Happy Halloween!

Happy Haunting …

Have a fun and safe Halloween!

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Halloween Haunts in the House

Halloween is such a fun holiday.  I love creating Halloween vignettes around the house with decorations I’ve collected over the years.

Here’s a peak at some of our Halloween haunts …

In our entry, we have an old pine bench.  I change out the pillows each season.  I found these sequined black & silver pillows at HomeGoods.  Love them!

Across from the bench, I have an entry table with a large mirror.  I like to hang seasonal wreaths from the top of the mirror.  A black fuzzy bat hangs out during October.

We have an old black bar in our living room.  It makes a great place to display apothecary jars filled with seasonal items.

Last year I bought several silver beaded spider webs (from Roger’s Gardens).  They are great to drape over mirrors, pictures or chandeliers ….

I found strands of orange & black bulbs at Target — they make great fillers for large apothecary jars.  And I couldn’t pass up the “Keep Calm” sign, another HomeGoods find.

I still have some apothecary jars filled with sea shells left over from the summer.  I added a few spiders to make them fit the Halloween theme.

Spiders add a creepy surprise!

I added a few Halloween touches to some bookshelves …

And every Halloween, I change out my hall cabinets — displaying my Halloween plates.

Happy Haunting!

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Happy Halloween!

May you have a day filled with unexpected, fun surprises (and a lot of great treats)!

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Decorative Halloween Bottles

Several months ago I picked up some old glass bottles at the antique flea market.  I thought they would be fun to use in my Halloween decor, but wasn’t sure exactly how.  Then I found these cute layered Halloween labels at Michael’s.  My toxic potions & poisons were born!

This is such an easy project!  Here’s all you need:

• Bottles – various shapes, sizes and colors based on your preference
• Labels – you can buy them at a craft store, make your own, or purchase labels online (Etsy)
• Ribbon
• Scotch Tape — I may want to reuse the bottles, so I just used scotch tape

I used my decorative bottles on my dining room table.  I thought it was a nice, simple addition!

 

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Halloween Ideas from Roger’s Gardens

Each year, I look forward to visiting Roger’s Gardens in Newport Beach to see their Halloween and Christmas displays.   I went to Roger’s about a month ago and then again last weekend (with my parents).  This year’s Halloween exhibit is called Blackstone Theater.  All the rooms are painted black and most rooms have chandeliers and velvet draping … as you might see in a theater.

When you enter from the orchid rooms (those of you that have been to Roger’s will know what I’m talking about), you see a large mirror with crystal chandeliers and cob webs.  They sell the beaded cob webs … I had to get one of those!

My mom was disgusted by this rat-infested sofa.  She wouldn’t get near it.  I thought it was great!  But I’m not willing to tear up any of my upolstered furniture to create the look at home.

This year they had a lot of black and white decorations.  They had a room filled with skeletons,  one with white pumpkins, another with skeleton heads and plenty of black and white Halloween dishes.

There was a very large book case that has all types of pumpkin faces displayed.  These two were some of my favorites.  Aren’t the faces incredible?

If you get a chance, it’s certainly worth a visit to Roger’s.  The Christmas displays opened to the public last Friday.  I’ll be going in a couple of weeks with girlfriends.

Happy Haunting …

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Happy Halloween!

Have a fun and safe

Halloween!

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Halloween Goodie Bags

It’s fun to make your own Halloween goodie bags for a party or for the kids in your neighborhood.  These are fun and easy to make!

Materials & Tools:

• Cellophane Bags
• Candy
• Scrapbook papers
• Stickers and/or Halloween stamps and ink
• Scissors, glue and a stapler

Directions:

1. Fill cellophane bag 2/3 full of candy.  Fold the bag opening over at least three times, ensuring excess air is out of the bag.  Staple the folded edge so bag is completely sealed.
2. Cut the background decorative paper to make a card. (In the example to the right, the orange and white striped paper is the background).  The width should be the width of the sealed bag plus 1/2 inch.  The length should be the desired front height then doubled.
3. Fold the background paper in half (to make a card).
4. Decorate the front of “card” with stamped greetings and stickers.
5. Staple the decorate card on the top of the cellophane bag, hiding the sealed edge of bag on both side.

 

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Bag Tags

You can also make cute “bag tags” using the same materials.  Instead of stapling the decorative card to the top of the bag, tie the bag with ribbon and add a bag tag.

