Are You Ready To Get Your Halloween On?

The Halloween decor has been out in stores around here since August. 
I just got my summer decor out. 
Where has the time gone?

(This is an edited re-post from back in 2010.  It has some tried and true Halloween party and decor ideas so I'm re-posting it.)
To see my 2011 Halloween post go here.

In the past my house is decorated for Halloween by the second week of September. 
I can't help the compulsion to pull out my skulls and skeletons as soon as I start seeing the stuff in the stores. 
The last couple of years I have only put out about a third of my Halloween decorations. 
We used to have a huge Halloween party and I still have a lot of creepy decor stored away in boxes from those party days.
We always included kids at our party, so I didn't ever go over the top with scary or gory decor.

Here are some cost saving tips that have helped me get my Halloween on.

1) Use what you have in new ways. 

I added costume jewelry that I already had to Halloween skulls.
 

I like to embellish my skulls with costume jewelry, feather boas, and snakes.
The cloche keeps the snakes from slithering off.
Cloche and pedestal- already had
Ceramic skull- Big Lots
Rubber snake- Big Lots
Costume Jewelry- I already had from Grandma

2)   There is no reason to spend a ton of money.
Most of my decor was picked up on sale at places like Marshall's, Big Lots, the dollar store, and Target.
This candle holder is a cheap foam skull with a hole cut out in the top for a candle. I embellished it with some costume jewelry and dripped red candle wax down the sides.  The eye sockets are embellished with post earrings just pushed into the foam.  The right eye looks like it's crying jewels.
Foam skull- Big Lots

 

My pumpkins gets a dose of glam with grandma's costume jewelry, ribbon, and feathers from the dollar store.

 

 

 

     3)  Think multiples for a bigger impact.
   Sometimes it's better to buy 20 of the same thing than 3 of this and 2 of that.
I usually buy 2-3 crows each year to add to the flock. 

I like the impact of a hole flock of crows instead of one or two.

The flock gives visitors the evil eye when they enter the house.

They are all facing the front door. 

It gives the illusion they are all eyeballing the same thing.

 

4)  If you are having a Halloween party, think BIG.
Decor doesn't show up outside at night unless it's slightly "gaudy" by day. 

This is a picture of our bar table for our 2006 party.
The chandelier is dolled up with orange and black tulle, zebra stripe ribbon bows, and purple and orange painted light bulbs.  The ceiling is draped in more tulle and old curtains. 
Totally tacky, but it really worked at night to create a festive mood.



5) Lighting can make or break the party atmosphere.
It's one of the most important elements of a nighttime party.

Make sure you try out all your plugged in electrical lighting, your landscape lighting, and any other outdoor electrical devices that will be used on the night of the party way in advance of the real thing. Do a dry run to make sure you don't blow any fuses.
You might need to get a generator or try different outlets to avoid having a "dark" party.
Duct tape any extension cords down that go across walkways to prevent tripping.
Your guest might already be sight impaired due to elaborate costumes. 
Make sure pathways are well lit for walking, but not so bright and glaring that the creepy mood is ruined.
I used dollar store white plastic pumpkins and drilled holes all over them to create lanterns. I added paper lanterns to light this dark pathway down the side of the house.




I used battery operated candles for safety.



My cheese cloth ghost light up too. 
I bought inexpensive white paper lanterns and covered them in cheese cloth.
 The heads illuminate at night with battery operated tea lights.
I made the faces with glued on felt. 




   6) Embellish your existing lighting.

My chandeliers get blinged out with skeletons.
To see how to make these go here.



More magnetic skulls for a quick change to my metal hanging light.

This light fixture gets a twig, spider web, and crow makeover.
Twigs are free and spider webs are cheap.



Hanging skulls add to the creepy effect.
I picked this one up at Big Lots.





7)  Get creative with elements you can't move out of your yard for your party.

 What do you do when you've got an unattractive basketball hoop smack dab in the middle of your patio?  You make it part of the decor.  I took a metal curtain rod and duct tapped it to the top of the hoop to make the curve of the ghost head.  I slip covered the hoop in two white sheets sewn together.  I spray painted a happy face on the sheets.  The hoop is covered with ghost arms made from another sheet and stuffed with plastic grocery bags.  I set a large pumpkin on top of the basketball hoop to make it appear as if the ghost is carrying the pumpkin.   Then I hung a chandelier on the hoop for an added light source for the table below.  Sorry I don't have any good night shots, but he was the hit of  the party.  This is obviously a daytime shoot. 
Remember your guest will not see all the imperfections at night.
The basketball hoop was completely disguised at night.

