2011 Halloween Decor

yup.

Halloween decor.

I loves me some black + orange strewn about the walls and table tops and whatnots. Almost as much as I loves me some Christmas decor, but nothing tops a nativity, am I right? Christmas wins, but Halloween is a close second. Not that we go all 'ghoulish' with the ghosts and goblins and creepies and yuckies. No, we're not of the scary-spooky-make-small-children-cry type of Halloween around here, not at all. But the subtle spiders and the flying bats and the perky pumpkins?

Yup.

That's us.

Here's a peek at how I subtly spookified our hizzy this year-

No, I didn't lose my mind and paint 'Happy Halloween' on the wall. I picked up two large rolls of vinyl decals at the after Halloween sale last year at Target and Oliver and I went to town with those babies. Handing my 6-year old a sheet of stickers and telling him "it's okay to put these on the wall", was pretty much equal to me giving him 3 cupcakes, 2 pixie sticks, and a red bull.

Crazy-happy-hyperactivity ensued.

The best kind.

Yes, more creepy cloth.

I mentioned my love for this stuff, yes?

Love this picture of O running through the pumpkin patch last year.

Love.

Want to see what made O excited to help me even before I pulled the stickers out? It was this...

A plastic spider that he found in his room. He immediately came to me and said it would make an awesome decoration.

And so it has.

Traveling from the foyer to the dining room,

you guessed it,

more stickers.

And really, who doesn't want bats flying out of their bridal portrait?

Since Oliver couldn't quite reach that high, he opted to put his pumpkins here.

Yes, that's a Hi-C juice box in the doorway.

Just couldn't be bothered to pick it up, what with my picture-taking and all...

Stepping into the Living Room/playroom, this is now the scene, even though I'd only just finished my Fall mantel last week.

Again, couldn't be bothered to bend all the way down to pick up that light saber.

Bats flying out of the lamps?

Sounds good to me.

Also pulled out my 'Got Candy' banner from last year.

So glad it survived an entire year in the top of the pantry.

The banner was inspired by Shelly's lovely Halloween decor-

just a bit of brown craft paper and letters printed on cardstock.

O added more creepy crawlies to the fireplace,

and to the back door-

and the black sparkle pumpkins are from the dollah spot at Target, even though they're actually 2.50. It's the only moolah I spent this year on decor, so I'm okay with it.

And in other news,

I added two new Missoni items to my collection.

It's a sickness I tell you...

This is the throw my aunt picked up for me at her Target in TN-

Isn't it gawgeous??

(And yes, I finally got around to cleaning off the dining room table. No more craft explosions going on in there.)

The other Missoni I picked up is kinda, well....

skivvies.

As in underoos, and a tee-tiny lil' tank.

Black and white zigs.

Fabulousness.

**************

I'm really hoping to list the items I came home with from the craft fair on etsy this week. I've been told it's super easy, so I'm clinging to that...

Here's one of the larger wired memo boards that I put in the loo to hold some of my jewels-

Love it.

Don't you want one too?

Also have lots of pins + headbands, like the one I put on my lil' cutie last night at dinner. She thought she looked smashing.

So- that's a little bit of Halloween decor with some random thrown in. I was also curious to see what my mantel looked like last year since I couldn't quite remember... so I pulled up a pic:

WAY different.

Also, busier- yes?

And the gold could-be-used-as-weapons log holders were there.

Ah well...

 I hope you're having a fabulous day whenever it is that you read this! O and I are going on a field trip tomorrow (thursday) and I think I'm as excited as he is.

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Linked to:

Categorically Crafting at Someday Crafts,

Valentine Decor on the cheap: Part III (promise it's the last one)

Valentine Decor Part I is HERE
Valentine decor part II is HERE
but don't worry...
if you missed them, this post will still make sense.
The Last Crusade is a great stand-alone movie, even without watching Raiders of the Lost Ark.


