Halloween Past

Looking through my Blog I have found all sorts of projects that I designed specifically for Halloween. Most of these items still decorate my house today! I invite you to take a look back at some of my posts for inspiration. Have a fun...not so spooky...

Happy Halloween

Haunted Cabin

Trick-or-Treat Banner

Spooky Table Setting

Candy Corn Jars

Display Tray

Mini Album

Wicked Wreath  

Halloween Decor

I really enjoy decorating my house for Halloween. With the new Art Philosophy cartridge from Close To My Heart I was able to create this fun banner to decorate my kitchen nook this year. I used a pennant shape set at 5 inches. Then created a jagged circle and all the letters too.

I am also entering this in the Ribbon Carousel Challenge this week. This photo just inspires fun and playful decorating. I also used a few different ribbons to complete the top of each banner and to string it all together.

As you can see it stretches almost the entire length of my nook.

Here is a closer look~

Fun Halloween Decor

I love to bring out all of my Halloween decor at the beginning of the month. My kids will help me decorate the house, but usually get distracted by some of the toys we've had for many years and reminisce. I found some new goodies this year and also created some of my own decorations.

This first idea is something that the kids can help with. The idea came from the first grade teacher next door. She had a print out of a spider web on a piece of paper and attached a sheet of wax paper over it. The children then trace the web with regular Elmer's glue. Let it dry completely and then peel it from the wax paper. Add a spider and use tiny glue dots in the corners to attach it to the window, corner of a niche or picture frame to make it haunted!

Here is one of my new finds. I don't live near a Tai Pan Trading store and that's probably a good thing. On one of our summer travels I found this frame with a jack-o-lantern on it. I placed a row of tea light candles just in front of it to capture light on his face. So cool!

Something new I created to greet visitors this year is a spooky jack-o-lantern tree. What an easy and practically free project. I grabbed some dead branches from the back yard and spray painted them black. I stuck them in a flower pot, weaved spider webs all over and hung some old tin lanterns on the branches that I've had for a few years now.

Here is another fun find from Tai Pan Trading. It did not originally have the glass vase in the center. I added it to hold candy at first, but once the kids devoured that I filled it with some creepy eyeballs. It looks really great at night with all the candles lit!

I hope you enjoyed some of my Halloween home decor. Tomorrow is the last day for Frightful Friday, so come back for more spooks!

Spooky Outdoor Decor!

I finally got around to taking some pics of my spooky outdoor decor. My daughter even got in on the fun. We have noticed cars slowing down or coming by for a second look.

In the daylight:

At night:

Halloween Decor

I'm a big fan of Halloween. As a child I can remember looking forward to dressing up and trick or treating with neighbors. I can even recall one year when we hosted a big Halloween party with several in attendance. After the trick or treating, bobbing for apples and the massive food fight with popcorn balls flying, my parents never hosted another Halloween party again. I picked up the tradition years later when I had children of my own. Our family members would come over for hot bowls of chili, sugar cookies and trick or treating. A few years ago we moved a town over and started the tradition of visiting Disneyland on Halloween. The entire park is decorated, characters are in costume and they completely transform the Haunted Mansion into The Nightmare Before Christmas theme. The kids even dress in costume and we have so much fun. My children get excited every year now for Halloween and so do I. They get a kick out of how I decorate the house and this year I added some fun new stuff. Check out these before and after pics of my fire mantle. Oh, and stay tuned as I will show you my outdoor decorations soon.

Before:


After:

I used some books found around the house and covered them in some Close To My Heart background and texture papers.