    8)  Create an entrance to set the mood.
There is little doubt you are entering a Halloween themed party when you come to our front door.
One year I glued spiders on the door to spell out "Boo."
I used the wrong kind of glue because it took the paint off when I removed the spiders.
Oh well, the front door needed to be re-painted anyway.
This is not my idea, I think I saw it on Martha Stewart?

I used an inexpensive plastic skull from Big Lots and some spray painted branches to great the guest.
"Good Evening"

 

    9)   Don't forget the garden and landscaping.

My garden becomes a graveyard. 

I re-purposed my urns and columns for a make shift graveyard. 

Again, I'm using what I already have in a new way. 

I must admit I stole this idea from the Haunted House at Disneyland.

All the pumpkins light up at night to enhance the party atmosphere.

The columns and cross are from Target when they used to have a garden center.

I covered this garden arch with purple lights and orange tulle.
Again, gaudy and tacky by day, but totally cool at night.



I painted my plastic skeletons with glow in the dark paint for a creepy nighttime effect.
This is a cheap plastic skeleton, but at night he looks great floating next to the pond.

 

The gargoyles always show up at Halloween.
This one is from Target.
 

 

Annuals are removed from my urns and replaced with more ghoulish landscaping.

Here is another version of the birdbath next to the front door.
Succulents and a faux white pumpkin.

The kids liked the card playing skeletons that I put in the planter next to the front door.  They are flanked by foam grave stones.
  After one of our parties, our skeleton "grew" a mustache?
I think it was a parting gift from one of our guests.

I liked the mustache and let my skeleton wear him the following year.
The Fleur De Ly's are fence toppers that I attached to more faux pumpkins.

                        10) Decorate hallways and transitional spaces.

A small hallway is a great space to add hanging elements like this caged skeleton and spider webs.
Just make sure it's high enough so tall people don't get bonked in the head walking under it.

Here is the rotunda that leads from our family room into our Master Bedroom.
Spider webs and plastic spiders give a big impact for little money.
Although my house has been painted a different color since I took this picture back in 2006, I still like the Halloween decor I used back then.

   11)  Add stick on decals to existing mirrors and pictures.
Our family photos get stick on eye ball decals.

I added a removable vinyl sticker to the mirror behind the twigs.
My skeleton looks scared.

More glued on spiders. 
These pop right off the ironstone.

 Don't forget your costume.

This is my home made version of Medusa from a few years back.

It's sad when one of the better pictures I have taken involves having snakes in my hair.

Oh well.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Have you started decorating yet?
I haven't, but I'm getting excited about it.
I know yesterday was Labor Day, but it's never to early to start thinking about Halloween.

Thanks for checking it out.

 

Mirror Transformation

If your anything like me, you have a callous on your index finger from some trigger happy spray painting.  Here is a quick mirror transformation that I did this week with my old friend spray paint. 

Here is the before. 

Not bad, but I'm over the brown.

I am slowly getting rid of the any traces of the Tuscan look in my house and these mirrors are part of the change going on.   I love re purposing stuff I already have. Why buy new when you can just give an existing piece new life with a little spray paint.

I purchased these metal mirrors hanging behind my living room couch several years ago at Marshall's on clearance.  They were a distressed brown and gold finish.  I'm going to slip cover the couch, but haven't gotten to it yet. 
To see more of how I changed our living room into our home office go here.

After carefully removing the mirror I spray painted the metal frame white.  Then I taped off the outer border of the frame and painted the inside grill work bright gold.  Be careful removing the mirrors.  Newer mirrors are often hot glued in place and difficult to take apart.  This was the case with these mirrors, but I was able to gently remove the glue and ease the mirror out of the frame.  Wear gloves and eye protection in case it breaks.  Been there, done that, it's a bummer when they break.

Then I used a gray glaze over the whole piece.  Here is the glaze I mixed up.  A little white paint, black paint, water, and glazing medium.

Piper is very curious about everything and she tried to help.  She curled up in my lap while I was sanding.  I think Roscoe sent her a message that I need puppy help with my DIY projects.

 After the glaze dried I distressed the whole piece with some sandpaper.

Here is the mirror detail before sanding.

Here it is after sanding.

I washed the mirrors with warm soapy water before putting them back in the frames.
Soap and water is the best mirror cleaner I've found, no streaking.
Here they are back in the living room.