I didn't make HUGE changes anywhere else, but the dining room did get a lil spruce up...

the pink tissue paper poms never left this room after E's first birthday last year. I love how Ali hung them from the ceiling in Anna's room, so they might move to the girls nursery, but-

for now, three of them are still hangin out in here

(there's one at the tip top of the hutch too)

printed another one of these from Becky's blog and stuck in a frame I already had. That stand that it's sitting on is from the thrift store- I think it was 1.49. I've had plans to hit it with some white spray paint ever since I bought it, but haven't quite gotten to it yet.

(and yes...Christmas balls. I just let.them.be.)

The hubs gave me candies in this box for V-day several years ago.

The candies were gone instantly,

the box lives on.

and I know it's not red or pink OR white, but I found that cute lil blue pitcher at the thrift store 2 weeks ago and just added it to the cabinet. LOVE the little pop of color it adds.

and...it was 59 cents.

so I lied about only having one spot in my house with Christmas decor still remaining. I had to take Christmas balls out of these glass hurricanes so I could put in my red itsy-beadsies. Anyone else use these? They come in all colors and are light as air- picked these up at the hob lob for a couple bucks many years ago and have used them to add color to just about everything. I just keep them stored in quart sized Ziplocs.

and...I didn't clean the table off.

this is real life, real messes.

right Decor Chick?

a closer look at the itsy-beadsies

Last Tuesday night while I was at the hob lob, I came across this paper in the clearance section. Flipped it over on the back to see how much...

and boom.

13 cent-a-roonies.

Don't know what I plan to do with it yet, but

it was 13 cents.

And there ya have it folks-

the entirety of my Valentine decor,

 brought to you in a 3-part mini-series.

Any of YOU throwing pink/red/white around in your house?

Any of YOU eat an entire box of candy in 5-minutes flat?

Any of YOU find some great deals lately at the thrift store or the hob lob?

(seriously, I'd love to hear)

I'm linking to these fabulous parties:



Valentine Decor on the cheap: Part II + tutorial

Okay,

installment numero dos of my V-day decor.

If you missed Part I, it's HERE

and if you'd like to know how I made the wreath from that post you can find a tutorial on that craziness HERE

On to my mantel...
(again, sorry for the dark pics, but you folks know I don't get anything done until all the kiddos are asleep)

yes...I know I use these letters for everything but I love them.

big time.

I already had the 'O' from 'BOO' (halloween mantel) so all I needed was the 'X'. (thanks, hob lob)

this fab print is a free printable over at Becky's blog.

thanks Becky! And there's a tutorial for how I made that cute little fleece rosette in THIS POST.

and this is a lil something I whipped up myself-

(tutorial at the end of this post)

couldn't decide if I liked it on the mantel or the piano...

and...just a reminder that these pics are cropped so that you don't see this...

if you missed my post about "real life, real messes" and the linky party at Decor Chick, you can check them out HERE and HERE

someone actually thought I ran a daycare after seeing my real life pics of this room. I love it!

-------------------------------

now- here's how I made the LOVE sign-

I used some spray paint,

red glitter,

4 chipboard letters from the hob lob (.99 a piece)

a thin canvas (12 x 14 I think?)

and black electrical tape (since that's all I could find)

first, I positioned my letters in the center of the canvas, turning the 'O' slightly to the right, ya know...

because that's the cool way to do it

and since I took the time to get out the tape measure and deal with numbers, I didn't want those letters blowing all over the place when I hit em with the paint, so I put a lil piece of tape on the back of each one and stuck em on down...

see?

no falling off.

next, I traced the inside of the 'O' with a pencil since I had plans for that middle part that didn't include spray paint

and used more tape to cover up the hole

outside time!

since I didn't put paper down underneath my project, I just made sure it was on lots of pine straw so I could pick it up and the hubs wouldn't yell about having a blue yard.

I sprayed away, making sure not to cover the entire thing, BUT hitting the outsides of the letters real good. or, real well.

gooder?

whatever.

see how there's still a bit of white-ish around the edges of the canvas?

love that look.

next, I took a paint brush and filled in the circle of the 'O' with glue, then doused in glitter.

Boom.

pretty, cheap art that won't necessarily have to be put away after V-day is over.

next up...

the dining room hutch.

because I threw around some red + pink in there too...

                                      I'm linking to these fabulous parties

 

 Fingerprints on the Fridge