These tags are also great to tie on to a bottle of wine as a host/hostess gift for Halloween parties!

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Halloween Treats

Are you looking for some new ideas for Halloween Treats?  Need to take something to a Halloween party?  Here are some fun ideas …

These “Boo Berries” are easy to make!  Dip strawberries in melted white chocolate.  Decorate with dark chocolate piped frosting.   -EverydayCelebrating.com

These Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes are from a recent post (Pumpkin Cupcakes – September 21, 2010).  To make tiny cupcakes, follow the recipe but use mini muffin pans.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Makes 34 mini cupcakes.

Aren’t these Mini Ghost Cupcakes adorable?  And they are so easy!  Simply pipe coolwhip into peaks on mini chocolate cupcakes and decorate with chocolate chips.  Click here to get the recipe.

We used to make “Dirt & Worms” for the kids when they were little.  You start with chocolate pudding, add crushed chocolate wafers and gummy worms.  The kids LOVED them!  Well, these Tombstone Treats are very similar.

Fill clear plastic cups with chocolate pudding.  Top them with crushed chocolate wafers.  Pipe RIP on Trader Joe’s Vanilla Wafers and wedge the “tombstones” into the pudding.  Kids will love them!

I love these Witch Cookies! I haven’t made these before, but they sound easy because you use store bought sugar cookie dough.  You use green food coloring and unsweetened cocoa powder to get the green faces and brown hats.  Check out the recipe here.

These Meringue Ghosts are cute and easy to make.  You beat egg whites and sugar into stiff peaks then spoon it into a zip lock bag.  Snip a corner of the bag and pipe out ghosts then bake on low heat.  Click here for the recipe.

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Boo Banners

I found the cutest BOO letter stickers at Target last week (only 99 cents).  I decided I needed to make something with them.  So, I ended up making two different banners.

Here’s what I started with for the banner above …

Materials:

• White and Black card stock
• Halloween decorative scrapbook papers
• BOO! Letters (or your choice of letters) … Spooky, Happy Halloween
• Ribbon
• Black cording (to string letters)

Tools:

• Paper Cutter
• Circle Cutter
• Adhesive (tape or glue)
• Scissors
• Hole Punch
• Optional:  Edge punch or scissors (scalloped, loops, your choice)

Directions:

• Depending on your choice and size of lettering, cut circles from decorative scrapbook paper for the background “mattes” for letters.  (I cut four 3 inch circles since I was using the BOO! letters from Target.)
• Cut black squares from card stock.  (I cut four 3 1/2 inch black squares.)
• Cut white squares from card stock.  (I cut four 5 inch squares based on pre-set dimensions needed for using a Martha Stewart Punch Around the Edge tool).
  
• Assemble the banner letters using adhesive tape or glue.
• Punch two holes at the top of each assembled letter.
• Thread the letters with black cord.
• Cut strips of coordinating ribbon and tie ribbon on the cording.
• Hang your banner

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I made a variation of the banner, using only orange, white and black.  I made round fans using crepe paper streamers.

I used similar materials and tools.  I added orange and black crepe paper streamers as well as a needle and thread.

To make the fans, I used a needle and thread to gather the crepe paper and make a round fan.

I glued the crepe paper fan onto the decorative paper squares.

And I cut out 2 inch circles of white card stock for the background for the letters.  I glued the letters onto the fans.  I followed the rest of the steps (above) to complete the banner.

Have fun crafting!

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Front Porch Fall Decor

How do you welcome your friends and guests to the fall season?   Here are some front porches that I’m fond of …

The above wheel barrow with pumpkins, gourds and bittersweet is from Better Homes & Garden magazine.

I love black doors (and painted our front doors black when we moved in).  This is a warm welcome.  -Pottery Barn

Isn’t this stunning with the metallic pumpkins and gourds against the black?  -Country Living

This is the front door of Mary Carol Garrity (the owner of the Nell Hill’s stores in Kansas).  Love her stuff!!!

I also love red doors.  This is a simple, traditional look for fall.

If you had a white house, wouldn’t you love to paint your front door orange for Halloween and the fall season?  Then you could paint it black or red for Christmas!

Welcome your guest with a casual fall style using hay, fall leaves and pumpkins.  -Pottery Barn

Using fall foliage, pumpkins and candles, create a harvest-inspired setting with lanterns — inside or outside your home.  -Pottery Barn

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