trimmings. Cut a circle from scrap cardstock, poster, or cardboard. It doesn't have to be black because it won't show. It just needs to be a good bit smaller than your doily. This is just a base to glue down your black crepe paper ruffle.

Ring the edge of your cardstock circle with glue and smoosh crepe paper making sure it is slightly smaller than the doily but bigger than the bottom of the skull so all the layers will show.

Rip a few pages out of the dictionary and make a lolly. 

I would tell you how, but Rhonna Farrer does an awesome job on her video which you can find here.

Unroll the copper scrubber and cut it down the center. I used my Tonic scissors, but you can probably use old scissors or wire cutters if you don't have them.

Wear work gloves to pull the copper apart then smash it back together until your "nest" is the size you want it based on your candlestick. This is metal and will cut your hands when you pull, so wear gloves, be careful, and take your time. I LOVE the shimmery effect! It's worth the effort.

The last step is to hot glue each layer down. I didn't glue down my copper because I use the candlestick for my apothecary. 

I love the finished Halloween centerpiece for your table or fireplace mantel.

 

I made a slightly more expensive version with lace trim on the top hat and spider web wired ribbon. I love both!