I'm liking the gold detail on the mirror with my HFH re purposed hanging light fixture.
You can see more of that project here.

I like them...for now. 

Bye bye Tuscan, hello Swedish Gustavian?

How has your design taste changed? 
Are you transitioning too?
I would love to here all about it.
Thanks for checking it out.

DIY Faux Antlers

I made some antlers while watching the Woman's World Cup Soccer game.  USA was losing to Brazil, but never gave up and came back to win in penalty kicks.  AMAZING Game, Go USA!  Anyway, sorry if you aren't a soccer fan.

I rarely sit and do nothing while I watch TV. Especially since my little Roscoe isn't around to cuddle with me. Right now more than ever I need to keep my brain busy with multi-tasking,
I miss her so much. 
I'm sure you have seen many images of antlers floating around out there lately in blogger land. 
I would never want to hurt a real Bambi so I made faux ones. 

These are from Ballard Designs.
Not sure if they are real or faux?

These look real.
Lonny

I think these are real too.

Lonny

Here are mine.  First attempt, please be kind I'm still in mourning.

Mine cost me nothing to make because I used stuff I already had.
My favorite projects are frequently free.

I needed a base to mount my antlers on so I used a large clam shell.  I love shells and have sooo many.  A beveled piece of wood cut in the shape of a shield would look great but I was watching the game and didn't feel like driving to my parents house to have my dad help me cut wood.
I used several strands of wire wrapped together to create my antler shape in my workshop (my kitchen island).

I hot glued a piece of scrap leather to the shell.  My thinking was the leather would create a nice surface to glue the wire to the shell. It worked great.

The Ballard's antlers have an acanthus leaf motif on their base that I liked so I created a simple one with more leather scraps and hot glue.  It doesn't matter what color you use it's all getting painted.

I hot glued the wire antlers on to the shell and added an extra piece of leather over the wire leather connection for more stability. 
Right now it's looking very ugly with the red leather.
I could tell my husband was not impressed, more confused then anything else?  He knows my emotions are fragile right now and has learned in the interest of marital harmony to not judge my projects till I'm finished.  When I'm done I welcome his opinion even if it's not positive.  He usually has great insight and can pin point things I need to fix or change.  He's from New York and doesn't hold back on being blunt and to the point.  I love this quality about him.  I just like him to wait till the project is finished before passing judgment.  Come to think of it he still hasn't said anything about the antlers?  Maybe I shouldn't be sharing this project yet?

I wrapped the wire in tape to give it some girth.

Next I made Paper Mache and wrapped the tape in thin strips of newspaper.  The Paper Mache glue is one part flour to 2 parts water.  Glue is made from flour?  Glad I don't eat gluten anymore.  Who needs to be eating glue?

Just cut thin strips of newspaper and dip it into the flour water mixture and wrap it around the tape antlers.  Sorry no pictures of the newspaper process, yucky fingers at this point of the project.

I let it dry outside in the hot sun and watched more soccer, double overtime, plus an added 3 minutes because of injury timeouts.  I guess the Brazilian player shouldn't have faked an injury or Abby Wambach wouldn't have had time to score the the game tying header goal for the USA.
On to penalty kicks.
We Won!!!! 
When I grow up I want to play goalie like Hope Solo.




It was really hot outside so the antlers dried fast on my concrete patio. 
Make sure your paper mache is really dry before you paint.  I hate the waiting part. 
I was making this up as I go and really wasn't sure what I was doing, but I do know it needs to be dry.
The antlers seemed a little too rough so I added a thin coat of caulk to smooth it down and fill in the cracks and blemishes in the shell.  Still not smooth enough.  I would not do this step again.  I needed to use a medium that I could sand like Bondo, or wood filler, or even joint compound. 
Oh well, most of my DIY projects are trial and error.

I ended up using a little wood filler but didn't get a picture of it.  Messy fingers again.
LET IT DRY
(this is more for me then you, I'm not very patient)

The next day I added  a couple coats of white spray paint. 

I hung it in my office for now but I'm going to make more and create a collection on a wall. 
Not sure where yet or how many?

I've never seen home made antlers, but I'm sure with so many creative bloggers out there someone has a better way to make these?  I would like to try to use clay next time.  Using clay would have involved a trip to Michael's and then it wouldn't have been free.
 
Have you created any paper mache or clay projects lately? 
Have you seen a better way to make these?  I would love your feedback.

Thanks for Checking it Out.

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday