Boo!

Let's talk about the easiest Halloween decor project ever. I always have these three plates hanging on my wall. At Halloween time, I grab a dry erase black marker and draw on the word Boo. A little embellishment and three minutes later, the room has a little extra holiday spirit!

Halloween Mantel

I've switched over from fall to Halloween decor. I'm not feeling very energetic about coming up with or creating new decorations this year, so I'm doing the same thing I did last year. (Click on the link to read the details about the parts of the vignette.) The only big change you might notice is the paint color on the wall. This picture shows the truest representation of the color. It's called Stormy Day.


That's what I'm in the middle of now: Painting walls and trim. That might explain my lack of energy toward craft projects currently. You may also notice that my piano bench bit the dust. I loved my pretty blue bench. I may try to resurrect it. We'll see.


I've also been playing with my camera and trying to learn how to capture light more accurately and more attractively. I've just never taken the time to learn it, and am finally taking a few minutes here and there to experiment.




I'm looking forward to wrapping up some projects around here and sharing them. Here's a sneak peek at what I've been doing in the hall bathroom.

H-A-Double L-O-W-Double E-N Spells Halloween...

Anybody remember that song?

I have been busily shuffling around my fall decorations to make way for the Halloween decor. It's funny, I really look forward to putting up the fall decorations, but I forget every year how fun it is to do Halloween until I get started. Early on, I didn't decorate for Halloween beyond jack o' lanterns the week of. But little by little over the years I've gotten more and more into the fun of it.

One of my favorite decorations I've done was an idea I got I believe, from Martha Stewart five or so years ago. But I may be wrong. Anyway, it's easy, fun, and big impact. Unfortunately the picture quality is poor because I still haven't figured out how to take a decent night time photo with my camera.



These are pieces of felt purchased off a bolt. Just cut out ghostly eyes and a mouth and hang it in your window. Voila! Big creepy faces!



Last year I began pulling together pieces for a spooky "mantle' vignette. (*Note* I do not have a mantle. I use the top of my piano as a mantle replacement.) I really love the haunted mansion look of this vignette.
In the day:


At night:


This year I added the subway art.


It's not perfect. I did it freehand. But I like it that way. So there. The frame from the subway art was a lucky find. I was purchasing a bunk bed I had found on Craigs List. It was in the lady's storage unit. She told me she had recently gotten married (they were both in their 50s) so they were combining households. She was trying to sell almost all the stuff in her storage unit. So I kind of went shopping in there. I got two big old antique frames for a dollar each. I LOVE them. The other one is in the late stage of transformation so it can be placed in the girls' new bedroom. This one was to be transformed as well, but until then, it works perfectly in all its chippy, antiquey glory, as part of this wall.

The other frames I purchased for very little at Goodwill, then spray painted them all in matte black. Inside the frames are images I found online. This one has two of my ancestors, then a werewolf (?) I found online. I like the juxtaposition of the normal with the creepy.


Nobody gets this one.


It's a family of albinos. I wanted something that wouldn't totally creep my kids out, but was considered an oddity. (This is a freak show poster. Not so PC, I guess.) But no one gets it, which is good, actually, because it means we've come a long way since this was considered freak show material. So this year I need to find a picture that is more appropriate (on several levels) and that fits my frame better.

This Frankenstein photo is my kids' limit for creepy.


Throw in some skulls, a cool candelabra painted black,


a crow (raven?), spiders, tattered fabric, and a few other accessories, and I think it's pretty fun.


Oh yes, and my $2.99 tree from Goodwill with some jack o' lantern lanterns in it.


So what about you? Do you do creepy? Gorey? Cutesy? Just fall?